Forever, I Promise || A.I.

Chapter 9

~Nikki's Pov~

I wake up to my phone ringing. It's Ashton.

"Hey."

"Hello, beautiful." My heart flutters when he says that.

"Why shucks," I say in a fake southern accent. I hear him chuckle on the other end. "And why would Mr. Ashton Irwin be calling at-" I look at the time on my wall clock. "9 o'clock a.m. on a Sunday morning?"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to come over today? The boys are coming over and I don't want to sit for four hours straight watching them play video games."

I laugh. "Yeah, I'd love to come over meet you there in a half an hour?"

"Perfect. Can't wait to see you!"

"I can't wait to see you too! Bye!"

After he says 'bye', I jump in the shower and do my usual routine. I hop out and put my towel around my body. I walk to to my room to look for something to wear. I decide on something very casual. Gray sweatpants with a white tank top and my black converse. I dry my hair with the blow dryer and put it up in a high ponytail. I apply some mascara and some eyeliner. I'm satisfied with my look and grab my phone and run downstairs.

"Hey, mom? Can you give me a ride to a friends house?"

"Yeah, of course honey. Who is this friend?"

Ugh. Why did she have to ask that? Now I have to tell her about the other three boys too.

"His name is Ashton and he has his three other friends over today and invited me to come over too."

"Oh. It's great that you made new friends." I nod. "We can leave in five minutes. I just have to fold the rest of the laundry."

"Okay."

My mom and I used to be really close but ever since her and my dad have started fighting, she hasn't been her fun, joyful self. I used to be close with my dad too. Now he doesn't even want to talk to me. He shuts me out.

I text Ashton saying I'll be over in about ten minutes. His house is only about a five minute drive from mine.

"Okay, done. Let's go." My mom says.

We pull into his driveway at 10:00.

"Thanks, mom. I won't need a ride home. He can take me."

"Okay, will do. Bye sweetie. I love you."

"Love you too." I say back and hop out of the car. I run up to the front door after she pulls out.

I knock on the door and Luke opens it.

"Why, hello Ms. Reed."

I hit him him the shoulder and roll my eyes. "Hello Mr. Moron." He laughs at me and leads me downstairs. Calum and Michael are playing video games and Ashton is laying on the couch. I sneak up behind it and yell 'boo!' right in his face. He falls off the couch.

"You scared the living shit out of me! God!" I was laughing so hard that it was tearing up. He rolled his eyes and sat back down on the couch. He patted the space next to him, telling me to sit down. I walked around the couch and sat there.

"Hey, Michael. Hey, Calum." I said to the two boys that are sucked into a video game. They didn't answer back which told me they didn't hear what I just said.

Ashton smiled at me. I smiled back.

"You look very nice today."

I roll my eyes at him. "Sure I do."

"You do," he leaned in and whispered in my ear,

"You always look nice." That send shivers down my spine. I could feel my cheeks heating up and I looked away from him. He just giggled at my shyness and put his arm around me.

After about an hour, I got tired of watching the boys play, so I said, "Okay, that's it. I'm going to verse one of you guys." That caused all of them to look at me.

"You and me. Let's do this thing." Cal said. I grabbed the controller he was handing me and sat down on the floor next to him. We started the game and it wasn't very hard. I was so close to winning but Cal was just a tad but better than me.

I stood up from the floor and walked over to Ashton with my bottom lip out making it look like I'm sad. He stood up and hugged me. I started laughing when he walked over to Calum and punched him in the arm.

"You're a bitch, Cal." He started laughing and walked back over to me. We sat on the couch and he put his arm around me again. I leaned into his chest. He was so warm and I felt so safe in his arms.

The guys left at about four. Michael got a new car yesterday so now Ashton doesn't have to give them a ride to school everyday. That Michael's job now.

"And then there were two." Ashton said. I smiled and looked up at him. He smiled back and put his hand on my cheek. He started rubbing his thumb back and forth and it felt good.

He leaned in and connected our lips. The kiss felt so right. It was so warm. We kissed for about eight seconds and then he pulled away. He just stared into my eyes.

"I really like you Nikki."

"I really like you too."

He went in for another kiss and I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"OH MY GOD! THEY'RE KISSING!!!" God dammit, Michael.

After he yelled that, the other two boys ran down. Ashton didn't stop kissing me when he flipped them off. I start smiling and pulled away. Luke ran over to Ashton and sat on his lap.

"Me next!" Ashton pushed him off and looked back at me. He kissed my forehead and stood up. He walked upstairs with the guys and I heard them talking.

~Ashton's Pov~

I walked the with the guys upstairs so I could tell them everything. We were at the door when Michael spoke first.

"You two finally kissed! Is she your girlfriend yet?"

"I was about to ask her that, but then you guys walked in. Why are to guys here anyway?"

Calum answered my question, "I forgot my jacket and I came in here to grab it but Michael snuck downstairs to spy in you guys."

I glared at Michael. "Well, can you guys leave now? I want to be alone with Nikki."

"Yeah, yeah. We're leaving." Luke answered.

I walked back downstairs and saw Nikki laying down on the couch. I smiled and walked over to her.

"Hey. Why did they come back?"

"Cal forgot his jacket. Hey Nikki? Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Will you...um...be my-"

She cut me off, "I'd love to be your girlfriend, Ashton."

I smiled big and sat next to her. For the rest of the afternoon we watched movies and cuddled on the couch.

This is how what I want everyday to be like.

Me.

Nikki.

Us.

Forever.