stalked // 5sos

2.0

ashton

As soon as I step through the door, we both scream. I stumble against the wall and hold my hand to my chest as I stare at the stranger, whose feet are resting comfortably on the coffee table, and is watching the Kardashians on my television. I immediately close my eyes right after they practically pop out of my head.

Thank god Lina isn't here.

"Who are you?" The boy asks. He looks about my age, his black hair has a blonde streak and is very disheveled, as if he just woke up, and his cheeks look very pinch worthy. He has on a black muscle tee and some black ripped skinnies, very similar to my everyday ensemble. He is also wearing black Vans and a Pizza Hut hat, which is on backwards.

Huh.

"Me!? You're in my apartment! Who the fuck are you!?" I furrow my eyebrows as much as they can possibly furrow and continue to stare at the strange kid. I step further into my apartment and the smell of fresh pizza invades my nostrils.

He shrugs. "I was delivering the pizza you ordered and no one answered the door so-"

"I didn't order a pizza."

He slightly cocks his head to the side. "You didn't? Are you sure?" When I nod, he decides to continue speaking. "7F?"

I shake my head. "That's downstairs. I'm 9F."

"What about floor eight?" He questions.

"I don't know. The building only has odd numbered- Why am I even talking to you?" I tug at my hair and lock my hazel eyes with his brown ones. "Who the hell are you?"

He stands up and shakes my clammy hand while giving me a proud smile. "Hood. Calum Hood."

"Well, Calum, I'm Ashton." I sigh, questioning my decision to tell him my name. "You said you got pizza?"

"Yes, but it's for a customer." He says, his voice trailing off as I shove past him, following the scent of the pizza. "Ashton, you can't-"

I pick up the box and give him a twenty, deciding that I'll make a special delivery to whoever ordered it. "I'll deliver it, you said 7F right?"

He nods.

A simple oh is all I manage to say. That's Ella's apartment. Why is she ordering pizza right now? It is her comfort food. I hope her boyfriend, who's name I still haven't learned, didn't walk out on her. El loves him so much, but he's been going out a lot lately, every night, and not telling her where he's been going. She always comes upstairs and cries to me. I don't mind, though. She's a good friend of mine and it's always good for someone to have a shoulder to cry on. I do mind the way her boyfriend treats her, though. I wish she would just break up with the douche.

I check the time and realise that Ella still waiting for her pizza. Calum and I share our goodbyes and I lead him back to my front door, shutting the door. I stand in that spot for a few moments, thinking of what could possibly have happened for her to be ordering this so early.

I grab the pizza and rush downstairs, softly knocking on her door. "It's Ashton."

There is a short silence before I hear murmuring from inside the door slightly opens and she pokes her face out. "Oh, the pizza. What are you doing?"

I furrow my eyebrows and try looking behind her, to see who she was talking to. She seems to notice and stands closer to the door, blocking my view. "The delivery guy brought it up to my apartment on accident. Who's in there?"

Her face goes red and she shakes her head, a worried look flashing across her eyes. "No one, I'm just watching tv. Well, thanks for the-"

I stop away so she's not able to grab the box. "Ella, tell me who's in there."

She shuts the door and in less than five seconds later, reopens it, stepping inside to let me walk in. The first thing I notice is the large white shirt covering her body, and then the shirtless man standing up from the couch. "Ashton, meet Tyler."

I look at the man as he walks up behind her, holding her waist as he reaches out to shake my hand. I stand in silence, trying to pick my heart back up from the floor before shaking his hand. "I- I'm Ashton..."

He smiles and kisses her neck before walking back over to the couch, putting his feet on the table. He must not know that El hates when people do that. "Ashton, you can leave now."

"Right, um, sorry. I'll go." I make a pathetic attempt at a smile before turning around, practically running back to my apartment. I lock the door and fall into the couch, not bothering to turn the tv or anything on as I stare off into space.

She wasn't crying over her old boyfriend, she wasn't binge watching sad moves, she wasn't going to ask me to hang out so she could cry to me. She was watching tv, barely clothed, with that man, who appeared as if he was ten years older than her. She's already forgotten about him, she's forgotten about me.

It's not like we could ever date, anyway. It'd be too jeopardising to our relationship and it wouldn't have too great of an effect on Lina. It would all be too much of a change for us and that's a change that none of us need.

I decide to get up and actually do something around the house, maybe take my mind off of her. It is such a mess anyway and Lina is always leaving her toys all over the apartment. Asking her to clean it up just puts her in a rage and I'd rather clean it myself than deal with her.

Three hours of me listening to music and cleaning goes by and I'm rudely interrupted by a knock on the door.

-+-

hey !! sorry for the short update and it took forever but i've been SUpEr busy with school and stuff. anyway, hope you enjoyed this and comment your fave off sgfg; mine is airplanes or the girl who cried wolf :')