Rose | Ashton Irwin

chapter sixteen

Rose's POV

"Are you sure about this?" Ashton hesitantly looks down the shore line. Luckily we're practically alone. An older couple walks hand in hand by the water, and on the left a small family lay out on a towel, their toddler throwing sand at the laughing father. I watch as Ashton's eyes linger on them for a second too long before continuing forward.

"Do you wanna sit under the pier? It's a bit shadier." I comment, trying to jog to catch up to him. He doesn't respond but finds a spot by one of the thick wooden poles, tossing the paper bag onto the sand. I take my seat a couple of feet away, passing him the paper cup filled with coke.

He digs into the sand, pulling out a wrapped burger and a large thing of fries before giving the bag to me, "Here." As I sip on my drink and eat my remaining fries in silence the regret of my decision really starts to sink in. Ever since we arrived he had only said the one word to me, eyes fixed on his food and unmoving.

"Do you come to the beach a lot?" I ask with my hand over my mouth. He stays silent. "I remember as kids you always wanted to come here. Do you remember that time we saw a dolphin? You and Russ were so excited-"

"Yeah I remember." His eyes finally meet mine, but only for a split second before he crumples up his trash and places it in the empty bag. I wait for him to continue, to build on the story or share another memory, but it doesn't come and the silence unwelcomely returns.

"Maybe I should go back to class..." I begin to push myself up but his head snaps to me, eyes narrowed.

"No." He notices the abruptness of his tone and crosses his arms over his chest, "Besides how would you get there?"

"Well..." I clear my throat, shifting on my feet as I come up with an excuse. It's not like he would drive me. Maybe if I asked nice enough? I examine the scowl on his face. No way he would.

"Just stay a little bit longer." He huffs, "Then I'll drive you back."

"Fine, but we have to at least do something?" I take my place again, this time a bit closer to him. I can already feel the itchy sand sticking to my thighs and trapped between my toes in the sandals. At the thought I slip them off and place them behind the pole. I slip off my sweater and place it on top, happy with the weather.

"Like what?" He sighs. Despite being the one to ask me to stay, he seems miserable being here.

"We're at the beach." He looks at me with a blank look as if he's suppose to know what I'm talking about. "Sandcastles of course!" I smile spreads across my face as I throw my hands into the air, sand flying around me.

"Seriously? Sandcastles?" He looks down at the sand that's now covering his tight black jeans, gently dusting it off. I can't help but notice his lack of eye contact in the last thirty minutes, always occupying his attention with something else.

"Yeah." I crawl on my knees a bit further away and begin to push everything around me into a mound. I glance up to see that he hasn't moved. Rolling my eyes I toss a small handful of sand at his jeans, "Come on Ash, it's a competition." Another thing we always did as kids, when we visited the beach together we made everything a competition. The boys were always eager to win, and usually they did, but I ruled the art of sandcastles. "Or do you not want to because you know I'll win?"

At the notice of my unusually cocky smirk he pushes himself up, a grin twitching at the edge of his lips, "You wish Rosalie." He hurries to catch up, his sand forming an all too large pile.

The both of us are quick, glancing up at the other in an attempt to finish first. Sand is tossed back and forth, along with laughs. My castle begins to form, shells making up windows and doors, sticks used for detailing. As I take a step back I realized that as a kid my 'skills' seemed much more impressive. But when I focus my attention on Ashton's castle, it resembles something more like a lopsided bunch of lumps surrounded by a crumbling wall.