Rhythm || Ashton Irwin

Chapter Thirty-Nine

(Ashton's POV)

"Do you really have to do this right now?" I mumbled, barely opening up my eyes enough to see Lauren scurrying around her room, collecting items as she went.

Sitting up slowly, I grabbed a hold of her wrist, pulling her onto my lap. "Lo,"I whispered against her ear as she let out a small huff of disapproval. "It's 8 in the morning, on New Year's Day. You should be hungover and in bed, with me."

It's safe to say, after the night we both had, and the drunken stumbling back to her house around five hours ago, we should not be awake right now, let alone out of bed.

"My plane leaves at noon," she sighed some, resting her head on my shoulder, finally giving up on trying to escape from my grasp. "And for the record I am hungover."

I let out a small laugh and placed a kiss on the side of her head, giving her frame a small squeeze. The fact that she was leaving for a week and a half on a vacation that her parents insisted on her coming to before the next semester of school started was hard for me to swallow. Not that I didn't want her to go out and have a vacation. God knows she deserves one more than anyone I know, but I wanted to be there to enjoy it with

"Are you going to miss me?" She whispered, peering over her shoulder at me, a small grin forming on her lips.

"No," I deadpanned, causing her to let out an offended gasp.

"Well in that case," she said, letting out a sharp sigh while slapping her hands against her thighs. "You wont mind me getting my things together."

At the mention of her leaving my grasp, I instinctly tightening my grip around her waist, shaking my head furiously. "I lied," I quipped, resting my head in the space between her shoulder blades. "I'm going to miss you."

She slowly fell back against my chest, resting her head on my shoulder, letting out a small giggle before turning her head and placing a chaste kiss on my jaw. "I know." And with that, she wiggled her way out of my arms and continued her serious packing spree, causing me to let out a small groan as I fell back helplessly onto her bed.

-----

"My question is," Michael mumbled holding his hand up in the air, signaling his need to pause so he could swallow the food currently in his mouth. "Why is she even going on a vacation if her parents are going to be there? I mean, vacation is vacation, but with parents like that? I'd rather stay home." I shrugged my shoulders some in response; still confused myself about why Lauren insisted this would be a good idea.

After bringing Lauren to the airport, I decided to check in on the other boys just to make sure that all of them were still alive after last night's festivities.

"Her parents are a piece of work," Calum nodded in agreement while nibbling on a toaster pastry. Cassie, like Lauren, had vacation plans scheduled new years day making this a very rare all boys week.

"Maybe the vacation is an apology for being so shitty all the time?" Luke questioned before taking a large sip of his coffee.

"There's no doubt it is," Ben mumbled as he made his way into the kitchen with the rest of us. "They tend to do this around every holiday and birthday she has," he shrugged, shooting me a quick look before pouring himself a cup of coffee. "I can't wait to find out what they do when she gets married," he chuckled, locking eyes with me once again.

"Did you hear that, Ashton?" Luke giggled, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

You'll marry Lauren and get free vacations!" Calum added, high fiving Luke across the island in front of them.

I let out a sharp huff, standing from my spot at the counter and walking towards the fridge, opening it to try and hide the growing blush that had formed on my cheeks while looking for something to eat. "You know how I feel about marriage," I muttered, pulling out an apple and taking a bite of it while turning around to face the four boys starring at me.