Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Three

Emilia's POV

You would think after having to walk from one end of campus to the other, my legs wouldn't feel like lead each time I climb the stairs leading up to my apartment. I thought wrong. Standing in front of my apartment door, I purposely drop my backpack and kneel down to search for my keys inside. Before I am even able to unzip the bag, the front door swiftly opens, revealing a mildly worried roommate.

"Where have you been?" Julia asks, her hand sassily placed on her hip. "It's nearly four thirty. You always get home at four sixteen sharp." Strands on blonde hair fall from the elastic band holding her hair as she interrogates me.

"Shut up," I say, standing to my feet and dragging my backpack along the floor behind me as I walk inside. I leave my backpack next to the couch sitting in the middle of the living room and plop down face-first onto the obnoxiously red couch that over the past few months has developed an outline of my head on the cushion.

After Ashton surprised me with a replacement frappuccino, he had convinced me to exchange phone numbers and tell him my class schedule, which led to us finding out we have been in the same communications class since the beginning of the semester. I always sit in the back of the lecture room and Ashton in the front, so it's no wonder we never noticed one another.

"Maybe we can start sitting next to each other in class. Maybe even study together," Ashton suggested.

"Um..." I looked down to my feet, watching my shoelace flop about with each step I take. I never really sat with anyone during class. I always try to keep my distance from other students to keep from being distracted; at least that's the excuse I tell myself. "I guess that's okay," I answered, glancing out of the corner of my eye to see a warm grin plastered across his face.

We had continued walking, no talking, just walking along the sidewalk, letting our feet guide us to wherever the path led us; the matching pitter-patter of our steps filling the muted void between us.

Ashton lifted his left arm to glance at his wristwatch, and his eyes widened with panic. "Crap," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, Emmie, I have class in ten minutes, so I really have to go." The words rushed from his mouth.

"That's fine," I said. I had to go to my work study anyway, so it wasn't much of an inconvenience.

He nodded and said goodbye before taking off. It wasn't long before he stopped to turn and yell, "I'll see you in class tomorrow, right?"

I could see his feet bouncing up and down as he waited for my answer. All I could manage to do was give him the most awkward and stupid looking thumbs up. Ashton laughed and gave me a similar thumbs up in return before speeding away.

Julia shuts the door behind her and locks it. Her bare feet guide her to the sky blue armchair adjacent to me before taking a seat. "So, what was the hold up?" she asks.

I groan, keeping my face planted into the couch cushion. "A guy," I say quietly, hoping the cushion would muffle my voice.

"Really?" she says, surprise evident in her tone. "Please elaborate."

Groaning again, I push myself up and sit criss-crossed, grabbing one of the many small decorative pillows strategically placed on the couch, which quite frankly just get in the way of my sitting, and hugging it. "He spilled my drink on me this morning."

"Romantic. Sounds like a keeper," she teases. I kindly tell her to shut up and reveal the rest of today's events. To say Julia is surprised would be an understatement. Her eyes nearly pop out of their sockets and she even threatens to jump out the window due to an "overload of cuteness." It is rare I ever talk to anyone other than Julia, so I guess I can understand her exaggerated reaction.

"Are you okay with this, Emilia?" Her happy tone quickly changes to serious as she questions me. "I know how much you don't like opening up to others. Hell, it took three years before you told me what happened with Ja—" Julia cuts herself off, noticing my uneasiness. After apologizing, she continues, "This Ashton guy seems nice, and it's about time you made some new friends seeing I'm basically your only friend."

"That's not true!" I object. "I have friends."

Julia raises an eyebrow. "Your co-worker at the library doesn't count. You two don't even work in the same area let alone speak to each other."

I want to crawl into my bed and get away from this conversation. I know I don't have very many friends and I have reason for that. The more I let others in, the greater the chance of me getting hurt there is. I've been down this road when I was a teenager, and now that I'm an adult, it has become a defense mechanism. It's not that I don't want other people in my life; I just want the right people in it.

The image of Ashton's smile and how his eyes just glimmer with pure happiness flashes through my mind. He was so easy to talk to. He has such a strong aura that literally invites you into conversation. He's persistent, that's for sure, and I don't think he understand the concept of respecting one's personal bubble, but who's to say it's not life threatening to expand that bubble now and again? This could be a good thing for me. He could be a good thing for me.

"I'll give it a shot," I say. "Maybe this Ashton guy will be different."

"You'll never know until you really get to know him," Julia says, adjusting the high ponytail on her head. "There's nothing wrong with being curious about someone, and he seems to have left his mark on you."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought it back," she adds with a twisted smile.

I laugh at her corny effort to heighten my optimism until my phone begins vibrating against my thigh. I struggle to pull the small device out of the tight pocket of my skinny jeans. I unlock the phone to find a text notification from Ashton.

"I hope you read the chapter for class tomorrow because I just heard we might have an impromptu quiz tomorrow. Study up!!!!!"

I smile at the over-abundance of exclamation points. "Even through text, you still manage to sound so energetic. I already did the reading," I reply.

"At least that makes one of us lol we're still sitting together, right?"

My fingers hover over the touch screen in hesitation. I need to step out of my comfort zone and let him in; even just a little. "Yeah," I answer.

Seconds later, I receive another message. "Good"

Maybe this friendship thing will work out.