The Chase ▹ Ashton Irwin

CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE

My eyes heavily opened, blinking a few times to the sound of faint voices. The room was dark and I was under familiar smelling sheets. They smelled like fresh laundry detergent and that one boy I'm in love with. I recognized the dark room I was in to be Ashton's bedroom, and I recognized the moon's position in the sky that it was still the middle of the night. I looked over to the door, to see a faint light shining through the crack underneath it. I also recognized the voices to be Ashton, and his grandmother.

"Just let her stay." Ashton's voice said.

"I don't see why," His grandmother replied. "What was with all the yelling?"

"Just...." His voice trailed off. "...Please, just a few days."

"Days?" She replied, her voice full of shock. "Ashton, we can't just keep someone else's child in our home."

"Our home?" He asked. "Might as well call it her home, too."

"Ashton. As much as I like and respect her, we can't just let her stay with us for no reason."

"No reason?" He snarled. I heard a rushed hushing noise come from his grandmother, and then Ashton's voice grew quieter. "Please, Gram?"

"She has her own home, Ashton. I can't take posession of someone else's daughter."

"I don't care," He said harshly. "She's not going back there. Not for at least a couple days, okay?"

There was a long moment of silence, and I wasn't sure if I should get up and see what was going on. Maybe I'm dreaming. I felt my eyes close again, and I wrapped my arms around the pillow and burried my face into it. I wanted to call out to Ashton to come back into the bed because I was starting to feel lonelier by the second.

"...Mum would let her stay." Ashton's voice finally said. With that, I fell back to sleep.

...

"Brooke?" I heard a familiar and perfect voice beside me. I slowly opened my eyes to see Ashton's staring into mine from beside the bed. His face was level with mine as he sat down on the floor next to me. I blinked a few times, and a tired smile appeared on my face. A small smiled crept onto his face too, and we both reached over to join our fingers together.

"Hi Ashton." I said softly.

"Hi Brooke." He replied, leaning over to rest his chin on the matress next to me. His thumb gently rubbed over the top of my hand, and we touched lips for a couple breif seconds. For some reason, I was completely relaxed, calmed, and tranquil. Much different from last night.

Last night...? What even happened last night?

"What time is it?" I asked, raising my head and looking down to see he was wearing skinny jeans and a band tshirt. How long has he been out of the bed?

"It's like, 1:30pm," Ashton replied. "I had to run some errands and go to an emergency band meeting. Sorry about that." He leaned closer to me and placed his hand on my back, rubbing little circles on my skin.

"It's okay," I said. "Can you come back to bed." I burried my face into the pillow, tugging at his arm. Ashton chuckled, but opened the covers and scooted me over, settling down next to me.

"Comfy in your skinny jeans?" I laughed.

"Very," He replied, draping his arm over my back. "You okay?"

"Yes...?" I replied. I guess it's time to get home-

Oh right, home. Memories about what last night was all about instantly dawned into my brain, and I immidiately regretted thinking about it. A knot formed in my stomach, and I could tell half of me was disgusted by what I discovered about 12 hours ago, and the other half just couldn't believe it all. Now that I do think about it, I don't want to go home. I can't go home.