New Beginnings || l.h

•Sixteen•

The boys and I were out shopping at the mall for some new stuff for the tour.

"I can't believe you guys are leaving next week." I say breathlessly.

My dad came home last week, but I still spend most of my time at lukes and Michaels.

He didn't seem to mind, probably since all he did was paperwork.

"Just don't think about it, babe." Michaels arm trails down my back.

We silently walk to the food court after several hours of shopping, and the boys only got one shirt each.

"You're gonna need more than one shirt, Luke." I tell him as the rest of the boys go up to the line to order, him staying behind.

He nods. "I know. I'm just waiting for hot topic. I'll buy out the whole store."

I smile. "I do the same thing when I'm in there! I can never pick something out."

He laughs. "Yeah it's torture. It-"

"Cmon Raven, Luke! We have to order our food!" Calum calls from the line.

I nod my head towards them. "Let's go."

He follows me, and we walk to the line and order food, then make our way to hot topic.

"Wait-oh my god."
Ashton giggles as he sees little kid rides next to hot topic.

"Why are these here?" He asks, but he hops on to a little race car, barely fitting.

We laugh at the tall boy. "To preoccupy little kids with short attention spans." Luke said a matter of factly.

I smile.

"Hey does anyone have a quarter?" Ash hopefully asks, looking around the group for an available quarter.

I reach in my back pocket and search for a quarter, but I only have a dime.

"Only a dime."

He shrugs. "Oh well. I'll imagine it moving in my imagination"

He puts his hands on the Wheel, and makes a vroom vroom sound.

We all laugh at the childish boy, who probably got stuck when he wasn't getting out.

"Uhh." He laughs. "I need help. Come here."

I walk over to him and grab his arm, and pull him out.

He brushes off his shirt. "Thanks Rave."

I nod my head. "No problem. Now let's get some clothes for your trip."

They mumble responses as we walk into hot topic.

Ashton, Calum and Luke immediately go to the back of the store where the t-shirts are, And Michael drags me to the hair dye.

"See, this color." He points to a lavender purple, then points to my hair. "Let's get it. I'll buy it for you."

"Hey," a guy with long, black hair walks up to us. "Need any help finding anything?"

We shake our heads, and he walks away.

"I can buy it." I say once the guy is gone.

He shakes his head. "No no no. I got this."

He smiles and takes my hand, and we walk back to the rest of the boys.

Ashton must've had thirty shirts thrown over his shoulders, Luke had a whole pile in his hands and Calum was sitting down on the floor with the shirts over his shoulders, still searching for more.

"Holy shit guys." I chuckle.

They all shrug, and some of the shirts on Ashton's shoulders fall.

"Oh my god!" Ashton exclaims quite loudly, holds the shirts down on his shoulders and runs to the shirt racks. "That's a new one! Oh lord I have to have it!"

He reaches to where the shirt is and takes it, then flings it back over his shoulder. "Okay I'm done. Raven? Help me." He laughs.

He hands me some of the clothing, and I hold it in a big pile against my chest. "Jeez Ashton."

He giggles, and sets some of the shirts down on the register counter. "I like t-shirts."

"I can see that." A quiet voice from behind the counter says.

Ashton's head whips toward that direction.

The girl, obviously chuckling quietly at Ashton's amount of clothing, stares up at him with her hazel eyes. "Think you got enough?"

Ashton doesn't say anything as he watches the girl scan the items.

She looks back up at him though her brown hair, which was fraying a pretty blond color down near the ends.
"Um," she clears her throat. "Have any trouble finding things today?"

She was short, shorter than me, but I'm not that short. Her name tag read: Ciarra.

Ashton looks down, probably after realizing he was staring too long. "your shirt." He mumbles to the girl. "I like it."

"What?" She shyly asks. "Oh."

He nods and looks back up to her. "They're a beautiful band."

I could almost face palm. "Ash." I say.

Ash looks over at me, and so does the girl. "Raven? Help me out." He whispers.

I nod and step forward. "Hi. I'm Raven. You are?" I ask, even though I know her name.

She looks down at her name tag, like she forgot. "I'm Ciarra Green."

I smile. "Well hi. This is Ashton, and he thinks you're really pretty."

Ashton's eyes bulge out of his head.

Ciarra looks down. "O-okay.."

I smile. "And I was wondering if...he can have your number..just because."

"Um." She says, but nods, and rips off a piece of paper from a notebook.

She neatly writes down her number, and hands it to Ashton. "Here you go." She quietly says, a blush still clear on her cheeks.

He smiles at the girl, and takes the paper.

This is adorable.

She hands him four bags filled of clothes. "And um-Here's your stuff."

He smiles again, and doesn't say anything.

"Have a nice day." She sweetly exclaims as Ashton walks away, probably forgetting that the boys still need to check out.

I stand there, and Michael comes up behind me and kisses my temple, then places all of his clothes down on the counter, and then the hair dye.

"Woah." Ciarra chuckles.

Michael nods. "I have a trip and no fucking clothes."

Ciarra nods.

Michael looks over to me. "Where did Ashton go?"

I shrug. "Who knows."

Luke and Calum come up behind us after Michael was done checking out.

Michael and I walk out hand in hand after everyone checked out, and we see Ashton sitting down on the bench infront of the store.

"Let's go ash." Michael says. "We got band practice."