Painting Flowers // Ashton Irwin [au]

Nine

Emilia's POV

I shove a spoonful of strawberry ice cream into my mouth while flipping through my philosophy notes. I've had two bowls of ice cream already and after getting tired of going back and forth into the kitchen to get more, I decided to take the entire container to my room for my own enjoyment and because of that I'm now halfway finished with the gallon.  

Breaking me out of my study session, my phone begins to go off and Luke's name pops up on the screen. Already knowing why he's calling, I skip the greeting and get straight to the point when I answer the call. "How's he doing?" I ask.  

"Well, when he walked inside the house he cussed us all out and just a few minutes ago he threw his phone down the stairs," Luke answers, sounding relatively calm. "I'm no expert but I'm guessing something happened between you two."

"Well, you're not wrong," I say, sighing and crisscrossing my legs. I'm glad that Ashton isn't resorting to drinking or anything. I'd rather have him throw a thousand phones down the stairs than pick up a bottle of liquor and down it like water like he has done before.  

"What did he do?" Luke asks.   

"He said some things."

He scoffs. "Of course he did. What did he say?"

I press my lips into a thin line, remembering Ashton's words being thrown at me like bricks. All you had to do was stop drinking. You had a choice. Even though it hasn't been that long since he left, I can still hear his words echo loudly around me.

"I don't want to say it," I finally answer.

Luke sighs. "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm pissed at Ashton but other than that I'm okay. Julia and I went to get ice cream and that seemed to help cheer me up a bit," I say, scooping more ice cream onto my spoon.  

"You guys didn't break up, did you?"  

I nearly choke on the ice cream after hearing his question. "No," I assure, shaking my head furiously even though he can't see me. "What makes you think that?"

"You went to get ice cream. Isn't that what girls do when they're sad or go through a break up?"

"I got ice cream because I wanted ice cream," I simply reply.

His soft yet low chuckle echoes in my ear. "I should have figured you'd say something like that."

"You know me," I sing, smiling momentarily before letting it fall. "Can you keep an eye on Ashton for me? I don't want to talk to him, but I do still want to make sure he's okay."

 "Okay, I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Thank you, Luke."

"I'm always here for you, Emmie."

Luke tells me to not eat the entire container of ice cream in one sitting before hanging up. Too bad he didn't tell me sooner because I'm already halfway finished.

I glance up from my notes when I hear a light knock on my already opened door. Julia stands in the doorway with her keys in one hand and her jacket dangles off her arm.

"Hey Em, I'm going to go see Calum for a bit, are you going to be alright by yourself?" she asks.

"I have two gallons of ice cream; I'll be fine," I say, waving my spoon around.

"Alright, I won't be long. Is there anything you want me to tell Ashton while I'm there?"

Without thinking twice I shake my head.