The Chase ▹ Ashton Irwin

CHAPTER FOURTY FIVE

"Can you tell me where we're going?" I asked as I hopped into Ashton's red truck. Ashton chuckled to himself and shoved his keys into the slot. "Its a surprise!" He said happily. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Ashton pulled off my street and I turned on the radio. It was some song I didn't recognize, but Ashton's face lit up.

"I fucking love this song." He said, instantly starting to tap his fingers to the beat perfectly. The song was actually kind of good, from what I could tell.

"What song is it?" I asked. Ashton looked at me, almost shocked.

"What?!" He said. "I must say, Brooke Anderson, you have a shitty taste in music. It's Jimmy Eat World!"

"Jimmy Eat World?" I asked. "Thats a rather weird for name, don't you think?"

"Better than my band's name," Ashton laughed. "If we had a name."

"Maybe you should make me a mix tape, if you think I have shitty taste in music." I said with a smile. I would actually love to see what songs Ashton would put on a mix tape to give me. Ashton stopped at a red light and looked at me, his eyes full of interest.

"You know what?" Ashton said. "I should."

"Yes, you should," I replied. "Now tell me where we're going!" By now we were in a part of town I had no idea existed. It was just an ordinary kind of neighborhood, not too poor or too rich, just in the middle. I liked that.

"Don't you like surprises?" Ashton chuckled. "No worries Lovey, we're almost there!"

Ashton took a turn into an almost empty parking lot, with a 50s looking cafe at the other side of the open area. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as Ashton pulled into a parking space. "This place has the best milkshakes." Ashton said as I stepped out of the car. The dusk air was hot and dry, and a milkshake actually sounded very nice right now.

"Oooh, so that's why you asked me." I laughed as I put my hand in his, my small fingers inbetween his. I looked up to the sign of the cafe, to see it was called "Marie's." Hey, like my middle name! We walked in, and the place probably had about 7 other customers. It must not be a busy night. I followed Ashton to an empty booth, where I let go of his hands to take a seat across from him.

"Now, we wait." Ashton said with a smile.

"Do you come here often?" I asked.

"I haven't been here for a while, actually," Ashton replied. "I've been scoping the rest of the city to find a place that has better milkshakes than here. I haven't found one yet."

"What are you, some kind of a milkshake critic?" I laughed.

"I'd like to go by certified milkshake enthusiast, thank you very much." Ashton joked. A waitress wearing typical 50s diner clothes walked over to us a notepad and pen in hand. She greeted us with a smile.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Banana milkshake." Ashton said almost instantly. I tried not to start laughing. The waitress wrote that down on her pad of paper, and looked to me.

"Uh...chocolate milkshake?" I asked.

"Alright!" the waitress said. "I'll be right back." She walked away, and we both instantly started laughing as soon as she was out of ear-shot.

"Really Ashton?" I asked. "Banana?"

"You act like I'm not Australian!" Ashton laughed. "I'm impressed with you. Chocolate is much better than vanilla. Way more of a bolder choice."

"Thank you for your expertise." I said. We both laughed and continued to talk about random stuff, like always. He asked me about The Great Gatsby, and if I liked it or not (we just finished it in class before break). He didn't bother to read it with the class, probably because he can probably recite the whole book word by word. Minutes went by before the waitress came back, two huge milkshakes in her hands. Ashton's eyes widened slightly at the site of his banana shake. I smiled to myself because he looked really cute.

"Thanks." I smiled at her. Ashton was already too busy sucking the living shit out of the milkshake, his eyes closed.

"Slow down there." I laughed. Ashton took his mouth off of the straw and chuckled. "You don't understand!" he said, dimples visable. I took a small sip out of my chocolate milkshake, and swallowed politely. It was actually so fucking good.

"Yummy." I smiled. Ashton raised his eyebrows.

"Thats it?" He groaned. "You're such a girl sometimes."

"Why yes, I am a girl, thank you for noticing." I said sarcastically. I laughed and took a bigger sip. "ITS FUCKING DELICIOUS."

"There we go!" Ashton cheered, a cheeky smile on his face. "Watch this." He said. He blew into his shake. A thick bubbled appeared at the surface, and slowly popped, the yellow-white bend of milk and icecream splashing onto his nose. I let giggled and reached over the table wiping it off with a napkin.

