Beside You - Ashton Irwin

18

To think I had been here for not even a week yet made me rethink the time and space continuum. With all the drama that had happened this week, I was going insane. It was Saturday morning, I peered out the window, it was still dark outside. Eddie was still fast asleep, she deserved to sleep well honestly, she had been told that her crush liked her back and wanted to date her, then her heart had been broken in half in less than 48 hours. And it was all my fault, well partially Calums fault because of the mixed signals he was giving Eddie, but still, it was 98% my fault. I crawled back into my bed and opened up my phone. I hadn't been on my phone nearly as much as I usually would have. Maybe that's because my 'friends' back home rarely text me anymore. 

I do miss having that kind of 'connection' with them, such as, going shopping after school, planning our futures that usually weren't intertwined with me at all, but I ignored that. Looking back at it now, I wish we did things we would regret in the morning, things that weren't getting wasted at parties, well with them getting wasted and me, babysitting them for the rest of the night. I wish we snuck out of home to go look at the stars, I wish we got to go to my beach house in the hamptons to explore and play around instead of posing for pictures on the beach and only being friends with me because of how rich I was. I wish I had made friends with different people in middle school. It would have saved me so much mental pain that I decided to stuff deep inside of me for it all to erupt later. I could have been happier.

I looked around the empty beach that my feet had guided me to. I lay down and stared at the sky, a faint sunrise beginning across the horizon. There were small clouds that scattered the morning sky, I could make out one that looked like a mushroom, and another that looked like a hippopotamus. There was a cool breeze that brushed over my still body, the smell of salt and sand flooded the air. I began to move my toes around in the sand, digging them down then flicking the sand into the air. "Bit early to be lying on the beach, Pentworth?" I looked up to see Ashton towering over me. "Good Morning to you too, Irwin." I turned back to look at the ocean, an idea springing into my mind. 

"Do you think the water would be really cold?" He looked down confusingly at me. "Maybe? Why?" My lips turned into a small grin, "I guess we'll have to go in to find out?" I looked at Ashton's face, his lips had a ghost of a smile, as if he was contemplating swimming with me. Suddenly he started to grin as he pulled off his shirt, thankfully keeping his shorts on. I pulled off my pajama pants so I was only wearing bike shorts and a bra under my tank top. Ashton grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the water, but I suddenly stopped. "What if it's really, really cold?" He blinked at me then started to laugh. "Oi, I'm being serious!" I tried not to laugh with him, and he noticed that I wasn't serious. 

"Well... then you can grab onto me." He looked back to the water as he stepped forward, his feet now buried underwater. "Is it cold?" He shook his head, so I breathed out and stepped in. "You are such a liar, Irwin!" He giggled and started walking in deeper, his hand was still in mine so I had no choice but to follow him in deeper. The water was soon up to our chests, little bits of seaweed floating around us, I had never been a fan of seaweed, it scared the shit out of me because you never knew what was hiding in the seaweed. "Andy, there's a clear spot over there," 

He pointed to a patch of lighter water. "But we have to swim over that seaweed over there." I stop instantly. The seaweed was quite close to the top of the water, I could just imagine the seaweed touching my body, the disgusting slimy stuff making me start to shake. Who knew what was even hiding in the seaweed?! "You ok, Andy?" I shook my head. "I hate seaweed." He was silent, trying to process my weird fear. "Why aren't you laughing?" I looked down at me, "Why would I laugh?" He seemed genuinely confused. "Oh, my friends used to laugh at me for it." I looked at the water. "You're just scared of it, everyone is scared of something. You're 'friends' don't sound like real friends if they laughed at you for being scared of something." I nod as I look up at him. "I just wish that I had realised that earlier."

The sky was beginning to brighten as we started to swim over the seaweed to the clear water. Ashton held my hand the entire time. I did my best not to scream when something brushed against my leg. Still shaking, we reached the clear water, maybe 20 meters from the beach. I started to float on top of the water and peered over at Ashton who was looking at me. "What are you staring at?" I whispered to him, "You." He said back. I felt a little bit of air leave my lungs as I felt butterflies in my stomach at his words. "Oh." Was all I could get out. God fucking damn it. "What are you doing today?" 

I continued to look up at him. "Not sure. Why?" I looked back at the sky as I paused, wondering what to say next. "Do you want to do something together today?" I looked back at him as he opened his mouth to speak. "Yeah... I'd really like that, Andy." I gave him a smile as I put my feel back on the sandy ground of the ocean. "We should go back in, people are probably awake." He nodded as he grabbed my hand so we could swim over the seaweed. "Why were you out this early anyways?" He looked back at the water as he answered. "I told you, I like to go for walks. I... I just had to get away from my house today." I decided not to press on, hoping that he would eventually tell me what was going on in his head. Deep down, I was hoping that he would open up and trust me, but I knew it would take a while.

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Hi guys!

So all 18 chapters were written quite a few months ago, and recently I've had a lot of stress from school work and just everything to do with online school. I'll attempt to update in the next few weeks, but make sure you leave comments if you're enjoying my book. Even though I've done intense editing, there will be some mistakes that slip through, and I ask that if you point out these mistakes you do it nicely!!! I love reading all feedback and constructive criticism so keep it coming!

Ps. If you understand the picture at the top and who it represents, props to u!

Love you all. xx