Getting to Know You

Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

I came home from work and fell face first onto the couch, waiting for Ashton to be done with his drum lesson. I had endured an entire week of working with Abby almost every day, and she still wasn’t talking to me. As I was laying there with my face buried in the cushions, I didn’t notice Ashton had finished his lesson until he was pulling me into his lap.

"I was going to come and get you." Ashton said, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Kat let me go a little early." I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. Being around Abby all day had put me in a sour mood, and Ashton could tell.

"Is that a bad thing?" He laughed, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"No." I groaned, slapping his hand away. He chuckled and buried his face in my neck. "Why are you mad?" He asked, pinching my sides and making me jump.

"Ashton, don't." I groaned, smiling a little. "I'm not mad." I lied, knowing that I really needed to get over Abby not talking to me. If she was going to choose Scott over me, I shouldn't waste my time being upset. "Tell me why you're mad." He said, squeezing my sides again.

"Ash!" A short-lived fit of giggles escaped my lips before I buried my face in his neck and groaned again, begging him to stop.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I sulked, curled up in Ashton's lap while he drew patterns onto my back with his fingertips. "You don’t need to stress about Abby, you know." He said softly, breaking the silence. I sat up and grimaced, making him smile. "I was right." He smirked, laughing when I stuck my tongue out at him. I slapped his chest for laughing at me, but I was full on smiling now, my mood completely changed. He had a way of doing that to me, and that was one of the things I loved so much about him: he was always happy, and could always make me happy.

"You were right, Irwin." I groaned, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down with me as I fell back onto the couch.

Ashton rested himself on top of me and propped himself up on his elbows, staring down at me with a goofy smile on his face as he lightly brushed my curls from my face. "What has you in such a good mood?" I laughed, poking his dimples with my index finger. He grabbed my hand and linked our fingers together, crushing his lips to mine.

"My... boys err... coming... t'morrow..." He mumbled against my lips, smiling as he caught my bottom lip between his teeth. His lips trailed along my jaw and down my neck before resting his head on my chest and wrapping his arms around my waist. 

"Do you want to go get them from the airport?"  I asked, running my fingers through his hair.  "Can we?"  He asked excitedly, wiggling one of his legs in between mine so we were all tangled up.  "Of course."  I laughed.  "That would be fun."

"It will be fun.  I just wish I had a car."  He sighed, looking up at me.  "It would be easier to go pick them up." 

"Well, we could take my car if you want."  I said, blushing slightly when his eyes widened.  "You have car?"  He asked, tilting his head to the side. 

"I do.  Well, kind of.  I mean, it was the car my mom drove...  I don't drive it too often, I usually just keep it in the garage.  She didn't take it when she left, so I have been..."  I stopped speaking when something clicked in my mind that lined up with what Marcus had been mumbling about lately. 

“Nats?"  Ashton asked, wondering why I had stopped. 

"She left me for somebody else."  I said, looking out the window. 

"What do you mean?"  Ashton whispered, burying his face in my neck and tightening his arms around my waist. 

"I mean, Marcus was right."  I sighed, rubbing my temples.  "There was somebody else, and she left with them.  That's why she left her damn car behind- she hitched a ride with whoever the hell it was she was sleeping with."  I said, balling my hand into a fist.  I was angrier now at my mom than I had ever been for leaving, for caring more about herself than me.