The Chase ▹ Ashton Irwin

CHAPTER FOURTY FOUR

"Can you come with me to the office, this morning?" My father asked as I walked into the kitchen. I was surprised to see him, because he's usally gone by this time in the morning. My mom wasn't home, and I felt an odd feeling in the air.

"Oh, yeah, sure." I smiled, opening up the fridge. "I need to, anyway."

"Great! We'll go in about half am hour. Freshen up." He replied. He left the kitchen and I poured myself some cereal. As I sat down at my table, replying to Ashton's last text to me, my little brother walked in the room. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and I gave him a small nod.

"Why do mom and dad always fight?" He asked. I tilted my head to the side and furrowed my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I always hear them yelling or using harsh tones really early in the morning," He replled. "They always wake me up. You're always asleep, though."

My gulped, and almost choked on my Special K. I thought about that for a moment, and I almost thought he was fucking with me. "Steven not now." I said.

"I'm serious!" He whined. "Talk to them or something."

"Why don't you?" I sapped. "If it bugs you so much."

"You're older." Steven said. He grabbed an apple off the counter and walked off. I eyed him until he left the room. 

...

"Are you doing anything tonight?" My father asked as we pulled out of my driveway. My mind instantly went to Ashton.

"Yeah," I replied. "With Ashton."

"Still haven't met him." My dad said, his eyes glued to the road infront of us.

"You will eventually, dad." I said, rolling my eyes. The rest of the car ride was silent and kind of uncomfotable, but I just texted Ashton to keep my mind off of the awkwardness.

"Where are we going tonight?" I asked.

"Its a surprise" he replied. 

"give me a hint, pleaassssee?"

"do you like milkshakes?"

"what? yes of course i do"

"okay. good :-)"

I laughed to myself, and looked out the window to see my dad pulling the car into the underground parking lot of his office. This place kind of reminds me of that old building Ashton showed me. You know, with all the stars and really nice views? I followed my dad into the lobby, and was greeted by some of his collegues.

I spent the next couple of hours doing the usual. I make copies, help set up web prodcasts, fetch coffee for my dad's secrataries. Everyone in the building knows me, and are really nice to me. Probably because my dad is their boss, but it was still nice and warm inside this place. I always get asked when I'm gonna start getting paid for this, and then answer is always the same: when I turn 18. I'll be 18 by next August, so I've still got a while to go. But, I liked this, so it didn't bug me much that I didn't get paid. I kept my phone on me, texting Ashton throughout the day. We just talked about random stuff, and it made time fly by really fast. Ashton's fun to text, because he says the weirdest things to keep the conversation going. I liked that about him.

Before I knew it, it was almost 4:30pm. Ashton told me he was going to pick me up around 7:00, so I had a while to kill once we got home. I thanked my dad for letting me come with him, and headed up to my room to get all my homework done and over with. I thought about that I would wear, and I decided to go with that new outfit I got at the mall with Natalie. The shirt kind of showed off my stomach, maybe thats a good thing.