"C'mon, Ash," I said as I happily lead him into the restaurant where we were meeting our old friend from high school, Colin. For some reason, Ashton seemed hesitant, but after a while he agreed to go with me to meet our old friend. As we arrived, we saw him sitting in a booth and walked over, taking a seat next to him as a waitress came and took our orders for drinks before walking away.
"It's great to see you," Colin said with a bold smile, those same deep blue eyes catching my attention immediately. "Y/N, you look lovely as usual," he said with a charming chuckle and a faint blush fell on my cheeks.
"And you're very sweet as usual," I countered happily and he smirked a bit.
"So what do you do for a living now?" Ashton asked, leaning forward interestedly and I turned to Colin as well.
The blonde haired boy adjusted his jacket lightly, a proud sparkle to his eyes. "I'm training to be a doctor at University, something I'll be able to make a living off of for a long time," he boasted and glanced at Ashton. "Unlike some musical careers, that crash and burn."
Ashton immediately scooped up the dropped hint and let his hands rest on his knees, and beneath the table I knew his knuckles were turning white. "Not all music careers. Paul McCartney, Stephen Tyler, they were both huge a while ago, and continue to be huge now."
"Well yeah, they actually make pretty good music," Colin said as the waitress brought their drinks and he took a dull sip of his tonic water, while Ashton was ready to flip the table. I looked over at my best friend of many years and placed a hand on his bicep, which was flexing terribly before feeling my touch, and started to relax, but his eyes never left Colin.
"Enough about me. Let's talk more about this band you're in. How long have you been formed?" Colin questioned.
"A little over two years."
"How many albums have you put out?" Colin asked curiously with a knowing smirk.
Ashton glared at him. "None... but we were busy. We went on tour with the biggest boy-band in the world," Ashton countered quickly.
"I see," Colin said, unimpressed as the waitress returned, taking our order for food and skipping off. Colin and Ashton kept shooting each other dirty looks while I sat there.
"Maybe we should choose a different topic?" I suggested and they turned to me. "Like... um... have you seen any of our old classmates recently?"
"You. And that's all I've planned to see," Colin said with a delicate wink of his eyelashes and once again the blush creeped up on my cheeks. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to use the restroom," Colin said, scooting out of his booth.
"I'll go with," Ashton said and I looked at him curiously, but he didn't look back as he and Colin walked around the corner and out of sight.
A few minutes later, I heard a loud thud and shot out of my seat, quickly walking to the outlet where the restrooms lead to and paused, seeing Colin pinned to the wall by a furious Ashton.
"Leave her alone. I don't want you to talk to her like that, I don't want you to look at her like that, I don't even want you to think of her like that. She's mine, so why don't you just pretend like you're sick and-"
"Ashton!" I called running over to him. The aggravated boy dropped Colin on the floor and turned to me, innocently stepping away from the suited classmate. "What are you doing?"
Colin stood to his feet and gave us weird looks. "You're both insane!" he declared as he ran out, something flying from his pocket as he bolted out the doors. Ashton leaned down and picked it up.
"It's a business card," Ashton said. "Wonderful Weaves, hair extension store. Founded by Colin J. Taylors." Ashton's pissed expression quickly turned amused as he stared at the card. I stared at him and he lead me back to the table, now sitting across from me since Colin had ran out.
"Ash?" I asked and the boy looked across the table, directly at me. "What did you mean, 'she's mine?'" I asked with a confused expression.
The color drained from his face and he scratched the back of his head. "So that's how much you heard," Ashton said, and tensed up. "I-I guess it just kinda slipped out of my mouth, I wasn't sure what I was saying..."
"Ash... do you like me?" I asked and Ashton started to shake his head with wide eyes, then started contemplating something and nodded his head deeply. I fell silent as he began to explain himself.
"I was going to tell you... maybe... I don't know."
"When did you start?" I asked awkwardly.
Ashton half-smiled and looked down at his napkin. "When uh... you went out with that guy Cody senor year. It felt weird, because you started to always talk about him, and I started getting jealous. I wasn't sure why until I finally figured it out," Ashton said and stared down at his lap.
I bit my lip and gazed at him, before moving a few glasses out of the way. I stood up as much as I could in the booth and moved my fingers beneath his chin, lifting it upward and kissing him carefully, my eyes falling shut at the blissful contact before I slowly pulled away, a warm smile on my face.
"I like you, too."
