Behind the Glasses || a.i.

Chapter 28

Soon-to-be bald Michael appears in this one cuz I had Michael feels when writing it haha xx

 We touch down in Australia after a painfully long ride. I slept most of the time, and the other portion was spent talking to Ash and worrying about life back home.

 As we walked out of the airport, hand in hand, he tells me about how the season is different, so it is spring over here, and how the summers are different, warmer than New England summers. He babbles on and on about his childhood here. I glace over at Nadia, his mother, walking sluggishly beside us. She glares at our hands wound together. I turn my attention back to Ash. He tells me that it has been seven years since he moved over to the States, and the boys followed him when Luke’s family moved out there only eight months later.

 Mrs. Irwin rents a car for us all, for she is the only one old enough to do so, and she has her international license – Ashton and I can’t drive here, not that I have my driver’s license anyway. When we pull up to the pre-furnished house we are renting, I smile. I’m going to be living here with Ashton and his mom for a while.

 We drag our bags inside, picking out rooms on the second floor. Nadia heads to the kitchen to see what we need for food. “I want you two in separate rooms,” she declares, causing Ashton to whine out of embarrassment. He heads upstairs, while I stop to find an easier way to carry my bags. “I mean it, Trinity, I don’t want you near him,” she hisses to me, and I purse my lips, nodding. I rush up the stairs.

 I pick the pink room with the floral border around the tops of the walls. It is pretty big, and is has a nice view of the backyard. I drop my stuff on the clean bed with the black comforter and white pillows. “The house is owned by a woman,” Ashton sighs, coming into the room I chose.

 I laugh. “How do you know that?”

 “Everything is all girly. The upstairs bathroom is like a purple-ish blue,” he complains. “And it’s not like we can paint it because we’re only renting.”

 I laugh again. “What color is your room?”

 “It’s blue, but there are sailboats on bottoms of the walls.”

 “Aw, babe, I’d give you mine, but it’s pink.”

 “I see that,” he comments, looking around.

 I walk over hugging him. “Thank you for all that you’ve done.”

 “I would go to infinity and beyond for you,” he mumbles, pulling back to kiss me properly.

***

 “Yeah, the weather is just as always here,” Ashton says into his cell phone’s transmitter. I’m sitting on the hammock in the backyard with him while Nadia is out shopping for the groceries we helped her list last night. It had been two weeks already, and I was in love with Australia, even when I missed Maine. With my feet on his lap, I sit with a new book in my hands, pretending to read. “Yeah, she’s doing alright. We’re all tired,” he continues, as I accidentally catch myself listening to the one-sided conversation he is having with Michael. The boys have kept in touch, and Luke has been visiting the Senior Center every Monday and Friday for work – he got a job in as the janitor in the cafeteria – so he kept me updated with Ms. Farce. “Yeah, sure, what’s up? ... I guess I can ask her.” He looks at me. “What color should Mikey do next?”

 “Huh?” I close the book, placing it in my lap.

 “His hair,” he elaborates. “He wants to change the color ‘cause he’s tired of the reversed skunk.”