Loving You Again

Ch. 7: With You

"This is so pretty!" Katie walked alongside Luke as she stared across the small lake. Nate and I smiled as we remembered how we would love swimming during the hot summers growing up.

"Should've brought your swimsuit." I nudged Nathan as he shot me a smirk. I shook my head. Nathan was a jokester and at times his humor could come off as offensive. Him and Luke were similar in that matter, but Luke knew how to read a room. Nathan, not really.

"Should've brought your speedo." Katie shot back smiling innocently. Luke bit back a smile as he turned to walk down the path with Katie's hand in his.

"She's feisty." Nathan muttered to me as we started walking again. I glared at him as he stared at me innocently.

"Feisty enough to castrate you." Gemma piped up as she walked beside Nathan. I nodded in agreement as I nudged Nathan.

"Behave." I warned him as he lifted his hands in surrender. Gemma rolled her eyes as they continued to walk in front of me. I followed behind soaking up the scenery making me walk a bit slower.

We walked around the park as Nathan and Gemma rambled about random facts they knew, I shot them questionable looks at some things they would say. It seemed as though at times the pair would randomly blurt out things to fill the quietness.

"Did you come often to this park when you were younger?" Ashton appeared by my side and didn't feel as awkward knowing my brother and Gemma were near to me.

It was being alone with Ashton that intimidated me a bit. After what happened today the tension between us had only grown, I knew that being alone wouldn't be the same as before.

"We came often and made days out of it. We would have picnics out here, and after my dad passed we stopped coming often." Ashton nodded as we followed Nathan down the path.

I inhaled the oak and fresh pine tree smell. I looked around as I reminiscenced about the days we would run around on the grass just to chase each other further into the lake. My mind wandered to the boy with sad green eyes and the times we would chase each other even when we were almost fifteen. Gemma and Nathan thought they were too old for tag, but Harry and I seemed to be the opposite of our siblings. I watched as Gemma and Nathan laughed and mocked each other playfully. It seemed that had changed too.

Harry and I were born the same year and our mother's were best friends, therefore we had grown up so close and being around each other had become such a norm. We knew each other inside out growing up and we shared everything both physically and emotionally. I felt my heart ache remembering who the man had turned to and who I had turned to. At some point in life I started seeing Harry differently, as a lover and not just as my best friend, but regardless he was my rock and anchor.

At one point Harry stopped being that.

"Are you okay?" I felt Ashton's eyes on me as we continued to walk. I nodded trying to rid Harry from my mind for now. The emotions were starting to swirl inside me again, the same way they did when I walked out of his car five years ago. This time there was an addition to the mixture.

Ashton.

"Yeah, just melancholy. It's weird having two completely different places be home, yet every time I come back to one it feels like I'm missing something." Ashton nodded as his pinky traced over my own as we walked side by side. I felt my arm tingle and I stepped a bit to my left creating needed space between us.

"For some time it was weird for Luke and I to go back to Australia after making a life in America. It's different because all we really had back home was Luke's grandma, but in a way I understand." Ashton's eyes were filled with something other than warmness, there was a certain cloudiness to them that I couldn't place.