Serendipitу || afi

15 | Addicting

It was already ten at night and Luke hadn't waken up yet. I just assumed it was because he didn't get much sleep the night before, but I still felt the need to go back home instead of staying the night.

However, as soon as I sat down on my bed, I regretted going home. Even if Luke was asleep, it was better than being alone with my thoughts.

I knew I was going to get no sleep tonight, but I laid down on my bed anyway.

Around 30 minutes of endless staring of the ceiling, I heard my phone start to vibrate across the room. It was a call. I had no clue who would call at 10:30 at night, but I had nothing to lose so I picked up the call anyway.

"Leah!" A voice said before I could even say a proper greeting.

"A-Ashton?" I said shakily, my eyes widening.

"Leah, did you-" he broke off a second as the strong early December winds blew in the background, "Did you really mean what you said?"

He didn't specify, but I knew what he meant, "Of course I did, I-"

"Come outside." He said quickly, immediately hanging up after.

My hands were shaking and my mind was going a hundred miles an hour as I slipped on a wool sweater and boots, speeding down my stairs as quietly as I could. Immediately upon opening the door, I was met by Ashton's soft green eyes, filling me with a comfort I craved from the night in the amusement park.

"Hi," he breathed, stuffing his hands in his coat pocket. I rolled my eyes, running over and engulfing him in a hug. I felt him let out a sigh a moment later, returning the hug.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." Ashton chuckled, loosening his grip on me as I nodded into his chest, not wanting to let go so soon. Eventually, I did, and he led me over to the beat up truck I've grown familiar with.

"Another midnight adventure?" I chuckled in a small voice. My heart was beating way too fast for my own good. I suppose my thoughts did that to me, made me more nervous than I was before after I realized how much I truly liked him.

"It's what I'm famous for, right?" Ashton said, getting into the drivers seat as I hopped into the passengers side.

I rolled my eyes, rubbing my hands against my thighs, "We've only had one."

Ashton grinned, a glint in his eyes I couldn't quite decipher, "And we'll have plenty more to come." He turned back around, starting the car and starting down the road.

"So Ashton..." I said hesitantly, looking straight forward out the window, "Was it my fault you went back to Manhattan?" I bit my lip, realizing I probably shouldn't have been so blunt asking the question. Obviously I was the reason, but I could have been more subtle.

"Yep." His blunt response fit with my blunt question, "After we got in another fight on Tuesday and you admitted to me you liked me, I had to go sort out my feelings for myself."

He turned a corner, and suddenly the surroundings became familiar. It was the pier he took me to the first time we got to know each other. It was slightly spookier in the dark, fog was spreading around the corners and the barrenness fit to the crooked wood planks.

"I'm sorry Ashton. I shouldn't have burst out like that on Tuesday. I was the one who was being insensitive." I sighed.

Ashton pulled into a parking spot, slowing to a stop, "I think we were both at fault, Leah. But it's in the past now."

"Ashton, will there even be any stores open this late at night?" I asked in a small voice, getting out of the car and slowly walking to his side.

I felt an urge to grab his hand. I wanted to feel the reassurance that my feelings were right. It was Ashton I was in love with.

He seemed to have the same feeling as his large hand quickly enclosed my small one and I let out a sigh. "Defiantly not, at least on this boardwalk. But I have connections." He grinned down at me and I couldn't help but smile.

"So continue," I piped up as he began leading me to his mystery place, "What's the whole story that happened?"

Ashton sighed, squeezing my hand, "On Tuesday, after we fought, I left Luke's place immediately. I wanted to be mad at you for saying I didn't care, but I couldn't. I can't stay mad at you, Leah. But I was scared you would.

"The first place I thought to go to was Manhattan. My aunt didn't need much explanation, but after you called on Friday and she realized I was locked up in my room doing nothing but stare at a wall for three days, she knew something was up.

"We talked, and with every word it became more clear to me how I felt about you. No one called me, Leah, no one cared where I went off to except you. I knew then that I loved you. And there was a chance then you didn't hate me, so I texted you."

He fell to a silence, but I still felt like he had more to say, so I stayed silent too. "Leah I know Luke likes you. It's obvious. I thought he was the one you liked, not me."

It was true, I figured out I loved Luke last week. But we were best friends, and that would never change. Ashton rubbed his thumb against the back of my hand, sighing.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you. You were all I saw in every person I walked by, you were in my dreams. It was getting too out of control and I just needed to tell you how I felt."

I kicked a pebble on the wood, sighing, "Im sorry I put you through that, Ashton. These past weeks have been awful. I've never liked anyone before romantically, much less love. I didn't want to admit it to myself."

"Love always finds a way." Ashton said, and I chuckled, looking up at his grinning face and shoving him with my shoulder.

"You're so cheesy." I chuckled.

"You're so beautiful." He said and I stopped frozen, my breath caught in my throat.

His eyes were so addicting in the moonlight, I found that out the night at the amusement park. I didn't realize how much I loved them until now. His lips were so smooth. There had to be something about night that made them look so appealing.

As our lips connected, it seemed like the world stopped spinning, like everything froze, and nothing mattered except him and this moment.

His warm body pressed against mine and I felt the butterflies erupt in my chest. The thing about kissing the person you loved was that their lips weren't the only thing that mattered, but it was the little things.

His thumbs rubbed small circles into my waist as his hair tickled my forehead and our noses rubbed against eachother.

I've always heard it as a bad thing to open your eyes during a kiss, but I couldn't help it. Ashton was even more beautiful this close to me as he is a distance away. His eyes opened too and we found ourselves laughing through the kiss.

I don't think I've ever felt, seen, heard anything as beautiful.