"You try it," Ashton joked. "Its quite refeshing."

I shyly put my mouth on my straw, and blew into mine as well. The same thing happened, only for me it pretty much exploded all over my cheeks and forehead. Ashton cracked up, his high-pitched giggle seemed to echoe through the room.

"Oh my God," I laughed, wiping my face down with the other side of the napkin. "Never again."

"Diffidently need more practice," Ashton said. "Might I suggest a more subtle blow?"

"I don't need your stupid milkshake tips!" I replied, both of us breaking out in laughter. I looked around to see the few people in the cafe looking at us like we were idiots, probably because we were. Ashton looked around as well, his big green eyes darting around the room, the smile still plastered on his face. He looked back at me, and our eyes met. We just looked at each other for a couple seconds, then I decided to change the subject of the conversation.

"Fun fact," I said, taking another sip of my milkshake. "My middle name is Marie."

"Really?" Ashton asked. I nodded.

"Fletcher." He said with a wave of his hand. I giggled, because that name suited him quite well.

"Don't laugh at me!" He laughed, a fake pout on his face.

"I'm not! Its cute," I replied with a smile. "I like it."

Ashton chuckled and we both fell silent again, probably because we were both fully engaged to these amazing motherfucking milkshakes. I took a big sip out of mine, and looked up at Ashton. His messy brown hair seemed to cover his face as he contnued to drink more an more of his banana milkshake. A banana milkshake, how typical of him. He looked up at me, and we both smiled at one another.

Again, we fell silent.

"You're so pretty." He said suddenly. I was surprised he said that all of a sudden, but it made my heart race and my hands sweat. In a good way, of course.

"Oh stop it." I replied, smiling.

"I'm serious!" Ashton said. "You know that, right?"

"Well..." My voice trailed off, because I didn't know how to respond to that. I've never been one of those people that think they're the hottest piece of shit around, but I've also never had anyone tell me that I was pretty.

"Well what?" Ashton said. He suddenly sounded pretty serious. "You're fucking perfect. No matter how much chocolate icecream you get on your face." His words were followed with smile creeping onto his face. I smiled as well, and we bot leaned over the table and kissed each other softly.

"You done?" Ashton asked. I nodded, and waited for Ashton to pay for our shakes. We got up out of the booth and walked out, my hand in his.

"We should go there again." I remarked.

"Oh diffidently," Ashton replied, kissing the top of my head. "Should we go to Michael's?"

I looked down at my phone to see it was only 8:45. "Sure!" I said happily. I climbed into the passanger seat of Ashton's truck, and texted my mom, saying I will be home later than planned.

...

"HELLO." Ashton said loudly, pushing the door to Michael's house open. It smelled like smoke in here, and I could hear Calum and Natalie's voice.

"In here!" Michael's voice said from the kitchen. My guess was that niether of Michael's parents were home. I followed Ashton into the kitchen, to see Michael at the table, along with Calum, Natalie, and Syndey (the girl from the party).

"Thanks for the invite." Ashton said as we sat down on the couch next to the table.

"I texted you, you fucker." Michael replied. He tossed us two cigarrettes and a lighter. I lit my own, and shoved it into my mouth, settling down onto Ashton's lap.

"Oh, well its out of battery." Ashton replied. He drew in smoke, and tilted his head up, blowing a grey cloud into the air. I leaned over and kissed his neck, blowing smoke out of my mouth as well.

"That was really hot." Ashton said quietly. I felt his hand go onto my back, and he rubbed little circles on me.

"We can hear you." Michael said, looking over at us. Ashton shrugged and kissed me again.

"Well don't worry guys," Natalie said. I guess she was continuing with the conversation she was having before Ashton and I walked in. "You'll find a lead singer soon."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Sounds like they're talking about the band?" Ashton said, turning his head towards the table.

"Yeah," Michael replied. "I finished the chords to Gotta Get Out, by the way.

"We." Calum added.

"Sweet." Ashton groaned with a sloppy smile. I turned to him, and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I'd love to hear it sometime." I said.

"We could show you guys right now?" Calum proposed.

