Paper Aeroplanes (Ashton Irwin fanfiction)

16

Time passes painfully slowly after that, not that there's much time to pass as it is. Michael stays confined to his room, never straying farther than his kitchen or his bathroom, and Ashton does the same to a lesser extent, the only variation being that almost every night without fail he'd talk to Kristine about her day, not really talking about himself as he never saw any of the things that he did throughout the day as interesting enough to talk about. It got to the point where the only thing he'd look forward to was talking to her and the time between was torture. The duos known as Rilum and Lukelexis were never anywhere to be seen, spending every waking moment together, it was rare to see one without the other. The group had dispersed, it was broken, all except for one day.

Stood outside the Irwin/Aldrin houses in a perfect row are Michael, Riley, Calum, Alexis, Luke and finally Ashton watching as the Aldrin family mess around with box after box of their belongings.

"We're almost ready to go," Cruz says after loading a final box into the back of the moving truck.

"Oh, okay, I- I guess I'd better say my goodbyes now," Kristine turns round to the 6 people stood behind her.

She walks over to Michael and holds out a hand to shake. He laughs lightly at her and pulls her in for a hug.

"I'm going to miss you," he grins.

"You too," she replies trying not to cry already.

She moves down the line hugging them each in turn and managing to keep it together, well all until she get's to Ashton and the tears start to roll down her face as she fubles with her word. That's when Ashton begins to cry too, overwhelmed thinking about Kristine leaving.

"This is stupid," he sniffs trying to smile.

"I know, it's not like it's the last time we're ever going to see each other," she fumbles.

"Yeah, we can still see each other on the weekend and as often as we can," he says.

She nods before hugging him tightly.

"It'll be so weird not having you next door though," he speaks into her shoulder.

"I know, what am I going to do without our midnight talks?" she asks.

"Excuse me?" Kristine's mum raises her eyebrows at  her.

"The midnight talks that no one knew about," she mutters which makes Ashton laugh. "Oh, I had something to give you"

Ashton furrows his brow as she reaches into her bag and pulls out a crinkled and folded piece of paper.

"An old paper aeroplane?" Luke says.

"You can't be giving this to me," Ashton says.

"I am, it's like a never forget me kind of thing," she says.

He smiles and takes the plane, "I don't think that's possible, I can't believe you kept this"

"I couldn't exactly throw this in the trash," she grins.

"I've got something I could give you actually," he says, reaching into his back pocket.

"What could you possibly have for me?" she giggles.

He hands her a set of drumsticks, "These are my favourite ones, I've had 'em for the longest, I've had to use them until I get more because I've been... breaking mine more often. They even have my name carved into them"

"I can't take these, Ash, they've got too much centimental value," she replies.

"And that aeroplane doesn't?" he questions which persuades her to take them.

"Thank you," she hugs him again. "Text you tonight?"

He nods.

They all watch as she climbs into the car with tear stained cheeks and they set off. Ashton wipes his face every few seconds trying not to look like he's crying as the car goes off into the distance and it doesn't take long after that for everyone to disappear once more leaving only Ashton still standing motionless on the sidewalk.

That night Ashton does as he usually would and sits scrolling through his phone for hours before he decides that it's time for him to go to bed and comes across something funny. Without even thinking he springs up and opens his window with a grin on his face until he takes into consideration what's in front of him, an empty room. The walls are bare, the bed is naked, the shelves are gone and the room looks generally dull and lacking in the life that Kristine gave it only that wasn't clear until now. It takes a while for him to be able to tear his eyes aware from the room with the knowledge that beyond that room is an empty hallway that leads to other empty rooms. Room after room in the house next to his is now empty and will be until a family of strangers moves in and that though makes him uncomfortable, so much so that he physically can't bring himself to think about it any longer so he sits back down on his bed.

Opening the messages app in his phone he messages Kristine, 'Hey hows the new house'

He stares at his screen for a good half hour before he realizes that she's not going to reply and he sighs letting the phone fall down onto the bed next to him.

What feels like a few seconds passes when his phone buzzes and lights up.

'Sorry Ash, I was unpacking I know that you're probably asleep now I'm sorry' Kristine's message says making Ashton smile lightly.

As it turns out he's been asleep for 3 hours and she's only just replying.

'No, no, I'm still awake, hows it going?' he replies.

'I'm insanely tired and I only got about half of my room unpacked'

His stomach got a strange sinking feeling as she's probably not gotten to his little surprise but then again he's still slightly relieved.

'You should go to bed' he messages. 'Seriously you shouldn't stay up too late, sleep deprivation sucks'

'You're still awake though'

'I know but I'm already sleep deprived' he laughs at himself.

'Okay, I'll go then, see you soon hopefully :)'

He's sad to have ended the conversation so quickly but he doesn't want to keep her so he turns his phone onto silent and places it on his bedside table before curling up into a ball and staring across his room for hours at a time.