he'll never be the one (a.i)

"playing house"

• C H A P T E R • S E V E N •

As a pair of hands gently shake Noa awake, the dusty brunette slowly comes to. Her eyebrows furrow as she takes in her surroundings, and she musters a small smile as her eyes land on Ashton; he's the one responsible for waking her.

"What time is it?" Noa asks as she brings one of her hands up to her face. There is a slight pounding in her head and she grimaces at the feeling before gently pinching the bridge of her nose. A quiet laugh escapes Ashton's lips before he responds:

"It's past ten," he answers as he pushes himself off the edge of the bed. Noa's brows raise in surprise and she pushes herself up on her elbows; the abrupt motion causes her head to pound even more.

"You're kidding," she mutters. She couldn't remember the last time she slept past eight—it probably hadn't been since college. Maybe it was an effect Ashton had on her. Noa suddenly realizes that Ashton is dressed and she watches as he walks to his dresser and grabs his wallet from the surface. "Wait... are you about to kick me out?"

"No you bonehead," Ashton says through a chuckle before walking back to the bed. "I'm about to leave and didn't want you to wake up here alone, so I figured I'd at least try to wake you up first. I have to meet with someone in town, but I'll be back within an hour... so you can stay, or you can go."

"You should have woke me up sooner, I could have left with you—"

"You were sleeping like a rock; I wanted to let you sleep," he tells her with a shrug. "I really do have to run, but feel free to take a shower or make yourself something to eat. The bathroom is just through that door, and the fridge is freshly stocked." Noa blinks somewhat absentmindedly as she processes Ashton's words. "If you do end up needing to go, I can call you a cab, so just let me know. But we could hang out when I get back if you want."

"Okay. I'm sure I'll be out of your hair by then," Noa says quietly as she continues to look at Ashton. "You're being weirdly nice to me."

"Aren't I always?" he asks through a scoff. "Just text me your plans, okay?" Noa nods and Ashton flashes her a smile before heading toward the door.

"Bye, Ash," Noa says and then watches him leave the bedroom. She hears a door click shut about a minute later and realizes she's officially alone. Noa looks around the room that is being lit by the sunlight peeking through Ashton's curtains; in the sunlight, she realizes just how nice his place is. There doesn't seem to be a single thing out of place in the entire room, and that stands out to Noa significantly. The last time she hooked up with Ashton at his place, there was probably a week-old pizza box on the floor, laundry covering every inch of his dorm, and at least one pillow with no case on it. She was now sitting in a king-size bed with very nice bedding in a spacious and spotless bachelor-pad-esque bedroom.

Noa pushes the blankets off her legs and gets out of Ashton's bed. She walks around the room, snooping in a couple of drawers, before deciding that she was crazy for doing so. She walks to the bathroom that she vaguely remembers tumbling into at some point last night and is once again in awe of how nice it is now that the lights were fully on.

Noa starts the shower and undresses before getting in. Having accepted the fact that she'd likely be using some horrendous men's 3-in-1 shampoo—because that's what Ashton used in college—she found herself shocked to see that he had upgraded to a gender-neutral all-natural shampoo and conditioner. Who was this man and what had he done with Ashton Irwin? Whoever he was, Noa decided to take advantage of all his amenities. She took close to a 30-minute shower before getting out and drying off with one of the softest towels she had ever used. Noa walks back into Ashton's room and decides to snoop a little further in hopes to find a shirt of Ashton's she can throw on for the time being. She wasn't about to get back into the dress she had worn the night before, and the spare change of clothes she brought were still in Ashton's car.

After pulling on a shirt of Ashton's, Noa makes her way through his apartment and continues to discover that Ashton, at some point, had decided to grow up. She snoops around in his living room, reading all the titles of the books on his shelves, and even tested out his couch. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since Ashton left; she was getting so caught up in her surroundings that it could have either been fifteen minutes or two hours since he had left.

When she steps into Ashton's kitchen, she knows he's joined the dark side of adulthood—everything is labeled and perfectly organized.

"Holy shit," she mutters as she opens the impressively stocked fridge. "Am I being Punk'd?" she asks herself aloud before looking around suspiciously. She was starting to think that Ashton had just left her at some random person's apartment that he stole the keys to. Not for a second could she readily believe this is where he lived.

Noa starts to look through the food in Ashton's fridge and feels a pang of jealousy at how good he seemed to be at grocery shopping. Everything looked so fresh and yummy. As she was bent down looking in the drawers of his fridge, a hand suddenly smacks her ass and she jumps as well as screams.

"Jesus Christ, asshole! You scared me to death," Noa scolds as she turns around and smacks Ashton's arm. He laughs heartily before wrapping his arms around her and apologizing. "Get off me," she says through a playful laugh as she pushes him away. "Have you even been gone thirty minutes? Why are you back already?"

"What, were you enjoying playing house? Should I leave?" he asks as he pulls her closer to him by the ends of the shirt she was wearing. "It looks like you've made yourself comfortable." Noa doesn't dare to let her emotions show, but she feels incredibly embarrassed that Ashton has found her in his shirt like this. She knows it doesn't really matter, but it doesn't keep a pit of embarrassment from building up in her chest.

"I wasn't really feeling formal wear after taking a shower," Noa tells him as she tries to hide her embarrassment. "Is this really your place?" she suddenly asks, deterring the current conversation.

"Uh... last time I checked, yes. Why?"

"It's not very gross frat boy of you," Noa explains.

"Ah, yes. You caught me: I grew up. It's terribly embarrassing, I know. I don't know how I let it happen," Ashton says as he lifts the shirt Noa's wearing ever so slightly and places his hands on her bare skin. Noa chuckles at his words. "So... are you staying, then?"

"I wasn't planning on it," she tells him.

"Could I change your mind?"

"I suppose you could... but there's no guarantee," Noa says. In a swift motion, Ashton lifts Noa up and places her on the nearest countertop.

"I could make you something to eat," Ashton says seconds before connecting his lips with the skin of Noa's neck.

"Is that some kind of crude play on words I'm going to regret saying yes to?" she asks with a smirk on her face. Ashton pulls away from her and looks her in the eye.

"As if you'd regret such a thing," Ashton says with a playful roll of his eyes. "But no. As tasty as you are, I was being serious."

a/n:

hi again hehe

thank you so very much for reading <33

mwah

<3

j