Passenger Seat // Irwin AU

five. cheesburger in not-so-paradise

"Seriously? Out of all the songs you could have played you chose this one?" I pouted as I reached over, keeping one hand on the wheel and tried to grab the iPod from him.

"Abbey! Pay attention to the road!" Ashton shouted playfully as he swatted me away with his free hand and continued flipping through songs with the other. He had chosen to play some strange song and the only thing I could make out about it was the way they screamed every single word.

We were driving down a narrow, two lane highway passed overgrown fields and large masses of trees. There was nothing interesting to look at and the only entertainment I had was the music. And no thanks to Ashton, that wasn't even doing me much good at the moment. He hadn't played one song that I knew in over an hour.

"Ash, please play something I know," I whined. The long road stretching out before us looked unappealing and all I wanted to do was stop and get a warm dinner and sleep in a bed, comfortable or not. I was beginning to get grouchy because I was running low on sleep and I was getting a tedious headache due to the annoying music Ashton wouldn't quit playing.

"How about this?" He looked over and grinned at me as the familiar tune filled the car. I recognized it almost instantly and reached over to crank the knob up as far as it would go.

"Oh my God! No way!" I shouted excitedly, careful to keep my eyes on the road ahead of me. This song was probably one of my favorite songs ever. It was one of those songs that you just couldn't help but love. When I heard it, my insides filled with a strange feeling and all I wanted to do was sing at the top of my lungs.

Ashton turned to me and raised an eyebrow as he began singing with a light smirk gracing his lips. "When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you," he wagged his lanky finger in the air towards me as he sang awfully out of key.

"When I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you." He was shouting the lyrics obnoxiously at this point, making sure he was heard over the loud hum of the wind coming through the open windows. His hair was blowing around roughly and he was bobbing his head aggressively to the tune of the song.

It was my turn to sing. "If I get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you!" My voice was far more out of tune than Ashton's but neither of us cared as we laughed in unison at our horrible singing.

During the time that we had dated, I introduced him to this song and ever since then, every time it came on we'd both sing it as loud as we could to the worst of our ability.

The chorus came along and we began shouting together. "But I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door!"

I was laughing as Ashton belted out the words and once again the moment felt just as it had when we were together, only this time I didn't do anything to stop it. It was the first time the whole trip that we were getting along without a problem and I didn't want to be the one to ruin it. The ear splitting grin across my face hurt my cheeks as I sang my part back to him.

"Da lat da!" I shouted and he echoed back with a "Dat lat da!" in return. We tossed back and forth and finished the chorus off by both singing "Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da!"

Ashton unbuckled and stuck his head out the window, shouting the lyrics out to anyone willing to listen. He snaked his arms out the small window so the upper half of his body was practically hanging out, and I couldn't help but notice how blissfully happy he looked; that was rare for him.