A Certain Romance || Ashton Irwin

Conspiracies and Too Many Visitors

Leaving school I took the backseat in Ashton's car, granting Arrie the passenger's seat so he and Ashton could debate without it happening in my left ear. I wasn't too much in the mood to listen to them today.

I dropped my backpack by the front door as usual when I got home. Arrie muttered that he'd be in Sam's room. He reminded me every day we got home from school. By now I was aware of what was happening. If he was in the room I was to let him know that I'd be leaving so he could tag along even if I didn't need him around.

"Hey dad...?" I called out.

"In the bedroom!"

I went up the stairs two at a time just because I could and Sienna wasn't here to tell me otherwise.

My dad stood in the middle of his bedroom, securing his watch to his wrist. His green scrubs caught my attention. "Oh, you're leaving?"

"Yup, I have a few labs to go over, patients that are requesting to see me..." He picked up his work shoes, taking a seat on the bed. "Did you need to talk to me about something?"

"Yes and then no." I paused, looking at the carpet that seemed to be holding up very well despite mom not being here. She underestimated our cleanliness levels very much. "Yes because I think you should hear what I have to say, but no because I don't want to hold you back if the hospital needs you..."

"Lets talk." He patted the surface next to him, smiling up at me as he went to tie his shoe.

I tucked my hair behind my ears before settling on the bed. A past-time of mine was to hop onto a mattress and bounce a few times, I always forgot that I couldn't do that on this particular bed because of the foam mattress. That led to a lot of disappointment every time I sunk into the foam. "One of my friends saw mom at Barolo last night. Mom was there with this older looking man and a younger guy. I don't know...What is there that you can't tell me? Because I've just about lost my mind dad. I'm so confused, nothing is piecing together." I took the hem of my skirt between my index finger and thumb, dragging my thumb across the plain material. "If you aren't telling me important details because you think I'm too young to understand or you think that I'll react in a bad way - you're wrong."

"Look, Sage," He rubbed his eyes. "right now isn't the best time for this conversation. Maybe another time..."

Just like that I was blown off by my father. I was left in the silence of the bedroom, still sitting on the bed in a bit of a shock that that had just happened. Reminding myself of my priorities, I plucked myself from the bed and went back to my room to change out of my uniform.

There was a standard procedure I had to go through every time I changed in my bedroom. It involved making sure the door was locked and curtains were closed since Ashton and I had a run in or two of him "accidentally" spotting me in my underwear as I paced around my room looking for something clean to wear.

Once I was satisfied with sweats and a t-shirt I pulled on I stared in the mirror, examining the dark circles under my eyes that were never going to go away at this point with this amount of stress and confusion in my life.

"Everything good?" Arrie asked me as I left my room. Based off the way he as leaning into the doorway it seemed like he was just waiting in the doorway of Sam's room for me to leave my own. Unlike anyone else I knew, Arrie was the only one who would knock or wait for me to come out of my room if he needed to speak to me. For a change, it was lovely to not be ambushed while I was naked.

"As good as things can get at the moment."

"I don't know you very well and you can tell me to shut up if I'm wrong, but you have this distant look on your face all the time. Like something is bothering you and you want to talk about it, but you're afraid no one will listen. I know what it feels like to think you're trapped inside your thoughts and questions when you're a teenager and think you have no one to talk to, so if you ever need to talk I'm here to listen."