the doorman » a.i au

three; "so i make you uncomfortable?"

I was torn between being an asshole – well, being just me, really – by shutting my eyelids and pretending to be asleep, and being a nice person for once in my life by introducing myself as well. I guess I did neither because moments later, he retrieved his offer of a handshake and his smile faltered before he coughed awkwardly.

“Sorry, I tend to zone out a lot when I’m in a slightly less than comfortable situation. I’m Kara,” he nodded his head and then stared down at his clasped hands.

“So I make you uncomfortable? Sor-“

“No, no, it’s just… I’m in a crisis. Or I was.”

“Wanna talk about it? Most people do find comfort when confiding in strangers, you know,” he chuckled, playing with his thumbs.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t really care anymore so…” I trail off, “Shouldn’t you be doing your job? Opening and closing doors, greeting residents and whatnot?”

To my confusion, he laughed at my question. He genuinely laughed and the only sound echoing in the lobby was his laughter that would’ve made me laugh along there and then if it weren’t for my confusion. “There isn’t anyone coming in or out of the apartment building. There’s a snowstorm outside, remember?”

“Right, sorry,” If it weren’t for the overwhelmingly cold temperature, I would surely have felt the heat rise up to my cheeks. “Do you have any idea how we should spend the remaining time we have?” I blurted out in an attempt to divert his – or maybe more importantly, my – attention from my mistake.

“Wanna play 20 questions?” he grinned and started bouncing his legs up and down, making me laugh at his childlike excitement.

And so we did. In just three hours, I’ve managed to figure out more things about him than I probably have about myself. His full name’s Ashton Fletcher Irwin. He was turning 19 in 3 months’ time, as did I. He was taking a gap year from his studies but he hoped to get back on track by the end of next year. His dad worked at the apartment and offered him the job as the doorman. His favourite colour was turquoise because, I quote, “it isn’t too blue or too green – just nicely invented such that we could appreciate the best of both worlds.” He played the drums and occasionally sang, although never in front of anyone else. From what I could tell, he’s an introvert. He's also very family-oriented, a quality i could rarely find in guys at my age.

I wasn't sure if it was his full-of-substance explanation of why turquoise was his favourite colour that made me realize this – hell, for all I know, it could be due to the way his eyes twinkled when he spoke of music or the way they dimmed when I asked about high school – but Ashton intrigued me. So much that I decided I'd really like to get to know him better.

For Kara Lumsy who's usually too keen on shutting everyone new out before they can even get in, that is a pretty big deal.

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SO HEY

I'M SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT but i'm afraid i'll be so caught up in schoolwork next week i won't have time to update hence this!!! if all's well, i should be able to update by wednesday :)

sooooo a friendlier side of kara who miiiiight start liking ashton (platonically, of course), how do you like it?