I Need You || a.i. (EDITING) [On Hold]

Chapter 19

The sun from the window woke me up. Stretching my arms above my head, I rolled over under the blanket and tried to keep warm. My eyes opened up only to find that I wasn't at home.

I shot up in bed and looked around. I was in Ashton's house. Thankfully, I kind of remembered coming back here with him last night. We were supposed to have our talk.

But where was Ashton?

I looked over at the spot next to me, but the bed seemed unbothered and he wasn't in the room at all. I was still wearing my clothes from last night, but my shoes were placed neatly by the bed. Had Ashton done that?

Getting out of the bed, I adjusted myself and creeped out of the bedroom. The hum of the TV could be heard and something smelt good. I hadn't been through all of his place, but I had a basic idea of where things were. I headed toward the kitchen.

Ashton stood at the counter, stirred something, and sang along to what I recognized to be a Neighborhood song. He didn't seem to hear me or notice my prescence. I couldn't help but smile. He seemed so carefree. He sang and smiled to himself. The sweatpants rested low on his hips and you could see his muscles flex everytime he shifted. I loved watching him, but I couldn't help but feel creepy at the same time.

I shifted my weight to my other leg and the floor creaked. Ashton turned around and yelled, dropping the bowl he had in his hands to the floor, and scattering a mess everywhere and sending the glass shards all over the floor.

"Shit, Lauren! Stay back, I don't want you to cut your feet."

I couldn't help but blush. Ashton grabbed the broom from the corner and sweeped the glass away and got rid of it. We both dropped to the floor and I tried to help him clean up the messy batter that stuck to the wood floor.

"When did you come in here anyways."

"Not long. I'm sorry."

He looked up to meet my eyes and shook his head.

"Don't be, it's okay. You just scared me."

"I scared you," I laughed.

"Yes. You're bloody terrifying."

I rolled my eyes as we both got up from the floor.

"It smells good in here. What are you making?"

Ashton dried his hands on his pants after he turned the faucet off and looked over at the counter.

"Well, I was trying to make pancakes. I figured you might be hungry when you woke up."

The idea warmed my heart, but I was overtaken by the guilt of ruining it all.

"Sorry I ruined breakfast..." I said as I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter. I couldn't meet his eyes right now. Without a shirt on, I could see every defining line in his chest and it was definitely overwhelmed.

"Like I said, don't be... We could try and make another batch, if you'd like...?" He scratched the back of his neck.

"That sounds nice, but I can't replace your bowl."

He grabbed my wrists and stood in front of me. I could feel his breath hit my face.

"It's just a bowl. It didn't mean anything to me."

I nodded and looked down.

"However, if we are going to cook, we need to get you some different clothes. I would've given you some last night, but you were too tired. Here, come with me."

I followed him back to his room. He opened up a drawer and tossed over a tshirt and some sweatpants. They weren't even near my face and I could already smell Ashton on them. He stood there and looked at me.

"Are you just going to watch me strip for you?" I laughed as I reached for the zipper.

His face instantly went bright red and he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"Sorry..." He headed for the door.

"Actually, I need your help really quick!" I yelled before he was gone.

"Yeah?" He said as he popped his head back into the room.

"Can you help me unzip? I can't quite reach it." I dropped my hand out of frustration and let him approach me. He pushed my hair over my shoulder.

"I can't think of a time I've unzipped a girl's dress without having sex with her afterwards-" He mumbled, but quickly shut himself up. I probably stiffened a bit under his hands. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to bring that up. I wasn't thinking-"

"-It's fine. Thanks for the help."

He left the room and I was alone again. I dropped the dress and tights and pulled on his clothes. They smelled exactly like him, and the shirt had a few holes in it, but that didn't bother me at all. This was probably the most comfortable thing I've ever worn, but that might be an exageration...

I left my clothes in a folded pile by my shoes and rejoined Ashton in the kitchen. When I entered, he hung up his phone and set it down.

"Who was that?" I asked as I brushed a strand of hair back behind my ear.

"Nobody."

That answer only made me more curious, but I wasn't about to pester him about it. For all I knew, it could have been Kate, but I didn't want to think about her right now. Ashton had set out everything we needed.

"I figured we could talk and bake at the same time. I owe you an answer to last night's question anyways."

I'd almost forgotten about it, but it was nice that he remembered and was actually going to answer me.

"I guess we could get started now then."



Ashton's POV:

My phone was ringing again. Shit. I didn't need this right now. I hit ignore and turned it over again, hoping Lauren wasn't suspicious of anything, though that was highly unlikely at this point. She seemed to make a big fucking deal about everything, but she still drove me crazy.

