Speak//Ashton Irwin

Chapter 9

Brooke:
"CINDERELLA, YOU SHALL GO TO THE BALL," Ashton announced, doing a little bow from his doorway." I jumped up in excitement, making Ashton laugh. "I'll change quickly then we can drop by yours so you can get ready." He pulled his top over his head. My head prickled, and I was sure I would be blushing.
Ashton didn't even seem to notice my discomfort. He just continued undressing. I didn't know where to look. What were the rules? Should I just carry on as normal or keep my eyes down until he had finished?
My scalp prickled when I heard something heavier than a t-shirt dropping to the floor. His jeans? Heat rushed to my cheeks. Was he only in his boxers? I felt like I should leave, but Ashton was between the door and me. When I heard him pick up his keys, I decided it was safe to look up.
"Ready then?" He asked, swinging his keys on his finger. I didn't acknowledge the question; I just got up and walked past him. We made our way downstairs and found our parents in the kitchen, drinking coffee around the island.
"We're going now," Ashton told them.
"Okay. You both have a good time. Ashton, please look after her and make sure she's home by eleven," Dad said, kissing my forehead. Eleven? I usually had to be home a lot earlier than that. What had gotten into him?
I looked up at him with my mouth hanging open. Was he really letting me out that late? He chuckled deeply and ruffled my hair.
"School holidays now and I guess I have to face up to the fact that you're not my little girl anymore."
His frown deepened towards the end of his little speech. It made me feel uncomfortable; I wrapped my arms around myself.
"You stay with Ashton the whole time and absolutely no alcohol." Dad's voice was stern, intimidating. However, no one ever mentioned anything. Maybe he was being normal and just seemed intimidating to me. I nodded in agreement and pulled on Ashton's arm to get him to leave.
Just as we reached the front door, Louis' hand flew out in front of us. "And where do you think you're going?" He questioned, raising his eyebrows challengingly.
"We're going to Mexico to elope," Aston muttered sarcastically, making me smile in amusement.
Louis glared at Ashton blankly.
"If you get her pregnant I will kill you!"
What?! Where on earth did that come from?
Ashton laughed and shook his head while I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
"Of course not! What's wrong with you?"
I frowned in hurt. What was that supposed to mean? I didn't want a baby but why was he so appalled by the idea? Appalled by the idea of being with me maybe? My eyes prickled and I desperately fought to stop myself from crying. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to be with me.
"You'd better not," Louis grumbled. "Look, if you two wanna start with the kissing and naked time, I get it, just don't hurt her."
I pushed past my idiot brother and speed-walked to Ashton's car. Going to a party was the last thing I wanted to do now. Between Louis and Aston, I now felt horrible. They didn't know anything though, so I couldn't blame them for how I felt.
"Good. Now don't have her out too late, and for god's sake, wear a condom!" I heard Louis yell after Ashton. I couldn't stay around while they joked about that stuff. Ashton hopped in the car and started the engine.
"Are you okay? Ignore your brother, he's an idiot."
I knew he was, but I just wished he wouldn't joke about things like that. I nodded and smiled, deciding that I wanted to enjoy the night. I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of me having some fun.
Ashton drove forward and stopped at my house. Smirking at how lazy he was for driving one house over, I opened my door.
As soon as I was in my room, I stripped out of my dress and grabbed a pair of jeans and a nice top. I wondered if now that Dad was accepting that I was growing up if he would let me wear make-up. I wanted to wear it, to look older. I didn't ever want to be seen as a child again.
"Brooke," Ashton shouted up the stairs, making me jump. How long had I been getting ready? It couldn't have been more than five minutes. Grabbing my black jumper, I ran out of the door.
We arrived at Ben's house and from the loud music and abandoned cars outside, the party was already in full swing. Excitement bubbled up inside me. I was determined to have fun and be a normal teenager for the night.
"Let's go, beautiful," Ashton said, smiling widely. How could he say one thing that made me feel like I was the last person he would ever want to be with, then something else that seemingly contradicted it? I hated that liking someone was so confusing.
Walking side-by-side towards the door, Ashton slung his arm over my shoulder. There were so many people crammed into the house, most of them were drinking in the lounge. Empty plastic cups and crumbled pieces of food were already scattered all over the floor.
Ashton pulled me through the crowd, saying hello as we walked past some of his friends, and into the kitchen.
