lover of mine || l.h.

14

"Aww look at you two." Ashton said giddily from behind Luke which made us pull away from each other with red cheeks.

"Look at you two." I teased when I saw Ashton's arm around Mallory. Mallory's cheeks turned bright red while Ashton looked down at her and smiled which made my heart nearly explode. They were so fricken cute already my god.

"What do you guys want for dinner? Mom and dad won't be home tonight apparently." I said and looked between the three of them.

"Burgers." Ashton said quickly.

"Seriously?" I asked and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes." He said and brought Mallory over to the couch.

"Wanna help me?" I asked and looked up at Luke.

"Sure." He said and smiled down at me which made my heart feel warm and fuzzy.

  Me and Luke went off to the kitchen to start dinner for the four of us. I hated using the grill because I was always afraid something would blow up or whatever. And Ashton knew that, but clearly he didn't care.

  The two of us were fooling around in the kitchen while I waited for the grill to heat up outside and I seasoned the burgers. When it was finally time for me to put the burgers on the grill we hung out outside and fooled around some more. I could tell that he was genuinely happy. He has been for a few days and I really really loved that he was so happy now.

"I think we should have a movie night every Saturday." I said and dipped my bare feet in the pool.

"I like that idea. That's like a sleepover every weekend because you always fall asleep." He said and poked my cheek with his finger. I smiled and hid my flaming hot cheek in my shoulder and heard him laugh.

"I live a busy life." I said and leaned back on my hands.

"I don't know how you do it." He said and looked straight at my backyard.

"Do what?" I asked and looked over at him.

"You go to school every day, then you go to two hours of softball every day. And on game days you're there for even longer. Then you go home and do all of your homework. You cook for your family when your parents won't make it home. You clean up after everyone, and you somehow still make time for your friends." He said and looked at me with admiration in his eyes.

"Well it's not exactly easy. I get stressed a lot. Sometimes I have mental breakdowns in my room when I end up having to stay up and do my homework until one in the morning. Or even just when I get stressed in general and I can't hold it all anymore I just shut down." I said and watched as I moved my feet around in the water.

"Well you do amazing, just in case no one has told you how good you are at balancing it all. I wouldn't be able to do it. I can hardly go to school and work, I don't know how you do it." He said and held one of my hands.

"Me neither honestly." I said and let out a sigh.

"Your mum works a lot huh?" He asked as I went over to the grill and flipped the burgers.

"Yeah." I said and closed the grill and went back over to my previous spot.

"Your dad too?" He asked and looked down at me.

"Not as much as her. He's just been working harder recently so he can get the promotion he's been wanting. It'll go back to normal soon and I won't have to do as much around the house. Once he's home more it'll be fine, that's what I keep telling myself anyway." I said and felt him wrap an arm around me and pull me closer to him.

"What about Ashton? Does he do anything around here?" He asked and twirled his fingers around my curls.

"No, he's too lazy to do anything. Everyone knows it but they don't care too much. My mom just expects me to do everything that she doesn't have time for. My dad usually does it, and he feels bad for making me act like an adult but I do it just so he doesn't get stressed out." I said and played with the hem of his flannel that was hanging off of him.

"Do you not get along with your mum as much?" He asked.

"No not really. Sometimes I think that she never even wanted me by the way she talks to me compared to Ashton. I don't know." I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Of course she wants you. She'd be stupid not to." He said softly but seriously and kissed my forehead.

"It just seems like she has something against me. She loves and praises Ashton no matter what he does. I get better grades than him and I've been a varsity pitcher for two years for crying out loud. Not to mention the fact that I do everything she should be doing, but she doesn't give a damn." I said and started to get mad, not at him but at my mom for being so terrible to me.

"I'm sorry. If you ever want me to help you with anything ask me." He said and I lifted my head from his shoulder and gave him a look.

"That's not your responsibility." I said and shook my head at him.

"It's not yours either." He said and gave me a sweet kiss before I had to get up and take the burgers off the grill.