Beside You - Ashton Irwin

15

*I don't know who to credit for the drawing but I wanted you to be able to picture Eddie!*

I stepped out of the cab after I paid. I saw Mikey's car and surprisingly Eddie's car in the driveway. I walked towards the front door, weirdly nervous about ringing the doorbell. I don't know why I was nervous about going into my friend's home, maybe because it was a safe place, something that I still couldn't get my brain around. An older girl who I didn't recognize opened the door. "You're Andy right?" I nodded at the older girl. "Come inside, they're all downstairs." I walked past her and thanked her while opening the door to the basement, which as soon as I did, I heard FIFA sound effects and loud music. 

"Hey, guys." I walked over and sat next to Eddie, who was in an intense game of FIFA against Mikey and Cal. "Oh, Andy, I didn't think you were coming? Since Mikey said he dropped you at the bank. You know my mum doesn't work Thursdays, she has to take Landon to hockey?" I nodded, trying to think of an excuse. "Yeah, I didn't need to see your mom anyways-" "Hey, you said you had to ask her about something?" Ashton said to me, Gee thanks Ash, exposing me in front of everyone. "As I was saying. I didn't know how to, uh, explain. Well uh, the FBI knows about my account... and... I needed to ask if anyone had looked at my account recently, just to be safe you know?" Everyone seemed to believe my lie, I knew I had to come clean sometime in the near future, so much for being a good friend, Andy!

After many rounds of FIFA, we had turned up the music and were sitting down on the ground, just talking about school and life, that was until 'Voulez-Vous' started playing and Eddie's eyes lit up. "Come on please, Andy? I'm begging you!" I rolled my eyes and looked back at the floor. "Andrea Pentworth this is our song, get up and dance with me. I hope you still remember our iconic routine because I do!" I gave in to her and stood up in front of the boys. They all cheered at us as I got all embarrassed. "Come on, Andy put the effort in!" I flipped her off as I started shaking my hips, and waving my pointer finger around with my other hand on my hips. 

I twirled into Eddie's arms, suddenly my old ballet experience coming in handy. We shimmed over each other as we moved our hands and shook out hips, clapping to the music. We did some spins and pointed around our audience. I started getting into the music, as I remembered more of the routine. "Yes, Andy!" I think it was Luke who yelled at me. By the end of the song, I was red in the face, worn out from our intense dancing. I'm sure Calum found this very funny since he looked like he was holding back a laugh. I almost forgot the real reason why I came here.

"Hey, uh, Ash... can we talk... outside?" Everyone looked at me weirdly as Ashton nodded and followed me upstairs then out the sliding glass door. "What's up, Andy?" I looked at the ground, unsure of what to say. "I grew up well off, and I've always felt guilty for it. When I bought my first car, I saved up for it myself. When I bought it, I felt free. And... I know that you really, really, want your licence and a car. And... I don't know what to say." I awkwardly chuckled to myself, while Ashton stood there confused. "Please, please don't take this whole thing the wrong way, I see you as one of my closest friends right now. And I'd do anything for my friends. So, I want you to have this." 

I hand him the $25,000 cheque from my bag. "Andy... I don't know what to say..." I looked him in the eye. "Please, just say you'll take it, and buy yourself a car? Please?" He looked back at the cheque, then at me. "So you weren't at the bank asking if the FBI had hacked your account." He laughs as I shake my head, a small smile on my face. "As much as i don't want to take your money, I know you want me to, and that's the only reason I'm taking this cheque for-" He looks at the cheque, reading the number. "Holy shit this is $25,000!" I nod my head and look at my shoes. "I hope you're a good driver, Irwin or all of that would be for no reason at all." He smirks and brings me into a hug. "Thank you, Andy. This means a lot to me." I nod into his shoulder. This went better than expected honestly.

I crawled into bed at about 10 pm, Eddie had gone to bed early after doing the dishes. "Hey, Eddie?" I waited a few seconds to see if she was awake still. She sat up and looked at me. "Yeah?" I didn't know how to tell her. Do I tell her about what Calum said, and how I'm 99.9% sure he has a crush on her, and will possibly ask her out? "Uh, I think Calum likes you." Her eyes widened as she looked at me, trying to detect a lie in my face. "How do you know?" I didn't know how to respond to this. Do I lie since I'm probably right? Yes. 

"He told me." On second thought, I really fucking regret that. "DID HE REALLY? ANDREA-LYNNE YOU BETTER NOT BE LYING TO ME?" We heard banging on both sides of the wall. "Du-te la culcare!" Vano yelled at us. "Shut up losers," Landon yelled at us from the other side. I rolled my eyes at both of these statements and focused back on Eddie. Now I had to either back out of my lie or follow through with it. "Yes, he did."

**Translations**

Du-te la culcare: Go to sleep