Between Us || a.i

24

*Ashton*

I woke up to Katrina shifting uncomfortably and mumbling. "What's wrong?" I whispered, not sure if she was awake or talking in her sleep. "Ashton" she said, her eyes closed. "I'm here, what's wrong?" I asked a bit louder, realizing she's asleep. She didn't answer. She moved away from me with a pained expression. I decided it would just be best to wake her up. 

 "Kat" I said, gently shaking her shoulder. Her eyes shot open and she jolted up and leaned into my chest. "I love you. Are you okay?" she said, wrapping her arms tightly around my torso. "I love you too. Yes I'm fine. What happened?" I asked quietly. She touched my ribs and my head, studying me. She shook her head and held me tighter. I wrapped my arms around her and gently rocked her in my arms. 

 Her nightmares have been getting more and more frequent these past few weeks. She comes to school sleep deprived and terrified. Unfortunately, most of her dreams have been about people that she loves dying, which is definitely her biggest fear since she had to go through it at such a young age. 

 Once she calmed down and finally stopped shaking I moved back a bit to look at her, I held on to her hands so she felt safe. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

  "You got hit by a car and I couldn't help you. I was with Luke and he was holding me back so the doctors could help. You broke all your ribs and you were bleeding and the doctors knew you weren't going to make it but they refused to let me see you" she stammered, holding back tears. 

 "It's okay baby girl, it was just a dream" I smiled, using probably her favorite nickname to make her smile. She looked up at me with sad eyes. "Hey, it's okay" I repeated, pulling her a bit closer. I lightly tickled her sides to try to make her laugh. She squirmed at my touch and held back a smile. "Come on, just smile" I said. Finally she gave in and smiled, pushing away my hands. 

 "Are you okay now?" I asked, laying back down, pulling her with me. "Kinda" she nodded, resting her head in my arm. "Baby" I sighed. "Ash" she mimicked. "Do you need to go get that checked out? Maybe something is causing your dreams" I asked. "No. It just happens" she said nervously. Second biggest fear, doctors. 

 About an hour of her playing with my fingers and tracing on my arms later she wanted breakfast. "What should we make?" she asked, throwing her hair up into a messy bun before pulling out a few strands of hair to frame her face. "I have no idea but you look hot as fuck" I blurted out. "Thanks" she giggled shyly as she walked over to the pantry, staring at all the food blankly. "Idea" she smiled, spinning around. 

 She grabbed a bag of granola and walked to the fridge, taking out strawberries, blueberries, and Greek yogurt as well as a banana. She stood on her tip-toes to get down two bowls.

 "Can you get me the blue knife?" she asked. I did as she asked and stood behind her, placing my hands on her hips. "What are you making?" I asked. "I don't know. I'm just going for it" she shrugged. She was being oddly adorable today. She's always adorable, but today it was to a much higher extent. 

 Once she was done, she proudly smiled as she handed me the aesthetically pleasing bowl of yogurt. "You did good baby" I smiled back down at her. "Thank you" she smiled as we walked to the couch and turned on the TV as we ate. 

*Katrina*

 Two hours later we drove over to Calum's house to hang out with him and Amy for the day. "You look great" Ashton complimented as we got in the car. "Thank you, you do too" I smiled as he started driving. 

 When we got to Calum's we just walked in and walked upstairs. We heard Calum and Amy arguing. I looked nervously at Ashton before quietly stepping closer to the closed door.