"Do you still have your box drum?" Ashton asked Michael. Michael nodded, and got up. I stood up, helping Ashton to his feet. "Hold this for me, Lovey." He said as he handed me his cigarette. Ashton, Michael, and Calum all walked to the other room briefly. I decided to join Natalie and Sydney at the table.

"Have you heard them play?" Natalie asked. I shook my head no. "Well," I said. "I've heard Ashton play once before."

I thought back to that one time I was at Ashton's place, and he showed me his box drum and his lovely voice while we were supposed to be working on math.

"I haven't yet." Sydney said. I turned to her and smiled. "So, you and Michael?" I asked. Sydney's cheeks went red.

"Yeah," she smiled. "He's amazing."

We all three continued to talk until the boys walked back into the room. Michael and Calum both carried acoustic guitars, Ashton dragged a box drum behind him. They settled down in the sitting room, Calum and Michael on the couch with Ashton on his box in between them. We joined them, sitting on the couch across from them.

"Okay, play for us!" I smiled. Ashton looked at both Calum and Michael, and nodded. Ashton snapped his fingers three times, and Michael played a soft melody with his guitar, joined by Calum after a couple seconds. Ashton's hands lightly tapped on the box, and beautiful beat was formed.

"Even when the sky is falling down," Calum said. His voice was soft and sweet, and it sound really nice. "Even when the earth crumbling around my feet..."

"Even when we try to say goodbye, you can cut the tention with a knife in here..." Michael's voice started, and together they created a really good melody. My eyes were glued to Ashton, his taping hands, and his pursed lips as he moved his head back and fourth and tapped his foot to the beat.

"Cause I know what'll happen, if we get through this..." Michael and Calum sang again. Then, Ashton's voice came in and it sounded perfect.

"And if the earth ends up crumbling down to its knees, baby. We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out... And if the sky scrapers tumble down, crash around, baby. We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out."

Their voices all sounded beautiful together. They didn't need a lead singer at all, in my opinion. They all seemed to keep the beat going perfectly, all of their voices sounding amazing together. My eyes stayed on Ashton the entire song. He had a little smile on his face, yet he managed to stay focused and compelled. His foot tapped on the floor along with the beat he was making, and his arm muscles flexed under his t-shirt. He looked cute, sexy, relaxed, and happy. I liked that a lot, and I could tell this kind of stuff is better than art and books to him.

Once the song had finished, we all clapped for them. The song was actually very beautiful, I must say.

"Whatya think?" Ashton asked.

"Its perfect!" Natalie replied with a smile. "Like honestly, I love it."

I drew more smoke into my system and blew it out. Michael looked over to Sydney, and she smiled.

"You guys have so much talent." she said, her eyes glued to Michael's

"You guys are gonna be famous one day." I said. Calum chuckled.

"Its a long shot..." He said.

"But its way better than college." Ashton finished with a smile. The room fell silent again. I looked over to Ashton, and he groaned and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm like, already tired." he said.

"Thank God its break." Natalie remarked. Calum strummed his guitar once and looked up. "Too bad these things always go by so quick." he said.

"Fuck, I know," I agreed. "Its like they give us a little tast of summer then they just rip it out of our grasps."

"Little bastards." Ashton laughed.

"But then again," Natalie said, adding to the discussion. "Summer is short as fuck too."

"Yeah thats true, too." I replied. I looked over to Ashton, but he was looking into the abyss, at nothing in particular, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Ash?" I asked. He didn't answer. The room went dead silent again, and I was about to ask Ashton if he was alright, because it looked to me like he was in some sort of trance.

"5 Seconds of Summer." He suddenly blurted out. The room instantly went quiet and I had no idea what the hell was going on. Ashton's eyes looked up to Calum and Michael, and they all 3 just stared at eachother for probably about 20 seconds. Ashton's slumped back perked up, and they're gazes just darted back to one another, as if their eyes could communicate.

"Holy shit Ashton," Calum finally said. "That's fucking perfect."

"Damn." Michael added.

"SAVE THE TWITTER NAME." Ashton yelled, pretty much falling off of his box. He ran into the other room, followed by Michael and Calum.

"I think we just witnessed the formation of 5 Seconds of Summer." Natalie laughed.