Heat Waves // Calum Hood 5SOS

Chapter 7

•Dionne POV•

"You're... going on a date with Ashton?" Sameera asked me with a smile creeping up on her face.

"We're just going for some food. And then we're going back to his to watch a movie." I tried to play it down, but I could see the excitement building in her eyes.

"That sounds like a date to me." She smirked, and I rolled my eyes.

"He didn't call it a date." I shrugged - and I meant it. We hadn't even used that word, we just... agreed that it would be happening. We only decided to get food because our lecture ended at like 3pm so it made the most sense to just go straight from there.

"Well what about you, are you calling it a date?" She raised an eyebrow at me and I stopped to think.

"I uh... I dunno. Maybe." I felt a smile creep onto my face, and immediately the sound of excited squeals filled my ears. "Sameera!" I shoved her arm, watching her fall dramatically back onto my mattress while giggling.

"Sorry! I'm just... excited. Ashton seems so sweet, I like him for you." She grinned, putting her hand on my arm endearingly.

"You're gonna jinx it." I sighed at her, biting my bottom lip to hold back the smile that dared to stretch across my cheeks.

-

On Thursday morning, I felt the need to put a little more effort than usual into my appearance... cute jeans, cuter t-shirt, decent makeup. Even though half my day would be spent dragging myself around the uni campus, I knew I'd be out in public later with Ashton and I wanted to look... well, presentable.

When my last lecture of the day came to an end, I left the room with Ashton and we made our way to his car together; on the way, I found myself noticing that he was looking particularly good today. He was wearing a graphic black tee, black jeans and a a leather jacket on top. Plus his hair was styled slightly differently than usual - I couldn't help but appreciate the effort, as well as how good he looked, really.
After Ashton had started driving, I realised I still had my camera in my bag that I'd brought in for todays lectures, so I decided to pull it out and put it to good use. Not only to get some nice pictures, which I'm always up for, but honestly to take my focus away from the road. I turned the lens to him, as he sat there singing along to the music blasting from the radio, and snapped a candid picture.

"Is this for an assignment?" He smirked, glancing at me quickly before looking back at the road and turning down a side road.

"Totally. I'm gonna do a presentation with just pictures of you." I said sarcastically, looking at the picture I took and smiling. "I did a pretty good job, actually."

"Hey, give some credit to the model." Ashton furrowed his eyebrows and I stifled a laugh, saying "of course" with a nod. "You got anything for our actual assignments, by the way?" He proceeded to ask, and I let out a quiet 'hm'... I knew the answer already, I just was unsure how to give it.

"I uh- no, I don't, actually. Especially the uh... the family prompt. That's kind of got me stumped." I admitted, feeling my heart race slightly as I said it - even though I found the courage to mention it, I was terrified that he'd ask me more about it.

"Why's that?" When he did ask, I really did consider telling him the true reason for why the family prompt had me feeling so... uncomfortable. But I didn't want it to get personal - our 'date' had barely started yet, and I didn't want things to be awkward. Nor did I want to be vulnerable... So i just thought of another way to answer, that wasn't necessarily a lie.

"I don't really know where to start. It's just... so complex, y'know?" I let out a sigh, playing with the charm on my necklace as a distraction.

"No yeah, I get you. It's not easy - especially with so many options and possibilities..." I pursed my lips at his words, hoping he wouldn't notice... although the sentiment was nice, I knew that wasn't what made it difficult for me. "If you need any help though, let me know. Any kind." He shrugged, and I glanced back up at him to notice we'd come to a stop at a traffic light and he was looking back at me.