Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Twenty-seven

Song of the chapter: Never Be – 5 Seconds of Summer (This was literally playing in my mind as I wrote this chapter)

Emilia's POV

If there were a time where I would want to see Ashton the most, it would be now.

I tighten my grip on my pen and begin writing down the different terms projected onto the white screen in the front of the classroom, not even caring that I'm writing sloppily and off-centered. My perfectionist side is scolding me for not rewriting the terms neatly, but the infatuated side of me is telling my perfectionist side to 'fuck off'.

I'm trying so hard to focus on the lecture and take notes, but I can't help but glance at the door every few minutes. I am so emotionally invested in Ashton right now and I just want to see his face, even if it's just a glimpse. It's like I'm waiting for Ash to come bursting through the door and causing a huge ruckus, disrupting the entire class. In a way, I wish he would just so that I know his tardiness isn't intentional.

Only five minutes left until class ends, and I haven't even received a text from Ash. I had ended up caving and sent him one earlier, but I never got a reply. I know that he would never intentionally ignore me without some unavoidable reason, but considering our current predicament, the tables may have turned. I refuse to believe that though. I know him better than that.

He is the one that insists we talk. I know he won't back out of it because of the way he initiated our kiss last night. He is just as eager as me to figure out where we stand. There is no doubt that something is going to change in our relationship when we do finally talk. We will either take two steps back or one step forward. I want to place my bet on the latter.

Professor Ross ends his lecture and dismisses us from class, and I make a haste exit out of the building. I pull the sleeves of my hoodie down past my hands, keeping my cold fingers warm from the declining temperature outside, and walk down the sidewalk to the parking lot. Julia had insisted that I drive her car to school from now on so that I don't have to walk in the cold weather. I don't really like driving, but I also don't like freezing my ass off, so I had reluctantly agreed.

Just as I reach the car and step inside, placing my backpack on the passenger seat, my phone goes off inside my pocket.

You know that overwhelming feeling of relief that basically feels like a bucket of cold water being poured over your head and cooling you off from the scorching heat? Yeah, that's the exact satisfying feeling that rushes through my entire body, down to the very tips of my fingers as I read the six pixilated letters spelling out the name of the idiot who left me guessing.

I end the annoying standard ringtone and press the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I say.

I was expecting to hear the familiar pitch of his voice from the receiver, but another voice answers. "Hey, Emmie, it's Calum," he whispers, leaving me confused and slightly disappointed.

"Why are you calling from Ashton's phone?" I ask. "And why are you whispering?"

"I came into Ashton's room to look for his headphones, and I found him here sleeping," he says. "He told us last night that he was excited to see you in class today, so I assumed he was already with you. If I had known he overslept, I would have let you known sooner."

So he was sleeping. That makes me feel a lot better knowing that he isn't hiding away and ignoring me. "That still doesn't explain why you're using his phone or whispering like you're about to commit some act of crime."