Painting Flowers // Ashton Irwin [au]

Forty

Emilia's POV

I struggle to clasp my necklace around my neck. When I finally do, I hold the pendent between my fingers and smile at the thought of him. After years of spending all my time lost in my own thoughts without a care or need to hear the voices or feel the presence of others, I've come to learn how lonely that can be. I haven't felt this way in a while. It's not unbearable and it's only temporary, but loneliness is an unwelcomed visitor that I can't wait to kick out of this apartment.

I step out of my bedroom and head directly across to Julia's old one like I've been doing since she left. It has been an adjustment living without her. A few months ago, after I finished my finals, I came home to a nearly empty apartment. All of Julia's stuff disappeared from her bedroom and most of the living room furniture was taken. The only remaining piece was the hideous red couch I never liked, yet I was so grateful she had left it for me.

She moved out without any warning and left the apartment to me and Ashton. She's now temporarily living with Calum in the boys' house, and she has taken over Ashton's old bedroom. It was a rushed situation and I would have preferred if she had spoken to me about it first; however, it gave me and Ashton the kick we needed to move in together.

He moved in the same day Julia moved out (she was determined to make herself at home that very day) and he helped fill in a lot of the empty space that was left behind. The first night was the most awkward we'd ever been together. It was such a rapid shift from frequently spending the night at each other's place to living together twenty-four seven. It was quiet when we ate dinner; it was quiet when we watched TV; it was quiet when we lay in my bed—our bed, now. We were completely unprepared and didn't know what to do with ourselves, but it became easier after the first week.

There are still times when it's hard for us, though. By living together, we've learned new things about each other that we didn't quite see eye-to-eye on, and that caused a lot of fights between us. It was mainly over stupid things, like habits that peeved us.

Ashton always leaves his dirty clothes lying on the bathroom floor instead of tossing them in the laundry basket. He also tends to leave his clothes in the washer or dryer when I need to use them, which led to the development of a laundry schedule. As for me, Ashton doesn't like it when I load the dishwasher because apparently I do it wrong. He also hates when I leave food out on the kitchen counters overnight even though it's because I genuinely forget to put it away.

There were nights when we wouldn't speak to each other, and one fight resulted in Ashton choosing to sleep in the living room. We're still learning how to adapt to each other's living style, and some days are easier than others, but we love being able to come home to each other.

When Ashton moved in, Julia's old bedroom became his makeshift studio. A lot of his work hangs on the walls, taking up almost every inch of the surface and turning the walls into a piece of art itself. Most of what is displayed is from his old sketchbooks that his mom mailed not long after we returned from Australia. He and I flipped through each one and he made me pick and choose which sketches were worthy of going into his portfolio and which were the 'rejects.' I, of course, couldn't label any as 'rejects' and tried to convince him to put them all in his portfolio. He said no. I obliged.

Some work is unfinished and has been set to the side while others are displayed in all their glory. One in particular always makes me smile. Surrounded by all his sketches and paintings is a single photograph. Children wearing hospital gowns crowd around Ashton to fit into frame. They all stand in front of my painting, beaming with liveliness.

The photo was taken at a children's hospital in Chicago, where Ashton accepted the job to paint a mural. He spent almost a month there to complete it, and even though it was an amazing oceanic painting that stretched along the walls in the waiting room, the children were won over by the painted wings that were placed in the patient play area.