7 Minutes In Heaven // Lashton

Chapter 4

Dedicated to __mami__ because you're sweet and I love your comments!

Clare's son looks like Niall, so yeah. That's why there's a beautiful picture of Ashy and Niall :)

Ashton walked downstairs after an hour so of letting himself cool down. He wasn't really wanting to talk to Clare about it because he didn't want to get so worked up again. She wasn't going to pressure him into it, but she was going to worry about it and be all sympathetic until he would say. His siblings were sitting in the living room, Lauren on her iPad and Harry playing Grand Theft Auto on the xBox.

"Lauren, where's Clare?" Ashton asked his little sister, his voice hoarse.

"She's making dinner," Lauren responded with a small smile.

Ashton made his way into the kitchen, his aunt standing at the counter with her back to him. She had her phone playing music quietly in the background as she made a salad for part of their dinner. He didn't know how to approach her without scaring her and he didn't really want her scared when she had a knife in her hands.

Luckily, she turned around to get something else and she saw Ashton standing there. "Jesus, Ashton. You scared me."

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Is everything okay now?" she asked, grabbing the ranch dressing.

"Yeah, I guess," he lied. It wasn't fine at all. He was still bitter about the whole subject.

"Well, I have a little news that will make your day a little less shitty then. If you want to know that is," Clare said, going to the oven and pulled out what looked to be chicken breast.

"Yeah, sure. Anything could make this day better," Ashton told her.

"Your mum is going to be getting home in a little bit and we're going to have dinner together," Clare started.

"What's the occasion?" he scoffed, shocked that they would all be eating dinner together for once.

"You didn't let me finish," she said, a small smile on her face. "James is coming home from Uni and I invited him to dinner."

Ashton's eyes lit up. He hadn't seen his cousin James in what felt like forever. James was literally his best friend since he could remember and seeing him after having a rather shitty day was like giving a homeless kid a puppy.

"Are you serious? When is he coming?" Ashton asked, acting like a little kid on Christmas.

"He's coming in a little bit. He's so excited to see you that he begged to stay for the weekend," Clare said with a smile on her face. Ashton had the biggest smile on his face. "I can see that I just made your day."

"Hell yes you did. That was probably the best news I've heard all day," he said, trying his hardest not to start jumping up and down like a child.

Ashton didn't know what to do. He was so excited to see James. He could bring him to the party tomorrow night, show him off to his friends and everyone else. He was going to be able to finally introduce Sie-

That's when his smile fell.

He remembered how he had told Sierra about James and how he thought of his cousin as his best friend and practically his brother. She had said that the next time he came home from Uni, she wanted to meet her boyfriend's true best friend. And he had also always talked and bragged about her to James when they would text or Skype. He wanted to be the protective big brother and meet the girl who stole his heart. Now two of the most important people in his life would never meet each other because one of them just up and left him.