The Chase ▹ Ashton Irwin

CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE

"No, no... I was," I replied. "I'll try not to be so emotionally unstable next time."

Ashton just tilted his head to the side, a worried expression on his face. I didn't know what to say next, so I brought my attention to the sizzling that came from behind Ashton.

"Babe," I said. His raised his eyesbrows at me, and I just laughed. "I uh, think you burned the pancakes."

"SHIT."

...

"Can you tell me where we're going?" Ashton asked as I drove down the Strip. I know I wanted his christmas present to be a surprise, but I have absolutely no clue what separates a good set of drums from a bad. So, I decided to take him with me and watch him slay the instruments in the store. I knew there was a music store not too far from my house, in a little shopping center, so I decided to go there. My mother still hasn't texted me, niether with my father. Oh fucking well, I guess.

"I just wanna do shit today, okay?" I laughed. I'll surpise him later on.

"Like?"

"Geeze, what's with all the questions, Ashton Irwin?"

I glanced over to him as we pulled up to a red light, and we just eyed each other. I wore what I did yesterday, and Ashton looked like a fucking model in his ripped skinny jeans, flannel shirt, and black bandana that pushed his hair back. I had to say, he looked so damn attractive right now, it was hard to get my eyes back on the road.

"Hey, that's my thing," Ashton laughed. "The whole full-name calling thing."

"Sucks," I replied, pulling into the shopping center. "I just stole your thing."

"Are we going to Subway?!" Ashton said sarcastically as we indeed did pass a Subway.

"No! God," I said. My mind went to how good Subway actually sounded right now, and I could tell Ashton's did too. We looked over to each other, and he just raised his eyebrows at me. "Ok. After." I laughed.

I pulled into an empty parking spot about 30 yards from the big music store, and locked the car door behind me and met Ashton on the other side. "I wanna see you jam." I smiled, intertwining our fingers together. Ashton's eyes widened as he looked at the enterance of the store, his grip on me tightening.

"Like, real drums?" He asked, looking over to me. His facial expression just screamed "excited", and I couldn't help but laugh and peck his cheek. "Yes, of course!" I replied.

"Fuck yes," Ashton cheered. "It's been a while, so don't laugh."

"I'll try my best," I joked. We walked into the store, and I think we were both taken back by how many guitars were on the wall, and the rows of keyboards and shiny new drum sets.

"Fuck," Ashton breathed. "Thank you for taking me here."

I giggled as he pulled me closer to him, walking past all the drum sets with his eyes wide. I looked at the prices that hung on little signs around the drums, and the most expensive I saw were about $399. That wasn't that expensive at all, and I bet my mother would let me get Ashton one. Its not like $399 would make any difference to our wallets. Ashton walked over to a wall of acoustic guitars, and took the sample off the rack. "I thought you were a drummer." I laughed.

"Yes," Ashton replied. "But check it out!" I watched as he played a little melody, his long fingers plucking the strings of the guitar and his other hand glided along the fret board. My face lit up, becuase I could tell what tune that was from.

"Gotta get out," I smiled. "A classic by my personal favorite band, 5 Seconds of Summer."

"Oh stop it," Ashton joked, handing the guitar over to me. "Take it!" he chirped.