Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Epilogue

3 years later

"You're slacking, Irwin!" I said over my shoulder, quickly running up the stairway. I didn't know how far back Ashton was, but by the faint sounds of him grunting and dropping boxes I assumed he was at least around the corner. When I got to the very last step I put down the one cardboard box that I had carried up onto the third floor. On the wall beside me were the freshly painted on letters that read "Floor C".

I spun around and gazed down the flight of stairs when I heard Ashton finally making his way to the last set of 10 steps. He came into view with his curly brown hair over his eyes and both his shoes untied obviously struggling with the amount of things he was carrying. He dropped one box onto the ground, while the rest were tightly craddled in his arms. He was panting and groaning, with a flustered look on his face as he left the 3rd box on the ground and attempted to kick it up the stairs instead.

"The things I do for you." he joked, giving me a false glare through the strands of hair still in his eyes.

"I offered to help!" I protested, picking my one and only box into my arms again. "But somebody claimed they were the strongest guy in the world, and that they could handle it."

"I thought there would be an elevator!" he giggled, chucking a box into the hallway. He climbed the rest of the stairs with a little bit more ease, until he set down the other boxes to fix his hair. "But look at that skill. I am the strongest guy in all of Los Angeles."

"Okay Ash," I laughed, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. "You keep believing that."

I grabbed one of the boxes Ashton was formally carrying to help him out, taking the two I had down to find my new dorm room. Ashton was right on my heels with the other boxes, whining on and on about how he really is the strongest guy in this town. Which, in fact, I kind of believe; all the drumming he does really tones his upper body strength.

My room was the very last one down the hall, C-16. I had chosen to live here instead of right on campus, because I liked the location of this one better. UCLA was only a few miles north, and this particular building had a really nice view of the beach. It's specifically built to give college students a place to live that had a little space from school. It was an alright price for rent, but Ashton offered to help me pay for it every month.

It's almost September, meaning I'm going to be starting my freshman year of college in just a few weeks. It's a little late for me, I know, but I don't really mind. This day has taken a lot of time to get here and I was both nervous and excited to finally move into a new place and settle here for the next 4 years.

It's a funny story, actually. Okay - it's not that funny, but it's a story I guess. Me, Ashton, and all of our close friends finished up our last year of highschool only about a year ago. Senior year was a little difficult for me, but only becuase I had to repeat some classes and earn extra credits, due to all the shit I did the year before. Sure, Ashton had to make up some stuff too, but he's fucking brilliant so it was all rainbows and unicorns for him. And I've also spent this past year finishing up all the things I had to catch up on, in order to actually be qualitified to even attend the university.

UCLA is a really hard school to get into, and to this day I'm absolutely clueless as to how they let me in. I spent the last 2 years year as a senior and as a highschool graduate trying to get my grades back on track, but also trying to stay away from that perfection-craving girl I was when I first moved to Las Vegas. I needed good grades, but I didn't want to go back to that absolute perfectionist that I once was a few years ago. But on the other hand, I also didn't want to go back to the troubled, bitchy, and alcoholic girl that I also once was, so I found a balance between the two attitudes, and that's where I am now. Ashton and I got our schooling together and we both ended up graduating highschool at the top of our class. Ashton was at the very top, but that was perfectly fine by me.