youngblood | a.i.

twelve || an angel gains her wings

Saturday, September 26th- 12:16 p.m.

I stayed sitting on the couch for as long as I could, avoiding going upstairs in fear of running into Ashton again. I mainly stayed downstairs because I didn't know where he had gone. I only heard one door shut after he went out of eye view, so he could have been in any of the rooms upstairs, including mine.

I was watching reruns of Criminal Minds, curled up tight on the couch when I heard a door open again. I turned my head to try to see who was coming out of where but I had no luck. I faced back towards the tv, pulling the blanket tighter up as footsteps came down the stairs. I tried my hardest to ignore them all as they reached the bottom step, but my mom immediately made conversation.

"Where are you boys headed off to?" she asked from the kitchen, stopping whoever she was talking to from getting too far out the door.

"To go set up for the team party, Ms. Hemmings," Ashton told her.

At least he'd be leaving.

"Oh, when's that?" she asked them, a smile obvious in her tone.

"Tonight, so we've got to get stuff collected up," Mikey told her.

There's two of them leaving at least.

I sat up on the couch, shutting off the tv. I stood up, getting ready to head for my room now that I knew the coast was clear. "Annie didn't say anything about it!" my mom said, genuinely offended.

"That's because Annie isn't invited," I snarked back, turning around to face my mom. I watched her face shift as she took in my words, making me laugh. Like I'd expect to be invited anyways. I looked over to the group of guys, an amused smile still on my face. Ashton, Mikey, and Andrew all stood by the door, ready to leave.

"You should come, Annie!" Ashton finally said. I watched as both Mikey and Andrew wide-eyed him, silently asking why he would do that.

I audibly laughed even when I tried to hold it in. "That's a good joke," I said to him as I turned for the stairs.

"Why not, Annie?" my mom butted in, trying to convince me.

"Cause I don't really want to," I explained as I started up the stairs.

"But you have to," Ashton spoke up, stepping farther back into the house so he could look at me on the steps. "It's team tradition."

"Oh, now you want me on the team?" I said just loud enough he could hear it. I watched as he smirked, knowing what I was hinting at.

"Think about it," he finally settled with. "Luke can bring you with him."

"Yeah, I thought about it and there is no way I'm optionally spending time in your house," I continued. I turned back around, heading farther up the stairs.

"We'll see you at eight, Angel," Ashton called as I reached the top step.

"Don't count on it," I yelled back as I walked into my room, closing the door behind me.

× × ×

I laid in my room until I started seeing the sun set outside. I looked at my phone and saw it was almost 7pm. I walked over to my window, looking at how the sun had turned the sky pink as it fell over the horizon. It made me smile as it filled my room with different colors.

I pushed the window open, climbing out onto the roof below my room. I followed around the corner, reaching the peak of that section. I sat down with the peak of the roof at the bend of my knees, watching as the sun set over the mountains in the distance through the trees.