Life In Technicolor || Ashton Irwin

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Valerie's P.O.V.

My phone rings late that night. I'm already in bed, trying to fall asleep. I rub my eyes and look at my phone's screen. I pick it up and groggily answer.

"Hello?"

"Shit, were you sleeping?"

I smile and laugh. "Kind of."

"I forgot to call you earlier. I didn't want you to think I was lying or anything..."

"I figured you forgot. You don't seem like the kind of guy to lie about calling, Ashton."

"Sorry it's so late." He says. "Do you want to sleep?"

"No, it's fine." I tell him.

"Well, I have a list of things we could talk about."

"You made a list?" I ask with a laugh. I sit up and turn on my bedside lamp. I run a hand through my hair and yawn.

"Yeah. I made a list. Wanna hear it?"

"I'd love to." I smile to myself.

He laughs over the phone. "It's really stupid. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No! I'm sure it's fine!" I tell him with a laugh.

"It's really stupid. I just wanted to know some stuff."

"Hit me with your best shot."

"What were you like when you were a kid?"

"That's not a bad question." I tell him, lowering my voice. My mom's probably asleep. "I was really quiet and shy. I've grown out of it. What about you?"

"Tonight is my night for asking questions. You can ask me whatever you want tomorrow. Deal?"

I roll my eyes. "Deal." I tell him with a laugh.

"If you could change something about yourself, what would it be and why?"

"I think I'd like to be more..." I pause. "I don't know. I'm pretty happy with myself."

I can almost hear him smiling. "That's great. So, next question. What was the last person or thing that made you laugh?"

"You." I answer immediately.

"Really?" He asks.

"Absolutely. You're hilarious."

"I'm glad you think so. What's your favorite word?"

"Poppycock."

"Poppycock?" He asks, his laughter loud and clear over the phone.

"Yes, poppycock. It's a fun word to say."

"It has the word cock in it!"

"And the word poppy! Don't be so immature!" I laugh quietly.

"Alright, fine. I'll be mature. What's your favorite sound or noise?"

"Hmm... I really like rain. I love the sound of rain. And high heels. Like when people walk in them on tiles.The click-clack sound."

"The click-clack sound." He confirms. I yawn loudly. "Okay, okay, you're getting tired. I'm sorry. One last question and I'll let you go to sleep. Do you dream often?"

"Yeah, I do."

That night, I dreamt of him.

~~~

Classes that day were uneventful. I sat through teacher's boring introductions, obnoxious guys, and annoying girls. I didn't see Ashton during lunch, so I figured he'd ditched with his friends. I sat through another two classes before the day was over. The second the bell rang I was out of the school.

I decide that I don't want to go home yet. I walk to a small park down the street from my house. I set my backpack down next to me on the bench and take a seat. I look around the park and see an ice cream vendor in the corner. I rummage through my backpack, looking for enough money to buy some ice cream. The heat is absolutely brutal today.

"Shit." I mutter under my breath. I'm a dollar short.

"How about I buy you the ice cream?" Ashton asks, startling me. I put my hand over my heart and laugh. He smiles. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Yeah, I'm just kind of jumpy. How did you know I was here?" I ask him.

"Saw you walking." He answers with a shrug. "Let's get that ice cream." He says, grabbing my hand and dragging me across the park. He stops in front of the vendor, but keeps a hold of my hand. "We'd like two ice creams. I'll take a chocolate and the lady will have a..."

"Vanilla." I tell the vendor with a smile.

"Vanilla kind of girl?" He asks with a grin, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my waist.

"What can I say? Artificially flavored chocolate is a crime to humanity."

"Valerie, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore."

"Were we ever friends to begin with?"

"Ouch." He says with a laugh. The vendor gives us the ice cream and Ashton pays.

"Thanks for the ice cream." I tell him as we make our way back to the bench. I take a seat and he sits next to me. "What can I ever do to repay you?"

"Well, you already answered a lot of questions yesterday, so I figured this was already paying you back."

"Today's my day to ask questions."

"Mhmm." He says, licking some ice cream of the cone.

"Okay. Hmm." We sit in silence for a minute. "I should've thought this through before."

"We can always postpone it to another day." He pauses. "It's so hot." Ashton groans. "And I know you have plenty to do with it, but I'd just love to be in an air conditioned room right now. Wanna come over to my house?"

"Sure." I tell him. I grab my backpack and finish off my ice cream. Ashton finishes his as well and we head towards his house.

"Do you normally walk to and from school?" Ashton asks, looking around.

"Yeah. Why? You don't?"

"Where is it?" He mutters under his breath. "Wait." He grabs my hand and sets off running.

"You have to stop doing this." I tell him with a laugh as I trip over myself.

"The heat is killing me, Valerie Hart! I think I might die!" He says, laughing. He stops in front of a car and I almost have a heart attack. It's so nice. I'm afraid to touch it.

"Is this yours?"

"Yeah." He says. "Now get in."

I obey and hesitantly open the door.

"C'mon, Val. You're not gonna break it." He says, starting the car. I put on my seatbelt and he starts driving. He turns the air conditioning on and I sigh as it hits my face.

"This is such a nice car." I tell him, admiring the leather seats.

"Thanks. I got it for my birthday." He says, turning a corner.

His family must be loaded. I wouldn't even be able to afford a junker car. He pulls into a driveway and I look up.

Holy shit.

His house is actually a mansion. No exaggeration. It's a fucking mansion.

He parks his car inside the garage and leads me into the house. I look around, pretty sure my mouth is hanging open. There's a housekeeper dusting the furniture and Ashton leads me past her. We walk up the stairs into his room and I look around.

"The only reason it's clean is because of Patty. She's the housekeeper." He clarifies.

I nod and look around.

"So, what do you want to do?" He asks, a cheeky grin on his face.

I shrug. "Whatever you wanna do."

"You like video games?"

"I've never really played them before."

His eyes widen. "Valerie Hart, you are learning how to play video games."