What Doesn't Break You (Ashton Irwin Fanfic)

Chapter 13

Ashton’s POV:

I switched from sitting with my legs crossed on the porch swing to just letting them dangle to the ground and started lightly swinging back and forth. A.J. went back into the house to get her things after she led me to the back garden so we could start our writing assignment. I met her Aunt at the door, and she smiled warmly at me as A.J. led me past her in the kitchen to the back door. A.J. may think I was just an asshole, but I could be charming when I wanted.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up at her house. I took a chance, but after she left me in the parking lot after school I figured I had two options. I could leave her alone and we would just continue on as we were, or I could strike while the iron was hot and she might say yes.

I knew there was a good chance she would just tell me to fuck off again and slam the door in my face, but as I sat here on her back porch swing waiting for her to come back I could couldn’t help but smile at my luck. She said yes!

My stomach did another somersault as she walked back outside to join me. She had changed into a pair of sweat pants, which confused me. It wasn’t an insanely hot night out, but it wasn’t sweat pants weather either.

“Are you cold?” I said as she sat down with her arms full of books and papers.

 “What?” her head snapped up and her pile was starting to slip out of her arms. “N-no, I just want…wanted to change” she said as she dumped her books onto the seat between us and looked down at her feet.

 “Okay” I said and opened my notebook. “So I think we should go for the poetry category. I’m not up for writing a long ass research paper, plus I think I have a few pieces we could use. They need some help, but this way we won’t have to start from scratch.” I opened my song book and handed it to her.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she flipped through my old notebook filled with random song lyrics. They weren’t all finished, and my stomach was in knots as I watched her look over them. I’ve never let anyone but Calum look at them, so I was anxious about what she was going to say.

After what seemed like centuries, she finally looked back over to me and said “You wrote all this yourself?” Her eyes were wide, and I couldn’t tell if she was impressed or appalled.

 “Y-yeah” I said and scratched at the back of my head. “We don’t really have to use them, but I just thought I’d offer. I mean I know they aren’t that good, but…” I peeked over at her and tried not to look too concerned.

The look she was giving me took me by surprise. She had a small smile on her lips and I was surprised to see that it actually reached her eyes. I smiled back nervously and she giggled.

 “No no, I think they’re good. I just didn’t know you wrote songs is all. Do you play an instrument or anything?” she asked and went back to flipping through my notebook.

I swallowed with relief. “Uh yeah, I do. I can play the guitar and piano, but the drums are my favorite. Calum and I have a sort of band thing. We’ve had a few gigs.” I tried to sound chill about it, but I wanted to impress her. I wanted to make her think I was close to being a rock star, instead of some music nerd that writes dumb songs with his mate that only my mum or a drunken crowd at a pub would listen too.