terrible things - ashton irwin

forty three

"We have to go Philly," Ashton announced.

"We do?"

He nodded. "I'm not saying this trip is a bucket list or anything, but it is extremely important that I eat a Philly cheesesteak."

I handed our room key to the stoned front-desk clerk, and we stepped into the sunshine. "Tell me you're joking," I said, thinking, He can't keep a hot dog down, so why on earth is he talking about cheesesteaks?

Ashton shook his head. "Today I want to do everything Lav. Every silly thing I can think of."

I put my hand on his waist, slipped my fingers under the edge of his shirt to feel his skin, I could feel him shiver at my touch. "As opposed to yesterday, or the day before, when you were a good boy a did only what other told you to do?"

He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. "Okay, you have a point."

I didn't want to spoil the mood, but I had to say what I was thinking. "We've had a lot of fun, and we can definitely keep on having it. But I think you should see a doctor, just to be sure."

Ashton shook his head again, this time more emphatically. "No can do, Lavender. Places to go people to see..."

I looked at him carefully, weighing his stubbornness against mine. I if fought hard now, maybe I could get him to go. Just a minor checkup, I'd say, a quick ear to the lungs and heart, maybe a tiny little X-ray and reading of his LDH levels. I'd sit in the waiting room, staring at stale magazines and waiting for good news. 

Because maybe it would work out. Who was to say it couldn't?

On the other hand, if Ashton went to the hospital, he would resent me for it. Intensely, and possibly eternally.

Whose trip is it, Lav?  I asked myself. Yours? Or his? Because in the end, someone had to make the call.

"It's less than two hours away," Ashton said, interrupting my thoughts. "It's not like I'm asking you to drive me to Daytona."

"You're not going to do that next, are you?"

"No, ma'am. Scouts honor."

I sighed. "Fine," I said. "You win."

He smiled a beautiful smile. "I love it when you roll your eyes like that," he said "It's adorable."

"Oh, stop."

"And when you sort of wrinkle up your nose, like you smell something funny, but it's really that you're trying to decide wether to laugh of be annoyed."

"Oh, really? What else do you love about me?" I was annoyed, but it was at myself rather than at Ashton. Or not annoyed, exactly, more like...scared.

We were at the car now, and I was climbing into the driver's seat. "Let's hear it," I said. I pulled into the street and pointed towards the Holland Tunnel. You'd almost think I had a license to drive.

"Well, everything," Ashton said. "But specifically? The list is kind of long."

"You are such a flatterer." I said.

Ashton didn't say anything for a while after that. In fact we were on the other side of the river before he spoke, and I though he'd fallen asleep.

"I love how you touch the tip of your nose when you're thinking hard about something," he said, turning to fix his gaze on me. "I love how you tuck your hair behind your ears but it always slips right back down immediately. I love your eyes are your perfect lips, I love that nail polish, when you bother to wear it, is always chipped. I love how you use fancy words that I have to look up at home. I love the  tiny little crescent moon of a birthmark on the tip of your left pinkie. I love the way-" 

I didn't need to hear anymore. I needed to kiss him. So I pulled over to the side of the road, and there, with the New York City skyline behind us, I did.

"It's going to take a lot longer to get to Philly this way," Ashton said talking and kissing and smiling all at once. 

"We have time," I said. "We have so much time."

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word count- 714

a shorter by cute chapter, hope you enjoyyy