the silver lining playbook// a. irwin

chapter eight

"Mr. Irwin!" I called as Ashton sped down the hotel hallway. He was clearly trying to get away from me, but I refused to let that happen. No way. Yelling his name a few more times and trying to catch up, I realized that it was no use, so I took my own pace.

Once I entered the living room, I saw Mr. Irwin's door wide open. I stepped in, knocking on the frame three times. Ashton was pacing, running his fingers through his hair for an unknown reason. As far as I knew, there wasn't anything to worry about. Just the fact that I might lose the only job I've had in a while.

"Mr. Irwin," I breathed, the air deflating from my lungs. Ashton stopped, turned around and his jaw tightened.

"Stop calling me that!" Ashton yelled, making me squirm back, but I tried to seem un-phased by his reaction.

"Fine," I crossed my arms over my chest, as if that would make me better in some way, "what the hell is the corporation they're talking about? Are you leaving the team?"

Ashton mumbled his answer, as if I wouldn't hear, "No."

"Then what in this world are you doing?" I snapped back, never feeling more confident in myself. I don't think I've felt this outgoing and rebellious since I refused to go to bed at 9 when I was 7.

"Fine! I'm leaving the team! There, okay?" Ashton screamed really loudly, definitely making me move back a few steps. But he didn't mind. He was going to keep going. "So, you might as well leave now because you won't be here for long anyway,"

My heart broke. Even though this job had restrictions of every sort, I loved it. I loved getting coffee and attending calls and getting free trips to Paris. So when Ashton "fired" me, it hurt in my chest. A lump formed in my throat that choked me, making it unable for me to breathe. Tears dwelled in my eyes, on the verge of spilling out like well-kept secrets.

"I will make sure to notify my mother, Mr. Irwin," I said, my voice breaking off a bit at the end, "nice working with you."

"Likewise."

I turned around, heels clicking on the ground. Calum stood outside, a smile on his face as he looked at his phone,"Layla, we won - wait, what happened?"

I couldn't believe this. This couldn't be happening. I can't go back to live with my mother. That's embarrassing. I suppose I can always look for another job in Baltimore. That seems like the only option.

"Layla?"

"Calum, it was great to work with you. I hope Mr. Irwin's company thrives."

I left him standing dumbfounded on the living room and retreated to my room.

***

Our plane left today at 10:30 and it was already 9:30, and neither of the guys were awake. But that wasn't my problem, since I was no longer working for them. The clock turned to 9:45 and I began to worry. What if we don't get there on time? Oh god.

Then, Ashton came out, fixing his hair and death glaring me as he moved toward me and growled,"Why the hell didn't you wake us up, Layla?"

Calum came outside too, but with a sleepier look on his face. I shrugged, downing my orange juice and placing the cup down on the sink,"Not my job anymore. "

Ashton sighed and ran his hands through his face, as if thag would wake him up. He groaned,"Cal, can you go take your bags and Layla's down please, there should be someone waiting."

Cal did as he was told immediately, which was weird because normally he would refuse. That just goes to show how asleep he was at that moment.

Ashton turned to look down at my smirking face, my arms crossed over my chest. "Look, I'm looking for your mercy on this because I know I should not have lashed out like I did."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're planning on dropping the team, including me," I sniffled, moving my hand over my nose as I scratched it.

"Those are not my intentions, Layla," Ashton refused, now he took a step back and crossed his arms.

"Then what are they?"

"Come on, I'll show you,"

***

We drove to the airport in total silence. Calum was asleep on my shoulder and Ashton was furiously typing on his phone. Once we arrived at out location, the driver kindly dropped us off and we walked straight in. After checking our bags in, we went straight to the airplane, where people were already waiting for us.

Calum took a seat and he requested that I sat next to him. But Ashton had other plans when he pulled me down on a seat and strapped me in, never breaking eye contact. Then, he sat beside me, pulled out the small table, and set his laptop on top of it.

As soon as he opened it, a blueprint came up of a logo, all fancy-looking and with Irwin scribbled in a classic font. It had 'Irwin' typed in a black font, then below that was a wave that ended on a loop on both ends. Then after that was typed in a smaller, lighter grey font 'Global Communications Corporate Coompany'.

"But Mr. Irwin," I let out a small laugh, feeling the plane take off as I spoke,"you know nothing about Global Communications. You studied Economy in university. "

"Well, it's just business, Layla," Ashton sighed, exciting out and showing me a blueprint of an amazingly tall building and then, the model, all glass walls, a certain color scheme and the name space for the building was still blank. It was quite beautiful, actually.

"I suppose I'll get a consultant and they will assist me in making big decisions, much like Calum and you do now," Ashton spoke again, moving the building around with his mousepad.

"But-the team?" I brought it up again. This whole team was my home, I couldn't leave it just like that.

"Layla, we have to be realistic," Ashton said, looking at me now, his laptop shut,"unless we win the Superbowl, we won't be doing much with the team. If anything coach can-"

"Ash," Calum said, coming into our conversation uninvited,"something happened to Coach, he snapped and-"

"Get to the point," Ashton rolled his eyes at Calum, who just looked down at his phone to confirm what he had read was true.

"Coach just quit on us."