Getting to Know You

Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

I woke up when my alarm went off, not entirely sure why it was going off in the first place. "Nats, do you work today?" Ashton asked, his voice raspy with sleep. "No..." I yawned, throwing my arm over my eyes. Ashton rolled over, hovering over me as he took my phone off of the bedside table and turned it off. He collapsed on top of me, burying his face in my neck and wrapping his arm around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck and wove my fingers through his hair, closing my eyes and quickly falling back asleep.

I woke up a few hours later to a loud crash. I sat up, frantically looking around the room. I saw Ashton in the door way, holding his sides as he laughed. Beside him was a little boy holding a pair of symbols in his hands. "Good work, buddy." Ashton chuckled, holding out his hand. The boy gave him a high five, laughing along with him.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I yelled, throwing a pillow at Ashton. He caught it easily, and I stuck my tongue out at him, making him smile. "We gotcha good." Ashton smirked, tossing the pillow back onto the bed. "Yeah, we did." The boy grinned, showing me that he was missing one of his front teeth.

"Speaking of 'we,' who's your little sidekick?" I asked, glaring at him playfully.

"I'm Collin." He glared back.

"How old are you, Collin?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I'm nine, how old are you?" He asked, holding the symbols at his sides.

"I'm nineteen." I laughed, leaning back on my hands. Ashton smiled as he crouched down next to Collin. "Go sit down, I'll be there in a sec." He said, shooing Collin away. He ran off, banging the symbols as he went.

Ashton closed the door and climbed onto the bed, taking my face between his hands. "Good morning." He smiled, kissing me softly. "You are more than welcome to observe todays lesson." He said, grabbing the comforter in his hand and throwing it off of the bed. "As soon as you put some pants on." He smirked, running his hand up my thigh. I shivered, cupping the back of his neck and urging him forward until his lips met mine. I had only just parted my lips against his when Collin called from down the hall.

"Ashton, come on!" He whined. Ashton's eyes snapped open and he stood, pulling me up with him. "When you're decent." He said, pecking my lips. "Join us." He smiled, his gaze traveling down the length of my legs and up again before he shook his head clear and left the room.

I put on a pair of shorts and tied my hair up into a messy bun, staying in Ashton's baggy shirt. I threw on my red bandana as well, just because I knew Ash was nuts for it. When I entered the room, Ashton smiled when he saw that I was still wearing his shirt. The way he was looking at me made me blush. His gaze shifted upward to my bandana, and he bit his lip, twisting his drumsticks beneath his hands. I smiled and sat down in the corner, leaning against the wall and crossing my ankles.

It was both sweet and infuriating watching Ashton teach Collin. I could tell that Ash really enjoyed it, and I couldn't help but smile as I watched. He was having fun, and I loved seeing him happy. On the other hand, Collin was better than I was at the drums, and he was only nine years old.

Near the end of his lesson, Collin was working on combining the beat of his kick drum to what they had learned earlier in the lesson, but it just wasn't matching up. He was getting frustrated and stopped, looking over at Ashton. "I can't do it." He frowned, his bottom lip sticking out.

"Yes you can! You were doing great! Let's try this..." Ashton said, standing behind Collin. He took Collin's hands in his, telling him to start with the kick drum. "Don't stop moving that foot, okay?" He said. Collin nodded, focusing on keeping a steady beat as Ashton began to lead his hands over the drum set, showing him what to do. After a moment, Ashton slowly removed his hands, noticing that Collin had picked up the rhythm.