drowning

24

One month later.
Ava.

"You do realize that you don't have to stay with me all the time, right?" I asked Ashton quietly as I sat in his bed, knowing the guys were begging him to go out with them.

"No- I know- I just like to." He spoke, almost mumbling as he looked to his phone.

"Ashton- just go out for a night, I'll be fine- I have a ton of homework to catch up on anyway." I laughed, knowing my college assignments had been stacking up and I had yet to do anything about them.

"How about you come with us- you're old enough to get into the bars-" "but I'm not old enough to drink- therefore you will still feel the need to keep me entertained, so no- you need to go and just enjoy yourself." I laughed to him.

"It also isn't much of a guys night out if I'm wandering around there." I finished, seeing him smile towards me.

"I'm just worried about you- I don't like leaving you-" "I'll be fine, I'm an adult." I told him firmly, seeing him smile back to me before groaning lightly.

"I'll go" he gave in, making me immediately cheer for him.

"On one condition."

"Hourly text updates and a promise that if you need anything at all- like even a hug- I get a call about it." He spoke firmly, making me smile.

"Deal."

Soon I was on the couch, starting my assignments as Ashton got ready and soon- the guys joined me, waiting patiently as Ashton finished up,

"Okay- how do I look?" He asked as he came into view.

Black jeans, black boots, black button up

A few necklaces and rings adding a few pops.

"You look great- time to go." Michael spoke quickly- having been the most impatient this entire time.

Ashton came to me as the guys grabbed all of their things, preparing to get their Uber together.

"Remember- text me hourly and call for emergencies, okay?" He spoke, his smile never dropping as I smelled a familiar smell suddenly

"Are you wearing my perfume?" I asked quickly, immediately making him breakout into laughter

"Yeah- it's quite nice, now agree to what I just said." He said quickly with no shame, making me laugh lightly.

"Hourly texts and calling for emergencies- got it" I confirmed, which gave him the confidence to leave happily, making me focus back to my computer

Maybe I can actually finish some assignments now.

Luke.

We had all gotten pretty fucked up, pretty fast.

Soon all four of us stood outside, taking a break from the inside of the club as a girl attached herself to Ashton's side tightly, but I could tell- he wasn't interested.

He kept his hands in his pockets, dismissing her conversation quickly or just simply telling her "I'm not interested, sorry."

Soon she gave up, making her way back into the club, making Ashton shake his head, taking another sip of his beer.

"She was cute man- what was the problem?" Calum spoke, making him shrug lightly

"Not interested." He shrugged back.

"Bro- this is definitely the alcohol talking." Michael suddenly spoke, his words slurring as he did.

"But are you in love with Ava, or do the two of you just have a very inseparable friendship?"

We all immediately looked to him at the sound of the question most of us had been wondering ourselves, but he acted shocked.

"What- what makes you think that?" He asked quickly.

"Bro- come on. Don't play dumb." Michael was holding his entire conversation as we all hid our laughter.

"I'm serious- Ava and I have nothing going on-" "well fuck, you two should because damn, you two are inseparable, and quite frankly- kinda cute" his drunk self hiccuped out.

"Michael that would be a huge age gap and she's also grieving-" "okay don't make it sound like it's perverted- it's a five year age gap- at most." Michael rolled his eyes, making me snort a laugh out lightly

"Six years- actually-" "okay- and?" Michael was full fledge supporting them in dating, and everyone found it hysterical.

"Come on- Leonardo DiCaprio married a girl twenty three years younger than him- he was literally a grown adult when she was born-" "please stop comparing Ava and i to that." Ashton spoke, letting a shiver out as we all laughed at the conversation.

"I'm just saying." He spoke, putting his hands up with a smug smile.

"We can all tell you two care for each other a lot- no reason to sugarcoat it."

And soon after that, we were right back in the club

Soon we were all way beyond our legal limit of alcohol and waiting on an Uber outside as Michael threw up, Calum gagging as he did so.

"I've never met a group of doctors who didn't know their alcohol limits." Ashton laughed out as I sat beside him on the sidewalk, nodding in agreement as I laughed.

"I guess there's just some lessons you never learn."

We soon we're all in the Uber, thankfully arriving to our complex quickly, us all going straight to Ashton's- knowing he most likely had the most food out of everyone.

"Hey!" Ashton spoke firmly before he unlocked the door.

"Ava is asleep- so inside voices!" He almost scalded like a father.

We went inside quietly, seeing Ava asleep on the couch, computer still laying on her stomach, a book beside her, letting us all know she fell asleep mid assignment.

As we heated up food that Ashton took out for us, he went to her, taking everything off of her before immediately carrying her to her room, laying her down.

He then joined us again, eating with us and joining us in trying to sober up before we went to sleep.

Soon michael was knocked out on the floor, covering himself with a random hoodie he found.

Calum had went back to his apartment and it was just Ash and I.

"You can crash here if you don't want to make the walk- you know you're always welcome." Ashton told me, motioning to the extra blankets and pillows he had pulled out for Michael.

"Thanks man." I told him as he sat beside me.

"do you agree with Michael? About everything the said with Ava?" He asked me quietly.

"I agree with the fact that you two most definitely care about each other. I think that whatever you guys do have- is great." I told him firmly.

"I'd do anything for her man." He spoke, shaking his head slowly.

"And it's been like that for me since I first met her but I don't know- everything just changed when she moved in with me. We are so close and I care about her so much- more than I could've imagined." He exhaled, rubbing his face.

"No need to stress about it." I shrugged out calmly.

"We're all under a lot of alcohol, so these feelings could definitely just be liquor, but if they aren't- no big deal. Take it slow, keep treating her the way you treat her and just make sure to remember that she's grieving." I told him slowly, watching as he nodded slowly, rubbing his face.

"You're right- I'm just going to sleep- all of this shit off."