rainfall | ashton irwin au | completed

fifteen

I had never woken up with another person beside me before. I certainly had never woken up with another person beside me whilst lying on damp grass next to a beautiful lake, with another teenage boy nudging my foot with his own. Not until today.

It felt like I was being dragged out of the warmth of my house and into a cold harsh winter when I opened my eyes and sat up, glaring up at Calum in annoyance. He was smirking at me, his eyes wandering to Ashton lying next to me. He didn't seem to have been affected by the boy towering in front of me.

"May we help you?" I questioned groggily, pushing my hair back from my face as Ashton began to stir.

"Not a morning person then?" Calum teased.

Ashton began to sit up, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. I found it so adorable that I had to look away in fear of my heart bursting into flames.  "What the hell is going on?" He mumbled. His voice was hoarse and heavy from a good night's sleep.

I raised an eyebrow to no one in particular, my fingers subconsciously running themselves over the blades of grass. I was nervous; last night had been the best night of my life simply because I had slept soundlessly next to Ashton, but I doubted that my good mood would last. We were still in danger, and I still could not fully trust Ashton, no matter how much I wanted to. Nothing good ever lasted in my life, and I strongly suspected that this time would not be any different.

"Calum here has been watching us sleep," I said before Calum could explain for himself.

Ashton rolled his eyes and stood up, extending his hand out to me. I took it and pulled myself up, our fingers lacing together automatically. "Creep."

I chuckled slightly as Calum scowled. "I actually came to make sure you were still alive. If you haven't forgotten, two psycho witches are still out to get us—or rather, you—so it's probably not the safest idea to sleep outside," he said.

"We appreciate your consideration," I retorted sarcastically as we began to make our way back to the house. "But we're perfectly fine, thank you." I inhaled as we stepped inside and noticed that the scent of cinnamon—or rather, the scent of Ashton—lingered lightly on my clothes. It was comforting.

"Lilah, Ashton, we wondered where you two had gotten to," Anna said chirpily as soon as we walked into the living room, clearly trying to make up for the  things that she had said last night. I was in no mood to hold a grudge, for once in my life. I wanted this moment to last as long as possible. I wanted to always hold Ashton's hand and smell like him and feel his gaze on me when he thought I wasn't looking.

The whole group was observing us, probably wondering how the hell one teenage boy was able to stop my bad attitude, or at least my frequent eye rolls. I would have loved to know the answer myself.

"We fell asleep outside," Ashton explained hesitantly. I was barely listening though, my gaze catching Leah's as she wiggled her eyebrows at me. I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks as I giggled quietly. She motioned to the kitchen as the others sat down and I followed her obediently.

"Tell me everything. Now," she ordered, her piercing blue eyes wide as I tried my best not to laugh. I had suddenly transformed into a stereotypical giggling teenager, but I didn't mind. I had wasted a lot of time brooding and pushing people away. One day of doing the complete opposite wouldn't hurt too much.

"We kissed." I could still feel the way his soft lips had brushed against mine, my stomach jittering as if it was happening all over again.

Leah let out a squeal and hugged me, and I wondered how she could still treat me so kindly after the amount of times I had pushed her away or acted rude towards her. I envied her compassion. "I'm so happy for you! I knew you and Ashton were meant to be!"