Infinity and Beyond

20 - You've Ruined It

Emily

As nice as our time off together was, it obviously had to come to an end, and when I headed down to the dance studio on my first day of lessons it felt like I'd barely been away at all. In all fairness, the kids gave me the warmest welcome I could have asked for and made it more than bearable - for the first half of the lesson they only had interest in asking me where I'd gone and what I'd been up to, and had I spent the whole time with 'Ashley' - 'no Aston' - 'It's Asher' - 'Your really tall boyfriend'. I told them as much as I could get away with before I started worrying I would lose my job or get dozens of complaints from parents for not teaching them anything. After all hugging me at once at the start they seemed willing to do whatever I liked and were more than happy to actually get on with some ballet.

Ashton started tour rehearsals with the others at the same time I started back at work, so we were back into our usual routine of seeing each other for just half the day, except with growing chaos. The closer it got to tour the more he was out, and the next couple of months flew by quicker than I thought they would. By the time it got to the week before they left, I ended up only seeing him in the mornings before I left for work and later in the evening when he got home. I couldn't complain though - he kept me well up to date with Snapchats of him and the band during rehearsals, plus it was his birthday a few days before they left so we were having a party-slash-get-together during which we'd be able to have a lot of time together. Then there was less than a week until they left, when we would just have to spend as much time together as we could - without thinking about what the end brought.

On the last day he was out working I waited up for him to get home (sometimes when he was out really late I went up to bed.) There was still another week until they left, but it was the weekend and then his birthday so after that he didn't have to do anything. I knew he would still do a lot of his own practice in the meantime but we would still get more time together than we had so far.

I cosied up on the sofa with a blanket and bar of chocolate, deciding to treat myself, and stuck a Grey's Anatomy DVD - something I hadn't actually watched for a while. I set it on 'play all', not knowing when Ashton would be back and how many I would be able to watch, then broke off my first cube of chocolate as the opening scene that I knew so well started playing.

It got later and later with each episode and I had started getting pretty tired by the time the sixth episode was playing. I'd not even realised that I had fallen asleep until I heard the door quietly close and Ashton's voice quietly saying my name.

"Em? Are you awake, love?" he whispered and it sunk in what was going on. I forced my eyes open to see him just creeping into the living room and I pushed myself up so I was sitting facing him.

"Sorry," I yawned. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, we got loads done," he said as he sat beside me and put his arm around me. I welcomed his warmth and leaned my head against him, pulling my blanket back up to my shoulders from where it had fallen down when I sat up. "Have you been okay?"

"Yeah," I answered, then remembered the DVD was still playing so paused it. I then nuzzled my head back into him and mumbled, "I'm really tired though."

"I'm gonna get some food and then we'll head up to bed," he replied, and I held out what was left of the chocolate bar I'd been making my way through. He let out a tiny excited gasp and took it from me, immediately breaking off some and popping it in his mouth. I reached out to take some for myself but he held it away from me. "Hey, you've already had half!"

"I've also been home alone all evening," I responded and he hesitated before handing some to me. I smiled and put my arms all the way around him in a hug, only he then couldn't move.