after you left |ai|

25

— Ashton's POV —

I closed the door behind her and stood there for a minute while I watched them unlock their bikes, their laughs filling the otherwise silent street and her smile lighting up the darkness of the night. She looked back at me before leaving and waved with the purest smile on her face. I waved back with a small smile and waited until they were gone before slowly making my way back to the kitchen. I took a beer for myself before walking back out.

I sat down between my mom and Lauren, Harry was sitting beside my mom. All of our backs were against the wall while we looked over the still very alive city. Lights of cars were visible every now and then but the lights in the streets were never fading. Nobody dared to say a word, nobody even knew what to say. Unlike last night, tonight felt normal. I was smiling and laughing all night, an effect she seemed to have on me frequently now.

"I've never seen Piper like that with someone other than Sam before, she never even did that to Sam's family." My mom finally said and she wasn't sure how to put it into words but I knew exactly what she meant. All night, she laid by her feet or sat with her and only left when I put Olivia to bed. The way she laid her head on Elle's lap was something I had only seen her do with Sam. She doesn't even do that with me.

Lauren rested her head against my shoulder and I closed my eyes for a second. We stayed silent again and I tried to come up with the words that I wanted to say but it seemed like I lost my ability to speak. Every time I opened my mouth, no words came out and I could feel my mom's eyes on me.

"I like her" I finally got out and I looked at her, the smallest smile formed on her lips while she studied my face. When I realised I had finally said it out loud and meant it, I let out a chuckle and a smile formed on my face. My mom's smile turned into a frown when my chuckle turned into an actual laugh. Lauren lifted her head off my shoulder and they all looked at me confused. When I stopped laughing, I looked out infront of me and took in a deep breath, "She was right here all this time, right infront of my nose for years but never did I even think about talking to her. She handed me my order several times but never did I look twice at her. And now she's all that's in my mind."

"She was with someone else, you were not the same person either. Maybe you just weren't meant to meet before." Lauren said with a shrug and I nodded.

"I'd like to believe it all happened for a reason but she was right here infront of me all this time and she never even noticed me." I replied with a sigh.

"Have you told her how you feel?" Mom asked me and I shook my head.

"Not until I know for sure that this isn't just a rebound for me. I need to make sure what I feel has nothing to do with the fact that she saved me."

"How are you going to do that?" Lauren asked and I shrugged, I wasn't even sure yet. "She should know about how you feel before she finds herself falling for someone new."

"And you should know if she feels the same or not, before you let yourself fall too deep for her." Mom said before looking at Harry and Lauren, "Could you guys go back inside and get ready for bed? It's already getting late." She said to get them away. They both got up and went inside as asked, they knew she just wanted to talk to me alone.

"What are you really scared of?"

"That she will replace Sam" I said with a sigh and she looked at me with sympathy and sorrow. "I'm scared Olivia will call her mom, I'm scared that the memories of Sam will fade and I'm scared to loose her like I lost Sam."

"Why do you think you would loose her?"

"When we talked about where we see ourself in 10 years, she told me how she wanted a big family like she grew up in. She told me she wanted 3 or 4 kids." I said and she got it right away, it was a stupid fear to many because that is still so far away but it was all I could think about.