Man in the Mirror || irwin (DOING SOME MAJOR EDITING!)

[ 46 ] 1962

He picked up his guitar in his hands and started strumming it with his fingers easily.

Claire was surprised.

She never knew Ashton could play guitar. And she was even more amazed when he began to sing to her. "When I want you in my arms, when I want you and all your charms, whenever I want you, all I have to do is dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream..."

It was a song by The Everly Brothers, 'All I Have to do is Dream'.

The blonde continued watching, mesmerized by the way his voice sounded while he continued. "I need you so, that I could die. I love you so and that is why whenever I want you, all I have to do is dream. Dream, dream, dream, dream..."

He finished the song and put his guitar back down in the grass. Claire was teary eyed. She couldn't believe he was doing this for her. "Thank you, Ashton." She told him. "I love that song."

"I know." He grinned. "Its your favorite."

"Wait for me down there." She whispered. "I'll be right down."

.

.

.

.

She met him by the side of the house where he was still standing. Claire ran toward his open arms and hugged him tight. For a small moment, she felt bad about seeing Con behind Ashton's back. They were bestfriends and they were betraying his trust. She didn't care about Anne-Sophie, but she actually cared about Ashton.

When they pulled away, he cleared his throat. Reaching into his blazer pocket, he got a small black velvet box and got down on one knee. 

"Claire," He looked up at her, his hazel eyes brimming with excitement. "I don't know how I could possibly put into words how much you mean to me, but I love you, so much. And it would make me the happiest man in the world if you would do me the honor of marrying me." 

He opened the small box to reveal a white gold ring with a square diamond on it. Claire held her hand out for him while she gushed. "Yes!" She told him. "I'll marry you if my parents will allow it."

Ashton jumped up with a grin on his face. Taking her hand in his, he ran towards the front door to the house, with Claire trailing behind him. "Then lets go talk to them right now!"

"Right now?" She giggled. "But its almost one in the morning! They're sleeping."

"We'll wake them." He insisted.

She stopped dead in her tracks, causing him to come to a stop as well. "Ashton, its better if you go home and come back tomorrow."

"You're right." He nodded. Cupping her face in his hands, he gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I'll come back tomorrow. I love you." He said to her before leaving her house.

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.

.

.

When Claire returned to her room, there was a raven haired boy with brown eyes waiting for her. On his face was etched a look of annoyance. 

"What did he want?" Con asked the blonde girl.

Claire flashed him a grin. Extending her hand out to show off her new piece of jewelry that hugged her finger just right. "Since you were too stupid to appreciate me when you had the chance, I'm getting married to Ashton."

He laughed bitterly. "You think he'll make you happier than I can? He comes from a family of nobodies."

She shook her head, "Its taken his family two years to accumulate almost as much money as your family. So I think my happiness can be bought."

"I'll marry Anne-Sophie then." He announced in a nonchalant way.

"Okay." She shrugged. "I'll have my rich, handsome and successful lawyer husband. So I won't even be thinking about you anymore."

"After all the love we shared." He told her, feigning being offended. "I'm hurt, Claire."

She scoffed at that. "You don't love anyone, Con. You only love yourself. What kind of guy does something like that to his best friend?"

"What girl does that to her boyfriend?" The raven haired boy challenged with a smirk.

"I hate you sometimes." She huffed.

"No you don't." Con said, walking over to her balcony. He stopped at the metal rails that surrounded it. Turning towards her one last time, he added, "And Ashton isn't my best friend. He just thinks we're friends because its convenient for me. But now he's in my way and he won't have you." He easily jumped off the balcony and landed expertly on his feet on the grass below. "Goodnight Claire." He called mockingly as he headed for the exit, purposefully stepping on Ashton's abandoned guitar ont he way.

-

feeling inspired again.

now i added a bit of a sixties flashback chapter that i hope you like. and i had ashton serenade his bitch with one of my favorite songs; all i have to do is dream by the everly brothers. 

if you guys wanna listen to it, i posted the video in the sidebar ^.^

it truly is a beautiful song.

anyway, fact of the day: did you know that before canada chose its name, they considered naming it vesperia? :D there was another option too, it started with an 'e', but it was in my ninth grade agenda and that was like five plus years ago.

anyway, thank you for reading. 

every day we are one step closer to 1M reads!

isn't that exciting?

thank you for all the support.

i love you.

-clary xx