Teacher | Ashton Irwin

Forty Seven

Ashton and I have been living in our new home for a week now. We have gotten to know the neighbours and our way around town. Best of all, Ashton found a pub with a great atmosphere and he goes there to sing quite a few nights a week. He refuses to go without me there so instead of staying at home, I have to sit in the small crowd where he can see me.

I leaned against the kitchen counter as Ashton put his coat on. He smiled, "Ready?"

I walked over to him and walked out the door that he was holding open. He locked our apartment before we headed to the stairs.

We were going job hunting today. Ashton was looking for something that had good pay to keep the penthouse but we had money from his parents anyway.

Parents! Yeah, my mom and dad have been calling me non-stop since me and Ashton ran away. They have been leaving hundreds of voicemails. They never get a reply.

Ashton drove us to the nearest high street that was filled with shops. Ashton took my hand is his as we walked down the pavement. I said, "What about being a teacher again?"

"They would have done their research and I would never get any jobs," he sighed. His face lit up when he saw an old, dingy shop. The wooden sign had painted on it "Records". He practically ran into the shop, trailing me behind him.

It was filled with shelves and racks of records and CDs. He walked up to the man at the counter. He looked like he was sixty! He was small, fat, bald and had those harry potter styled round-framed glasses. Ashton smiled, "Hi. I was wondering if there were any job openings?"

The man's face lit up. He smile sweetly at us and said, "Both of you?"

"No, sorry," I shook my head.

His enthusiasm died down a lot and he passed Ashton a clip board, "Write in your personal details here and you're hired."

Both our eyes went wide and we said, "What?!" Surely it's not this easy getting a job.

He chuckled, "I'm desperate for people to work here. I only have one employee and he's always late, slags off when he shows up, is always hungover and his hair colour is ridiculous and changes almost every week- Speaking of the devil. Here he comes now."

The door jingled as it opened. Mine and Ashton's eyes went wide and our jaw dropped. Michael.

He rushed past us, not even looking at us. He scurried into the back room, behind the man. He said, "Sorry I'm late. I slept in-..." He trailed off as he walked back out. He recognised us immediately, "Rachel? Mr Irwin?"

Before the man could reply, I said, "Michael, can I speak to you over here for a minute?"

"Sure," he hesitated a bit. He walked with me over to the opposite side of the shop to Ashton and the man whilst he filled out the form and chatted with the man.

I whispered, "Michael, please don't tell anyone about this."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "What? What do you mean?"

"I won't tell anyone," he smiled, "You've always been nice to me and well... We're friends. I was just wondering if you're okay? Everyone talks about you two in school."

"Thank you Michael," I smiled, "But yeah, we're fine. We moved out here and yeah, we're doing grand."

He smiled, "Good. So should I tell Calum that he shouldn't apply for a job here either?"

"Yes you should," I blurted, "Sorry, it's just, Calum has always been onto something with me and Ashton. I can't have him knowing because he tells everyone everything."

"Sure. I have to go do some work now," he smiled, "It was good catching up with you."

I walked over to Ashton and laced his fingers in mine, "Everything good here?"

"Yeah actually," he smiled, "Benny here is giving me a job. I can start any time this week."

I turned to Benny and said, "Thank you! See you soon."

Ashton said goodbye before leading me out of the shop. As soon as he closed the door he asked, "What did you say to Michael?"

"He's sweet. He's not going to tell anyone. He was just wondering if we were doing okay. He's a bit simple, Ash," I giggled.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "It's a bit evident."

"I don't mean to be rude or bring you down but will that job really help is pay for the apartment rent?" I nervously asked.

"It's not that bad pay," he said, "It's actually really decent for what it is. I can pay for the groceries each week and contribute to the rent."

"That's all we need," I smiled.

For hours we walked around the high street, searching for a job for me. We went in clothes stores mainly with a couple of cafés. We found nothing.

We walked into a small cafe. It was cute. It had small wooden booths but they weren't too fancy. It was quite, only about ten people in here, either on their phone or laptop.

I walked up to the counter with Ashton. There was an old lady standing behind it with white, short, curly hair and cute glasses. She smiled, "What can I get for you?"

"Hello," I smiled, "I was wondering if there are any job vacancies."

"Why yes! Can you cook?" She asked.

Even though I took an HE class the whole way through my years at school, I was quite useless at making fancy food. I could make basic food but that's to the extent. I giggled, "Not anything fancy. Are there any waitress jobs available?"

"Honey, basically none of us can cook in here. It's so quite I only have one employee. Michelle cooks and I do waitressing. I would love your help though," she extended her arm out across the counter for me to shake, "I'm Jacky."

I shook it and smiled, "I'm Rachel."

"Well Rachel," she chuckled, "Can you carry a tray without spilling everything?"

"Yes," I smiled.

"Well then you're hired," she smiled, "When can you start?"

I turned to Ashton and he whispered, "Go for it. We can both start work tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I proposed to Jacky.

She beamed a smile, "Oh thank you! I can't wait."

Jacky gave me details about the job and pay for the next ten minutes.

"Thank you. See you tomorrow," I smiled as I lead Ashton out with me.

Once we got outside he kissed me softly, "I can't believe we both got jobs, and decent pay too."

I smiled, "As long as I don't drop anything, I think I'll be keeping this job for a long time until I find a better one."

"Me too," he smiled.