Holiday (Ashton Irwin)

Chapter Six

Two hours ago, I was in this car getting dropped off. Now here I am back in this car with Ashton going somewhere. Where to you ask? I have no clue. We are just driving around. 

"Why did you come back to my dorm?" I question. 

"To be a good friend and make sure you were okay." He answers without a cocky comment like last night. 

"Friend?" I whisper as if I was unsure if I really wanted to ask that question.

"Of course, you didn't give me a reason not to be your friend except for the attitude but I looked past that." He grins.

I roll my eyes. "Could you run me by McDonald's so I can get something to eat? I am starving." 

"Or I could take you to this really good restaurant. You can eat as much as you want and whatever you'd like." He's very convincing. 

Is this his way of trying to take me out on a date? It's not happening. I'll go for some food, but this is not going to be a date. I do not need a man in my life to tell me how to be, what to do, nor do I have time to dress to impress a man every day of my life. That's too exhausting. 

"This is NOT a date." I emphasize the word not. 

I don't get another comment from Ashton just a smirk and an eye roll. He does a U-turn in the middle of the road, causing a few other cars to honk their horns at us. But he doesn't seem to care. He sticks his middle finger out the window, the car behind him is screaming something at him but I can't make out what he said. 

I watch as he rolls his window up and throws his head back laughing with one hand on the wheel and the other on the window button. His smile is pretty attractive I wouldn't be surprised if he did have a girlfriend. But how would she feel that he slept in the same bed, same hotel as another girl? How would she feel that he came to check on me and make sure I'm okay? And now he is taking another girl out to eat. He did call me his friend, maybe he really does consider me as just a friend and doesn't see me as anything more. 

What's his actual story? Who is this man? Does he even go to NYU? Was he at that frat party I was at last night?

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I blurt out. I mentally slap myself on the forehead. That was NOT supposed to come out of my mouth!

"Why, are you interested?" He chuckles.

"Oh, god I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ask that." I rush to apologize.

We pull into a parking lot of an old rustic diner. The parking lot is pretty packed here. They must have good food. 

"It's complicated." He finally answers my question. I didn't expect him to. I was just going to leave the conversation alone. 

He gets out of his car and opens the car door for me. "Thanks." He nods. 

We get inside and we are escorted to a booth with menus. 

"So, what do you mean it's complicated?" 

"I just don't really know if we are together or not." He's starting to sound annoyed.

"How do you not know? Either you guys are together or you're not. It's that simple." He doesn't say anything, he just stares at me. He's not glaring and he's not gazing at me. I can't really tell what he's thinking. "Is she going to be mad we slept together and now you're out to eat with me?" I push more questions to him.

"Enough Clarity." He snaps. The whole diner's attention is on us. He doesn't seem to care. "That conversation is over and not happening again." 

I nod, not saying another single word until the waitress takes our order. We place our orders, and the kind lady takes our menus. "It's always great seeing you, Ashton."  She winks at him and walks away.

"Oh, my god, is that her?" I raise my brows praying that he was not that stupid to bring another girl to the place where his girlfriend works.

"No, Clarity, it's not." He seems to like to say my name. 

She brings us our drinks. She's young, thin, blonde, and really beautiful. That has to be her. He's lying to me, I know it. 

"Are you Ashton's girlfriend." I fold my arms, leaning them on the table and leaning closer as if we are talking about some secret. 

Ashton chokes on his coke. "Clarity!!" Yup, there goes my name again.

"What?" 

The lady chuckles as Ashton turns red. "No, I'm not his girlfriend. I'm just a friend of his..." 

"I come here a lot, okay?" Ashton cuts the lady off. 

This is my que to stop talking. Don't even say sorry. You've done enough here.

"ASHTON! My baby!" I hear a lady yell from across the diner. It's an older lady. She has black frizzy hair, black jeans and a t-shirt with the diner's logo on it. 

"Who's that?" I ask as Ashton is sitting there with his head in his hands, shaking it. The waitress is still standing there looking down as if she's about to get into trouble. 

"Oh, I didn't even notice you! I'm Carla, Ashton's mother." She extends her arm out to shake mine.

"Carla, no." Ashton's voice darkens. Now he seems scary. I think I'm kind of afraid of him now. Or I should've been when I first met him. 

Why does he call his mother by her name? That seems a little odd.

I shake her hand as her big smile fades from Ashton's rudeness. She leans in to kiss Ashton on the cheek, but he leans away from her. She says nothing else and just turns around and walks away.

"Why the hell didn't anyone tell me she was here today? She never works Saturdays!" Ashton yells but in a whisper to the poor waitress. She turns red, clearly embarrassed. 

"She needed the extra money." This girl does not owe Ashton an explanation. He should not be treating her that way.

"Ashton, don't you feel like you're being a little rude?" I ask. The waitress shakes her head no, trying to get me to stop talking. 

"No. We're leaving, cancel our order." He abruptly stands up, waiting for me to do the same.

I look at the table and back at him. "But... food. I'm hungry." I pout. 

"Clarity... now." He demands. Without another fight, I do as I'm told and follow him to his car where he opens the car door me. 

He races out of the parking lot so fast, I thought we were going to end up in an accident and dead. Great way to end 2020. 

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Question: Would you rather be Ashton's best friend or Clarity? 

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