Sleeping on Sidewalks // Ashton Irwin

week 5 // Friday

On Friday Ashton woke me up at 6 AM. I didn't have to be back at school until Monday, and he said we should take advantage of our freedom.

He grabbed my camera and his scrapbook of the shelf and grinned at me, practically pulling me out the door. We ran to the nearest bus stop, and Ash was buzzing with excitement.

We reached his destination, a park, and he continued to lead me through crowds of people until we reached a secluded area. Laid out on the grass was a picnic blanket, some food and a guitar.

I looked at him in shock, and he winked. "It isn't difficult to sneak out of your house at 5AM to set something up."

We sat down on the blanket and he started laying out the food. I took a bite of a sandwich as he ate some tortilla chips, and we just laughed. He picked up the guitar, played a bit and started to sing.

"Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want 
Where you can always find me
We'll have Halloween on Christmas
And in the night we'll wish this never ends
We'll wish this never ends"

He carried on from there, and I felt my heart swell. I love this song so much, and Ash sings it so beautifully. I picked up the camera whilst he was focussed on the song and snapped a photo of him. The guitar was balanced on his knee, and his long curls were falling in his face. The way the sun was still just about rising behind him, and how autumn leaves were beginning to fall (it was early September, and the wintery weather of August was leaving) the picture turned out really well, a flood of oranges, browns and golds.

"I hate that I have to leave. I hate that I'm being made to go back, to a place that I can't even call my home. I don't know whether I have any good memories there or not, because all I remember is the bullying and the cutting. Like, does my mum know about either of those? Does she think I'm happy? I don't know how to act. I don't know what Harry or Lauren are like, how my room looks, what my mum's like. What am I like? Am I cheery? Agsty? Do I have friends? Do I socialize, or do I stay in my room? Do I like video games? What's my favourite food? Am I going to have to change my personality and build from zero as a new Ashton?"
"It depends. Just go home, act how you think feels right. If people say you're different, tell them you've changed."
"But I don't want to have changed. I want to feel like I know who I am."
"You're A. The Boy who sleeps in a binbag, and carries his backpack around with him like it's the most precious thing in the world. ANd you're Ashton, who plays drums and lives with his mum and two siblings in Bankstown. And you're Ash, who lives with Olivia in Riverstone, and goes to school and has friends and is popular. But right now you have to go back to being Ashton."
"But what if I'd rather be Ash? Or even A?"
"Then you need to talk to your mum. Because I can't keep you here forever."
"You know, I sometimes have dreams. They're flashbacks, but so short that they don't tell me anything. But last night, I had a dream I went back to Bankstown. As soon as I got there I had my brother and sister jump on me and hug me, and my mother hugged me, crying with happiness. And it was like everything would be okay. But then I got to school on Monday. And Ellis and the other meatheads showed up. Started beating me up, talking about how they should have left me here. Yelling about how I was too ugly and unimportant to be on the news, and how they didn't see why my family would want an ugly emo cutter back in their lives. And you know what? I agree with them. I'm better off here."

I leaned over and hugged him. I didn't think what I was doing, my main thought was just to let him know that he was amazing. And so, without thinking, i did something I'd been thinking of for weeks.

I kissed The Boy.

∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴

OH MY GOD IT HAPPENED OMGOMGOMG

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER FOR AGES AND IT NEVER WORKED AND NOW IT IS PERFECT AND OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH AND IDEK WHY

THEY KISSED

THEY KISSED

T H E Y  K I S S E D

T
H
E
Y

K
I
S
S
E
D

idk I wrote this story myself but I still ship Olishton so hard and I've been wanting them to kiss from the start and just AGH. I hope you liked this chapter, and the next ones will hopefully be written and going up tonight (oh gosh there's only 3 chapters left I cry this story is like my baby)