groupie; afi

five

     What time is it? Everyone should be asleep by now.

     I check the time on my phone. 10:00 p.m. Ashton should be coming in here at any moment.

     Ashton: Open the door. I don't wanna make noise knocking

     I get up from my seat and open up the door. I wasn't nervous until I was looking at Ashton. It was a different type of nervous than I felt when I was alone with Calum. This one felt like I was in trouble and needed to explain myself, which is kind of the case.

     "So, do you want to just start by telling me what happened? I'll let you take control," He says as both of us sit down.

     "Yeah," I say, "Basically, Calum came in my room the last night and it started off with us just talking but it turned into kissing. I couldn't make myself do anything more though. I just didn't want to have sex, I guess. So, Calum left my room. And then the next day, Michael tells me that Calum's saying we had sex."

     My heart is almost beating out of my chest while I watch Ashton think about what I said. He's clearly deep into some thought. I can't tell what through.

     "I'm sorry," is all he says.

     Pardon?

     "What? Why are you apologizing?" I ask him.

     "It's not my place to be upset. I don't even know why I was. But even if you and Calum did have sex, it's not my place to be mad. I should've been nicer to you. I'm sorry," Ashton says.

     He reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh and smiles. Butterflies instantly hit my stomach when he touches me.

     "It's okay. I wasn't ever mad at you, just confused," I say, smiling at him.

Ashton smiles back and pats the spot on my leg where his hand was resting, causing the butterflies to swarm again.

"I have an idea. Follow me," He says.

Last time I followed someone, I ended up here. I wonder what adventure it'll lead me to now.

I follow behind Ashton as we tip toe through the bus. I can hear the boy's snores as we sneak past them. Ashton takes me to where the bus driver is. He talks with her for a few seconds before the bus pulls over and stops.

"Ashton, what are you-" I say, only to be interrupted.

"Just come on," He whispers.

We exit the bus and start walking down the street. The bus driver gives me a sympathetic look when I walk past her on my way out.

"Ashton? What did you say to her?" I say, feeling very confused.

"I said that you were in need of some lady products and we needed to go get some. I said that there's one only a block from here so we could walk," He says, giggling through his words.

"Ah, that explains the look. So, where are we really going?" I ask him.

We continue to walk on the sidewalk. It's dark and cold. I wish I had known he was going to bring me out, I would've grabbed a coat.

"Where ever our hearts take us. I'm not completely sure where we are exactly but we'll find something," Ashton says.

     "Aren't you worried about paparazzi? Wouldn't they take pictures of you and I together?" I ask him, remembering another rule on the contract. I'm supposed to be in as little press as possible.