drowning

23

Ashton.

I woke up to distant laughter.

I moved to touch Ava- not feeling her there making me know, it was her laughter.

After making myself wake up, playing on my phone for a good few minutes, I got up- brushing my teeth before following the laughter and talking to the kitchen- where Ava and Michael were cooking breakfast, Calum watching at the island with a firm smile.

"It's going to stick!" I heard Ava speak quickly, motioning for Michael to do something with the eggs he was supposed to be cooking.

I pulled Ava into a hug, feeling her grab my hands without even knowing who I was, which made me smile.

I watched her head look down, looking to my hands before turning around to hug me tightly.

"Morning" she smiled before returning to bossing Michael around, who was appearing to be more than stressed.

Soon we all sat around each other, eating the breakfast they prepared, throwing consistent criticism towards Michael, who would just roll his eyes and blame the bad stuff on Ava.

"So what are we doing today, you guys?" Michael was the first to speak to the room as we all finished up our breakfast, glancing to each other.

"Oh come on- we are all way too young to just want to sit inside and watch movies all day- let's go do something!" He bounced, making Ava laugh lightly

"I'm almost mad that you aren't hungover" I spoke to him, seeing him laugh lightly.

"I'm genuinely shocked that I'm not."

We ended up all going to the complex's pool, Ava and I sitting with our feet in the pool, watching the guys fuck around.

"Want to get in?" I asked her, immediately pushing myself in, feeling the cold water hit my chest, making me immediately squeeze my hands into fists.

"Not with your reaction to how cold the water is." She laughed lightly, trying to guide me away from her.

Luke.

I watched as Ava started panicking , grilling anything beside her that she could as Ashton held her leg with a firm grip, trying to pull her in.

"Let it go- you're coming in!" He laughed out as she begged, her own laughter sounding through her yells.

"It's so cold ash- please!" She laughed loudly, but that didn't stop him for a second.

He pulled her in, immediately catching her body so that her head didn't go under, but I could tell that the coldness of the water caught her off guard.

"See, I even saved your hair for you." He laughed, referring to how he didn't let any of it get wet.

"Oh how sweet of you."

Ava.

It was hard to be happy and have as much fun as they were making me have.

In the back of my mind, I constantly had the thoughts

Your entire family is dead.
You shouldn't be having fun
You should be grieving

But instead- I was making jokes, play fighting and not even thinking about how tragic my life actually was.

Soon we were all out and covering ourselves with blankets- each of us agreeing to meet at Calum's house for a movie night after showers and such.

I showered, quickly changing into leggings and what I assumed was one of Ashton's shirt's, joining him in the kitchen, seeing him washing fruit, still in his swimsuit.

"You haven't changed yet, you're going to make us late-" "we have plenty of time, we all agreed on five." He dismissed, waving his hand without a care in the world.

"But now I'm going to shower- I would like all of this fruit eaten by the time I get back, please and thank you." He spoke swiftly, handing me a bowl of fruit, not even waiting for a response before leaving me.

I sat on the counter, picking out the pineapple pieces, watching TikTok as I said.

And before I knew it, Ashton was back, a firm smile on his lips

"You just picked out the pineapple, didn't you?" He asked me, making me glance to the still good variety of fruits in the bowl, but I was full.

"Yeah" I laughed lightly, seeing him smile as he shook his head.

"I'll take what I can get."