Affection // irwin

Chapter 42

Last chapter :( *sob sob*

Flashback in italics.

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“How was your first day?” Ashton asks as he takes off his apron and hangs it on one of the hooks by the door.

I had thought a lot about the offer Ashton made me, about getting a job, and I thought to give it a try so today was my ‘test’ day at Sunday’s. He didn’t have to ask Yolanda twice before showing me around the kitchen even though I had already been there. This time he showed me the menu and tried teaching me how to scramble eggs – some got scrambled, some did not, but at least I didn’t burn anything.

Now we’re on the second floor, in a room I had no idea even existed. The only way to get here was through a door in the back of the café that said “Staff Only”. Behind the door there’s a small steep staircase. The room looks like a mini Sunday’s; the colors are the same, the furniture exactly the same. There’s even a small kitchen.

“It was okay. Do you think Yolanda will let me stay?”

“I don’t think, I know she will. Susan’s mother has gotten worse so we’re looking for a replacement,” he says and bites his lips, a dimple appears on his left cheek. 

“So you're saying…?”

“Welcome to the team, Joselyn!” Ashton smiles widely and gives me a hug.

Immediately I feel the warmth spread through my body, just like it always does when we touch. I wonder what would have happened if I had decided to stay at the hotel instead of following dad to his office – only to find out I couldn’t join him so I went to get a smoothie – that day in November. I wouldn’t have met Ashton or Michael or Luke or any of the others for that matter. I probably wouldn’t have gotten any friends. And my relationship with my parents would probably be the same – no talking, unless I had too. But the most important thing I wouldn’t have had, or felt, is this.

I wouldn’t feel like the luckiest, happiest girl in the world. I wouldn’t have felt that tingling feeling, or all those butterflies in my stomach. I wouldn’t have known my heart could beat this fast.

I wouldn’t have fallen in love.

ASHTON POV 

“This is just crazy,” she mumbles as she pulls away from our hug. “We’ve known each other for less than a month and I…,” she stops in midsentence.

“Correction: three months,” I say and hold up three fingers.

“Can you count?” She frowns at me, her fingers intertwined with my other hand.

“Yes. Can you? We met in November,” I smile and gesture for her to take a seat in the couch that I and Ray had carried up when we decided to make this room a little more home-like. I sit down next to her and intertwine our fingers again. Her hand really does fit perfectly in mine.

“Yeah, but you only said five words to me,” Joselyn says and looks down on the floor.

“So you remember?”

“Of course I remember,” she smiles when she returns her gaze to me. “You asked me for how long I was staying but before I could tell you, Amy came and well…I ran away. What about you, do you remember?”

“Of course I do,” I say and she raises her eyebrows, as if she doesn’t believe me.

“What was going through your mind, because all you did was look down on your phone?”