Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 13

My phone buzzed, waking me up. Ashton groaned next to me, fidgeting slightly before moving back to how he was laying before with his chest to my back and his strong arms draped around my waist. I blindly searched for my phone on the bedside table before opening my eyes and squinting at the burning brightness of the screen.

"Babe it's too bright," Ashton mumbled, burying his head in my messy mane of hair on the pillow behind my head.

Once my eyes had adjusted to the light I saw Lexi was trying to FaceTime me. Before even thinking about making myself look presentable I answered the call and Ashton pulled me in closer to him so not even a finger of space separated us.

"Maisie!" Lexi said excitedly and I groaned at how loud it was before turning the volume down on my phone. "Oh, did I wake you up?"

"Kinda," I mumbled back. It was then that I took in what Lexi looked like. She had on what looked like yesterday's makeup, but it didn't make her look any less beautiful. Today of all days she looked especially stunning, even over a poor quality video chat. "What's up, Lexi?"

She moved herself to the side and pulled Luke into the shot of the camera. "Well... Last night, Luke proposed to me! We're engaged!"

Ashton shot up from behind me with a massive grin. "You are?" he asked. "Fuck, congratulations! That's amazing, guys!"

I grinned too, nodding along with what Ashton said. "I wish you could've waited an hour before telling us, though," I grumbled as I sat up and Ashton followed.

"I thought you guys might be pissed off but there's a reason we wanted to call earlier in the morning," Luke chimed in, propping his chin on his new fiancée's shoulder. "We have a lot of calls to make this morning. We want to invite you guys to afternoon tea and champagne (and water for you, Mais) to celebrate tomorrow at twelve."

"Oh wow," I said. "I go back to work next week, what about you, Babe?" I turned to Ashton and watched him quizzically.

"Not until the start of the new school term in January," he answered, before pouting his lips at me. "Can we go? Please?"

"Yeah!" He pressed a kiss to my cheek as I turned back to the camera of my phone and confirmed: "We'll be there! Is there a dress code? Where is it?"

"Black tie mandatory," Lexi enthused, "and I'll text you the location. I can't remember off the top of my head."

"We're engaged," Luke whispered as he wrapped his arms around Lexi from behind, unable to wipe the smile off his lips. Ashton and I shared a glance, causing me to blush profusely and rest my head on his bare shoulder.

"You guys are so cute," I told our friends over the line. "Congrats!"

"We love you guys," Ash added and I nodded.

"I'll text you," Lexi added before Luke said goodbye and ended the call.

I looked over to my boyfriend and pecked his lips gently though I was still overcome with bewilderment. "Our friends are getting married," I whispered.

Ashton sighed, looking from my eyes to my lips and back momentarily. "Yeah," he replied simply with a lazy grin. And then he moved in to kiss me, slowly and gently, moving his lips into mine. When he pulled away, he smiled again, his lips lazily quirking upwards at the corners, and he mumbled, "I love you."

Without a second of hesitation I replied, "I love you, too," and pecked his lips one last time. "Come on, we should get dressed. I smell bacon cooking downstairs, and you know not to keep a girl away from her food."

The two of us showered together, keeping it somewhere between PG and PG-13, sloppily making out under the stream, massaging each other and washing each other. We didn't shower together in order to be intimate; we did it to preserve water and save time. I swear, that's the reason.