Distance // Ashton Irwin

5. Party

"I can't believe I am doing this.." I whispered under my breath as I climbed into Cleo's little silver car. Yeah I was excited, but at the same time I felt like my chest was about to explode.

"Ready?" Asked Cleo as we buckled ourselves in. "Yeah!" But in all honesty, I was most definately not ready. Party's and new people didn't phase me, but famous people did. What if I did something stupid? What if?... the thoughts going through my head were continous and annoying.

Cleo had to do alot of convincing to make me agree to going to this party. 'If you don't go I will literally never talk to you again' I recall her saying, but although she was being over dramatic, I knew that if I didn't go she wouldn't let a second pass without reminding me. At this time my head was throbbing in pain after the incident I had with Ashton Irwin and the fridge. Cleo had been giving me that icy cold stare since I had woken up. It was almost as if she was giving me no choice. 'Alright!' I remember saying back to her, 'I'll go aslong as you promise to shut up about him until after the party'

Cleo was good at getting what she wanted, but I loved her for it. She knew that if I had got my own way and stayed at home that several weeks later I would have regretted it. I had this way of letting my nerves get the better of me and Cleo was always the first to pick up on it.

The drive there was quiet. More than once I found myself double checking the address that Ashton had sent me and everytime I would squint at the tiny letters and mumble under my breath 'is this real?'

The party was located at a small quiet beach house that was owned by one of Ash's old friends. He had invited a handful of other fans and a few of his other friends who lived on the out skirts of Sydney, but I wasn't entirely sure why.

"So it's here?" I asked Cleo as we pulled up at a small picnic area just a few metres away from the location. She shrugged. "I guess, unless this is the wrong place?" "No this is right place." Ashton emerged from the beach house with another familiar face Luke Hemmings. I could feel myself go numb from head to toe. "Hey I'm Cleo" said Cleo holding out her hand. 'Wish I was as confident her' I thought to myself. Ashton and Luke both smiled, "I'm Ash and this is.." "Luke" said Luke butting in. Cleo nodded. "Yeah I know who you both are."

We followed the two boys as they escorted us to the small beach house. "This way" said Ashton with a wide grin on his face as he pointed to his left once we were at the front door. He was always smiling, even before I had met him I would look at photos and he always seemed to be enjoying himself and making the most out of life. 'Well he's a drummer out of one of the biggest bands, of course he'll be smiling' I thought to myself.

As we made our way to where Ashton had directed us to go, I could see a bunch of girls just sitting over near the couch talking amoungst themselves. They had smiles upon their faces, and you could tell that they were excited. 'Fans' I said to myself as we approached them.

As Cleo and I are sat down on the empty couch across from the other girls, minutes later we heard a giggle. "Hey ladies" said a tall figure making his way towards us. "Hey Cal!!" Yelled a girl sitting on the other couch. "Damn" said Cleo nudging me, before turning her head to face me with a huge smirk across her face. I laughed softly at Cleo and she continued to visually examine Calum.

Calum sat next to one of the girls on the other couch and started to make conversation. Another tall boy entered the room, but he had opposite features. He had bright red hair that nearly glowed and light green eyes that sparkled as he smiled. Standing only a few metres away from me was Michael Clifford.

He scanned the room for a place to sit and then grinned at me as he walked over towards me. Cleo gave me a sly look before giggling to herself as Michael sat down next me.

The next 20 minutes went by slow, Michael and I had said a few things to each but nothing too exciting. I was still in shock that I was in the same beach house as these boys and that I had been INVITED here.

Ashton and Luke entered the room with a couple of boys and joined the rest of us. Luke dived into Michael's lap and I could here Michael moan but laugh at the same time. "Did you have to do that?" Said Michael trying to shove Luke off his lap.

Luke laughed and refused to move.

Ashton sat on the floor in between the two couches and starting to open the bag infront of him before throwing us a drink.

An hour had passed and I had managed to have a conversation with Luke that had lasted more than 10 minutes.

Ashton had been trying to make his way around the room and socialise with everyone. Everytime I would glance over my shoulder he would catch my stare and I would find myself turning my head in the other direction to break the eye contact.

'You don't even personally know him, stop acting childish' the little voice in my head would say, but Id refuse to listen to it and pretend I was still listening to Luke.

"Sorry, what's your name again?" Calum asked as he approached Luke and I. "Holly" I replied. Calum smiled, "nice to meet you Holl" he said placing his hand on my shoulder. Luke chuckled. "I was talking to her first before you interupted" he said sarcastically, he couldn't hide the grin that was forming from the corner of his lips.

Calum put his arm around Luke, "I just decided to be friendly" he said smiling at me.

"So did Ashton invite you?" I sighed as I went quiet for a few seconds as I tried to process Calums question. "Yeah, we met only a few days before hand so I was surprised he remembered." Luke and Calum started to laugh. "Wait?" Said Calum pointing at me as he paused. "Are you that girl from the coffee shop?" I felt my cheeks warming up, and my stomach churning. "Yeah, why? What did he tell you?" Calum sighed. "Nothing bad, he just said how he ran into a fan at a coffee shop, literally" Calum and Luke giggled. "Yeah I must admit that was an embarressing encounter" I replied feeling embaressed that Ashton had told them.

"So what is the real reason you gathered fans and friends here?" I asked, breaking the silence. Luke smiled. "We just wanted something different for a change, so we decided to invite some fans that seemed like they'd enjoy hanging out with us, kind of like friends hanging out with friends type thing." I nodded. "Yeah and it seems to be working nicely" he added as he used his hand to point at the girls walking past, giving me a clear example. I laughed.

Three girls made their way over to us with a excited look on their faces. Ashton appeared next to one the girls smiling. "Hey dudes" he said waving at Luke, Calum and I. We waved back and Luke and Calum started to talk to the girls next to Ashton. "Hey Holly? Want to come for a walk with me?" Asked Ashton. "Yeah sure" I said before realising what he was asking. Many thoughts raced through my head. 'What is happening, HOLY SHIT, omg Holly play it cool, WHAT IF...

I took a deep breath and ignored my thoughts as I followed Ashton.