Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Forty-one

Emilia's POV

The tender shaking of my shoulder and the soft female whisper of my name force my eyes to flutter open. I blink several times to clear my blurry vision and move my head from underneath Ashton's chin—his scruffy stubble tickling my forehead.

"Em," Julia whispers.

I turn around slowly, moving Ashton's limp arm from around my waist and facing the blonde kneeling at the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?" I ask.

She waves her hand for me to come with her and tiptoes out of the room. I groan and slide off the bed, looking back towards Ashton where he is still sleeping. His mouth hangs partially open and his hair completely covers his eyes. I'm surprised that he hasn't woken up yet. Maybe he did have a bit too much wine last night.

I sneak out of his room, shutting the door as quietly as possible and meet Julia in the hallway. "What time is it?"

"A little after eight," she says.

"And why do you need me up at 'a little after eight?'"

"Mom and Dad called," she says. "They're home, but they want us to go pick up your dogs from Aunt Olivia's and then go visit them for a little bit."

"Why couldn't they do it?"

"Because they wouldn't have been able to fit them in the car. Apparently they brought back early Christmas presents from Nana's for us."

"I hope they didn't go overboard this year."

Julia's grandparents are way too nice to me. Every year since I've known Julia, they would always get me a gift for Christmas, but when I started living with them, the gifts multiplied. They treat me like their own granddaughter and spoil me which I greatly appreciate.

Neither of my parents were close with their family and they kept their distance from them after they got married. My relatives know of my existence, but they don't acknowledge it. That's why I chose to stay with Julia's family and have them as my legal guardians. I would rather live with people who I've known for most of my life than with strangers who don't give a damn about me.

"Well, seeing how my parents managed to fill not only the trunk, but the backseat as well—I think it's safe to say that they went overboard again." Julia chuckles softly and I laugh with her.

"So what time do we need to pick up my dogs?" I ask.

"Now," she says instantly.

I blink several times, not saying a word until I finally process what she has said. I raise my voice. "Did you just say now?"

Julia puts her forefinger to her lips and tells me to shush. "Yes, now hurry and get your stuff so we can go home, change, and then head out."

"Where are you guys going?" Our heads snap in the direction of Calum's voice in the dark hallway. Calum scratches his messy hair with one hand and his bare stomach with the other.

Julia lightly slaps my arm and it takes a few seconds for me to register what she did due to my inability to process anything in my tired state.

"What was that for?" I ask, rubbing my arm.

"I didn't want to wake him up!" she whispers loudly.

"Emmie, what's going on?" Ashton's raspy voice gains my attention as he stands in the threshold to his bedroom and I just want to push him back inside and go lay back down with him so that I can hear him talk to me until we fall back asleep. Man, I really am tired.