Heat Waves // Calum Hood 5SOS

Chapter 10

•Dionne POV•

Ashton and I met up by a nearby park where I'd waited for him on the - thankfully - abandoned swing set. We started aimlessly walking down the street as I explained to him that I'd had some ideas for my assignment and I just wanted a bit of help from someone with experience - as well as an understanding of the assignment itself. I didn't mention the fact that really, I just didn't want to be on my own when I did this.

"Is there somewhere specific you had in mind to take your pictures?" He asked curiously, and I hesitated before nodding. I definitely had somewhere in mind - I just didn't want it to seem weird. "Where are you thinking?"

"Uh. It's a surprise." I shrugged - I hadn't planned for it to be a surprise, but for some reason I decided that last minute. It got a chuckle out of Ashton though, who simply said "alright, lead the way."

There was a moment of silence between us as we walked, before Ashton spoke again.
"So last night..." He cleared his throat, and for a second I froze; I hate to say that my mind didn't go straight to the time we spent together, but the nightmare I had once I was home. I felt guilty, somehow, but tried my best to brush it off... "Sorry about Michael. Really."

"What? Don't be sorry, it's completely fine. He's a nice guy." I said reassuringly, flashing him a smile and seeing the slight wince on his face.

"I mean, yeah. I love the guy. Just not the ideal situation for a date though, y'know?" I watched Ashton's eyes immediately widen at his own words. "I mean- not that it was a date, necessarily. No it wasn't a date, was it- I think that's probably something we'd have established beforehand, right? I mean I probably should've thought about that. Sorry, I didn't mean to say that-"

"Ashton." I cut him off with a giggle, deciding he deserved a break from his moment of twitchy panicking. "I'm okay with calling it a date." I smiled, and his face reddened even more than it already was.

"Oh- right- well." He cleared his throat, letting out a nervous laugh as he scratched his neck. "Sorry for freaking out." He giggled, looking down at the floor as I grinned at him.

"Don't be." I nudged his hand with mine, before shrugging. "Our date went fine, by the way. Don't worry about the whole Michael thing."

"...That's good." He let out a sigh of relief, and once again laughed to himself. It seemed like it was a reassurance thing, really.

We finally arrived where I'd planned to go, and I felt the need to take a deep breath when I looked up and saw the tall, old-fashioned building some distance in front of us. I pulled out my camera, prepared to take pictures but instead getting lost in my thoughts for a moment. This was a place I'd been before - along with many places like it - but not in a long time... and the reminder of that time was weirdly nerve-wracking. I couldn't even turn and acknowledge that Ashton was stood at my side, looking at me questioningly.

"You alright?" He asked, placing a hand on my arm so gently but I couldn't help but jump at his touch. "Sorry." He pulled his hand back, and then looked up at the building again. "So... why the church?"

"It's..." I took a deep breath and exhaled before I turned to him. "It's just something relevant to my family. Things they believe in. I thought it would be a good idea to take pictures here, to... y'know, to represent them." I decided now to get my first picture of the church. The first of many, I'm sure.

"So they're religious?" He asked, and all at once I started realising this was probably a mistake; I knew that the way I looked at my family's relationship with religion was not positive... I also knew that Ashton might be religious himself. And that this whole thing was too complicated and personal to actually explain to him.