Australia - An Ashton Irwin fanfic

Chapter 5

I took a deep breath and explained. "I explained our little encounter to my friend yesterday and he said that this was my one chance to get close with someone...."

"Your one chance? What the hell does that mean?" He laughed a little. I looked out of the window, kind of embarrassed to answer but when he stopped laughing, I assumed he understood what this was leading to. "You've never been with someone before? Not even a date or second grade kiss?" He was completely shocked.

"Nope, never," I spoke quietly, watching the streets whip by as he drove. 

"Well I'm honored to be the first." I could hear the smile in his voice, which caused me to smile to and of course, blush.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Now, that's a surprise babe. Open the compartment there and there's a blindfold."

I looked at him with a weirded-out look saying "What the hell?" 

"I swear to God this isn't some sort of creepy rape thing," he laughed and threw his hands up in a surrender gesture, his foot still on the accelerator.

"Hands on the wheel!" I laughed to cover my panic but ended up laughing for real for his rebelliousness was attractive in a way.

He looked at me and grinned and rested his hands on his lap, still driving. He was teasing me while also scaring the hell out of me. After a few more seconds of that, he finally put his hands back on the wheel and laughed hysterically. I laughed too, unaware I'd been holding my breath that whole time so it felt good to laugh. 

When we calmed down, he took a left at an intersection. "Okay, put the blindfold on now," he smiled.

"You promise you're not going to drug and kidnap me?" I teased, causing him to smile wide.

"I'll try to contain myself," he laughed. I reached down and opened the glove compartment to pull out an already folded bandanna and tied it around my head. 

"Is this necessary? Because people are going to be driving by and thinking you're some psychotic weirdo going all Fifty Shades of Grey on me," I smiled. The idea of this was making my heart race; it was an exhilarating feeling.

"Well then they can suck it because I am a psychotic weirdo but not one like Christian Grey," he laughed.

He slowed the car to a stop and got out. "Wait here," he said I could tell with a smile. He was making this out to be so mysterious and strangely enough, I liked it.

I only had to wait maybe a minute for him to open up my carside's door. He took my hand, which I had been gripping on for dear life. Why was I so nervous? We were only going to talk during this whole thing, right?

He led me out of the car and my feet landed on a curb but as I took another step, I was walking on grass.

"When can I take the blindfold off?" I asked as we took a few steps forward.

"Just another minute," he whispered in my ear as he held on to my waist for we made our way down a steep hill. When we reached the bottom, he pulled the bandanna off. The sudden view of light blinded me but after a second my eyes adjusted and focused in on the blanket laid on the bed of grass under a willow tree by the bay. A picnic basket by its side and a few fake, electric candles on each corner, holding it down. It was completely stunning: something every girl would want their boyfriend to do. The problem was, Ashton wasn't my boyfriend. He was just a kid I sat next to in Creative Writing who I had only known for less than forty-eight hours. I tried to think of what Caleb would tell me if he were here. He probably would have told me to stop over-thinking and enjoy the night. That what Ashton was doing is sweet and romantic and that I should just accept it, so I did. 

There was a movement that caught my eye on my right. I looked over to see three guys running up the hill, one with purple/pink hair, another with blond hair, and one with very dark brown hair. I recognized two of them from yesterday when bumped into Purple Haired boy.

Ashton was laughing as he watched them. I looked up at him and smiled. "You did this?" 

"Well not me technically, but it was my idea and I told them what to do," he smiled, hand still in mine and walked me to the blanket. We sat down on the blue and white plaid blanket, making ourselves comfortable. He sat cross-legged across from me and reached for the picnic basket by his side. He pulled out two glass Tupperware filled with food and handed one to me. 

"During the interview yesterday you said you liked fettuccine Alfredo. We're family friends with one of of cooks at the Olive Garden so I placed in a few orders to go," he smiled. I felt like my heart was in my throat. The amount of thought he put into this was overwhelming, I had the strong urge to cry, not sad tears though, happy ones. "You do like the Olive Garden right? I heard Americans love it," I could tell he was nervous from the tone of his voice. 

"Yeah, I love it there," my voice croaked and before I knew it, light tears were rolling down my cheeks.

"Shit, did I get something wrong? It's not fettuccine Alfredo is it... Damn it, I knew I wrote it down wrong!" he said, frustrated with himself.

"No, no! You got it right, it's just...." I sniffled. I hated how easily I cried. "No one's ever cared to even think of doing this," I laughed out of embarrassment and wiped my tears away with the back of my hand.

"So...this is happy crying?" he asked, still worried.

I laughed and nodded. "Yes, this is happy crying."

"Okay good," he sighed in relief, some of the weight getting lifted off his chest but I could still tell he was nervous. He pulled out a paper bag and put it in the middle of the blanket in front of us. On it was scribbled Bread Sticks. 

Once he situated everything out and handed out our silverware and poured us some Mountain Dew in plastic cups, we began to eat. I did love the Olive Garden and this definitely hit the spot. He had spaghetti and meatballs in his Tupperware and moaned at the taste of it; I assumed it tasted amazing due to his reaction.

We ate without saying a word for a couple moments enjoying our food until he finally broke the silence. 

"So, what do you wanna know about me?"