Runaway - Ashton Irwin *completed*

seven

I walked in the door of Starbucks Thursday morning and immediately saw Luke behind the counter, who was feeling much better than the previous days. I had to do a similar routine with him the night before when he stayed home feeling a little better but still quite under the weather. I was glad to see him feeling better and back to work.

I walked up to the counter and placed a five dollar bill on the counter. "How has your day been?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It's been alright." Luke began to put in my usual order. By now we'd gotten into a routine and he knew exactly what I was going to order.

"Any sneezing?" I asked, smiling at him. He'd been sneezing nonstop the past couple days.

"A little," he shrugged. He handed me my change back and began to make my drink.

While Luke made my drink I looked around the building, observing the people of Starbucks. I spotted Ashton in a corner, away from my usual spot looking extremely interested in a magazine he was reading. What the hell? He told me when we went bowling that he didn't like reading and avoided reading at all costs.

I turned back around to Luke, who gave me a smirk and handed me my drink. He'd seen me watching Ashton.

I felt my cheeks flush. "I was just--"

"Mhm." He walked away from the counter with his smirk still plastered on his face, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes and turned around, going to head to my usual seat. I glanced over at Ashton again, who was looking at me and whipped his head back down behind his magazine as soon as I made eye contact with him.

I rolled my eyes again and sat down in my usual spot. He was acting weird today.

Sitting down, I opened my phone and began to scroll through Instagram.

I glanced up to see Ashton staring at me again and when he noticed that I noticed he ducked his head behind his magazine again.

I watched him for a minute, and he didn't budge so I continued to scroll through my phone.

After another few minutes, I looked up again and Ashton was yet again watching me.

"What the hell?" I said aloud after he ducked behind the magazine again.

I got up from where I was sitting and walked over to Ashton and ripped the magazine from his hands. He looked up at me, hunched over and gave me a small smile. "Hey Taylor Parks."

"What are you doing?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Well see, I was kind of stalking you the way I used to before I talked to you," he said casually, leaning back against his chair.

"Why?" I looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was.

"Because... You weren't here on Tuesday." He frowned.

"So? Luke was sick and I was at home taking care of him."

"Oh." Ashton's face changed.

"Why? Where did you think I was?" I asked.

"I don't know, I thought that maybe you were mad at me because you didn't like how things went on Sunday or something, or maybe the fact that I hugged you was pushing it too soon or something," he said. "I don't know." He added after I stared at him in silence.

"Why would I think that hugging was pushing too far?" I finally asked.

"I don't know!" He said. "But I'm certainly glad that I was wrong."

I continued to stare at him for a moment, and he offered me a smile.

"Come here," he said, holding his arms out and gesturing to the seat next to him. "Let's do something this weekend."

I sat down with him and he scooted closer to me and put his arm around the back of the couch. "So what kinds of things do you like to do?"

"I like eating." Wow what a genius answer Taylor.

Ashton chuckled. "Well we could go out to dinner or something."

"What type of food?" I asked. "I'm kind of picky when it comes to food I'm not making on my own."

"Well what kinds of food do you like?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I like Italian food."

"Olive Garden?"

"Oh don't take me to my favorite restaurant on our first dinner date, Ashton Irwin," I said, shaking my head at him.

"So you do like Olive Garden?" he asked.

"Well duh," I remarked. "I just don't want you to take me to my favorite restaurant on our first dinner date."

"Well since you like Italian so much, I know a little Italian sandwich shop downtown and we can go eat there," he said.

"That sounds fantastic," I smiled.

"You'll really like these," he said. "They're the best Italian sandwiches I've ever had. They put so much cheese on them and they toast them perfectly so they're crunchy but like melt in your mouth."

"Hey Taylor are you ready to go?" Luke asked, appearing in front of me with his jacket already on, picking up my purse and jacket for me.

"Yes." I stood from my spot next to Ashton, who looked a bit disappointed that I was leaving.

"I'll see you tomorrow night at 7, Taylor Parks," Ashton smiled at me.

"See you then." I gave him a small wave back.

-

"Why is it always 'Taylor Parks'?" Luke asked me while I sat at the table, flipping through the newspaper I'd missed that morning.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He always uses your full name," he said. "Has he ever just called you Taylor or Tay?"

"Ashton? No I don't think so," I replied.

"Well it's weird." Luke's thumb flicked over his phone, obviously scrolling through something really quickly and not bothering to like anything.

"Are you going to make me dinner?" I asked. "I made you dinner three nights in a row."

"I just want to order pizza," Luke sighed, locking his phone and setting it down. "I'm too tired to cook anything."

"Pizza is good," I nodded. "Hawaiian?"

"Yes. Let's have them tell us a joke too."

"No please. They're always so cheesy." I shook my head.

"Was that a pizza joke?" Luke wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Oh my god just order the pizza," I said and Luke let out a laugh and walked into the living room with his phone to call and order.