Keeping Real - Ashton Irwin

Chapter 19

The weeks melted away quickly.

My nightmares were few and far between, and on the rare occasion I had them there was always someone I could talk to. Ashton was a blessing from above. He respected me and wanted to find out more about me, who I was. Whenever he texted me he asked how my day was going, or why I hated the sound of shoes scuffing, or what my favorite part was about Christmas, or what my favorite thing was about him. He wanted to know everything.

Before I knew it, he and I were inseparable. I met his family several days after our night in The Park. His little brother and sister were sweet, and his mom was incredibly sweet and caring. It wasn't hard to see where Ashton got his love from.

Ashton ended up meeting my mother several weeks later, by accident. We were going to my house after school, everyday we studied, or just hung out until swim practice. My mom happened to pop into my room; it was a miracle that she was home, she almost never was anymore.

I quickly introduced Ashton as my boyfriend. He had asked me to be his girlfriend between kisses several days earlier and I had said yes. My mother gave him a tense smile and asked if she could talk to me privately.

I stepped into the hall, already annoyed with my mom even though she had only been home for a few minutes.

"What do you mean he's your boyfriend?" She hissed at me.

I took a deep breath, trying to be patient because her concern was not unfounded. My last relationship had ended in unforgivable circumstances and she was worried.

"He helped me through everything with Connor and I really needed him then and I still need him now. I know that I messed up when I went to that stupid party but that's behind me now. Ashton isn't like Connor. He respects me," I told her, my voice final.

She nodded before replying, "Alright. But I'm keeping a close watch on him. I don't trust you or him right now so watch yourselves. And please," her voice pleaded, "be careful."

I so badly wanted to hug my mom and thank her for watching out for me but the past still hung over me like a dark cloud. When she let Connor go without any repercussions it created a rift between us that I was unsure how to fix.

"I promise I will be, Mom," I told her, and disappeared back into my room.

Later that week the final meet against Crestwood was going to take place. Swimming became the most important thing to Ashton, Calum, and me. We rarely got to see each other except for the special moments when Ashton would wait late for me after my private lessons with Mr. Kae and sometimes even stay over at my house.

The days before the meet were filled with tension. I could barely sleep or eat, my body was set in survival mode and I was hyped. Training became my life-I went to the gym often and ate an extremely balanced diet (unfortunately that meant no Froot Loops).

My mother had promised me she'd at the meet and I knew she would be since swimming seemed to be the one thing she was proud of me for.

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The final meet was on a Friday, and almost half of our school showed up. Some schools show up to all the football games, our school showed up to all the swimming meets.

I sat in the locker room with my teammates, prepping and stretching. I snapped my shiny gold and teal bathing suit-the colors of Golden Oak High School-on and my favorite swim cap. I wasn't nervous about beating the competition from Crestwood, I was nervous about impressing the representatives from the colleges I dreamed of getting into.

We walked out to the pool, all of us quiet with nervous energy.

The coaches were going over some final information with the officials and Mr. Kae came and sat down next to me on the bench.