Distractions a.i.

21

The bright sun illuminated the room at noon. Catherine slept in since the events of last night took place. She thought about Ashton's behavior and how he opened up to her. It was nice, seeing a different side of him. In such a tranquil state than how he normally acts.

"Cathy- oh good. You're up, finally," Luke walked in sitting on the empty side of her bed.

"Yes?"

"We're going to a store nearby, and you need to get ready. Like right now, just throw these on," he said, handing her gray sweatpants and a blue shirt.

"Thanks."

He nodded his head and waited out by the door. She stepped out and he took her hand in his.

"Luke, what are you doing?" she asked, but not letting go anyway.

He only replied with a cheeky grin as they walked towards the white van.

"You guys should decorate this van," Catherine suggested. They all turn around to look at her with a look.

"What? It's just so boring, make it cool at least. Sheesh," she rambled. Ashton was making his way towards them and eyed their intertwined hands. He scoffed, glaring at Luke.

Luke returned his gesture with a smug look on his face. Catherine didn't seem to take notice, piling in the backseat of the van. Ashton sat in the driver's seat and sped off. She felt the impact of the speed, her head jerking back.

"Slow down, my god," she muttered.

They soon reached a little shop. The colorful chalkboard sign gave the shop a little oomph.

There were so many decorations she thought she could put in her room so she took a few of the decor that caught her eye and stuffed them in her pockets.

"Hey!"

Catherine turned around facing a small Indian lady.

"What are you doing? Did you stuff those little statues in your pockets?" she interrogated. The lady slowly walked towards her, pointing her index finger at Catherine.

Nervousness was evident as Catherine let out a shaky breath. "No, I'm sorry?" she lied.

"Lady, I saw you! Don't you be playing games with me, , I call cops now!" she argued, her accent thick as she spoke.

Michael was actually near and heard the all the fuss. He tried distracting the old woman. "Excuse me how much for this?" He asked holding a really big and heavy vase. The woman turned to him, so she started yelling at him too. Michael tried to signal Catherine for her to leave using his hands in a sweeping motion indicating to 'go now!'

She got the message and scurried away finding Ashton in the process.

"You put that down right now! That is not for a sale, boy!"

The bickering continued while Catherine pulled the bottom of his shirt to get his attention.

"Hey," *tug.*

"Ash," *tug, tug*

"Ashton!"

"What god dammit!?" he turned to her agitated. She furrowed her eyebrows wondering why he was being mean. She did nothing wrong, did she?

"Ashton, what's wrong?" she asked wrapping her hands around his arm. He shrugged her off in disgust.

"Go back to your boyfriend," he sneered. Catherine frowned upset and confused to what he said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She fought back. She was irritated because this was happening again. Him being nice one day, then ignoring and being a complete asshole the next.

"Oh, don't play dumb. I saw you two this morning," he laughed. "You think I don't know? I'm not letting you play me like Sophie did, Cathy."

She frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm not playing? I'm not even doing anything, if anything you're playing with me. Last night was so nice, but why are you being so rude now? It's confusing," she explained.

Ashton rolled his eyes completely being ignorant right now. "Oh, okay. You're blaming me? Fine then, bitch," he spat.

Catherine took that as her cue to run out of the small store. Tears were starting to well up on the brim of her eyes and she brought up her hand over her mouth, biting down on the sleeve of the sweatshirt she wore as a nervous habit.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see Ashton. She furiously wiped away the tears and looked away from him. He sighed engulfing me in warm embrace, she stood there frozen. What was he doing? She thought.

"Cathy, I'm sorry." He mumbled into my hair, rubbing up and down on the sides of my arms. "I didn't mean what I said. I'm just scared."

Her blood bubbled with anger as she whipped around to face him. "You're scared!? Really," she yelled. He sighed nodding his head. She rolled her eyes and huffed. In the corner of her eye she saw the rest of the boys coming out of the store.

"Come on, that place had nothing fun," Luke said. He noticed how Ashton and Catherine were behaving. Catherine looked pissed and Ashton had his jaw clenched.

They all nodded and returned to the van.

"Let's just go home," Michael whined.

Okay, so Michael saved Cathy from being caught and Ashton is being a dick. No big deal, but yeah here's an excuse of an update.