You're Not Just A Teenage Dream | C.H.

"Not so fast..."

After dinner with his family and some goodbyes, Ashton drove Dakota back to Sydney. He thought about the way his little sister and little brother immediately took to her easy going nature and smiled. Dakota looked at him from the corner of her eye and asked,

"What are you smiling about? I made a complete idiot out of myself at dinner!" He just laughed in response. "It's not funny! Me tripping over my own feet trying to get a glass of water is not my idea of funny!"

"But you were cool about it! You laughed along with everyone else!" Ashton managed to get out between chuckles.

"Yes, because I'm totally going to make it worse by making an ass out of myself after the fact! Besides, I don't think your mom likes me very much, especially after seeing that I was wearing your clothes. You're sure it's fine that I keep them until I get them washed?" She looked nervously at her shirt and then at the bag containing her dress.

"I've already told you it's fine, and Mum just doesn't like me to bring people home without telling her first, because she doesn't get time to tidy up or something like that, you know how mums are," he assured her.

"I suppose so. At least Lauren and Harry seemed to like me," Dakota said, looking out the window at the sunset. Ashton murmured his agreement, and then they slipped into silence, just listening to whatever the radio was playing. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was very comfortable for them both and it gave them a chance to relax for the first time since that afternoon.

Just after they pulled into the outskirts of Sydney, the radio started playing the 5 Seconds of Summer cover of "What I Like About You" and before Dakota could stop herself, she turned the radio up and started air-drumming and singing along like she was in the shower. The longer the song went, the bigger his grin got; she was singing the live version, including Luke and Calum's ab libs. When the final notes faded out and Dakota came back to reality, all she could do was smile sheepishly back at him. He could see the way her eyes twinkled and her smile wasn't out of embarrassment as much as disbelief. Before he could say anything, the DJ's voice came out of the speakers.

"And that was 5 Seconds of Summer with their newest single, 'What I Like About You'! Here's something else new in the world of 5sos: remember the mystery girl that was spotted at the airport with Calum Hood's jacket that set the Twitter sphere afire a few days ago? Well, we've had multiple sources tells us she was spotted with none other than Hood's best friend and bandmate, Ashton Irwin! I think I smell a love triangle in the making! We'll see what the future holds for these three! And now we have..." Ashton turned the radio off and pulled into the nearest car park. Dakota looked like she had just seen a ghost, and tears had started to well in her eyes.

"Hey, don't listen to what those guys say..." Ashton started, but Dakota just looked out the window again.

"That's kind of hard to do when there's pictures of me all over Twitter and fans saying, just, horrible things about me that are probably just going to get worse now." Her voice cracked and silent tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Well, I don't have to take you back right now, we could..."

"No. I just want to be alone right now. I would appreciate it if you drop me off like a block away from my building so no one else sees us." Dakota said flatly. Ashton realized there was no use trying to convince her of anything else, so he just started the car back up and got back on the road. In just a few short minutes, he stopped the car again.

"Here we are. I'm sorry about the radio, it's my fault, and I made everyone suspicious when I made you run with me. I'm sorry." He looked at her apologetically. Her eyes softened when she saw that he was genuinely sorry.