Runaway - Ashton Irwin *completed*

thirty-four

Wednesday, May 17.

I sat in my office, knowing this marked a very important date. It wasn't one that I should have ever had to have marked, though it was one of the best things I'd done to better myself.

Knowing it was exactly a year ago that I'd made the decision to leave Josh and move far away from him, I sat in my office unable to sit still. My paranoia was getting the best of me. I worried that Josh would eventually find out where I am and come to take revenge on me for everything that happened.

My thoughts were interrupted by my phone ringing, on my desk, which I jumped at but answered. "Hello?"

"Hi Taylor," Megan's voice sounded into the phone from the front lobby. "You have a visitor."

"Who?" I asked, panicking. What if Josh sent someone to pose as my brother to come in and actually kill me or something?

"You'll be happy to see him," she said. "I'll send him up."

I hung up, telling myself to relax. I was being way too jumpy about everything. It was probably just Luke or Ashton.

A knock on my door sounded and I told whoever it was to come in. Much to my relief, it was just my wonderful boyfriend in his mint green veterinary scrubs, his face poking in with a cute little smile on it.

"Hey Ashton," I said. I felt my cheeks rush with heat remembering the last time I'd seen him, which was Sunday morning after he'd driven me home--the morning after our intimate night. I didn't see him on Tuesday because I was being overly paranoid and told him and Luke I wasn't feeling good, but actually just wanted to come home because I was too afraid to be out of the comfort of my own apartment.

I of course didn't get by with Luke when I got home Sunday morning without texting him that I was spending the night with Ashton. He immediately drilled me with questions and even found the faint hickey on my neck that I'd attempted to hide with my hair. I knew that he knew, but I'd never admit to him what really happened.

"I was just checking to see how you were doing," Ashton said, stepping inside. I stood from my desk and noticed he had a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Ashton! Those are gorgeous." He handed them to me and I smelled them, admiring the pastel colors of the new spring that was upon us. He pulled me in for a hug and gave me a quick kiss before he sat down on the chair in front of me.

"Are you feeling any better than yesterday?" he asked.

Debating on whether or not to confess and tell him I was actually feeling just fine aside from my paranoia, I still fed into my ever growing lie. "Yeah, I'm feeling much better."

"That's good." He smiled at me as I put the flowers in the empty vase on my desk. I'd fill it with water on my next break.

"Do you want to come over tonight?" I asked. "It's my night to make dinner and you always have me come over for dinner. I don't think I've actually ever made dinner for you."

"Sure," he nodded. "What time?"

"I get off at 4:30," I said. "Luke gets off at 5:30, but I'll probably go home before then."

"I'll come over at 5?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that works." He stood back up and wrapped his arms around me, resting his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes and relaxed in the security of his presence, knowing it would be gone shortly.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You seem tense."

I nodded, opening my eyes and looking back up at him. "I'm just a little stressed is all. I always am this time of year."

"Relax," he said. "Everything is going to be just fine."

I tried to believe his words and laid my head against his chest once more before he pulled away for a moment.

"I have to get back to work," he said. "But I'll see you tonight."

I leaned up and gave him a kiss, and he kissed me back, cupping my face in his hand. I loved the way he did that.

"I love you," I said when I pulled away from him, butterflies fluttering in my stomach as I said it.

"I love you, Taylor Parks," he smiled before giving me one more kiss and heading back out the door.

-

I was able to calm down a lot when I got home around 4:50 and changed out of my work clothes and started making dinner. Around 5:15 I heard a knock on the door and I opened it up to see Ashton.

"Sorry I'm here a bit later than I intended," he said. "Traffic was awful."

"That's okay," I said as I walked back into the kitchen to the food I was cooking on the stove. Ashton followed me into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me from behind, kissing my head and the back of my neck while I was cooking, which was extremely distracting.

"You're going to make me ruin the food," I said, though I didn't want his affection to stop.

He pulled away from me and I frowned, just to be lifted off of my feet and away from the food completely.

"Hey! Put me down!" I laughed as Ashton threw me over his shoulder and carried me into the living room, throwing me down on the couch and laughing as he hovered over me.

"The food is going to burn!" I said, but stopped when Ashton leaned down and kissed me. I laid back and let him, my interest in cooking declining rapidly.

He pulled back and I laid on the couch slightly dumbfounded as he stood up and pulled me up too, smiling at me. I gave him a playful shove before walking back into the kitchen to finish cooking dinner.

Ashton sat at the table talking to me about a bunch of nerdy stuff I didn't quite understand but tried to follow and Luke came through the front door just as I was finishing dinner.

"Hi Luke," I said as I dished it onto plates. "I invited Ashton over for dinner."

"Hey Ashton," he greeted him and sat down at the table as well while I placed the plates in front of the two of them.

We chattered mindlessly throughout dinner, Luke making his usual annoying comments and making me blush but Ashton laugh them off like he usually does.

"Let's play a board game before you go home, Ashton," Luke suggested and left the room while I did the dishes, Ashton helping cleanup.

We went into the living room to see Luke had set up Monopoly on the floor. I kept from panicking this time, and Ashton looked at me questioningly when he saw Luke's choice.

"It's okay," I nodded, and he wrapped his arm around me and kissed my forehead before we walked into the living room to join Luke.

We were about 20 minutes into the game, and we were all laughing and actually having a good time. I was just beginning to relax when I heard my phone ringing next to me.

I looked at the caller ID and frowned.

"Guys, I'm sorry, I have to take this," I said, leaving the room and answering my phone.

"Liam?" I said when I shut my door behind me in my room. "What's going on?" I knew he wouldn't be calling me if it weren't serious.

"Taylor, there's been an accident."

(A/N: last update until next year HAHAHAHAHA wow I'm so funny anyways happy New Year's Eve)