Vault

Twenty-Two

I took a deep breath as I parked my car behind Ashton's and reached for the t-shirt I laying in the seat next to me. Am I really about to do this? Am I really about to walk into the home of my boss with him and his friends?

Ashton told me to let him know if anything feels like he's going too far, so hopefully if it comes to that he'll listen.

I walked slowly behind Ashton and his friends, following them into Ashton's backyard. I watched as Ashton started to mess around with some matches and the wood in the fire pit, struggling to start a fire. I smirked, lightly placing my hand on his shoulder to push him out of the way. I grabbed the matches from his hand and rearranged the wood in the pit to create a stack that would actually ignite and be able to stay lit. After the strike of one match, I lit the wood and gently blew some air to help it ignite into a larger flame.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Luke asked.

I shrugged, "I used to camp a lot with the guys in high school."

"Your parents let you go camping with a bunch of guys in high school?" Michael asked.

"No," I shook my head, "my parents both died when I was fourteen and I lived on my own after that so there wasn't really anyone to tell me to be home by curfew or to be careful when I left the house."

"I'm sorry," Michael frowned at me, "that's terrible. No one came to take care of you?"

"It's okay, it was a long time ago," I shrugged, "I'm an only child and so were my parents so there weren't any relatives to come stay with me. Jimmy's mom kept me out of foster care, because by law you should be until your eighteen if something like this happens, but I was a pain in the ass and wouldn't let her take care of me. I took care of myself."

"I believe it," Ashton smiled, "you can still be a pain in the ass."

"Hey, you could've fired me if you didn't like it," I laughed.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," Ashton smirked, "I'm just saying you can still be a pain in the ass. But that comes from your obsessive need to take care of things, get things done, and to be helpful."

i laughed as I sat down in an empty chair between Ashton and Calum's. Ashton was right, I do like to take care of people and I like to be helpful when I can be. And I do need to complete tasks. I can't help it, it's just part of my personality.

Luke went inside and came back only moments later with a beer for each of us. I still wasn't really a fan of beer, but just like earlier it's here and it's being offered to me. I drank it slowly, not really wanting to get offered another one tonight.

"Are we still going out of town for thanksgiving this year?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, they came last year so this year we go to them," Calum reminded Michael.

"Since we've all been friends since high school, our parents became friends too. Every year for Christmas and Thanksgiving we have a group dinner with all of our parents and last year our parents came here for Thanksgiving and we went to them for Christmas, so we take turns traveling to make it fair," Ashton explained to me with a smile.

"That's adorable," I smiled, "all of your parents live in the same town?"

"Yeah, they all still live in the city we grew up in," Ashton smiled.

"That's cute, I picture you as a man who's close to his mother, Mr. Irwin," I smiled, feeling braver than I had before.

"I am close to my mother," Ashton admit, "what makes you say that?"

"A mans relationship with his mother says a lot about him, just like a woman's relationship with her father," I shrugged, "according to research in neuroscience and psychology anyway."