On The Line (Ashton Irwin)

Chapter 6- Now

Chapter 6- Now

-Ashton's POV-

"Ashton," a voice called, and I turned, seeing Madison standing there, in a flowing white dress, looking at me. After a couple seconds I registered what the dress was: it was a wedding dress. And looking down at myself, I noticed I was indeed wearing a tux.

"Maddy," I breathed, trying to reach for her.

"Ashton," she said again, smiling and running up to me, hugging me, and I hugged her back, never wanting to let her go.

"Ash?" she asked, giggling. "I mean, I know the ceremony ended, and I haven't seen you since we were pronounced man and wife, but it's only been fifteen minutes." she giggled, her laugh that I'd missed so much.

 "Man and wife?" I asked in a whisper, and she pulled away from the hug, looking a bit confused.

"Um, yeah?" she said. "We're married now, remember? I still can't get over that." she said, returning to her million-dollar smile. "Hi Husband," she murmured.

"Maddy, you're... you can't be." I said, shaking my head, never taking my eyes off of her.

"Ashton, I'm right here." she said, still confused.

"You were in a coma, Maddy." I said, nearly freaking out.

"Coma?" she asked, giggling, but then stopped when she saw my freaked out expression, my arms still wrapped tightly around her waist and hers wrapped around my neck.

"You were in a car accident, and then Luke and I flew back from LA to see you." I told her. "How are you here now?"

"I never left you, Ash." she said. "Have you been drinking?"

"No, no God no." I told her, shaking my head.

"Not even chocolate milk?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." I trailed off, shrugging, and she laughed again.

"Seriously Ash, I'm alright." she said.

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

"Maybe you dreamt the whole coma thing." she suggested. "Remember that time you had chocolate milk before bed and woke up the next morning claiming that Luke was a T-Rex and Cal was turned into Winnie the Pooh?"

"I remember," I nodded. "But Maddy, I'm not sure. This... can't be real."

"Ashton," she said again. "Ashton, Ash, wake up."

"Wake up," Luke said, nudging me again, and I lifted my head from the pillow, raising a hand to my face to wipe the fallen tears from my cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I asked him groggily, pulling the hood from my sweatshirt off my head.

"I don't know." Luke said. "I was asleep on the couch, and then suddenly you started screaming hysterically screaming, and calling Maddy's name."

For the first moment, I realized how dark it was outside. "What time is it?" I asked him.

He shrugged, pulling his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants and checking the time. "Two-thirty."

"I had a dream about her." I said, crossing my legs on the bed and Luke sat next to me, one arm around my shoulders and his other hand brushing a few stray strands of hair out of my eyes. "Maddy," I choked out, tears still falling as I reached up to brush them away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Luke asked.

I nodded. "She was calling my name." I started, and Luke smirked a little bit.

"So she was screaming your name, huh?" Luke asked, and I nudged him with my shoulder.

"Shut up, Luke."

"Sorry," the blonde boy said, rubbing my back once more. "Go on,"

"Anyways, she was in a wedding dress, and then I looked down to see that I was in a tux." I continued. "It was fifteen minutes after we were pronounced man and wife."

"Congrats man," Luke said.

"It was a dream you dick."

"I'm just going to stop talking." Luke said.

"Anyways," I said again. "I didn't understand why she was there. After all, for all I knew she was still in the coma. But she didn't know anything about it, said I was probably dreaming it, like that time I dreamed you were a T-Rex and Cal was Pooh. I told her that I didn't think it was a dream, and then she was telling me to wake up. But it was just you speaking I was hearing, but in the dream it was her saying it, if that even makes sense."

"It makes sense." Luke said. "So that was all?"

"Yeah," I said. "But I don't know if I can go back to sleep."

"Well," he said, yawning. "I can stay in here with you if you want." he poked my cheek softly. "Cuddle?" he asked, and I smiled, one of my first smiles since coming home.

"Sure," I said, and started to lie down again, but Luke stopped me.

"First, bro, you've gotta eat something." Luke said, and I shook my head.

"Not hungry," I told him.

"Yes you are, Ash." Luke said. "You just don't realize it. When was the last time you ate anything?"

"That one sandwich bite I had when you came in the room saying my mum was on the phone?" I said, shrugging.

"Ashton, that was two days ago." Luke said. "Come on, mate,"

Luke took my hand, dragging me into the kitchen, and I took a seat at the bar that stood in front of the small kitchen area. Luke rummaged through the pantry that Madison always had stocked before pulling out two pieces of bread and a jar of Nutella, putting the bread in the toaster and tapping his hands on the counter to some off-beat rhythm while he waited.

When it was done, he smeared Nutella on the two pieces of toast, setting them on a plate in front of me.

"Eat," he instructed after I sat there for a moment, just staring at the two toasted slices of bread, and I finally did, eating them quickly.

"Happy now?" I asked him, sighing, and he smiled, nodding twice.

"Extremely," he said. "Now come on, Ash, let's get you back to bed, and we'll head off to the hospital first thing when we wake up."

"Alright," I said, trailing after Luke towards my room, where I shut off the light and crawled under the sheets, the only thing that I could feel was Luke and I having our arms wrapped around each other as I tried drifting off to sleep again, thoughts of Madison invading my mind.

"I really miss her," I whispered into the darkness.

"I know you do," Luke said. "But she'll be okay, Ash. I promise."

"Please don't ever break your promise," I said, more tears falling. "Please, just don't break that promise."