|Misunderstood| Ashton Irwin

Chapter thirty-five

Bella Waters' pov

Days pass and the time comes around to finally return home to the UK.
We didn't do much after we spent our time together up the tallest building in New York, we just spent the rest of our holiday relaxing and spending money at the bar.
Our flight took off at ten at night and eight hours later we finally touched down in the miserable place I call home. It was three in the afternoon when we dragged ourselves to Ashton's car and started to drive home. I was tired, even though I had slept most of the time we were flying, and so after only five minutes of Ashton telling me how much he missed driving his car and how taxis were annoying, I was asleep again.
***

Ashton Irwin's pov

I quietly fished around in Bella's handbag as she slept peacefully in the passenger seat of my car, to try and find the keys to her small house once we had pulled into her driveway. I don't understand how girls can carry so much stuff around with them. I searched through five different types of lip stick, two mascaras, a little mirror, tampons, her phone, her purse and a hair brush and still couldn't find the keys. I stand up straight and sigh. I look at her sleeping, her eyes look so soft, her breathing is sort of hypnotising as her chest slowly raises and up and down. I lean in gently and put my hand into her coat pocket and sure enough I heard the little rattle of her keys. I pulled them out, watching her to make sure I didn't disturb her then ran over to the house and unlocked the door. Piles of post sat unopened on the floor and I quickly pick them up, placing them, along with the keys, on the little table that it placed in the hallway.
I race back to the car and then unstrap Bella then step back and try and work out how I'm going to do this. I decide just to place one arm under her, behind her knees and the other arm supporting her back then I lift her up, carrying her kinda like a baby into the house. She stirs a little, I stop and hold my breath not wanting to wake her. She takes a deep breath in then her head flops onto one side. I carry on walking and finally I manage to place her onto the sofa, then quickly lay the red and green blanket that always hangs over the back of the sofa, over her body then returning to the car once again to collect our bags.
Once our belongings were inside the house, I made my way to the small kitchen to make myself and Bella a drink. I'm guessing she will want her usual black coffee, no sugar.
I start to boil the kettle when my phone starts to ring in my pocket. I mentally curse myself for making all this noise whilst Bella is trying to rest then quickly answer.
"Hello"
"Hey man! I wanted to call to see if you were home yet?"
It was Luke, of course it was.
"Yes, we literally just got through the door, just making myself a cup of tea and then I'll probably watch some tv and get an early night. Time zones are weird you know, I'm starting to want to sleep more and more and it's not even four in the afternoon yet!" I chuckle and Luke agrees with something on the lines of 'uh huh'. He obviously called to talk about something other than my sleeping patterns.
"So whats up?" I finally ask.
"Well, firstly, I haven't seen you in over a week and you need to tell me all about your time in New York and what you did" he begins, "so I was wondering if we could meet up tomorrow, I'm free all day so just give me a time and a place and I'll be there"
I stop and think for a moment, I'm not sure whether Bella is attending college tomorrow or whether she will just relax for another day and go in on thursday, however I know I have to go back to work, leaving at that short notice was bad of me anyways, let alone taking another day off.
"Well my shift at Starbucks finishes at three-thirty tomorrow so how about I meet you down the pub for a few drinks at, let's say four ish?" I suggest.
"Sounds good to me" he chirps.
"Okay cool, well what else do you need to talk to me about" I ask.
"Well, me and Felicity were thinking the other night, we should have a friendly get together, like we used to do, you know, me, you, Felicity, Jess, oh and they wanted that Amber girl and that boyfriend of hers um, is it Zayn, to come along, it will be fun" he says.
"What about Bella?" I say.
"Well, mate, we don't really know her that well and err yeah, I've had strict instructions to make sure she isn't invited" he trails off.
"Hey! Thats not fair! She hasn't done anything wrong. Well if she cant come then I'm not going" I sternly tell him.
"Ashton, please. It wont be the same without you, I'll be left with all girls and that weird Zayn guy who I have only met once before at Jess' birthday party a few weeks ago"
The line falls silent as I think about that day. I have to say, that day sure did change my life a lot.
"Ashton?" Luke says.
"Um, well, okay fine, but only because I want to spend time with you and I have spent quite a lot of time with Bella recently"