I wanted to just wrap my arms around her waist and dig my nose into the crook of her neck. This conversation probably wouldn't end well, but I wanted her to know me, to like me, for the real me. For her, I wanted to be straight up, as best as I could. She seemed worth it, but then again, I'd only known her how long?

Watching her rinse her hands under the water, I couldn't help but think about things with Kate. No, I didn't need to be thinking about her. It wasn't anything good anyways...

Lauren turned and smiled as she dried her hands off.

"Alright! I'm ready to go!"

Her lips curled into a smile and I walked over and pulled out a bowl to get started. We measured the correct amount of ingredients into the bowl and I stood behind her, guiding the spoon in her hand with my own. She crooked her neck to look up at me and pecked my cheek quickly. Fuck.

"You want to start talking, or are we going to make a five course dinner first?" She laughed, dusting flour off her dainty hands.

I'm sure my cheeks flushed a crimson red. I'd been watching her instead of thinking about her question.

This was my chance to show her I wanted to be honest with her. If she wanted to know the answer, she must have a specific response in mind. This entire question thing was a fucking mind game and not one of my better ideas, but I had to finish what I started.

"Okay then. Ask me again?"

Her eyes were wide and dilated. She looked like she was almost scared of me which was upsetting. All I wanted to do was bring her into my lap, run my fingers through her hair, and whisper shitty sweet nothings in her ear; anything that would give me the feeling of being someone better than I am.

"Do you believe in love?" She nearly whispered.

I turned the stove on and set the pan on it. 

"No, I don't."

When I looked over at her, it was like I had stabbed her in the gut. She looked so hurt by words and I didn't know why.

"Why not?" She said and she took a step to the side. I grabbed the batter we had stirred up together and poured the first amount onto the sizzling pan.

"I just don't. People fool themselves into thinking it exists and it doesnt."

I flipped the pancake over and looked over at Lauren out of the corner of my eye. Her eyebrows furrowed together and she crossed her arms across her chest. She looked great in my clothes.

"What made you stop believing in love?"

My phone started ringing again. Shit, why couldn't she just stop calling me already? Lauren noticed as I turned it off again, ignoring it completely.

"What makes you think I ever believed in it?"

"I don't know," she said as she leaned on the counter, "I feel like everyone is just...born believing in it or something. Did something make you stop believing?"

"I'm pretty sure that's another question. I told you three, and I answered all of them."

She looked annoyed, and I wanted to kiss the stress lines on her forehead away already. The phone rang again, along with the alert of several text messages.

"Who the fuck keeps calling you? Just answer them already." Lauren rolled her eyes and walked out of the kitchen. I threw the phone onto the counter and ran my fingers back through my hair.

I didn't want her to be upset with me. The reason I did any of this was for her. I wanted her to get to know me and like me for being me. I didn't want her listening to the other guys. There were things about me that they didn't even know.

I decided to finish making the pancakes for her. She was probably hungry, and I'm sure fueling her energy was definitely the right thing to do... I got her a plate and walked into the living room to find her. She walked out of my bedroom wearing her clothes from last night and stopped when she caught my eye.

"You're leaving?" I asked, trying not to stutter my words. I didn't want her to leave yet. I'd answer every last question of her's if it meant she would stay ten more minutes.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay any longer. I'm sure my family is wondering where I am..."

"I texted them for you thing morning from your phone."

"You did what?" She snapped.

"I told them you were hanging out with a friend and would be home later today. I don't want you to leave yet, Lauren."

She was trying so hard to put up a wall between us, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I walked over to her with that plate.

"Just stay and eat. That's it."

I sounded so desperate right now. Fuck, what was this girl doing to me?

"No, I really need to go now. Thank you though." 

There was a knock on the door. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Please not right now. Please tell me she didn't come here right now.

I crossed over to the door and opened it up, Lauren staying close behind me. 

Of fucking course.

"Oh Ashton- Am I interupting something? You weren't answering my phone calls or text messages," she said.

"Yeah, I was ignoring them."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"That's no way to treat the woman who raised you."

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Hiiiiii again. Hope you liked this update! Sorry about the little cliffhanger there. I'm on Thanksgiving break now, so I'll have some more time to update. I want to focus a little on my Harry story 'Homecoming' a bit. I'm probably going to start over on that one and fix it up! Check it out?

Thanks for staying with me and supporting this story! It means a lot. Please continue to comment and vote! Seeing those always makes me want to update sooner! And thank you for almost 6K reads!!!!! Thats incredible! I love y'all! Thank you!