100 Days → irwin

1.4 - day 45

A knock echoed through the apartment making Michael jump as he was watching TV. He slowly stood up and walked over. When he opened it he was surprised to see Riley standing there with a small smile. She looked nervous.

"Hi!" She said brightly catching Michael off guard. He waved shyly back to her and waited for her to get to the point. "Is Andy here? I wanted to talk to him."

Michael nodded and scurried across the hard wood floor. Once in front of Ashton's closed door, he tapped the wood lightly. Ever since their "meeting", things have been extremely awkward. Even worse than before. It sucked. "What?" Ashton groaned. He just woke up from a nap.

"Riley is at the door. She wants - " before Michael could even finish, Ashton had thrown his door open and walked passed him. Michael couldn't help but smile.

Ashton hurried across the room to the front door where Riley was still standing. He wondered why she was there. Did he do something wrong? He hadn't seen her in over a week. So this was a bit strange. However he was slightly relieved that she was there. "Hey," he said groggily. He still wasn't fully awake from his nap.

Riley's face started to turn a light shade of red. Ashton tilted his head at her like a confused puppy dog. Riley shook her head quickly, as if she was trying to bring herself back into the real world. "Hi! Yeah, okay, sorry for bothering obviously you're busy or tired or - "

"Riley, it's fine. What's up?" He laughed a bit. Thankfully he had taken a nap in his basketball shorts and cut off tee, or else this would've been awkward if he just came out here with only his boxers on.

Riley sighed, "Sorry, I really need to stop rambling. But I was just gonna go for a walk and I wanted to know if you wanted to come? You don't have to! But I just really liked our last walk together and - "

Ashton cut her off yet again, "Sure. Let me get my shoes, hold on." Ashton walked back to his room and slipped on his old black vans. Sure Riley's rambling could get really annoying, but he found it cute sometimes. It was as if he made her nervous. Ashton was in such a rush to get back to Riley that he didn't see Calum coming down the hall.

They collided, which led to a couple awkward and quiet apologizes before Ashton quickly walked away from him. Once he made it back to Riley at the door, he nodded and closed the door behind him completely. "Okay," he said as she wasn't moving.

"Okay." She echoed him. Ashton smiled at her before she shook herself out of a daze again, "Wow okay, sorry again." She let out a forced laugh before starting down the hallway towards the elevator. Ashton followed, smiling to himself.

The ride down was silent. Ashton was confused as to why she wasn't talking. She was acting really off today. "Are you okay?" Ashton asked out of nowhere. Riley sighed and nodded. Ashton felt as if that was a lie.

The duo walked through the main lobby and out the doors. Once outside they walked the same way they did the last time. Ashton was hoping they were going to the park again. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he actually really enjoyed it.

"I'm sorry if I'm acting awkward," Riley spoke up after a while of silence, "It's just... I've been really stressed and I really needed this walk."

"It's cool. I get it." Ashton felt kinda bad for her. Riley had to work two jobs just so she could have a semi normal life. That must've sucked.

Riley smiled at him. As they walked Riley tried to maneuver around a person walking in the opposite direction. But she got a little too close to Ashton, making their hands brush slightly off each other. Ashton instantly flinched his hand away from her. Riley did the same. It was as if touching hands was completely forbidden for them.