Letters // Ashton Irwin

XVI

xvi

The doctors were right; his grandmother didn't have months left to live. She passed away on the 23th of January in the early morning, just before Ashton's mother found her in her bed. Ashton then kept calling Tiffany and when she finally picked up the phone he kept crying and he couldn't stop telling her how much he loved his grandmother and how much she'd done for him and how much he was going to miss her, and then even Tiffany wasn't able to keep her tears inside anymore, knowing that losing someone you truly love hurts the most.

She had decided to leave her hometown to fly all the way to Australia, to be there for Ashton. Though she didn't want to admit it to herself, she knew that she was missing him a lot. She wasn't flying the world only to be a shoulder to cry on for a boy she didn't know was trustable or not, but also for herself, the girl who loved that boy despite the fact they had only met a solid few months ago.

Tiffany had to be at the airport at 6am, and after having to drive for more than 2 hours because of a car accident between to somewhat older men - they were not injured badly - somewhere along the way which caused her to go via another route than planned, she arrived at 6.27am which wasn't even that late. She was perfectly on time to catch her plane, and even had the time to buy a coffee in the small coffee shop next to the large souvenir shop.

It was more scaring than exciting for Tiffany to be on a plane. She had flown only once before in her life, to Paris with her mother when she was little. This time she was on her own, and her being afraid of flying didn't help much either.

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Which was a real big relief for Tiffany, was seeing Ashton's car stopping in front of her at the airport. She was both really happy to see him and happy to have survived the flight. Then after a lot of hugs and kisses and I missed you's , and a few more hours, they were both sitting legs crossed on Ashton's bed. A long silence had filled the room, neither one of them knowing what to do or say.

'How are you doing?' Tiffany then asked, and she wanted to slap herself for it as soon as she had realized what she had just said. Of course he was not going to say he was doing fine, because he wasn't. He was doing awful. Even if you didn't know about his grandma passing away, you surely would've noticed the bags under his eyes and how he looked unnaturally pale even after looking at him for a second.

'I'll be fine.' He smiled.

He would be fine, he said. He had been saying that to everyone who'd asked him since his grandmother's death. On some moments he believed in his words, but as soon as the sun made the mountains it's grave again, every freaking night, the memories came back. Ashton had never thought he could feel so down after losing someone he loved with his whole heart, and he had never wished for something like this to happen. Also, he kept blaming himself for being in England when the accident happened. He believed that if he would have been there before the accident had happened, it wouldn't have ever taken place and his grandma would now still be safe, alive.

Tiffany noticed a tear running down Ashton's cheek, which he had tried so hard to keep back. She had never been good in comforting people, she didn't know what to say to someone when they were feeling upset. Tiffany could listen very well, but talking was something much more difficult. So she just moved closer and wrapped herself around Ashton, who then couldn't keep his tears back anymore and started crying full on. It was the exact thing he needed really, he needed to let it all out, and someone to be there for him when he did.

Hours and hours later, they were both awakened by a soft knock on Ashton's bedroom door. His mother came to announce there was breakfast, which meant the couple had fallen asleep eventually until the morning hours had arrived. Tiffany was sitting straight up, exactly how she had been sitting the night before, with Ashton's head resting on her lap with a pillow in between.

'I don't want to get up.' Ashton whined, burying his face in the pillow. It was the day of the funeral, and as you could expect; he did not look forward to it.

'You need to, Ash.' Tiffany sighed. Two hours left, and they still needed to eat, shower, get ready, and get to the cemetery. She knew how Ashton was feeling, and she honestly wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with him all day, and just talk and watch films and listen to music and cry, but she knew she had to take care of him, and she knew they really had to go to the funeral as well.

After another, very long, hour and ten minutes, Tiffany had finally managed to get Ashton out of bed and to downstairs, where he had barely eaten anything, and then to the car where they were now waiting to leave to the cemetery.

'Tif, I'm scared. I don't want to go, can't we go back to bed?' Ashton said, tightening his grip on Tiffany's hand and leaning his head against her shoulder.

'We can't not go to your grandmother's funeral, but I'll be with you through everything.' Ashton felt a light kiss against the top of his head, and he then looked up to her.

'Promise?'

'Promise. Besides, I wouldn't even be able to leave your side, with you holding my hand so tight that it might break soon.' She smiled, to which he laughed. For the first time in days, he laughed, and right then he knew that he would be fine. Maybe not that day, maybe not the day after, but he would eventually. Because Tiffany was going to be with him through everything.

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A question: If I started a new Luke fanfic, would any of you read it?