Good Girl // a. i.

Part 23: Moving On

Ashton's pov
I looked at her phone noticing Alex was calling. I didn't think she would mind if I answered so I did.
"Hello?"
"Either you got a late wave of puberty making your voice deeper or you're Ashton." She joked.
"Yeah, I'm ashton." I giggled.
"Well, tell Emma she's such a good friend and thank her for telling me that she left with you."
"Sorry, that's my fault. We had to rush everything." I said, taking the blame.
"No problem. How is she?" She said in a weird tone.
"She's fine. Why are you asking?" I asked concerned.
"She wasn't exactly ok when you left Ashton."
"What do you mean?"
"She was gone every night. She barely paid attention to anything during the day. She was gone."
"I didn't know that." I looked at her across the room raging with Michael and laughing. She didn't seem lost anymore.
"Well she seems fine now, but I think I need to talk to her."
"I think so too. I hope it all works out. Now pass me to her I have to yell at her." She said before clearing her throat.
Emma's pov
Later that night, I was watching criminal minds with Michael when Ashton came in and sat next to me.
"Hey can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.
I pouted as I hugged my bowl of popcorn tighter.
"Can't it wait? Hotch is on a roll in this episode." I replied.
"Uhh, no it can't actually." He said as he looked down, playing with his fingers. Suddenly, I didn't want to go talk to him. He looked up at me and chuckled.
"I'm kinda scared too, but we need to talk." He grabbed my hand and took me to the front of the bus. He sat down on the floor with his back against the cupboards and I sat next to him barely touching. He didn't say anything right away and it was killing me.
"What exactly happened after I left?" He finally said.
"What do you mean?" I tried to stall so I didn't have to answer his question.
"What did you do after I left?" He asked again.
"I... uhh just worked at the soup kitchen and hung out with my dad." I said as it were obvious.
"Is that it?"
No, I wanted to say. I lost myself again. I didn't want to tell him because I broke that promise.
"Emma, Alex told me."
I looked up him, tears building up in my eyes.
"She didn't tell me everything though. I'm not mad at you." He said grabbing my hand. I took a deep breath before telling him.
"One night, I decided to listen to the EP and it made me angry. That's the night I quit smoking, but I needed a distraction so I wouldn't think about you anymore, so I just did the only thing I could." I shrugged, tears falling down my face. He didn't say anything. He stayed quiet, taking it all in.
"I bet you still have straight A's in college despite everything's that happened." He chuckled. I looked at him surprised. He smiled back and I just started laughing.
"Of course I do. Just because I party every night didn't mean I let my grades slip. I have a reputation to keep up." I joked.
"You are such a nerd." He nudged me.
"That's better than goody two shoes." I chuckled.
"Goody two shoes? You? That's funny." He teased. I just shook my head before resting it on his shoulder and we stayed there for a while, just talking and it felt good, letting it all out. We could finally move on.

"You!" I pointed at Luke later that night.
He paused mid-bite of his sandwich to look up at me.
"You need to help me with something." I said, sliding in across from him at the table.
"With what?" He asked before taking his bite.
"I want to do something nice for Ashton. I know we have the day off tomorrow so help me think of something cute!"
"Like what?"
"To be honest I'm open to anything so shoot."
"Beach day. You swim a little, sand flies everywhere, then you go on a nice walk on the pier." He shrugged.
"That's actually not bad." I nodded.
"Then you come back to the bus and have some alone time." He raised his eye brows.
"Ok that's enough. Thanks for your help, but I'm leaving now." I said as I got up. I was not about the have this conversation with him. He just laughed as I walked away.

Sorry, this was more of a filler. It was necessary for the next chapter. I hope you like it so far. Love you guys!