Promise ( 2025 Updated version )

Chapter 2 - The sound of something new

~ Ashton's POV ~

I woke up to find Katie sleeping soundly on my chest. I couldn't help but admire her beautiful features and the peaceful expression on her face. It was as if the world's troubles couldn't reach her in that moment, and for that reason, I didn't want to wake her. She looked so innocent that I didn't want reality to crash down and ruin it. 

So, I did just that – I let her sleep. As much as I usually dislike it when people sleep on me, she felt different.

I'd only ever allowed my brother or sister to fall asleep on me before, so this was new. But I didn't mind it nearly as much as I usually would. Little snores escaped her every once in a while, which made me smile. But as soon as I heard Luke come pounding down the stairs, I had to stop myself and shoot him a death glare.

"Be quiet, Katie's sleeping," I scolded as he finally stumbled into the room.

"SO? I should be waking her up for jumping on me yesterday!" He retorted, earning himself another sharp glare from me.

"One, you probably deserved it, and two, no, you shouldn't. Just let her sleep; she was up late last night."

"Fine, if you say so." I decided to change the subject before she woke up to us talking about her. "Last night was pretty fun, by the way," Luke chuckled.

"Yeah, I totally won," I said confidently.

"No way, dude! Louis was great. We definitely won."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, man." As we argued back and forth, I felt Katie stir slightly, but didn't think much of it, too caught up in my conversation with Luke.

~ Katie's POV ~

I opened my eyes and immediately recognized the familiar scent of cologne that lingered on the hoodie I was still wearing from the night before. Only this time, it was stronger, meaning I was closer to Ashton. My heart started to beat faster than usual when I realized I had fallen asleep on him while watching the movie. I looked up to see that I was indeed lying on Ashton's chest, and he was talking to Luke.

"Dude, we totally won in football last night," I heard Ashton say to Luke.

"No way, Louis was great, we definitely won."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, man." As they bickered, I thought to myself, Katie, what the hell are you doing? You are lying on top of an insanely hot guy who smells amazing and didn't wake you up to get the heck off him. Instead, he let you sleep there and had a whole conversation with Luke, and still didn't move you.

I need to tell him I'm awake without telling—

"Oh, sleeping beauty is awake," Luke announced, the asshole. I wasn't done thinking.

"Haha, yes, yes, I am awake. Now, if you would excuse me, I am going to wake up your sister, who may not be alive in the next 20 minutes," I said, carefully getting off Ashton. It was a bit of a maneuver, having to do a push-up on the couch around us without collapsing back onto him.

"While you're at it, can you wake up Calum? I'm hungry, and he banned me from using the kitchen without his supervision," Luke asked.

"No, you can wait until his lazy ass decides to get up 'cause I'm not going through that again. The reason you can't use the kitchen is that you almost burned down our house and got me and Cal grounded for leaving you alone. What room is Cate in?"

"Second one to the right, all the way at the end. Wait, why are you going to the kitchen?"

"Water."