The Hand I'll Hold // AI

Chapter 12: It's Okay

I didn't dare let go of the doorknob. If I let go of the small amount of support, I was likely to fall due to my shaky knees. The longest amount of time I had no clue why such a thing would happen to me, and why Ashton insisted on feeling so strongly about a stupid kiss. I didn't want to think of him being jealous. Gosh! I didn't even want to think about him maybe even liking me, it would just make things so complicated.

The room was silent for too long. Luke's and Ashton's eyes were on me and that didn't help the fact that I was already nervous. I looked to Ashton and then to the floor trying to muster up what to say.

"I-I'm sorry, I couldn't wait outside for much longer." A pain shot through my side when I went to take a deep breath causing me to cringe. Ashton jogged over and walked me to a chair.

He stood above me for a little while, scanning me over with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Aye mate, that's creepy." Luke laughed in an attempt to break the silence we were residing in. Ashton knelt down in front of me and lifted my chin.

"Is your side still hurting, even with you sitting?" I shook my head 'no' and with that he got up.

"We should probably go home." Luke looked at Ashton with a surprised look on his face. He was speaking as if he had forgotten all about what had happened.

"Wait. No, we need to handle this." I grabbed his arm before he could walk away.

"We have handle this," He sent a smile to Luke, "Everything is fine."

"WE haven't." I looked him in the eyes, making sure to keep the pain from distorting my serious expression. Ashton got down to my level again and grabbed my hands.

"WE don't have anything wrong. Or do we?" He gave me a soft smile that I couldn't help but to melt over. Did we have something wrong? Or was I just making Luke's problem mine? To be honest, I wasn't even mad at Ashton and couldn't even think of something wrong that I had done. So, there really isn't anything wrong.

Giving back the smile, I slowly got up while holding my side, "Nope, I guess there isn't."

While I was gripped to Luke for support, Ashton scrambled to gather his things while he explained of how his phone died. Needless to say, he forgets to bring his charger and a lot of things like his wallet. It was quite amusing watching him run from one side of the practice room to the other while cursing under his breath letting us know that he lost something he JUST sat down.

Finally, Ashton was ready to leave. During the scramble he had actually managed to break a sweat, and good Lord that was too much to handle. As Luke was naming off things Ashton could've forgotten I took in his image. 6 feet of pure muscle, dimples, and curly hair. He was wearing his ripped Blink 182 shirt that hugged his biceps with his famous black skinny jeans where one leg was slightly rolled up. As him and Luke talked he tapped on his thighs (which are highly unappreciated by the female race).

"Ready to go, Zaria?" Luke poked my arm, taking me away from my fangirl observations.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah." I felt my cheeks heat up as I looked at the floor.

"Check him out when your sitting down, okay? When you zone out you become dead weight." Luke laughed and I heard Ashton softly giggle. Luke lent down and whispered in my ear with a huge smirk on his face, "You should come work out with us. I believe you'd enjoy it."

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Ashton's POV

Well... That was something.

I didn't realize that Luke would have the balls to come talk to me after what he did. It must have been Zaria's idea, because he wouldn't have apologized so soon. His change in demeanor was actually refreshing, seeing him act like he needed to apologize as soon as possible. I honestly believe Zaria is changing us. Even just being around Luke for a few days is changing him for the better, he seems to be much more soft than he was before. And me... Well, I honestly don't know how I have changed, but I can surely feel something different whenever I'm around her. That's probably why I acted so harshly after Luke kissed her.

At least everything is better now and we can all go back to be the happy trio in Kyoto. If I can just keep those damn crazy fangirls off her then everything would be absolutely 'perf', as she would put it. The thing I keep worrying about, though, is when the guys and I go on tour in a few months. We'll be gone for the majority of the year, and I won't be able to protect her while I'm gone... Unless...