"Yes! And exactly! She does kinda have you wrapped around her finger. You would do anything for her wouldn't you" Luke says.
"Well, yeah, she's my friend, she's been through a lot"
"Do you like her?" Luke asks.
"In what way?"
"Like like her?" I can tell he is teasing me.
"Fuck off" I laugh.
"No seriously! Do you like her in that sort of way?" He asks again.
I lean against the kitchen side and bite my lip a little.
"I dunno" I shrug even though I realise he cant see me.
I'm not sure why but when people talk about me and Bella being a couple or me actually liking liking her, a strange feeling thats foreign to my body runs all over me. I'm not sure whether I'm falling for her or whether it's just a sign of friendship, however I cant say I think of Luke in that way.
"Admit it, you do!" Luke almost shouts down the phone as he starts to get excited.
I sigh.
"Look mate, it's to early to tell" I walk over to the door way of the kitchen and look into the lounge at her sleeping on the sofa, her hands tucked under her head like a small child.
"So there could be some romance happening then?" He asks.
"I don't know!" I say again.
"Have you kissed her again since last time when she pushes you away?"
"Luke!" I whine.
"You have haven't you! And it was in New York. Oh god okay, you better tell me everything that happened when we meet up tomorrow okay?"
I roll my eyes at him as he sounds like some teenage girl that is excited to see her other teenage girl best friend and gossip over hot boys.
"Whatever Luke, see you tomorrow" I laugh and so does he.
"Bye Ashton" and with that we hang up the phone and I have to re-boil the kettle.
As I place my phone down on the kitchen side and the soft bubbling of the kettle erupts through the kitchen I start to think about what Luke said. Do I like Bella in that sort of way?
To be honest, I'm not sure what my feelings are for her. Bella, along with Luke are my two best friends but I feel that with her its different. I feel I have sort of become attached to her, like I cant be without her. It's a strange feeling, one that I have never felt before. With Jess I never had feelings as strong as these but when I think about it, I don't think I was truly in love with Jess, I was just in love with the idea of Jess. She is beautiful and has a great personality but we didn't click like me and Bella have. I saw Jess more like a little sister than a girlfriend. I loved hanging out with her and teasing her so she would laugh but when I said 'I love you' I didn't feel that feeling your supposed to get. And I know it's still early days with Bella but deep down, I think I can feel something special between us.
The kettle clicked and stopped boiling, dragging me from my thought and I made myself a cup of tea and a coffee for Bella.
As I went shopping before we left, there was still some food in the house, so I placed some biscuits on a plate then put it, alone with the drinks into a tray and walked into the lounge.
When I placed her coffee down on the table in front of her, her eyes started to flicker open. I smiled down at her.
"Hey" I whisper.
"How long was I asleep?" She asks, her voice raspy.
"Not long, we got home about half an hour ago" I say and she nods then sits up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. I take a seat in the space she made for me then take a sip of my drink.
"I made you a coffee" I tell her.
"Thank you" she says as she reaches over to collect it.
Once she takes a sip and then rests it on he thigh I take begin to asks her about her plans for tomorrow.
"So are you going to go to college tomorrow then?"
She stares into space for a while then her eyes trail to me, no emotion in her at all.
"I don't think so" she shrugs.
"Oh, why not? Are you still tired?" I ask.
"No, it's just..." She pauses, "I don't really feel very well"
"Oh okay well, I have to go to work but I can go in later, I could take you to the doctor first thing in the morning or something?" I suggest.
"No, no it's fine, just being on my own and getting some rest will do me good"
"Okay then, well after work I'm going to go hang out with Luke, is that okay? I'll only be an hour or so, just going for some drinks and a catch up" I tell her.
She laughs a little, "you don't need to ask me if it's okay to go out, I'm not your mum" she says.
"I was only making sure" I shrug.
And for the rest of the evening we sat in the same position on the sofa, watching whatever we could find on a tuesday night. Then we finally went to bed after both our eyes could no longer stay open.
If I had a choice, I would spend everyday for the rest of my life like it has been today.

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A/n:
Hey guys!
Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long again, all this week I've been in a pantomime and I haven't had time to write or anything but now I'm back and yeah.
So Bella and Ashton are back in the UK now and this is where things start to really get going!
Okay remember to comment and vote,
ily x