Painting Flowers // Ashton Irwin [au]

Seventeen

Emilia's POV

Lacy fabric makes my skin itch, and my arms are at the brink of dropping as the pile of dresses weigh me down. There's too much on my mind to even care that Julia has picked God knows how many dresses for me to try on even though I agreed to only five. She couldn't have picked a better time to come home with Calum and pull me out of the house. I didn't even care when she said we were going dress shopping for the wedding. She could have said we were going to take a spontaneous trip to the lost city of Atlantis and I'd be all aboard. I can't wrap my head around everything Luke told me only a couple hours ago. It's fresh in my mind and not even the frilly, obnoxious-colored dresses can shift my attention.

Luke liking me is one thing but kissing me...how am I supposed to digest that? My boyfriend's best friend kissed me. I should be angry, right? I should feel violated. I should feel like I was taken advantage of. Then why is it I can only feel pity?

Julia waves her hand in front of my eyes. "You all right, Em? You haven't made a single irritated 'I hate dresses' complaint since we got here. Do you want to go home? We can go home, I don't mind. We can just go out another day. I know today is your parent's-"

"Jules," I interrupt. "It's fine. I'm okay. I just zoned out for a second."

The tension in her face relaxes. She's worried but for all the wrong reasons. "Okay," she says, adjusting the mound of dresses in her arms. "Let's go try these on. My arms are starting to hurt."

I follow her to the back of the boutique to the curved dressing room area. Julia shoves all her dresses in one dressing room and pulls the plum-colored curtain across the rod, while I occupy the dressing room adjacent to her. After I undress and slip into the first black dress Julia chose for me, I stare into the full-length mirror and bring my fingers to my lips.

Luke may have asked me to promise to not tell Ashton about the kiss, but he never said anything about Julia. It's a cheap loophole, but I need to talk to someone, and Julia always knows how to help me.

"Hey, Julia?" I shout.

"Why won't this zip," she mumbles. "What's up?"

"What would you do if, hypothetically, one of the guys kissed you, even though you're with Calum?"

"For starters, no one says 'hypothetically' unless they are going through said hypothetical situation. What happened?"

"Luke kissed me," I say hesitantly, wincing as the words leave my mouth.

Between the thuds and sliding of the curtain rings, I don't have enough time to react to Julia harshly pulling the curtain open to my dressing room with her hand holding up the front of her dress. "I'm sorry, but what?"

"He did it while I was sleeping," I add.

Her eyes narrow. "What? Who told you this?"

"Luke did...this morning."

She closes the curtain behind her and makes me sit on the gray, round ottoman in the corner of the dressing room. "Okay, I'm going to need you to back it up. I need context. Why the hell would Luke kiss you if you're with Ashton?"

I fumble with my hands in my lap. "He said he likes me."

"When did he kiss you?"

"I don't know. He didn't give many details because he was sobering up."

"He was drunk when he told you?" The shock in her tone rises, and I don't think it will be going down anytime soon. "Stupid move, Luke," she mumbles. "I guess it's better that he kissed you while you weren't aware, but still, what was he thinking? How do you feel about this?"