"Ashton," Ben shouted, dragging Ashton's name out for a few seconds. "Hey, Brooke, you came too." Ben almost stumbled on the spot but managed to grab onto the worktop to stop himself from falling. "Get yourselves some punch, or there's beer, or punch, and I think some Jack. I think I drank it though. I dunno," he rambled, shrugging his shoulders.
"Okay, man." Ashton chuckled, tightening his arm around me and guiding me to the fridge. He grabbed us two Cokes and handed me one. He wasn't going to have a beer? Before the fridge door closed, I pointed to the bottles of Becks at the bottom. He shook his head.
"I have something very special to chauffeur home later." I rolled my eyes at him. That was just plain cheesy. Ashton chuckled and winked at me. I sipped my Coke and watched Ashton joking and messing around with his friends. It was nice seeing him play wrestling with Ben and teasing Kerry about her awful luck with men. However, as I watched him wrap his arm around Ben's neck, I couldn't help feeling a little envious.
"Wanna dance?" He asked casually, once he had gotten back to his feet after wrestling Ben to the beer-stained floor. I nodded and threw my empty can in the bin.
I held onto Ashton's hand tightly and pressed myself into his back as we pushed our way through the crowd. How did Ben even know that many people? He must have just put an open invitation on Facebook or something. There were way too many people here for the size of the house. I didn't envy Ben for having to clean up in the morning. I didn't really think parties were like the teen ones in movies, but this one certainly conformed to the stereotype.
No one seemed to even notice I was with Ashton, or they just didn't care. I felt light, like I was floating almost. Acceptance meant more to me than it probably should. I'd heard people at school say they didn't care about being accepted, but that was just because they already were.
Ashton finally stopped in a tiny bit of space near one of the speakers. I don't think he could have found a worse spot to dance; there was barely room for one person! It meant we were close. My chest was pressed against his, but I still felt comfortable. With growing confidence, I wrapped my arms around his neck. When he didn't push me away, I smiled.
The song changed to Beyoncé's 'Halo'. It was one of my favourite songs and reminded me so much of my relationship with Ashton. If it wasn't for him, I honestly didn't know what I would be like or how I would have coped. Without Ashton even knowing it, he kept me from falling apart.
Slowly, he bent his head and pressed his forehead to mine. Like every clichéd romance movie, everyone but us seemed to disappear. I wanted him to kiss me so much. All my insecurities of not being good enough for him vanished as his lips parted, just inches from mine.
After what felt like years, his soft lips brushed lightly against mine. I felt like my body was on fire, It was the most incredible feeling, almost overwhelming. His lips moved in time with mine, his hand behind my head, wrapping into my hair.
Suddenly, Ashton pulled away. Had I done something wrong? I followed where he was looking. A crowd had gathered around the stereo, which was now silent. I had been so caught up in the kiss that I hadn't even noticed the music had stopped.
Biting my lip, I forced myself to be brave and look up at Ashton. He was glaring at the stereo as if he wanted to murder it. I smiled at the thought of him not wanting to end the kiss either.
"Wanna go outside for a bit?" He asked, nodding his head towards the door. I started walking, and he followed. Okay, act normal: this is Ashton.
Ben's front garden was trashed too. The grass was littered with crisp packets, bottles, cans of alcohol and plastic cups. Spotting a clean space on the floor, I sat down cross-legged and waited for whatever was coming next. Ashton laid on his side in front of me, with his head perched on his hand. He didn't say anything, and usually that would be just fine, but this was a different kind of silence.
I picked at the blades of grass just to have something else to focus on. The awkwardness that fell over us was unbearable. The kiss meant so much to me, but it wasn't as important as having him in my life. Recently, it seemed like every now and then he wanted more, and other times like he was happy to be friends. I didn't understand why so many girls gushed about liking someone; it was just plain hard work. Lying down beside him, I bit my lip.
"Brooke?" He whispered softly, stroking my hair. His fingertips brushing over my cheek and down my jaw gave me goose bumps. "I can't wait to go on holiday with you." Neither could I, but I thought he was going to talk about what just happened, or were you not supposed to? Internally, I screamed in frustration... Why was all of this so confusing?
"You're sitting with me on the plane, by the way, and I'm stealing you every day." That sounded fine by me. Spending the whole two weeks with him was perfect.
"You want to go back inside and get another drink?" He asked, after being outside for a while. Things were completely back to normal. The kiss hadn't ruined anything, but I wasn't sure if it had changed anything either. I nodded and stood up.
"Ashton!" Ben shrieked, stumbling towards us. We had literally just walked through the front door. He must have sobered up slightly; he was steadier on his feet but still had a lopsided smile and glazed over eyes. "Wanna do shots?"
