Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Nine - A Perfect Day.

“So,” Ashton was saying the next morning. We had both woken up an hour ago, and were currently sitting at a table in the lobby—thankfully the others hadn’t woken up yet, so we had basically the whole place to ourselves. “I think we need to go back to Lime Kiln today.”

            “That sounds good, but don’t we have an interview or something to do?” I asked him, taking a sip of the orange juice that I had long lost a taste for.

            Ashton shook his head. “No, we don’t. I think we’re done with interviews for a while.” He stood up and glanced at his watch before taking my hand and pulling me out towards the parking lot. “It’s currently eight-fifteen, so if we leave right now we should get to Anacortes in just enough time to make the nine-thirty ferry.”

            “You better drive fast, then,” I smiled as we walked towards the black Chrysler that was in the same parking spot that I had left it in yesterday.

            We drove in silence for about thirty minutes, both of us just enjoying being together and listening to the songs on the radio. It was Ashton, as always, that broke that silence. “Today’s going to be amazing. I can feel it.”

            “Of course it is,” I leaned back in my seat and rolled up my window, turning on the air conditioning instead. “Every day that I’m with you is amazing.”

            Ashton replied by giving me one of his award winning smiles, causing me to do the same. I was thankfully feeling a lot better than I was yesterday, maybe because I wasn’t by myself and didn’t have any time to dwell on the secrets that I undoubtedly knew Ashton was keeping from me.

            There wasn’t a lot of cars lined up once we reached the ferry, so we were able to drive on with no problem. We knew this ferry almost as well as we would know our own homes, and so we navigated our way up the stairs and to the front of the ship with no problem at all. It was cold—it’s always cold here on the water—but it didn’t bother me as much today. Maybe it was the fact that Ashton had his arms around me and his coat draped around my shoulders; I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I barely noticed the frigid wind whipping around us. Instead, I was focused on a pod of orcas that seemed to appear out of nowhere almost as soon as we had left the ferry dock.

            “This is perfect,” Ashton said, pulling out his camera and quickly snapping a few photos. I nodded in agreement and watched as the whales jumped and played beside the ship, their sleek black bodies sparkling in the bright sunlight. I had never been much of an animal lover, but it was different with these whales. I felt a connection with them, one that I couldn’t easily put into words.

            The orcas stayed with the ferry until we were a few miles from Friday Harbor, where they turned and swam towards the west side of the island. “I told you today was going to be a good day,” Ashton said once we were back in the car.

            “And it’s just started,” I said, turning down the radio. I loved music, but I felt like at a peaceful and calm place like this, quiet was better.

            It only took us fifteen minutes to reach the dock, and about twenty minutes to reach the lighthouse. Ashton was driving a little faster than usual, obviously in as much of a hurry to possibly see more whales and get closer to them as I was.

            Lime Kiln wasn’t as crowded today, probably because of the fact it was overcast. The clouds just added to the serenity and beauty of the place, at least in my opinion, but when we reached our normal spot on the rocks I realized it would be harder to spot anything in the water today because of the fog. It also looked like it was going to rain any minute, but I brought my rain coat so it didn’t matter.