My shift ended and I grabbed that other shirt from my bag. "I'll be right back," I said, walking off to the bathroom to change. Ashton gave me a small 'alright' while he scrolled through his Twitter feed.
I closed and locked the bathroom door, quickly ridding myself of my work shirt. I slid on my The 1975 tanktop and checked my appearance in the mirror. My hair was its usual mess of long curls. I tried to tame them a bit. As soon as they were somewhat decent, I reapplied some powder foundation because I was getting shiny. Once I was satisfied with how I looked, I stuffed my work shirt in my bag and walked out.
As I walked back into the store, Ashton turned his head and smiled.
"The 1975. Nice. I love that band," he said, making his way over to me.
"Yeah me too. They're one of my favorites."
"Ready to go? We have to take your car because the boys took mine."
"I was planning on going in my car anway."
"You're such a smartass," he said chuckling.
"You're such a dumbass."
"Good one."
The walk to my car was quiet. Not awkward quiet, but a nice quiet. Ashton's hands were in his pockets and he was watching his feet as he walked.
"We're here," I said, unlocking the doors.
I slid into the driver side as Ashton got in the passenger side. I clicked my seatbelt on and waited for him to do the same.
"What?" he said when he caught me looking at him.
"Seatbelt."
"Okay, mom." He laughed a little, pulling his seatbelt over his body.
"Better safe than sorry."
I sighed, reversing out of the parking spot.
I drove for a bit, not knowing where I was going. "So, uh, where am I supposed to go?" I spoke up to break the silence.
"I know a place. Not too much farther now. Just keep going straight," he said, pointing ahead. I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road. It was a nice day out. The down side of working at a mall is that I was stuck inside on days like this. It was fine on rainy days, but we rarely even get those. I would like to spend most of my days outside, but I guess I'll have to wait.
"Right here," Ashton said, pointing to a parking lot to a walking trail. I smiled to myself because I loved these places. I turned off the car and made sure my bag was under the seat in case someone decided to break into my vehicle, which was unlikely, but better safe than sorry.
We got out and I put my key chain necklace on my neck. Then we started walking. It was weird at first because neither of us really said anything. It got a little better when I started paying more attention to the nature around me instead of Ashton's silence. I peaked over at him and saw him looking at the trees with a smile on his face. I smiled to myself and he apparently noticed.
"Whatcha smiling about?" He chuckled.
"It's just really nice out. I love days like this."
"Me too. When I'm not stealing from convenient stores, I like to be outside. I spend pretty much all my time outside."
"I just really like being outside."
"Heheh yeah me too."
It was quiet for another minute before I spoke up again.
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?" he asked, looking down at me.
"Steal. You could get caught. I know you said you never get caught, but what if you do one day? You could go to jail, Ashton."
"Yeah I know what could happen. It's just something I've done for a long time. Ever since I was in school. It started out with candy and small stuff, but as I got older I started taking anything I wanted. I've stolen a lot more than you think, Gem. I could go to prison for a very very long time if anyone found out the other things I've done."
I didn't know what to say after that. I just looked down at the rocks on the path.
"What's wrong, Gem?"
"Would you stop calling me that?" I snapped, stopping in my tracks.
"I'm sorry. I keep forgetting you hate that name."
"Yeah I do. Just be careful, okay?"
"Careful about what? Calling you the wrong name?"
"No. Doing whatever it is you do. I know I only met you the other day, but I don't want to see you go to jail."
"I promise I won't go to jail."
"You can't promise that."
"But I am. Now walk with me, please?"
I sighed and started walking again.
There was yet another silence. It was longer than the other ones. I kept looking everywhere, except at Ashton. I looked at my left hand and noticed how close mine and Ashton's hands were. My face went red as his hand would brush up against mine as we walked. I guess he noticed it too and I finally looked at his face and it was a dark shade of pink.
"C-Can I hold your hand?" he asked quietly. His attitude seemed to change from this badass, rebellious "bad boy" to this shy, quiet, adorable guy.
I didn't say anything, I just casually slipped my hand into his and he entertwined our fingers. He looked at me with a smile, swinging our hands like a little kid.
"This still isn't a date, Ash," I said, loosely holding onto his massive hand.
"You called me Ash."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. I like it. I think it's cute. Like, I can't shorten your name, but you can shorten mine. Cute."
Then I heard something from him that I least expected.
He giggled.
Like, a real, teenage girl-like, giggle.
"What the fuck was that?" I said trying to hold in my own laugh.
"I can't help it, okay! I try to hold it back most of the time, but it just comes out." He chuckled, rubbing his face with his free hand.
"I did not expect that coming out of you."
"Shut uuuuppp."
We both laughed, turning around to go back to the parking lot.
...
"Where do you live?" I asked as we started driving down the road.
"Jefferson street," he said, pulling his seatbelt away from his neck. He argued against wearing it, saying that he's been fine without wearing one for so long, but I argued with him and apparently it scares him when I'm aggressive.
I nodded and turned in the direction of his street.
I turned onto Jefferson street, scanning at all the average sized houses and apartment complexes.
"It's the one up there on left." Ashton pointed to a small, but not terribly small house. It was smaller than average but it was nice.
"Do you live here by yourself?"
"Calum's my roommate."
I nodded and put my lips in a line. Silence filled the air and I wondered how many times this was gonna happen.
"I'll, uh, see you later I guess," Ashton said, unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Yeah. See ya."
He gave me a small smile and I did the same.
I leaned in and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. His face flushed red and he let out another small giggle.
He's so adorable I want to kick him in the teeth.
