Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes - 5

When I woke up the next morning, I laid in bed just a tad bit longer than usual. Everything that had happened last night came flooding in. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up. So, was I going to believe anything Ashton said? Probably not but I wasn’t going to completely dismiss him either. Sure he may have been a lunatic but he was a nice one at that. I got out of bed and did all my morning stuff before slipping on a simple grey dress with cute little pockets that came mid-thigh and a pair of white, floral printed tights that came to mid calve. I brushed my hair and put on a touch of mascara before heading down stairs. My mom was making breakfast and my dad was eating it.

“Mel, what was last night about?” my Mom asked when she saw me. I made no eye contact as I sat down and poured myself a glass of juice.

“Bad dream.” I lied smoothly and took a sip from my glass. My mom raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, so the boy outside has nothing to do with it?” she asked. I spit the juice out the second she said boy. My mom laughed as I hastily grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess.

“What boy?” I asked casually as I wiped the table down.

“Yes, Sarah, what boy?” my dad asked.

“There is a young man outside in a car. I believe he is going to drive you to school.” My mom said.

“I’ll take care of it. I’ll see you guys later.” I said sheepishly, grabbed my bag and turned to talk to the ‘boy’. I knew exactly who it was. My dad rose to follow me.

“No, dad. It’s fine. I can do this.” I said and he nodded before sitting back down. I ran outside and found Ashton leaning casually against a black Cadillac escalade.

“Ashton!” I yelled in a whisper.

“Yes, love?” he asked as he twirled the car keys around his finger. His accent never got old. He was wearing black jeans and a purple v-neck shirt that clung to his muscles perfectly. Over it, he had a leather jacket. And to finish off the look, he had a pair of dark glasses over his ocean blue eyes.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“To take you to school, of course.” He said with a smirk.

“My mom saw you!” I said again. He nodded as if he knew and smiled.

“And apparently, so did your dad.” He cocked his headed towards my house. I turned to see my dad staring at us. I was sure he was going to shoot him. I waved to him to assure him it was alright. He sighed and left the window. I smiled and turned to face Ashton only to see that he was only inches away. He slipped his arm around my waist.

“You look gorgeous today.” He said with a wink. My cheeks turned crimson and Aston laughed. I knew he loved the effect he was having on me. He backed off and opened the door for me.

“Just hurry up before my dad comes with a shot gun and kills you.” I said and Ashton laughed as he started to drive.

“He can’t kill me.” He said and turned to me with a smile. “So, how did you sleep?”

“Well, thank you.” I muttered and he turned his attention back to the road. We had pulled up to the school. All eyes followed the car as he pulled smoothly into a parking spot. We both got out and he came over and put his arm around me. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to cause a scene. We had everyone’s eyes. The girls glared daggers into my skull and the guys looked at me as if I were a new play toy. It was as if everyone was seeing me for the first time.

“I have to get stuff from my locker.” I whispered to him and he nodded, letting me go. I almost ran to my locker because I was not used to all those eyes but Ashton was behind me the entire time. When I got to my locker, I grabbed all my books and shut the door only to see Natasha. She was in her full glory except for the fact that she was smiling at me. My eyebrows furrowed and I looked at her with a frown. What was wrong with her face? Why was she smiling at me?

“Hey, Mel, aren’t you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?” she asked in a giggly tone. My furrow smoothed out. So it was about Ashton. I looked over at him to see that he was staring right back at me. He didn’t seem to even notice Natasha and her little posse.

“Um, yea, Ashton?” I asked and put a hand on his cheek. He instantly put his hand over mine and smiled at me.

“Yes, love?” he asked in that deep, rounded voice. I saw Natasha shiver.

“Meet Natasha and Natasha; meet Ashton, who is not my boyfriend.” I said and emphasized the last part. Ashton said a half-hearted greeting and Natasha smiled nervously as her eyebrows rose.

“You guys aren’t an item?” she asked, failing to keep the hope out of her tone.

“Of course we are.” Ashton said and he spanned my waist with his hands and kissed my cheek. I felt a shiver do down my spine and an electric spark but I ignored it and pushed him off.

“Ignore him.” I said with a laugh “He likes lying. No, we are not together.”

“Oh.” She said and I smiled a little.

“Anyways, I should be going to class.” I said and walked off towards class. I didn’t look back to check if Ashton was there and I hoped he hadn’t. That’s when I bumped into something solid. I reeled back bit caught myself from falling.

“Hey, sweet cheeks. I never noticed you before.” He said. I looked up to see Jack, the most popular boy in school.

“Cool, let’s keep it that way.” I muttered and pushed past him but grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“Let’s not.” He said and my skin crawled as I tried to pull away from his grip. He was hurting me. All of a sudden, he was gone. I looked over to see him hit the wall at the end of the hall with Ashton’s hand around his neck. Everyone in the hall gasped and stopped to look.

“Ashton!” I yelled and ran towards them.

“Never touch her again, do you understand?” Ashton asked and Jack barely nodded. Ashton smiled scathingly and dropped him. I backed up and turned to walk to class.

“Melody.” He whispered as he kept up with my pace. I was almost running but he seemed to have no trouble.

“Ashton.” I mocked and walked into class the second the bell rang. I didn’t really want to talk about it. I sat in my usual seat and I saw Ashton sit in the seat behind me; his eyes on me the entire time.

“Class, keep working on your Shakespeare notes.” He said and went off to do his own work as I pulled out my notes and got to work.

Ashton’s P.O.V

I watched her fret over the book in her hand. She was biting the end of her pencil in the most adorable way. It took all I had not to take her away from all of this and go to a place where it would have been just us. She would have to give me all of her attention then. Melody tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear as she concentrated on her work. I loved the little things about her. I loved how she didn’t fall into any cliques; instead, she made her own. Even though we were not touching, I felt the air zing with tension. Did she feel it? Did she want me as much I wanted her? I’ve had my fair share of girlfriends but nothing compared to her. With other girls, it was all physical and soon, it got boring but with melody, I felt that I could sit beside her all day in silence and just do nothing and not be bored in the slightest. I slid my arm carefully around her waist and pulled her so she was pressed right to my side. She smelled so amazing; if sunshine and rainbows had a smell that would be her. There was also a hint of coconut and undistinguishable smell that could only be described was melody. It was my drug and I kept breathing it in. Melody dropped her pencil in surprise and gasped inaudibly. She peered up at me with those beautiful green eyes. Her eyes were my favourite part of her. It was like looking up at trees on a sunny summer day; there were so many shades of green and flecks of yellow. It was memorizing. The look on her face made me realized that she had forgotten my existence until that second. Bright splashes of red colored her cheeks and she looked down at my arm around her. As I suspected, she took my arm and unwrapped herself before creating distance between us again. I sighed as she went back to work. I couldn’t wait until she herself gave me her attention; I wanted her to be with me because she wanted to. I knew being impatient was not a good thing but I couldn’t help it. I craved her attention and I want her touch, her feel and her love but until then, I would just have to let her drive me crazy with want.