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

"forgive me?"

• C H A P T E R • F I F T E E N •

Ash
7:32 PM

Open up

I brought takeout

Noa stares down at her phone screen with furrowed brows; it has been at least two hours since she last heard from Ashton, so this is more than a surprise. Noa pushes herself up off the couch where she has been sitting beside Hannah for the last hour. Neither Hannah nor Alice, who's sitting on the opposite couch, even flinch as Noa gets up and walks toward the front door. Noa looks through the peephole to see Ashton waiting on the other side of the wood.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asks Ashton with an amused tone of voice as she swings the door open, after unlocking the deadbolt. Ashton sends her a sweet smile before raising both of his hands and revealing two large bags of takeout.

"You leave tomorrow, don't you?" he asks.

"Uhm, yeah... and?"

"I'm getting my Noa fill before you go," Ashton says with a shrug before pushing past Noa and making his way into the apartment. Noa isn't going to turn Ashton down so she doesn't put up a fight and instead steps to the side to let him in. As soon as he walks into the living room, he greets both Hannah and Alice.

"Oh... hi Ashton," Alice says as she feigns embarrassment. She's currently holding a hand mirror close to her face as she plucks her eyebrows; her legs are sprawled out on the couch that she's not sharing with anyone. Noa notices that both Alice and Hannah are stuck staring at Ashton like he's some kind of whimsical being. She understands the look coming from boy-hungry Alice, but seeing Hannah staring up at him like that causes her to laugh.

"I didn't know what you two liked, so I got a little bit of everything," Ashton says as he holds up one of the bags.

"You got them food?" Noa asks as she walks up beside him. She's surprised by the thoughtfulness of the action; she doesn't think of Ashton as being unthoughtful, but it means a lot to her that he thought to get them something, too.

"Well, yeah," he says with a laugh. "I didn't think it would be fair to come over with food and not offer them any... plus, I thought it might take some bribing to get you all to myself for the rest of the night."

"You can have her," Hannah says as she stands up from the couch. She reaches for the bag in Ashton's hand before placing it down on the coffee table.

"You'd both trade me for some food?" Noa asks in disgust.

"Yup," Alice says before flashing Noa a smile. "Thanks, Ashton."

"Any time," Ashton says with a smile. He looks down at Noa before speaking again: "I got your favorite."

"C'mon," she says with a playful roll of her eyes before leading him out of the living room. The girls once again thank Ashton before he disappears from view with Noa.

"My initial plan for tonight was to just text you that I'd leave my door unlocked so you could drop by whenever you wanted, but I was afraid you'd never show," Ashton tells Noa as they walk into her room. "So... I went with my backup plan."

"What if I didn't want to see you?" Noa asks as she inquisitively raises her brow.

"Well, that would have been nuts... so it never really crossed my mind as a possibility," Ashton tells her as if the answer is obvious. Noa lets out a laugh and gently shakes her head in amusement.

"How much sex are we going to have to have before you're satisfied for the next four days?"

"Four days?" asks Ashton in complete shock. "You said you come back Friday. Surely I'll be able to see you then? That'll only make it three days. If it's a whole four, I'll have to keep you in here all night long."