Invisible || Ashton Irwin

Chapter 36

Zoe's POV

"Here we are!" Lucy announces as she drags me out of the car.

"A restaurant?" I ask her and she nods with a huge smile on her face. Isn't this a bit fancy for a first date? Ashton takes my hand out of Lucy's death grip and we walk in behind Luke and Lucy. "Don't you think this is a bit fancy?" I whisper to Ashton and he shrugs his shoulders.

"This is what they decided on. We can go do something we want after." We get seated at our table and I feel less nervous when I see the setting and the people around me. It's less formal than I thought it would be.

"Hey Ash, your mum is really nice. She kept talking about band practice and she thought it would be a good idea for me to go." Ashton rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat.

"She just wants us to be distracted, we're moving slow as it is now."

"Doesn't Zoe go?" Ashton glances over at me and back at Lucy, trying to come up with an answer she'll believe.

"Only sometimes... when I have tutoring after practice. If she's there we won't lose track of time." Total lie but it does cover everything.

"Zoe you tutor Ashton? I didn't know that! What's it like? Is he a slow learner?"

"Yeah I tutor him and he's not a slow learner, it just isn't explained well enough in class."

"Luke do you need tutoring? I could help you!" Lucy grabs Luke's arm and he gives us a look of panic. Ashton and I both start laughing and as Luke stumbles for an answer, the waitress comes over and saves him.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" We all place our orders and when she leaves Lucy looks like she wants to bring up the subject from before so I try to think of something to say to keep her distracted for Luke's sake.

"Lucy, where did you get those shoes from? They look so nice and I've been looking at buying a pair like them." She looks down at her shoes and smiles. Out of the corner of my eye I see the boys sigh in relief. She then goes on about her shoes for a good half an hour. I don't know much about shoes and brands but she seems happy to be talking about it.

~*~

"So where are we heading now?" Luke asks no one in particular and Ashton looks at me trying to decide.

"How about bowling?" He looks over at Luke and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Bowling sounds good." Luke says and Lucy agrees with him. We head for the bowling alley as it's only around the block and as we walk Ashton takes my hand in his.

"I didn't know you liked talking about shoes." He says quietly to me and starts laughing when I only stare at him with a smile on my face.

"I don't but what else was she going to talk about?" He keeps laughing and he squeezes my hand.

"Are you any good at bowling?" He asks and I think about the last time I went bowling. Was it when I was eight? She was still there so it must have been around then. "Zoe?" I look up at Ashton and realise I stopped walking. "You ok?" He furrows his eyebrows and I force a smile for him. I don't want to ruin this night by thinking about her.

"Yeah I'm fine. I think the last time I went was when I was eight. So I don't know how good I will be."

"That's alright, Luke isn't that good either."

"Hey! I heard that! I'm great at bowling Zoe, don't listen to him." Luke yells back to us and we both laugh at him.

When we get inside we get our shoes and a lane. We change our shoes and as we're setting our names and picking out balls a man announces over the loudspeaker that the 'glow night' is about to begin.

"What is that?" I ask Ashton and he looks around at the bowling balls.

"I think they turn on black lights and everything glows in the dark." I pick out a pink ball and put it on the rack to wait for my turn.

The first ball I threw straight into the gutter so the boys asked if I could have the children's bumpers put up. After that I hit a few pins and even got close to a strike. Ashton was really good at bowling, he got a strike almost every time. He also wasn't exaggerating about Luke, he was almost as bad as I was. We were singing and dancing along to the songs as we waited for our turn and to me this part of the night was so much better than the dinner.

When Luke and Lucy dropped us at Ashton's house later that night, I was exhausted from smiling and laughing so much. "We'll see you guys on Monday!" Lucy shouts out the window as they drive away. We watch them turn out of the street and everything becomes silent.

"Well," I sigh into the night air. "I should get going. I mean it's not like my parents will notice I'm not home."

"Yeah that's fine, although you should probably change your outfit first." I look down as I forgot that I was wearing shoes that make my feet ache and a shirt that let the night air right through to my body. "Lauren and Harry will be asleep by now so we should be quiet." He quietly opens the front door for me and we go inside the dark house. As we quietly go up the stairs a light turns on in the kitchen.

"Oh you're home! How was it?" Ann-Marie emerges from the kitchen and we stop on the stairs.

"It was good, we had dinner and went bowling." I tell her and she gives me a big smile.

"That's great! I was rooting for you two."

"Mum can you not say stuff like that." Ashton says with embarrassment in his voice. Not being able to see Ashton's face without turning around I stare at his mother and try not to laugh at him.

"Ok well I'm going to bed. I'll see you later Zoe." I wave goodbye as she walks back into the kitchen and switches the light off. We continue up the dark stairs after a moment and don't say anything to each other. When we get to Ashton's room he turns the light on and I grab my bag to get changed. I get changed in the bathroom quickly and I am thankful I wore warm comfortable clothes to his house. When I get back to his room he has changed into sweatpants and a shirt and is on his bed looking at his phone. Every part of me wants to lie next to him and snuggle with him all night but I have to get home. I think my parents would get suspicious if I came home in the morning.

"Oh you're back." He looks up from his phone to me standing in the doorway. Who would know if I snuggled for a little while? Fifteen minutes. Tops. I walk towards him and drop my bag at the foot of his bed. I slowly get on his bed and snuggle into his side. He puts his arm around me and I put my arm over his stomach. He smells so good and he's warm like my own personal heater. With my head on his chest I look at his phone to see what he's doing.

"Is that Calum?" I ask even though I can see the name at the top of the screen.

"Yeah he was just asking how it went." His chest vibrates as he talks and it makes me not want to leave this spot.

"And what did you tell him?" I look up at him even though I know the answer to that question too.

"I told him it was great." He looks down at me with a smile on his face. I could get lost in his eyes, I thought I said I would only be here for fifteen minutes? His eyes, his lips, his whole face, I'm lost in him and I don't know how to get out. Without thinking I move my hand up to his shoulder and pull myself up so I can plant my lips on his. The kiss is sweet and soft and his arm around my back pulls me closer to him than I ever thought I could be.