The Therapist's Son // Ashton Irwin [AU] ✔

16.

The drive back to the house my mother and I lived in was mostly silent, and although my hands were still shaking and I still struggled to swallow the all-too-familiar lump in my throat, I seemed to be calming down.

I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him every detail of the night that still haunts me in my dreams. I wanted to pour out my heart and soul, including my deepest, darkest secrets. I wanted him to know the reason I was here in the first place...That reason was my own mistake, the one that killed my sister and tore my family to helpless shreds, unable to be put back together despite anyone's efforts to do so.

I couldn't even tell my therapist that, let alone her son.

Maybe Ashton was realizing there was more to my story than he had originally thought. How his first thoughts of "daddy issues" or "struggling to cope with the move" didn't apply in the slightest to what had happened to me these past few months.

I was worried he was going to question me or push for answers to what had happened less than five minutes before on the abandoned back road, but he stayed silent, eyes locked on the street, looking lost in thought, yet concentrated all at once. I wasn't sure what to think of it, but I wasn't sure that I liked it.

I let out a sigh when the car slowed to a stop in front of my house, unhooking my seatbelt and opening the door, saying a quick 'see you later' to the boy in the driver's seat, before getting out and heading up the porch steps.

My mom wasn't expecting me to be home this early, and I didn't have a key yet, so I was forced to knock twice on my own front door. I knew my mom was home, her car was in the driveway. She didn't like leaving the door unlocked when she was the only one home for a long period of time. She never had.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, waiting for Mom to come to the door, before hearing an engine turn off and a car door open and close, Ashton walking up the front porch steps until he stood next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, slightly confused.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay." He smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just locked out so I had to knock," I explained, to which he nodded, looking down at his feet before back up at me, as if waiting for me to say or do something else. "You know you can go now, right?"

"What if I don't want to go?"

"Then I guess we have an issue," I laughed. "You have to go-"

I was cut off by the door opening, and a surprised "oh" escaping my mother's lips.

"I thought you weren't going to be home until later."

"Yeah, uhm, something came up," I said, walking inside. "Bye, Ash."

"Wait, Natalie, who's your friend?" Mom asked, motioning to Ashton, who still stayed standing in the doorway. Why wasn't he gone yet?

"We've met before. I'm Doctor Irwin's son." Ashton explained, to which it seemed to click in my mom's brain.

"Right, so that's how you two know each other. At first I thought you might have been that 'Luke' friend of Natalie's, but I remember her describing a piercing that I'm not locating on you," I grimaced at my mother's straightforwardness, silently praying Ashton had gotten over his minor jealousy issue. "Well, Ashton, I'm Natalie's mother, Debbie."

"Yeah, I remember," Ashton laughed, sounding kind of awkward, before sending a small wave in my direction. "Bye, Natalie."

"Bye, Asht-"

"Natalie, we should have him stay over for dinner." My mother interrupted, and I wanted to groan. My head hurt, I felt nauseous, and I was still shaking slightly. Instead, I forced myself to smile in their direction. I guess I could tough it out for an hour or two more.