Here to Stay || Ashton Irwin (completed)

Chapter 30

"Are you okay?" Ashton asked his mom, kneeling down after the front door slammed. Luke and Michael were in the foyer ushering the rest of the people out of the house. Calum and I sat next to the chair which Anne was now resting in. 

At this point, I knew that Calum knew I was there. Though he couldn't see me, obviously, he continuously looked in my general direction as if he were going to say something but didn't know what. I wanted to confirm his assumption that yes I was next to him and that yes I did wish to comfort him however I could, but there was no way to convey the message much to my dismay. 

Anne nodded and wrapped Ashton up in her arms, an action that made my heart swell. The buzz of conversation around us began to dim and soon we were watching as the last of the people left through the front door. After pulling away from the hug with his mom, Ashton sank to her knees before her, resting his head in her lap. I could tell he was breathing hard and that the stand off between him and his father tested his energy and his limits. Anne put her hand on his shoulder and began to rub it gently, occasionally bending down to whisper things into Ashton's ear, in turn making him laugh. 

I smiled at the sight and looked around noticing Michael, Luke and Calum's identical smiles. 

"That was very brave of you Ashton," his mom smiled at him, wrapping him into yet another hug. 

Suddenly behind us all, someone cleared their throat. 

"We're happy for your recovery, Ashton," the band teacher at our high school said, clapping his hands together. He was the first to arrive at the house earlier in the afternoon and now would be the last to leave. Band had been the boys and Ashton's best class, figures and they had a special relationship with the teacher. In his younger years, he too had been in a high school garage bands with his buddies and they even went on to become hometown heroes, landing a spot on a talent reality show that had been sweeping through the DC area. Unfortunately, their season contained a lot of young male solo artists that so happened to grab the attention of young female fands and their climb to fame was short lived. However, they refused to waste the experience and continued to make and sell their music. After the band became too much of a side project, with the members all starting families and their lives, they agreed it was best if they split. And now each of them taught music around the city. "Now these three won't screw around in class anymore, they'll actually focus now that the oldest'll be back to keep them on track."

The four boys stared at their teacher for a moment of silence before breaking into hysterical laughter. 

"Good one," Calum laughed, doubling over onto the ground, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

Luke laughed so hard that he had to lean on Michael in order to not fall over, "Yeah Ashton keeping us-" But he was unable to finish, Michael took advantage of Luke's weakness and shrugged him off of his shoulder, causing Luke to fall to the carpet beneath him. 

Luke falling seemed to make the five boys in the room laugh even harder and even earned a small giggle from Anne and I. Michael's eyes began to tear half from the joke about Ashton being the mature one and half from Luke's collision with the floor and reached up to wipe a tear away from his left eye.

"You dick," Luke mumbled, standing away and making a show about stepping away from Michael to keep a safe distance.

The laughter died down and Ashton stood up, walking towards their teacher. "Thank you again for stopping by and staying as long as you did."

"The pleasure was all mine. To see one of my best students," Luke coughed, "Besides these guys, alive and well. Well it, it was good. I was really worried about you for a long time. We all were."

Ashton nodded and shook the man's hand, his smile growing, "I'll see you in class then."

"Yes, you will. Luke, Michael, Calum, I'll see you boys on Monday."

They saluted him and nodded, watching as he left into the night.

Anne suddenly clapped her hands, "Well. I don't know about you boys, but I'm feeling an order of pizza. All good?"

A collection of cheers and whoops erupted from the four of them and Anne hurried to make the phone call.

Suddenly Ashton took my hand, speaking to me for the first time in hours. I knew that he wouldn't be able to talk much what with the constant flow of people, but I didn't think that limited conversation would suck so badly. Being so close to someone and not being able to do anything was more difficult than I expected. "Come with me," he whispered, pressing his lips to just below my ear when the boys were looking the other way. 

He began to walk about of the room when Luke spoke up. "Ash? Where ya going?"

"To the bathroom," he shrugged back. 

"Sure you are," Calum winked, making a kissy face. Had Calum not done that, I would've believed Ashton to never have been so red in his life. 

Once we were alone in the bathroom all the way on the other side of the house, Ashton spoke. "Em, I'm so sorry that took so long," he whispered, his nose barely brushing mine. 

I smiled and shook my head, "It's fine. You were celebrating with people. I'd rather you do that with the people you haven't seen in months than steal all your attention."

He closed his eyes and smiled, bringing his lips to mine. I smiled and kissed him back, gentle at first but slowly becoming more and more urgent. 

"We can't," he began.

"I know," I replied, "But we can just," I kissed him really slowly, letting my hands trace through the short hair that had begun to grow back, "For a little while."

"I suppose we can."

- - - - - - - - 

a/n: double update. so right now i'm going to write the rest of this story and save it in my drafts and publish it either over the next few days or at whatever time interval i want. im doing this because

#1 im running out of where to go with this.

#2 i know exactly where i want this to go and i dont want to write chapters of bullshit fillers

#3 i just thought up a new fanfic idea and i cant start it until this is done and my luke fic is done

#4 this is ultimately over anyway

#5 i hate forcing you guys to wait and given the fact i only have 1 week exactly of break i want to write this and be done and not make you wait. 

so i hope you all enjoyed this and i hope you dont hate me with how i end this. ok i love you all. vote, comment, stay fab xoxox -em