november 2015
houston tx
"Holy shit!" Awsten shouts, as he comes bounding off of the stage.
"That was fucking incredible!" Ashley beams, watching as he hands his guitar off to the crew member to his left, before he engulfs her in a hug.
"Thank you so much for coming," Awsten murmurs against her hair, squeezing her tightly, before pulling away with a grin.
"You literally just opened for Good Charlotte, and it's your first Los Angeles show," Ashley relays, with an obvious expression. "I wouldn't miss it," she works up a smile, hoping he doesn't see the way it falters after a moment.
The last couple of months have been weird.
Awsten and Ashley came to a mutual agreement that things between them shouldn't go any further. It seemed fairer and easier than to let things go on and grow more complicated- but that doesn't mean it hurt Ashley any less.
She doesn't think Awsten has been too affected by it, but that could be because he thinks she's doing just fine- or, maybe he was never that invested in the first place.
Ashley shakes off that thought as she walks alongside him to the green room.
Though, it doesn't take long for her thoughts to begin to wander again, when everyone settles to cool down after the show, and she curls herself into the corner of the couch.
Awsten met up with Grace a couple of weeks ago. He told Ashley all about it- not because he felt obligated to, but because he wanted to talk to one of his closest friends.
Part of her didn't want to know at all, because she was afraid of him telling her something that she didn't want to hear.
But, he said that they just hung out- nothing happened, and he didn't want it to. He added that he sensed something weird, though; he felt as if she was hiding something, but Awsten doesn't care enough anymore to let himself think on it too much.
"Hey," a familiar voice snaps Ashley out of her thoughts, causing her to jump slightly, due to how zoned out she'd been.
"Oh, hi," she turns to see Geoff beside her, offering him a small smile.
Ashley's gaze returns to the wall, as she continues staring blankly; she half-expects Geoff to speak again, but he doesn't. However, she can feels his eyes burning into her, so she turns to him again, shooting him a quizzical look.
"What's going on?" He questions with a frown.
"What? Nothing," Ashley shakes her head. "Why would you think something's going on?"
"Because you've been staring at nothing for the past forty minutes," Geoff retorts, dryly.
"Forty minutes?" Her eyes widen, earning a nod. "Oh."
"Now, are you gonna tell me what's going on?" Geoff presses. "Is this about Awsten?" He whispers, as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert anyone else in the room.
"Of course not," Ashley shakes her head again.
"Okay, so it is about him. Got it," Geoff nods, curtly, earning an odd look.
