What Doesn't Break You (Ashton Irwin Fanfic)

Chapter 17

A.J.’s POV:

I groaned when the sound of my alarm clock jolted me out of a peaceful sleep on Monday morning. I had had another restless night full of dreams that ranged from sweet and peaceful ones that involved mostly Ashton and me hanging out and kissing, to more nightmares where I was stuck crying in a dark room with Ashton’s voice screaming at me.

I pulled myself away from my covers and went to look at myself in the mirror. Shit! My eyes looked awful. Even though half of my dreams were good ones, all the thoughts in my head, good or bad were causing me to lose sleep.

I was gonna have to try harder to clear my head or I was going to look like a zombie in school. Also I couldn’t let my grades slip. If I was to start failing classes then my Aunt and Uncle would turn me into a zombie.

I jumped in the shower quickly to wash last night’s nightmare away in the hot water. When I got out I noticed I had a new text on my phone. I slid the lock open and saw that it was from Ashton. The little jolt of butterflies in my stomach did more to wake me up than the shower did.

“Hey, meet me in the library before class again?”

“Also, good morning :)”

I smiled and sent him a reply.

“Yeah sure. Good morning to you 2J”

I tossed my phone on my bed and started changing into my school uniform. Urg! Even though I was used to wearing it by now, I still missed wearing my jeans. I looked forward to Fridays when I got to wear what I wanted as long as it was appropriate. No holes in my jeans, or shirts with inappropriate logos.

I bolted down a quick breakfast of orange juice and toast and called out a quick ‘bye’ to my Aunt and I was out the door. The drive to campus wasn’t very long, and I was becoming accustomed to driving on the opposite side of the road by now.

Once on campus I found a parking place and made my way to the library. I didn’t know what Ashton was up to, but I was excited none the less. I still don’t know where we are going for our date, but the fact that he asked me out had me excited about pretty much everything.

I entered the library doors and headed straight for the bean bags. Ashton didn’t say specifically where in the library he would be, but I knew he would be there. Even though the bean bags were too small for his tall frame, I figured he would always be the type to sit in them rather than in a chair at a table. He was a kid like that, and I loved that about him.

Sure enough, when I turned the corner around a shelf of books I saw Ashton sitting in a bean bag with his legs crossed and a notebook in his lap. He was looking around the library with a bored look on his face, but his face broke into a grin when he saw me and I smiled back and pulled up a bean bag.

 “Hey” I said as I got comfortable sitting in the middle of my bean bag like a nest.

 “Hey” he said continuing to smile, but he didn’t say anything else.

 “So…um, what’s up?” I prompted.