little freak - afi

verse two

Starry haze, crystal ball
Somehow, you've become some paranoia
A wet dream just dangling
But your gift is wasted on me

Last night was a blur, it felt like a movie, different scenes becoming sharper and blurring again. But it was real and getting ready to meet up with Ashton again made me believe it. After the concert last night he came running backstage and didn't even get changed and instead asked me all about my photography experience and if I liked the show better that way or from the audience. The boys had to pry him away from me so they could eventually leave the venue. He just kept talking and asking questions and I had a feeling it had a lot to do with the after show high he still experienced. But I was happily talking to him, telling him all about how Ryan taught me to find the right settings and angles quickly. Ashton wouldn't quit so I eventually gave him my phone and told him to text me so we could talk tomorrow. 

And here I was, after we had texted half of the night, getting ready to get coffee with him and explore the city in hopes of not running into too many fans. He could handle it, I could not. I didn't even check Twitter since all of this started yesterday and I'm not sure I wanted to even though I knew it was unfair. I did have some friends on there who I knew were dying to know what happened. But I couldn't get myself to even open the app, afraid it was all a dream. And it felt even more like a dream when I saw Ashton standing there in front of the coffee shop we randomly found, sunglasses on, hood up, smiling that beautiful dimpled smile. 

"Morning!", he greeted and pulled me into a hug. 

"Morning. Are you hiding from fans or how tired you look underneath those?", I asked jokingly, knowing he's got to be just as tired as I am. 

"Both a little. I'm used to short nights and I don't have a show today so nothing coffee can't fix. Speaking of, wanna go in and get something to go?", he offered, and I happily accepted. 

"Did you already look through your pictures?" 

"Only a bit, someone had to keep me up talking all night.", I replied, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that! We talked about music all night long that's as much your dream as it is mine." 

"Maybe, but yeah there were some pictures I liked already." We grabbed our coffee and walked out of the shop, aimlessly leaving into one direction. 

"Have you been on twitter since yesterday?", he asked casually, and I shook my head. 

"I didn't have the time and I also wanted to spare myself the stress." 

"Good idea. You'll get a lot of questions but I don't think they'll be too harsh on you." 

"We'll see about that." I didn't expect a lot of hate, at least not directly. But I wasn't ready to go back to the chaos my notifications would be. We walked further and eventually I could smell the ocean more clearly and knew we had walked far enough to reach the beach. We instinctually walked to a more private part, sitting down in the sand. Ashton took out his phone, switching to his Instagram story. 

"You're not gonna upload a story now, are you? At least be careful so it doesn't show me." 

"Oh come on, two cups of coffee, who's gonna track that back to you?" 

"Fine but if it happens, I'll tell you, I told you so. And you can deal with the consequences." 

"I will, you can complain as much as you want.", he assured me, taking the short video, and posting it. My mind immediately going to the possibility of staying in contact with him after whatever this was.