"Dani - " Ashton said loudly, like he knew that I was almost gone.
"Yeah?" I asked, putting the phone back to my ear. I could hear Ashton breathing on the other end, slow and steady.
"I - Nevermind, I'll see you later." Ashton said, then hung up the phone without waiting for me to say anything more.
-
Ashton showed up at my house a little after 7 o'clock, which was the time I had texted him and told him to come over. From the amount of texts Ashton had sent me throughout the day, I could tell he was nervous, and I knew I was too. It was apparently a big deal, meeting your girlfriend's parents, and an even bigger deal when it was my parents.
I pulled open the door to find Ashton standing on my porch, desperately trying to finish a cigarette. He was staring down at the ground, his hair covering up his eyes. He looked really nice, actually, wearing a black button up shirt and one of his nicer pairs of skinny jeans, with short black boots instead of the converse he usually wore.
"Hi." Ashton said, finally looking up at me. He held out his cigarette, "Do you want some?"
"No, not now." I shook my head, knowing that if my parents smelled even a little bit of smoke on me they would both freak out.
"You sure?" Ashton asked, bringing it to his lips again. He was wearing a pair of glasses, too, they were black with thick frames. This was the first time he had worn them, I wasn't even sure if he really needed them.
I nodded, "What are you wearing?"
"Pants?" Ashton questioned, furrowing his eyebrows at me.
"I mean on your face." I laughed, realizing that I hadn't done a very good job of asking my question.
"Oh, my glasses." Ashton chuckled. He took one last drag from his cigarette, exhaling again before letting it fall to the ground. He stepped on it and crushed it under his foot before kicking it away, like he was erasing everything.
"You wear glasses?" I asked.
"Usually I have contacts, but I accidentally threw away one this morning and I don't get new ones for another week." Ashton explained.
"I didn't know you needed contacts." I smirked, wondering why Ashton hadn't told me. I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the house as he pulled out a few pieces of gum from his back pocket, shoving them into his mouth.
"I think that I'm, like, legally blind." Ashton snickered, quickly chewing up his gum. "If I didn't have contacts I'd probably get run over by a car the second I leave my house."
"Well thank God for contacts." I said, biting my lip.
"You look so pretty." Ashton blushed, looking me up and down. I honestly wasn't dressed any more special than I would have dressed for school, I had just cleaned myself up a little.
"Thanks, so do you." I said, before realizing how dumb that sounded.
"Aw, I love being called pretty." Ashton said, letting out a quiet laugh. He continued to furiously chew his gum, making sure that no one would be able to smell the nicotine on his breath.
"Shut up." I groaned.
"Ooh, so sassy." Ashton smirked. He held out his hands and grabbed my waist, pulling me closer to him.
"Shut up." I repeated, glancing down at the floor. Ashton brought his hand to the bottom of my chin and titled it up, forcing me to look him in the eyes.
"Come here," Ashton mumbled, closing the space between us. Soon enough his lips were on my neck, working their way down.
"Ashton..." I trailed off, getting distracted. "...my parents."
