BULLY-a.i-l.h

Chapter 7-Not alone

-Aria's POV-

"Ashton." I whisper as he reveals his cut scars to me.

"I'm broken." He starts to sob, covering his face with his hands.

"Ashton please come with me." I say, taking his hand gently. He seems almost reluctant at first, almost tense, but her relaxes as I start to walk slowly back toward my car.

The second we get into my car, Ashton looks at me expectantly.

"Ashton Fletcher Irwin," I start. "I've known you since year nine, when you would beat me every single day, and since the day that we became friends, I've known that there is something between us, and that thing is pure magic to me. I've never felt as loved as you and Luke make me feel. I feel like I belong with you guys forever and ever. I know that my childhood wasn't the best, but I can choose how I want the rest of my life to play out, and it's not going to be with some teacher. Ever since I was twelve, I've always been told to play it safe, don't be dumb. Find someone with a stable income and stay with them until the end. Have kids, make a perfect little family. But that's not what I want." I tell Ashton, wiping a tear off of his cheek.

"I want crazy, I want adventure, I want to live. I want to see the world. I want to be loved forever. I want everything that my mom told me to be careful of. I want to see the most beautiful things and the worst of things. I want to fall in bed at night knowing that if I die this very night, I'll be happy with my life, I won't have any regrets, and I don't want anything that you could consider normal about my life." Ashton nods again.

"But where are you going with-" I cut him off by raising a finger.

"Ashton, if I gave that man my number, I would've basically thrown my wishes away. I wrote down the number of the prison on that slip of paper, because being a teacher can't bring you on different paths in life, there's only the one straight line, where you can see everything ahead of you, there's no adventure in it. I'm not going to pick a path. I'm going to jump in the ocean and see where the current takes me." I finish by picking up Ashton's scarred wrist and gently kissing every deep scar that I can see, and then I look into his eyes deeply, just millimetres away from kissing him.

"You're not alone." Ashton says, the tips of his lips brushing against mine as he speaks. He leans in just a slight bit more and closes the gap between us, taking advantage of me just a little bit by clasping his hands behind my neck, pulling me closer. I finish off the kiss by gently biting on his bottom lip and pulling it out before letting it go.

"Wow." He says as I put my car key into the ignition.

"Wow." I echo, gently touching my bottom lip as I back out of the parking space.

We drive back to my apartment complex with no silence at all. We talk about all of the places we want to visit and all the things we want to see. Every little detail of our kiss replays in my mind as I drive to the complex.

We arrive at the complex and I invite Ashton into my apartment. Not to do anything dirty, but to hang out.

Luke, Cal and Mikey are already waiting in my apartment when I get there. I guess Luke sees the slight red mark on my cheek where a tear fell and he pulls me aside into my room.

"Did he hurt you Ari?" He asks me, a concerned look on his face.

"No Lukey, Ashton didn't hurt me." I tell him, laughing and rolling my eyes.

"Are you sure Ari because if you end up hurt I don't know what I'll do." Luke says, fixing his hair in my vertical full body mirror.

"I'm one hundred and ten percent sure." I tell him, fixing his hair for him.

"Okay Ari. If you ever have a problem just tell me and I'll do everything I can, I'm your big brother after all." He says. "Unless you're pregnant, then I'm disowning you." He says.

We share a laugh over his joke for a few minutes before coming back in to see Calum on the phone, Ashton in the kitchen and Mikey carrying a huge box.

"We're throwing a sleepover party!" Ashton yells as I see what he's cooking. It seems to just be Vegemite toast but you never know with him.

"I met this girl named Alyson today, I'll invite her." I say, grabbing my phone.

"Uh huh, yup, I'll tell them, thank you so much!" Calum says, doing a little dance in his seat.

He ends the call and starts jumping around the house.

"Guys, should we tell Aria about the thing?" Ashton asks Luke and Calum, while Mikey is still upstairs.

"What thing?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.

"Okay, so it's been about a year now, and Calum, Luke and Michael and I have been in a band. We post covers on youtube and stuff." Ashton says. I hug him for a second.

"That's actually cool. Didn't justin bieber get discovered that way?" I ask.

"Yeah, I think." Luke says, looking up at Mikey.

"Well...we just got offered to go with one direction on their take me home tour as their opening act!" Calum yells. Every single boy starts dancing except for Ashton, who pulls me into his arms and kisses me.

"You're coming with us Ari." Luke says. I hug Ashton tightly and smile widely.

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A few hours later, Alyson arrives at my house holding a large duffle bag.

"So you're touring with one direction?" She asks, smiling.

"Yeah, my brothers band must be better than just a bit of drumming and guitar ing if he gets to open for such a big band." I say, looking at my brother and his friends, who are playing FIFA.

"Hey Aria, come over here for a second?" Ashton says, motioning me toward the lower level of he house, since we're in the sleepover room.

"Yeah okay." I yell back, standing up.

What could he want that he has to ask me from all the way downstairs?