"I told you I wasn't drinking," Ashton responded, punching Ben's arm. Was I responsible for Ben losing a drinking partner?
We followed Ben back to the kitchen and Ashton got all three of us a Coke, saying Ben needed to sober up more to be ready to clean before his parents arrived home. A red can flew towards me. I only just managed to catch it before it hit my stomach. Rolling my eyes at Ashton, I held the can upright and very still before I dared to open it. I didn't need the embarrassment of having Coke explode in my face. Ashton laughed and shook his head. Suddenly, he grabbed me around my waist and turned me so he could rest his chin on my shoulder. I did a little happy dance in my head.
After only a few seconds, one of his friends pulled me away and scowled at him.
"I'm Kerry," she announced. "I've been waiting for Ashton to introduce us, but he's clearly trying to keep you all to himself."
I smiled at her, and she launched into telling me stories of Ashton and Ben doing stupid dares at school. making me smile. Kerry's fun, happy personality was infectious. It was impossible not to like her. She spoke to me as if we had been friends for years. There were never any awkward questions, and she didn't try finding out what was wrong. She just accepted who I was and got on with it. She spoke a lot, but that was actually perfect. We balanced each other out. I hoped that she wasn't just being polite.
Occasionally, her eyes would flick to Ben, and when she saw Mary on his lap, she frowned so slightly that I almost missed it. Over the years, I had gotten used to reading people's expressions more than most. There would always be hushed whispers when I was around, especially from my mum as she tried to figure out what was wrong with me.
Once Kerry's attention was back on me, I raised my eyebrow. She blushed, knowing that I had caught her staring. She definitely liked Ben and he clearly liked her, too.
"I'll get us another drink," she muttered, turning and rushing towards the fridge. I didn't expect her to be shy about something like that; she was so outgoing.
I caught Ashton's attention, looked between Kerry and Ben and smiled.
"You want to play cupid?" He pulled me back into his arms. "Good luck with that. You've got to get Mary off him first, and she's like a fucking praying mantis!" "Wanna go for a walk, Brooke?" Kerry asked, already grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Ashton. Whoa, why so keen to get me away?
I followed her out to the back garden and sat down on a bench. No one else was out the back. It was quite big but full of children's ride-on bikes, games, and toys. It looked like a toy store had been dumped in the garden.
At first I sat a little stiffly, playing with my fingers because I felt awkward being completely alone with her for the first time. "Okay, so I really, really like Ben. He's just so..." she trailed off, sighing. "So sweet, funny, amazing, caring, generous and so gorgeous!" Her dark green eyes lit up as she spoke about him; it was nice to see. It was probably how I looked whenever I thought about Ashton. "I know I should tell him but I just can't. I mean, what if he's not interested? It would be so embarrassing if he turned me down. I should just do it though, right? Oh, maybe I can down a few shots and kiss him! That way if he pushes me off I can just blame it on the drink!" She said, smiling proudly at her plan. I couldn't imagine him not being interested in her. Not only was she pretty but she was funny and sweet, too.
"Okay, so before we go back inside and I can get started on Operation Kiss Ben; we should talk about you and Ashton. Are you two together?" Now who was embarrassed? I shook my head. Why did we need to talk about me? "But you want to be! I can see how you two look at each other and seriously, he talks about you all the time. It's so cute. You want to be with him, right?"
He talks about me all the time? All the time? That must mean he likes me, even just a little bit. You didn't think about just anyone all the time.
"Brooke?" Kerry wheedled, looking at me expectantly. Oh, I hadn't answered her question. I gave a little nod of my head, confirming that I did like Ashton.
She squealed and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. "Come on then! Let's go get our men!"
I cringed. Go and get our men? Maybe admitting it to her wasn't a good idea after all. Who knows what she had planned. There was no way I was getting drunk and kissing Ashton. I would rather wait and let things happen naturally. If anything was going to happen. I didn't think she would say anything to him though.
On the way back into the house, Kerry spoke constantly, and I couldn't have been happier to listen to her gushing about Ben's abs! Having a girl friend that wasn't bitchy was something that I definitely wanted. Hanging out with Kerry, even for such a short period of time, made me realise what I had been missing.
"I'm nervous." She smiled, gritting her teeth, and pushed us through the crowd that had gathered by the door. Ashton was still in the same place, leaning against the kitchen counter.
I took a deep breath as we approached them. My heart went wild as his eyes landed on mine. Yep, I was definitely falling for him.