10

29 1 17

by MaegannR5

by MaegannR5

Danielle's POV

I walked out of the garage and looked to my left and saw Ashton. He was sitting on the ground smoking. I walked over to him and sat down beside him. "Hey," I said quietly as I sat down on the grass.

He exhaled smoke. "What do you want, Dani?" He held the cigarette between his pointer and middle fingers.

"I wanted to sit with you," I answered. He took a deep breathe. "Are you okay?"

Ashton turned to face me. "Look, I'm trying to get a peaceful smoke in. Take one and shut up or you can go home." I hesitated. Ashton picked up the pack of cigarettes and held it up to my face. I took one. He grabbed the lighter and handed it to me. I held the cigarette with my lips like I've seen people do before, and I cupped my hand to light the cigarette. I handed the lighter back to Ashton, and he gladly took it and kept his eyes on me, watching me with my first cigarette. I inhaled and coughed. As it burned my throat, Ashton laughed. It felt as if my breathe was taken from me. I kept coughing as well.

I held the cigarette away from me as I exhaled, finally not coughing. "I don't like it."

"Give it to me," Ashton said as he held out his hand. I handed the cigarette to him, and he put it out by rubbing it into the ground.

"Thank you," I simply said. We sat in silence until I decided to speak. "Hey, uh, are you actually done with the band thing?"

Ashton shook his head. "I don't know. I want to be. I was actually hurt. -- I wasn't hurt by them, but I was hurt that I let them down. I went into this band thinking it would be something fun to do, and it got old. If you love something, it shouldn't get old." He inhaled and exhaled cigarette smoke. We heard a noise come from around the garage. Michael was walking to his car and was about to put his guitar case into his car. Ashton scoffed. "I bet he won't even look this way." Ashton was right; Michael didn't even glance at Ashton before he drove off. "One gone, one more to go." As if on cue, Calum was leaving with his case in hand. Unlike Michael, Calum glanced our way before he left, and he even waved which Ashton returned. Then, Calum pulled off. Ashton put out his cigarette. "Well, I guess I should go talk to Luke. I kind of have to since he lives with me, right?"

I nodded. "Yep," I popped the p. Ashton stood up and wiped off the grass from his pants. He held out his hand for me to take, and I gladly did. "Thank you," I said as I wiped the grass off of myself. "Should I leave?" I asked as I walked with Ashton to the garage.

"Normally, I wouldn't want any witnesses in case I were to snap..." Ashton trailed off and looked at me. "You're already used to my jokes?"

"Kind of," I answered. "If you consider that a joke."

"Anyway, I guess you can stay. I don't think it'll be a big deal."

"You sure? I don't want to make things awkward." I was just double checking.

"More awkward than they're possibly going to be?" We entered the garage where Luke sat, busy on his phone. "Can we talk?" Ashton asked as he sat beside Like, and I sat where I sat earlier.

"What about?" Luke asked with an attitude, obviously knowing what. He put his phone in his back pocket.

"I just wanted to make it official that I am quitting the band." Luke's facial expression didn't change. "Uh..." Ashton trailed off, noticing Luke's lack of emotion.

"We all kind of figured that out. Did you not see Calum and Michael leave with their instruments? They're thinking about quitting it if we can't find another drummer. -- How could you just leave after all the work we have done?" Ashton was quiet, but his facial expression was loud and clear. He was pissed.

I had to chime in. "Ashton, you should tell him what you told me." I was talking about how he had said 'if you love something, it shouldn't get old'.

"It's not worth it. -- Look, Luke, are you going to continue living here or lose a friendship because your band lost an amazing drummer?"

Luke clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes because he rolled his eyes at Ashton's comment. "Well, I can't go back to living with my parents. My mom is still mad at me. -- I can talk to Michael if you want me gone."

Ashton looked directly at Luke. "Stay here until you don't want to." Ashton stood up and began walking until he stopped before he fully exited the garage and turned around. "Dani, wanna come?"

"I guess." I stood up. I looked at Luke. "I'll probably see you later, Luke." I gave a slight wave before I followed Ashton out of the garage. We walked over to the opposite side of the house where Ashton leaned on it. "Why didn't you tell him that the band got old to you?" Ashton shrugged with his arms crossed. "He might look at the situation differently." He shrugged again.

"You talk a lot," Ashton said. "Does it get tiring?" My jaw dropped; my eyebrows furrowed, and I crossed my arms. Ashton shrugged again, but this time he had an innocent look on his face. "Well..." My expression returned to normal, but I kept my arms crossed, and I leaned against the house like Ashton. He turned to lean on his side and began facing me, but I stayed the same. He lifted his arm up and laid his hand on my left side and pulled on me as if telling me to turn, so I turned to face him. He left his hand on my side as we stood there. "I guess it's a good thing you're pretty." I smiled as a natural reflex and out of being flattered. I didn't say anything after that, so it was quiet. (We had a lot of quiet moments today.) "You're not good with hints, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to kiss you," Ashton spoke. He but his lip.

(A/N- OH SHIIII. If this was a TV show, this would be the season finale because you're left kind of on a cliff hanger... unless you don't care. You should care.)