The One You Call | horan au

twenty

Phoebe's P.O.V.

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Turns out the movie and dinner were just part of Ashton's plan to make things up to me for him missing lunch.

I've tried to tell him that the movie, and the theater consessions, and all the seafood we ate at Leon's Oyster Shop was more than enough to make up for this thing that was never a problem to begin with.

But I find it hard to turn down a few days alone with him at the beach. I can't think of a better way to distance myself from Niall and his needless texting.

First we hit 7-Eleven for gas, and snacks, and enough coffee to fuel us and the car for two and a half hours on the road.

"What's wrong?" Ashton asks me as we're pulling onto I-526.

"Nothing," I say. But I realize that I'm holding tension in my body and I sort of have my body positioned away from him. "I've just never been on vacation with a guy before. I'm sort of nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about." He brings one hand down from the steering wheel and rests it on my thigh and it actually helps calm me down.

"I know." I smile and shift my body as close I can to his with the center console in the way. "It's just Phoebe and Ashton's first vacation."

"The first of many I hope."

Ashton and I share a glance and I feel warmth spread throughout my whole body.

The drive is smooth and kind of quick. There aren't a lot of cars on the road with us, and there are even fewer when we start getting close to the coast

The first thing we do after we after we drop our bags in our hotel room is go for burgers.

There's this little surf themed sandwich shack that serves food too cheap to be part a tourist town.

Ashton and I both order this thing called the "Heavy Barrel" and it ends up being the best cheeseburger I've had in my entire life. Or at least the best one I've had in awhile.

When we're finished eating we head out to the shore.

It's too cold to get in the water but Ashton brings me close to it.

It's still weirdly warm for January. The sky is so blue and so is the ocean. I can't tell where the horizon ends and the sky begins. I want to sit down so I take it all in better. But I didn't really prepare to get sand everywhere.

"Beautiful," Ashton says, coming up behind me to wrap his arms around my waist.

"It really is."

"I was talking about you."

I laugh. "I don't believe you."

"You should." He presses a soft kiss to my cheek. "Changing your mind about a beach wedding?"

"Maybe."

I feel him smile. "I can't believe you've never been to the beach."

"I've been to Myrtle beach!"

"Doesn't count. It's tourist hell."

I was a teenager the last time I was there but I still remember the boardwalk so clearly. The confederate flag printed on everything. Guys walking around wearing weird contacts trying to scare people. Someone goes missing from there every year.

He's right. This is way better. There's way less people. The food is miles better. The ocean is prettier. I could stand here and stare at it for hours. I wish we never had to leave.