Somewhere, Australia //A.I

Chapter 19:The Walk of Life

Holy crap, nineteen! Yeah! ENJOY LOVELIES.
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Sydney's POV

The ride to wherever we're going consists of humming and drumming. Ashton's fingers lightly tap against and steering wheel, and I softly hum with the songs they play on the radio.

We don't talk, because the silence is comfortable. Every once in a while, when we're sitting at a red light, he'll look over at me and smile. Always retuning the smile, I couldn't be happier right now.

Until the shakes start.

I slowly feel my hand tremble. Fuck. But I just ate. How could this happen now?! Slightly panicking, I sit on my left hand, keeping it still.

Restraining movement, tingles shoot up my left arm instead, giving me goosebumps. Ashton looks over at me when I inhale sharply.

"All good?" He asks, flashing me a thumbs up, pulling up to a red light.

"All good." I say, stupidly returning the thumbs up with my left hand. I mentally facepalm myself for being so stupid.

He sees the mile-high goosebumps and furrows his eyebrows. "Are you cold?"

Cold, that's funny, I think to myself. But I nod, and he reaches behind him into the backseat and grabs a jacket. He wiggles in his seat to drape it over my shoulders.

"Better?"

"Much." I lie as we accelerate at the green light.

Ashton soon parks on the roads shoulder, the only car in sight. It's odd, because during the day this place is packed with cars and business people.

"I've never been here at night." I think out loud.

"Are you ready?" He doesn't wait for my reply, jumps out of his side and runs around to mine. I barley even get the door open before he's right there, pulling me out of the car. "Well c'mon now you slow poke." I scoff at him as he drags me to the back.

Being one of those people that everything has to be done at his pace, I find myself pulled around a lot by him. Not that I mind whenever he takes my hand. Not at all.

Speaking of contact, he laces our fingers together for a second as he pops open his trunk. Sadly he then lets go, I look disappointedly down at my lonely hand. Then I finally ask myself, what is he getting out of the trunk?

I've been too wrapped up in the lovely feeling of his thickly calloused hands against my mine. It's actually quite perfect how my child-like hand connects with his much bigger palm.

"Uh...Sydney!" Ashton kind of whisper screams at me to get my attention. Although his voice wouldn't be audible from ten feet away I jump at the noise. "So can you get that for me?" Gesturing to the trunk still ajar and the large wooden box he carries.

Firstly without question I side it closed, only then do I tilt my head in curiosity at the object in his arms. Quite honestly, I was damn surprised that he had a Cajon. Not the fact that he owned one, he was in fact a drummer, but the evidence of him standing there holding one.

How did I not notice that sooner?

But the sudden appearance of the drum makes me dumbfounded about why we're here. In the heart of the business district.

"Ashton what are we-" I start to finally ask, but he cuts me off, putting a finger to my lips. Crossing my eyes I stare down at it and he laughs and drops it. "Seriously, what-"

"Nope." Silencing me, he steps dangerously close to me- well as close as the drum would let him- and whispers, "Follow me." And takes off.

Even with a seven pound box in his hands he clearly outruns me to the base of the stairs. I take a quick second to catch my breath.

"Don't you hear it?" Ashton says, taking a few steps forward after setting the Cajon down. although I don't hear it at this very second because of my heartbeat in my ears, I know exactly what it is.

A plethora of emotions and thoughts all strung together.

Endless truths spelled out in a million and one different ways.

The universal language.

Music.

And there is it, piping in my ears. A guitar chord here, a dash of soulful vibrato there. Many songs being played at once, yet all bleeding together in an effortless way.

I don't even notice my eyes are closed until Ashton nudges my shoulder and says, "You know you can open your eyes right?" And I do. The sight is wonderful.
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Ashton's POV

Her irises light up at the world surrounding her. She doesn't smile, but bites her lip in the most pleasant way.

"What it is?" She barely whispers.

"They call it The Walk of Life." I reply. She looks over at me, making eye contact immediately. Which is strange, because she has a tendency of staring at my cheeks, never making perfect eye to eye contact.

"Why?" She bites down on her lip again as I explain.

"Well, at night, after all the businessy white collar folks leave, the musicians come out. These people come from all over the area, all different zip codes, all different walks of life. And they just let everything go and focus on the one thing they all have in common, music."

"How did you find out about a place like this?" She says after a moment of staring at me.

I shrug. "I have no clue, but I'm really glad I did." I take a seat on my drum.

"This place is amazing." She breaths out. "I feel so out of my league as a musician."

I scoff at her. "Wait. No way. That's my job."

She returns the scoff. "You're better then I'll ever even dream of being."

"Prove it." I simply say.

"How?"

"Sing me something." She starts shaking her head. "I already know how amazing you are, now prove it to everyone here. But most importantly, to yourself."

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So for those of you still confused by what a Cajon Drum is, I'm sure you know what it is but you didn't know that was what it was called. I added a picture of Ashton playing his, because he uses it all the time. Anyway HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER!