Speech |a.f.i au|

1.1

"Hey babe," I say before he pushes past me and into my house. My mom was at work and Madi went out with Abbey. I was invited but I turned down the offer. I knit my eyebrows together and closed the door, turning around.

"Okay, what's up with you?" Ashton is sitting down on the couch, his head in his hands.

It has been two weeks since my last Speech and Debate competition, where my panic attack occurred. I told Mr. Winston that I'd like to take the part of being his assistant and he gladly accepted. As for Abbey and her family, they made a deal to not press charges as long as Tyson and his girlfriend didn't press any against Luke and Madi.

Luke did not do nearly as much damage to Jordan's face, unlike Madi, who did break his girlfriend's nose.

Everything seems to be fine. A few days ago, my dad did Skype my mom and me, just to tell us that he might not be able to talk with us as often as he had been. Though, during our call, I was able to introduce him to Madi, who told him about Ashton, which he was both happy and unhappy about. Happy that I was happy and with a good guy and unhappy because he doesn't trust "boys".

A sigh lets out from between my lips and I make my way to Ashton, wondering how he was feeling and why he was feeling the way he did.

I sit beside him, pressing the pads of my fingers to his back before tracing incoherent figures. His muscles were tense but began to relax under my touch.

A few minutes pass by until Ashton shrugs off my touch and turns to me. His eyes are red and tears roll down from his cheeks. I reach my hands up, placing them on either side of his cheeks, using my thumbs to wipe his tears.

"What's wrong?" I ask but he breaks down into tears, resting his head on my chest. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, feeling his curls tickle my chin.

"I hate myself so much, Rene. So, so, so much." His sobs get louder and I can feel tears begin to brim my eyes before I rapidly blink them away. Ashton has always struggled with the way he looked, much like I did. We've always been completely honest with each other, but one question I still haven't asked was why he took a sudden interest in me.

When his loud sobs turned into quiet sniffles, he lifted himself off of me. The tears he cried that had seeped into my blue, long sleeve, making parts of the fabric stick to my skin. He coughed a few times before turning himself around towards me.

"I did something, Rene. Something really bad." I can feel my stomach turn, my hands start to tremble and sweat. I try to ignore the rapid increase of my heart rate.

"Wh-what did you.. do?" my anxiety has crept its way from my hands to my speech. He shakes his head before a shaky breath comes from between his soft lips.

"It wasn't supposed to go this far." he begins to cry again and at this point, I can't tell if I'm going to burst into tears or vomit. "Rene, I really like you and I really meant everything I said, even when I said all those, I love you's. But I don't want you to find this out unless it comes from me." I nod my head, making sure I'd hear him out. My dad always taught me to hear people out before you make an assumption.

"I'm list-stening." I stammer, leaning back onto the couch. I take in a deep breath and Ashton does the same before opening his mouth.

"It was after the Speech and Debate meeting you first went to. Luke and I were going to his house. I asked him about you." Ashton pauses before sandwiching my hand between his large ones. "We made a bet." I gasp, ripping my hand a way from his and covering my mouth. I can feel my veins ignite with anger. I bite my tongue, refraining from screaming.

"The bet was that if I couldn't get you to be normal, then I'd owe him seventy-five dollars and if I won and I was able to give you a normal teenage life, then he'd owe me a hundred. Rene, I'm so sorry. But after I started recognizing that I had feelings for you, I quickly turned down the bet and so did Luke. He feels awful and I do too. What I did is so fucked up and I'm sorry, Rene." I rub my hands against my face before taking another deep breath.

It was one of those deep breaths you take before you negatively react to something. Ashton lets me collect my thoughts and I think of all the scenarios that could be if Ashton and Luke hadn't made such a stupid bet. I wouldn't have gotten better with my stutter and I definitely wouldn't have made the friends I do now. Though these were the positives, what Ashton did still was wrong.

"Stand up," I tell him and he obeys. I stand up as well and I look up at him.

"Please don't end us, I can't-" I cut him off before he can say anymore and slap him across the face. His head turns from my force and he brings his hands up to cover his bright red cheek.

"I'm not breaking up with you, but you definitely deserved that." I nod my head and chuckle. I watch the corners of his mouth turn upwards.

"I totally did," Ashton says before engulfing me in a hug. "So do you accept my apology?" I nod my head before I feel him lift my feet off the ground and spin me. He sets me down and I look up at the tall man.

"I'm still mad at you and I want Luke to apologize as well, but I do forgive you." Ashton grabs my hands and pulls me into him, planting a kiss on my lips.

I run my hands down his waist and I pinch his butt. He immediately jumps back and I can feel my cheeks begin to get hot.

"Don't do that! That tickles!" he screeches, rubbing his behind with his hands.

"Your ass is ticklish?" he sheepishly mumbles a yes and I start to laugh.

"Stop laughing at me!" his cheeks are the same color as mine and I walk over to him.

"You're so weird," I shake my head at him before laying down on the couch. My head turns so I can see what Ashton is doing.

He's just staring at me and smiling like a doofus with one of his hands on the cheek from where I slapped him.

"You hit really hard," he tells me. I shrug my shoulders and look up at the ceiling, thinking of every thing that just happened.

A few seconds later, I feel part of the couch dip and I look up and see that Ashton is crawling up towards me, a devilish smirk playing at his lips.

He uses one of his hands to guide up part of my inner thigh and I start to squirm, that was until he moved his hand away. When he got up to where we could both stare each other in the eyes, he pinned his hands on either side of my head.

"Irwin," my tone is assertive, but I know I don't want him to stop. His lips press against my neck, causing goose bumps to rise on my arms and legs. I turn my head to give him more access. He rests his lower half on top of me while he uses his fingers to trace figures on my thighs.

I run my hands through his hair and grip his curls, gently pulling him from my neck and making us kiss. His lips move against mine and he finally manages to slip his tongue inside my mouth. Both our tongues massaging each other.

Ashton shifts and I feel him press his lower half harshly against me, the fabric of our clothing refraining us from actually having sex.

"Daddy," I moan against his lips. Ashton pulls away from me and smiles down for a quick second, before thrusting his hips against mine.

"We're home!" I hear Madi yell. I quickly push Ashton off of me, causing him to fall off the couch. I sit up, wipe my mouth, and fix my hair. Ashton grabbed a pillow off the couch before we quickly get up and turn around to see Mad, Calum, Shianne, Moon, Abbey, and Luke. Ashton holds the pillow in front of his pants. I don't necessarily know why but I just go along with it.

"What were you guys doing?" Calum asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nothing!" Ashton and I exclaim at the same time.

"Doesn't look like 'nothing'," Abbey says, adding quotation with her fingers. I grab the pillow away from Ashton's hands and throw it at her. Immediately, I regret my actions.

"Ashton you have a boner!" Shianne calls out. I look at Ashton and see that Shi was not lying. Ashton's face was bright red and as was mine. Everyone was laughing while Luke took it upon himself to cover Abbey's eyes.

Ashton and I exchange glances and then he runs across the living room and upstairs, probably feeling more embarrassed than I do.