Burning Dandelions (5SOS/Ashton Irwin)

20

Danielle's POV

I had definitely settled in Ashton's house fairly quickly. I think it had been a week before I was completely unpacked and had my room arranged, but I was very happy with the new arrangement.

Currently, Ashton, Luke, and I were going to Calum's house. Calum called for a band meeting, and Ashton and I decided to go for moral support. Or just because we didn't have anything to do, and Calum said it was okay. Ashton, while he was driving, had asked Luke what he thought this meeting would be about. Luke said he had no clue, but he went on to make some quick guesses: he's kicking someone out, he has a new song, there's a new member. Or some really dumb and very out there "guesses"; he joked that Calum scheduled a world tour. Ashton brought up the point that Calum would've mentioned if he wanted to kick someone out of the band to the remaining two members, which freaked Luke out.

"He wouldn't kick me out? They wouldn't— would they?" Luke seemed to panic and twiddled his thumbs. "They wouldn't just kick me out. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Relax, Luke." Ashton glanced his way; Luke was sitting in the passenger seat, and I was stuck in the back. "I wasn't saying that they kicked you out. You shouldn't be worried about anything."

"He would've simply mentioned he had a song though." Luke looked out the window like a dog that had gotten picked up by the wrong family at the dog park.

"Ashton, why'd you have to go and get him paranoid?" I asked him. Ashton looked into the rearview mirror to look at me, but he quickly looked back at the road. I turned my attention towards Luke. "You said it yourself, Luke. You haven't done anything wrong." I laid my hand on his shoulder. "We'll form a band if they do." Luke tried to force a smile and laugh away.

"Wouldn't that band be something? A drummer who doesn't want to drum, a boy who got kicked out a band already, and a girl who came up with the idea just so that the boy who got kicked out of a band wouldn't be sad would make a great band." I laughed at his sarcasm, and I noticed Ashton hadn't. His hands were clenched on the steering wheel, and he didn't take his eyes off the road. "We'd be a dysfunctional group. That's for sure."

A few minutes later, we had arrived at Calum's house. Everyone unbuckled and opened their door. Ashton reached into his cup holder and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and his lighter. "I'm gonna be a minute."

"Ashton, you haven't smoked in awhile. Why now? Is it being at a band meeting?" Luke asked him.

"Yeah," Ashton quickly snapped. He shut his door, and he began to walk to the side of Calum's house. I watched him light his cigarette as I walked inside with Luke.

"You think that's really why he's smoking? His 'yeah' wasn't very convincing. It sounded quite sarcastic," I told Luke.

Luke looked down on me. "I've known Ashton for awhile now, and he never tells anyone the 'real reason'." He motioned the air quotes around 'real reason'. "You just have to learn and accept he's never straight forward and tells you what you want to hear to get you to move on." We reached Calum's front door where Calum had to come and let us in.

"Where's Ashton? I thought he was coming?" That was the first thing out of his mouth. Luke acted as if he was smoking an invisible cigarette. "Oh!" Calum awed. He motioned for Luke and I to enter. I was debating on entering or going to sit with Ashton like I had done in the past when there were meetings at Luke's house. "You coming?" Calum checked.

"I'm going to go see what's up with Ashton. I'll be in in a minute."

Luke turned his head to face me as he walked in. "Good luck."

Calum held the edge of the door with his hand. "It's unlocked. You don't have to knock." He shut the door, and I slowly walked around the corner to find Ashton with his back leaned up against Calum's house. He didn't have a cigarette in his mouth, but he was staring at the pack. He must've seen me out of the corner of his eye because he looked up at me.