Outside the Lines (lashton)

(51)

I slide into the car that's waiting for me.

"Ashton's a little upset that you asked me to pick you up, he wants to know if he did something wrong," Calum asks me. I'm glad he got his license before we left for LA.

"He did absolutely nothing," I smile widely at him. I see him light up, him probably not seeing me this happy during treatment.

"Oh boy, what are you up to?" he says, squinting his eyes at me with a smile on his face as well.

"I want to take Ashton out on a date," I blurt out, "publicly. Hold his hand, go on a walk, maybe even get some dinner at a restaurant. I know me eating out would make him really happy," I say excitedly, even though the prospect of eating outside of treatment or our home-away-from-home terrifies me - all the boys know this.

"You must have had a good day!" Calum says excitedly, "what happened?"

I laugh, then say, "We talked about what we want from life, and what's holding us back. And I realise I want everyone to know how much I love Ash. I want to show him off, I want the world to know how lucky I am to have someone like him. And I want to show him how much he means to me."

Calum's smile gets even wider than before. "There's a glint in your eyes that I haven't seen be there for a while," he says.

"Can you start driving already?! I want to get home!" I nearly yell.

"Alright, alright!" Calum giggles, pulling out and driving away.

~

"We're-"

"WE'RE HOME!" I yell excitedly, interrupting Calum's introduction.

Michael and Ashton look up to us from across the room from the couch they're sitting on together. Ashton is laying in Michael's lap, Michael's hand in his hair. I can tell something's wrong.

I make my way over to him fast. "Babe, what's wrong?" I ask. Michael must take this as me wanting to take over because he steps away from the couch, leaving Ashton and I alone.

He sighs, sitting up. "I don't know, you asked for me to not pick you up. I thought I did something," he says looking downcast.

I take his face into my hands and tell him, "Baby, you did nothing wrong. I only wanted to surprise you!"

His face lights up a little. "Surprise me?"

"I had a good day at partial today and realised some important things," I say, then slowly lean in for a kiss. He realises this and starts to kiss back. I can hear Michael and Calum in the background start to busy themselves. They must have been watching us before.

I pull away from the soft kiss to see a smile start to bloom on his face. "I love you Ash," I tell him.

He grabs my face and smashes our lips together quickly. It's over before I know it. "I love you too, Luke," he says with a giant smile.

I stare at him a little bit longer, wondering how I got so lucky to call him mine. I shake the thoughts away, needing to focus on what I want to do next. "Go get dressed. Something classy but not too fancy."

His face looks happily shocked. "Luke Hemmings, are you taking me out?"

"Go get dressed, you dork!" I yell to him. He gets up and walks his way to his, well, really our bedroom now. I've sort of been sleeping there instead of my room now. My clothes are still in my room though, so I walk towards my own room. I gravitate towards my closet and see a white collared shirt with black bird forms on it, and immediately know that this is the shirt I want to wear. It was the shirt I wore on our first date. I hold the shirt up to myself and wonder if I should change out of my vans and into some boots. I decide on the boots, they bring in the classy look. I stay in my ripped jeans.