Painting Flowers // Ashton Irwin [au]

Thirteen

Ashton's POV

I haven't felt so...light in so long. Forgetting about Jared is seriously doing me good. Although, I think Emmie is having the greatest effect by forgetting. The lingering miniscule piece of Jared has been lifted from our shoulders and we couldn't be happier. We don't talk about what happened. It's nothing more than a distant memory. And honestly, thank God.

I spent the rest weekend watching DVDs with Emmie. She wanted to study the entire time but I refused to, so we agreed to watch movies nonstop and then study Sunday evening; however, there was little studying being done because Emmie was too consumed in finishing watching the Harry Potter series. Not that I minded or anything. It was nice to see her relax for once. With school, work, the wedding, and our final encounter with Jared, she needed it.

The only downfall to our weekend was when I told Luke everything that happened. He wasn't too thrilled to find out that I had left her alone for a portion of our visit and smacked the back of my head for doing so. If it weren't for everyone being asleep, I'm pretty sure he would have yelled at me, but luckily I had that in my favor.

Little by little, I'm getting over Luke's protectiveness only because he has been keeping his distance from Emmie. I won't say that I'm one hundred percent okay with everything but at least I don't have to urge to rip out his eyes every time he looks at her. I'd say that's progress.

Even though the weekend was nice, this week has been nothing but stressful. Most of my classes were cancelled so that students can help get everything set up for what was supposed to only be an auction but somehow turned into an art festival tomorrow. I haven't had any time to sketch or do anything remotely for myself since Ms. Waters has me at her every beck and call. I feel like her personal assistant, but the only downfall is that I'm not getting paid. Thankfully, Emmie has done a great job keeping me sane in the midst of all the chaos that comes with this auction. I haven't seen her most of the week, but the cute text messages that she sends to check up on me is enough to keep pushing through all of Ms. Waters' demands.

"Ashton!" Speak of the devil. Ms. Waters ambles over to me with frazzled hair and an expression that can only be described as 'I haven't slept in four days and have reached a point where I don't give a damn what you think about my appearance.' "I need you to make a hundred copies of this," she says, shoving a piece of paper against my chest.

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's my grocery list," she sarcastically replies, a hint of irritation in her tone. "It's a flyer for the art festival. I need you to make copies and post them on the bulletin boards around campus. And when you're done with that, I need for you to help move the rest of the artwork to the gallery."

"Okay."

"Like now," she urges, shooing me away.

Now is not the time to sass her, so I do as she says and head to the library. With my luck, Emmie should still be working. In all my times of going to the library, I don't think I've ever gone there for help with something. This should be fun.

Walking through the sliding glass doors, I make my way over to the front desk where a certain brunette has her back turned to me. I rest my arms against the desk and tap my fingers against the wood, trying to gain her attention. When that doesn't work, I clear my throat loudly and she whips her head around.

I must be going crazy because after a couple days of not seeing her she became ten times more beautiful than she already is. I am so whipped, but can you blame me?

"Hey," Emmie says with a welcoming smile.

"Hi there," I say, winking.

"I'm surprised you didn't just sneak up on me like you normally do."