All We Thought // Ashton Irwin [AU]

Chapter 23: If You Don't Know...

I looked at myself in the mirror once more before heading downstairs to say goodbye to my mom and brother before I headed to work.

Just as I headed down the stairs I heard my mom and Harrison arguing.

"Mom, you can't do that to her, that's ridiculous! What is she going to do about work? She has so many projects going on right now."

"She will just have to tell them. There's no reason she should be acting like she has been."

I heard Harrison slam his coffee mug on the table, "She didn't do anything wrong! Maybe if everyone stopped pressuring her and actually took the time to understand her things would be different. When was the last time you actually talked to her?"

I heard my mother scoff, "Don't question my parenting abilities. This opportunity will help her, I know it will and there will be no debate about this anymore Harrison."

I heard my brother slam the back door to the patio.  I slipped down the stairs and quietly snuck out to my car, not wanting to chance getting caught sneaking around.

My mind could only imagine what that "opportunity" would be. Clearly, my mother was still upset about the whole Ashton vs. Evan fiasco, even when none of that is any of her concern.

I swear, if she tried to get me another job so I was away from Ashton I was going to lose it. I was not taking time off, nor was I transferring jobs no matter what the consequence was.

As soon as I walked into work, I quickly pushed everything aside because today was going to be a challenge.

Our boss called Ashton and I into the office, to tell us that we had to finish all our experiments and data by 9:00 tomorrow morning because he wanted to present it at a conference he was attending.

So much for the heads up.

Ashton and I exchanged miserable glances as our boss explained each thing that he expected from us. We both knew that we had a long day (and possibly night) ahead of us, considering we had to do about 3 days worth of work by tomorrow.

We went straight to the lab after the meeting and worked for awhile in pure silence. The only sounds that could be heard was the clinking of glassware and the hum of the incubator.

That was the nice thing about me and Ashton, even silence with him didn't make me feel uneasy. Usually whenever it was quiet and I was with someone (or even by myself), the lack of sound or conversation made me anxious.

It was probably because I was uncomfortable with just me and my own thoughts.

It was just nice to have someone around and feel their calming presence besides you. I never felt that with anyone, not even Amber who was my best friend. Whenever I was around her there was never ever silence.  She would always be rambling on about clothes, boys, nail polish, or something that she read in People magazine.

A few hours went by and I heard Ashton's stomach growl, which disrupted the silence in the lab. He shot me a glance, hoping I didn't hear it. I giggled in response.

"Hey!" he said in defense (he couldn't have been too insulted because he was giggling too), "Don't laugh. I'm hungry, it's like 3:00 and we still didn't eat lunch yet."

He paused for a second, "Ooo I have an idea. Why don't you quickly finish up that cell culture I'm working on, while I run out and grab us food?"

"Sound great. Where are you go..."

He waved his hand at me as he dug his car keys out of his lab coat pocket, "No worries, I know what you like."

He winked, which made me roll my eyes in attempts to suppress my smile, as I went back to finishing the final steps of one of too many experiments.