Painting Flowers // Ashton Irwin [au]

Thirty-nine

Emilia's POV

Saying goodbye to Ashton's family is hard. I'll miss Anne's mesmerizing voice, Harry's exuberance, and Lauren's 'gives-no-shit' attitude (which I've grown quite fond of). I love the dynamics of his family and how it's so much different than what mine was. They show love in their own way, and to be on the receiving end of that love is so rewarding to me.

Luke's, Calum's, and Michael's families are depressed to see their sons leave them once again. Even though they don't have to stay in America anymore, they choose to remain because they each feel as though they have something or someone there for them. Ashton has me. Calum has Julia. Michael has Lola. Luke...he has his own reasons to stay with us. I'm thankful that he is because you only have the privilege of meeting a friend like Luke once, and neither of us want to be denied of our friendship.

Anne wipes the stray tears that have fallen down her cheek after holding her eldest son for an extended amount of time. She turns to me and I feel safe when she wraps her arms around me. "Take care of Ashton for me," she says in my mother's voice. I'm going to miss hearing it in person.

"I'll do my best."

She cups both of my cheeks with her hands and smiles in a way that makes me believe she knows what the future holds for me. When she lets go, I join my friends at the gate and we wave a final goodbye before boarding the plane.

__

The bumpy landing is more than enough to jolt us awake and question the pilot's flight training. All passengers file out of the plane—tired and sluggish—and reunite with their friends and family who are waiting for them in the terminal. And once again, Nolan has left us without a trace.

Lola frantically waves her hand in the air, as if her copper hair doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of blonds and brunettes. She leaps into Michael's arms when he's within distance, and I think I smile at them but I'm too tired to feel my muscles move.

"I am definitely not going to class tomorrow," Luke says, yawning. "What kind of idiots would take a nineteen-hour flight back home the day before school? Oh, that's right. Us."

"I'm thinking about extending my spring break by one more day too," Calum says. "Who needs a perfect GPA anyway?"

Julia stretches out her arms and leans against Calum for support. "At least you guys don't have to work at the crack ass of dawn tomorrow. Mornings at IHOP are the worst."

I want to complain with them, but instead, I say the only thing that I care about right now: "I'm just happy to be home."

"We got here much later than we were supposed to, but it's still so early." Ashton says. He doesn't look as tired as the rest of us; he slept through the entire flight. Nothing woke him up, not even when I elbowed him in the stomach when I was opening a bag of chips that the flight attendant brought me.

I pull out my phone and check the time. "It's only three. How the hell am I supposed to stay awake for another 8 hours?"

"Determination?" Calum suggests, and I have the urge to flip him off. So I do.

The buzzer for the baggage carousel rings and we congregate around it. Bags begin to spill out and people begin to dive for them like birds snagging pieces of bread that are being thrown at them by an elderly lady at a park.

Behind me, I hear someone call my name, loud enough only for my ears. Nolan stands a few feet away with his luggage by his feet and I wonder how he manages to be so stealthy. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" he asks.