The next morning at the bus stop I decided that I was going to attempt to crack open this Ashton Irwin guy. He stood in his normal spot, leaned up against the side of the stop sign. He looked amazing, captivating even. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as I crossed the street, admiring the way he could just stand there and look so breathtaking.
I approached him and he gave me a small nod, acknowledging my presence. I drew in a nervous breath, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do.
"Alright, Irwin. I had a few questions for you." I dropped my backpack at my feet, it being too heavy for me to stand there with it on my back while I waited.
"Ah, so you finally figured out my name. It took you long enough." Ashton chuckled.
"I really didn't care until just recently." I said, trying to cover up how stupid of me it was not to ask anyone about it sooner. I picked at the lace hem of my blouse, hoping that Ashton wouldn't ask any questions.
"So, what are these questions you have for me?" Ashton pushed his hair off of his forehead, the curly strands entangling themselves in his fingers.
"Where do you even live? I've literally never seen you before." I asked him. I was standing in front of him on my tip toes, trying to get as close as I could to him. I felt that maybe if I was closer it would put more pressure on him, forcing him to answer truthfully.
"Down the street from you, that little house on the corner." He answered, his eyes still hidden behind the sunglasses.
"How do you know who I am?" I questioned. Ashton took a step back, clearly getting a little uncomfortable with how close I was inching towards him.
"Everyone does. You're one of the most popular girls in the school." He shrugged. He then pulled out another cigarette from his pocket and cupped his hands around the long white stick to light it, taking a long drag of it before he exhaled out more smoke, this time having the decency to turn away from me.
I pulled out my phone as he did so; 7:15. The bus was late once again.
"How do you know so much about my parents?" I asked.
"Richest couple in town. It's hard not to overhear people talking about them wherever I go." Ashton shrugged. He held the cigarette in between his fingers and waved it around, causing the smoke to fly around his head as he spoke.
"Why do you care?" I smirked. I felt that I had really stumped him with this one, of course he wouldn't want to admit to caring about anything that had to do with me.
He held out the cigarette, offering it to me. He didn't use any words, no convincing me to "just try it once". He simply held it out, like he was expecting that I would take it from him; and I did. I hesitantly took it from his hands, his fingers delicately brushing up against mine. I took a quick puff of it and then took it away from my lips, trying not to cough too much. Once I got past the feeling of my throat closing I realized how calming that had felt, soothing almost.
Ashton shook his head. "I don't, Murphy."
"Clearly you do, Irwin. Otherwise you wouldn't feel the need to tell me little facts about myself every chance you get." I passed the cigarette back to Ashton and he took it in his mouth again, breathing in the smoke.
"Do you have any other questions for me, Murphy? Or are we done with this little game of yours?" Ashton asked.
"Why do you have to be so rude?" I groaned. My goal here was to get Ashton to open up to me a little more and so far I was getting no where with him.
"Okay, so you're trying to ask questions about me, right? To get to know me? Because I guess you have some crazy idea that us being on the same bus stop is going to magically make us become friends, don't you? Well so far you've only really asked about yourself and how I know you, nothing about me." Ashton passed his cigarette back to me and let me take a puff before he smashed it against the ground. "This just further proves that you only care about yourself, Murphy."
"Well then, Irwin. What's your favorite color? Do you play any sports? In any clubs? What colleges are you considering going to? What do you like to do on the weekends?" I rambled off the first few questions that came to mind, which incidentally were questions that I was always asked at my parents dinner parties.
Ashton brought his thick black sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, allowing me to finally see his wonderful hazel eyes. He scoffed, "I am not answering any of those."
"What is wrong with you?" I threw my hands up in frustration, from the fact that the bus was five minutes late and that Ashton was being so difficult. I was well aware that he had experienced some tragedy in his life and wasn't too keen on opening up to me, but he could at least make an effort. I was probably the first person that has tried to talk to him all year and all he wanted to do was shut me out.
"Oh, sorry. You wanted me to answer all of those questions? Well get used to not getting what you want, brat." Ashton smirked.
"I just wanted to get to know you." I shrugged, stepping back from him innocently.
I considering dropping the bomb just then, telling him that I knew about what happened with him and his girlfriend last summer. I could easily retaliate with all of the information I'd collected about Ashton in the past day or so. I desperately wanted to see the look on his face when he found out that I knew one of his many secrets, but I decided against it. I wasn't that mean.
"Well I don't want you to get to know me, so I suggest you stop trying so hard." Ashton kicked the ground where he had just put out the cigarette, crumbling it up even more than it already was.
"Where's the bus?" I muttered, standing on my toes again to look down the street.
"You think I know?" Ashton turned to me, his sunglasses back on his face.
"I wasn't talking to you!" I shouted, stomping my foot on the ground. I was beyond frustrated with Ashton now.
"Why did you say anything if you didn't want me to answer?" Ashton smiled. He used his elbow to prop himself up against the stop sign, looking me up and down as he did so.
"It was rhetorical." I rolled my eyes.
After five more minutes of waiting the bus finally showed up. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that I was still going to be able to make it to school in time. I picked up my bag off the ground and followed Ashton up the steps if the bus as it waited or us to load ourselves on. It was always like that, with Ashton walking up first and me following closely behind.
"Black." Ashton turned around, his sunglasses still on even though there wasn't nearly enough sunlight coming in through the bus windows for him to need them.
"What?" I stopped walking and looked up at him.
"My favorite color is black."
-
I'm so excited for the next few chapters you have nooo idea!
The chapters will get longer, I promise.
And by the way, Luke isn't a murderer :-) he's a big goofball that got a girlfriend by serenading her. So don't worry, Luke's not going to kill anyone.
