Goodbye, my love // a.i.

Chapter 8

I turn around and see a skinny boy with straight blondish hair standing there.

"I.. Uh, um.. We just moved here," I say quickly.

"We?" he asks.

"Me and my mom, we just moved here," I repeat.

"You're American," he says, like it isn't obvious.

"Well, yeah. And?" I say, looking him in the eyes, which glow green even from where I stand, five feet away from him.

"I'm Ashton," he says smiling, and walks up to me, giving me his hand to shake.

"I'm Ashli," I say smiling back, and shake his hand.

"Tell me, why did you move all the way from America to Australia, of all places?" he asks, and I tense up, but try to act normal.

"Uh, my mom just decided we needed a change," I lie, giving him a smile to cover it up.

"Oh, wow. Big change," he says.

"Yeah, I know," I say, and the silence begins to grow.

After a few quiet seconds, I break the silence saying, "Do you play in a band or something?" motioning to the drum set and guitar cases.

"Oh yeah, I guess you can say that," he says, laughing to himself.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Me and some of my friends play around and post covers on YouTube sometimes, but that's about it," he says.

"So yeah, you're in a band. What is this band's name?" I say, keeping the conversation light.

"Um, 5 Seconds of Summer," he says, smiling.

"That's a cool name. I'll have to hear you guys sometime," I say, smiling back, and he blushes.

"Yeah, yeah. That would be cool," he says.

"Well, I should probably go home now," I say, starting back to the way out of the tree house.

"Already? We just met," he says with a disappointed look on his face.

"I guess I can stay a few more minutes."

"You can sit down if you want," he says, motioning to the bean bag chairs.

I walk to the bean bag chairs and slump down in one and get comfortable, I could be here a while.

"Pretty nice tree house you have here," I say, making random small talk.

"Yeah, my dad built it when I was little," he says.

"He did a good job," I say, grinning.

"Yeah, he did," he says sadly.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?" I ask, moving closer to him.

"No, no. It's just, my parents divorced when I was nine, so I don't see him anymore," he says, smiling sadly.

"My parents are divorced too, so I know what it's like," I reassure him.

"Oh, well we can help each other out some," he says, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, I guess we can," I say, smiling back.

"What school are you going to?" he asks.

"I think it's called Richmond. That's what -"

"Really?!" he says, cutting me off.

"Yeah, why?" I ask.

"That's the same school that I go to!" he says excitedly.

"What grade are you in?" I ask him.

"Huh? Grade?" he asks, confused.

"Grade. Year, I guess that's what you call it," I say.

"Oh, yeah. I'm in year ten. What about you?" he asks me.

"I'm in year ten also," I say smiling.

"This is great! We can hang out at school, I mean, if you want of course," he says shyly.

"Yes, I would love that. It's not like I know anyone from here anyways, so why not? But I should probably get going now before my mom starts worrying," I say, and stand up to leave.

Ashton stands up too and says, "It was very nice meeting you, Ashli. If you want, you can come back here tomorrow around three?" he says.

"Sure, I will try to get out of the house," I tell him. Then I hear my phone ringing and grab it out of my pocket.

"It's my mom," I say and answer the phone.

"Hey, I'll be home in a few minutes," I say.

"Okay, just checking on you," she says.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be there in a little while," I tell her, and press end.

"Do you want my number? So you can call or text or something," he says nervously.

"Yeah, sure. Here," I say, handing him my phone.

After a minute, he gives me my phone and says, "It was nice meeting you, see you tomorrow?" he asks.

"Yeah, I will try to be here, but I will definitely call you and see what time I can be here," I say, smiling widely.

"Okay, see you," he says and opens the tree house door for me.