leave him // a.i {au}

22

flashback

Ashton found himself lying in Stevie's bed with her a few hours later. He had followed her up to her bedroom when she claimed the music was giving her a headache. He could tell Stevie was at least buzzed, maybe approaching a drunken state.

Now, they were just cuddling, Stevie's dress riding up her thighs. She shifted quickly so that her face was centimeters away from Ashton's. "Guess what?" she murmured, running a hand down his chest.

"Hmm?" he mused, moving his gaze from the ceiling to her blue eyes.

"I want you," she seductively said, moving to straddle his middle. Stevie moved her face towards Ashton. He was buzzed himself, so he wasn't thinking too clearly. The two sloppily kissed before Stevie inched her hand toward the button of his pants.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he separated his lips from hers and gently pushed her off of him.

"What are you doing?" Stevie slurred, not understanding why he was stopping her.

Ashton moved so that he was sitting with his back against the headboard of Stevie's bed instead of lying down. "Look," he sighed, trying to gather his thoughts in his clouded mind. "I love you, but I just don't think I'm ready."

"What guy doesn't want sex?" she crossed her arms over her chest. Ashton knew that she wasn't a virgin and sometimes it bothered him that she was more experienced, but he didn't want to do something he was going to regret.

"That's such a gender stereotype," he huffed. "And I just don't want our first time to be when we're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes, you are," he told her gently. "Now, please lie with me?"

"No," she shook her head. "I'm going to go find Leila and Calum. I'm mad at you." Stevie stumbled getting up from the bed and almost fell on her face. She recovered and walked slowly out of the room, leaving Ashton alone.

He couldn't help thinking that he screwed up, that he should have just had sex with her. He knew he would only regret it in the morning if he slept with her while she was intoxicated. He only hoped that when she sobered up, she would understand and this wouldn't change anything between them.

***

Ashton had fallen asleep soon after Stevie left and woke up an hour later around two a.m. He was groggy and had a headache coming on. He wandered back downstairs and the party was still in full swing. He searched for Stevie, but couldn't find her anywhere.

As he made his third lap around her large house, he found her but what he saw surprised him. She was standing up on the counter, dancing. People were standing around, cheering loudly. A few were video taping and Ashton just knew that the videos would get posted somewhere. He pushed through the crowd of mostly guys, so he was next to the counter.

"Ash! Come join me! Oh, wait. Don't because I'm mad at you and you're a prude." Her words were slurred, but Ashton could make out what she said and it made his cheeks begin to turn red. He felt everyone begin to stare at him before there was a collective burst of laughter. Taking one last look at his girlfriend, dancing and feeling herself up, he thought that he didn't know her at all. He walked away, feeling betrayed and angry that Stevie just told everyone that he wouldn't have sex and it was caught on tape.

Ashton went outside and the cool night air did nothing to calm the flame burning inside of him. Once he was almost home, he decided that he didn't want to be alone. It didn't register in his mind as he knocked on Luke's door that it was almost three in the morning.

"What do you want, mate?" Luke wiped his eyes. "You could've woken up mum." He was wearing boxers and an old t-shirt.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, understanding that something went wrong. He just didn't know how wrong until they were up in his room, Ashton relaying the events of the night. "Mate, that sucks," Luke shook his head.

"It's going to be all over facebook tomorrow and I'm never going to live this down," he said, flinging himself back on the bed.

"Hey, just sleep it off ok? You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch downstairs."

"You sure? I can take the couch."

"Nah. Mum will freak out if she walks into the living room and finds you. When she finds me, she'll be a little less freaked and think I fell asleep playing video games."

Ashton nodded. "Thanks. And sorry about breaking the deal about no talk of Stevie."

"It's fine. I thought about it after leaving the party and friends need to be there for each other. You can talk about her as long as she's not the only thing."

"Well, I'm not so sure I'll be talking about her anymore," he said sadly.

Luke smiled sadly, nodding. "See ya in the morning," he said even though it was nearing four a.m.

Once Luke left, Ashton stripped his shirt and skinny jeans and curled up in the duvet on Luke's bed. The only thing on his mind as he drifted off was how much Stevie hurt him.

hi, classes start tomorrow for me so i will try to update frequently, but if not that's why. please vote and comment. xx zoe