Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Twenty-nine

Emilia's POV

Other than telling Ash that my parents died in a train accident and that my dad took me rock climbing, he knows absolutely nothing about them. In all our conversations, not once have we ever brought up the topic of my parents, and now that I think about it, why haven't we? We talk about basically everything else, so it's weird that it never came up, but I'm glad it did. I haven't talked about my parents to another person in a long time and I want Ash to know more about them and what they were like.

I press the heels of my feet into the grooves of the boulders and keep my hands firmly grasped onto the ones on either side of my chest, holding myself still as I focus on Ashton. "My parents were very...enthusiastic to say the least," I say. "Basically the exact opposite of me."

Ashton pulls himself up higher than me, flexing his biceps as he reaches for another boulder and climbs farther up the wall. "Please, I happen to believe that you are a very enthusiastic person. You're practically bouncing off the walls," he says, referring to when we scaled down the wall just minutes ago. He laughs to himself before missing the next boulder with his foot, causing him to slip and let out a loud gasp.

I'm not really worried about him since he's safely secured and the worker holding the other end of the rope is keeping him from falling. I catch up to his struggling body, laughing at his effort to regain his balance on the rocks. "That's what you get for making a lame joke," I tease, giving him a smug grin.

He regains his balance and keeps his pace steady with mine. "Yeah, yeah. Continue."

"My mom's name is Grace and my dad's is Bennett. They got married right after my dad finished graduate school and received a degree in marketing. He managed a small advertising company while my mom was a house wife—she never liked the idea of working. They were both very social people and loved participating in different community events and whatnot. They liked to do anything that would in some way benefit others."

We reach the arched part of the wall and maneuver our way up it. With the small amount of upper body strength that I have, I reach up and grab onto two of the rocks that are at the top of the arch. My body hangs in mid-air as I try to hoist myself up, but my stupid, weak, twig-like arms can't pull up my weight. Ashton has no difficulty progressing past the arch while I continue to hang in the air.

"Help," I squeak, tossing my legs back and forth even though it does absolutely nothing to help me get over the stupid arch.

Ash chuckles and climbs down a little. "How is it that you've been doing this for years and somehow for my first time, I'm better than you?"

"Hey, I weighed a lot less when I was little," I say. "It was easier back then to do the more advanced walls than it is now. Plus, you have muscles and I have arm flab. It doesn't take a genius to see who has the advantage here."

He flips his hair out of his face and looks down at my dangling body. "I told you that you needed to get some meat on those bones of yours."

"Are you going to help me or not?" I whine, knowing that my arms are going to give out soon. Although, if he does try to help me, he would most likely end up in the same predicament as me. He may be strong, but pulling someone up as well as holding onto the wall is difficult.

Before he even has the chance to reach his hand out, my fingers slip from the rocks and my body sways away from the wall. The worker who hooked up the ropes to my harness keeps me steady in the air and pulls the rope down, lifting me up past the arch and allowing me to latch myself back onto the wall. I thank the man, but he doesn't respond.