Song for the chapter // On Top Of The World - Boys like Girls
Walking into the the cafe, Ashton watches the girl as she takes out her laptop, and clutches tightly onto a leather book.
"Can I help you?" The barista asks Ashton for the second time today.
"Yeah, can I just have a cold coffee?" He questions, smiling at her slightly.
She nods, scribbling down some numbers and letters onto the order pad.
It always made her mad how he said 'cold coffee' instead of, 'iced coffee' but she thought it was kinda cute how she would continuously correct him, and he would still get it wrong. Every time.
"Your iced coffee will be ready shortly." She laughs, handing him the paper and walking back through the doors to make him a coffee.
He smiles to himself, looking down at the paper, and then quickly shoving it into his pocket.
He watches as the girl, Mack, sits un-emotionally, scribbling things into her leather journal.
Of coarse, Ashton wants to walk up to her and ask 'hey, what the fuck just happened with you and that guy?' But he knew he wouldn't get the best response. So, he took a seat at a table a few meters away from her, watching her every move.
He was interested in what happened, but he didn't want to ambush her, especially if what had just happened was traumatic.
By the time the girl had looked up from her laptop, Ashton had already finished two iced coffee's, and a sketch of the mysterious girl.
Her eyebrows furrowed together, and then adverted back down to her computer screen.
Standing up, Ashton decided now that she knew he was interested In what this girl was doing in a coffee shop at about six thirty in the morning, he paced over to her table.
She looked up skeptically, her long brown hair falling all around her face as she tried her best to flick it out of the way.
"Can I help you?" She questions, her mascara stained cheeks glistening with tears. She was still crying.
"I was just wondering if you were okay, you're crying." He states, pulling the chair out on the other side of the table, and taking a seat.
"I don't even know you." She says, breathing out heavily, and doing er best to avoid the question.
Mack was a firm believer in being one hundred percent real, and she wasn't okay. She wasn't anything remotely close to okay.
"Yeah, I know. That hasn't stopped me from caring, though."
She sighed again, setting her pen down and leaning back into her chair.
"I'm not going to pour my heart out to a stranger." Mack crosses her arms.
Ashton shrugs, standing back up and pushing his chair in, and running his hand through his hair.
"You seem to be a bit upset. I'm going to go ahead and give you a bit to think things out. I'm getting another drink."
He walks closer to the counter, which gives Mack more time to evaluate him. He slouched over, but Mack could clearly tell if he would actually stand up straight he would be really tall. But not quite as tall as Luke.
Mack barley trusted anyone at the moment, and she had barley any friends.
She left everything to move to New York to see her brother, and that included friends, family, and hell, her own mother wouldn't even talk to her.
Michael had left Sydney because he wanted more. He wanted more than the small back yards and the constant heat of the sun.
It didn't help that he lived in Australia and tended to have a fear of spiders.
He sent constant letters to his family (though they wouldn't talk to him) about the joys and the liveliness of New York and its culture.
And of coarse, Mack was the only one who ever opened the letters. She was convinced New York was the best place in the world, the lights, the parties- don't even get her started on New Year's Eve.
She moved right as soon as she turned eighteen, ignoring her mother's constant begs and pleads to go to college and start a life for herself.
Michael showed her the wonders of leaving her comfort zone, which soon lead to her meeting Luke; he lived two floors up in the same apartment building. Since Michael didn't care what Mack did, (as long as it wasn't illegal) he didn't stop her from being in a destructive relationship.
Michael grew up under constant rules and to-strict-parents, causing him to thrive on independence and decision making. For himself.
He believed Mack should have the same thing, he thought she was capable of making good decisions, and not messing up her life, so he let her be most of the time.
A problem Mack had, was she needed to be guided. She needed someone to show her where to go and what to do, and not Michael or Luke were in the position to be doing that for her.
Right as Ashton turned back to mack's table, she had already shoved her laptop into her bag, (along with her journal) and shoved past the heavy wooden door to the cafe.
(A/n)
Is this longer? LEAVE OPINIONS PLEASE THIS TOOK FOREVER TO WRITE IM SO EXCITED
BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE YHIS AND ILY ILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME
