Bakery➳a.i || au

veintetres//➳ash

"Thank you so much man, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Anytime, take good care of it."

Ashton placed the vinyl under his arm and jogged back to his car. He honestly couldn't have been happier, this mission couldn't have been more successful, now all he needed to do was get back to the party.

Buckling his seatbelt, he turned on the ignition and set off, taking the fastest route out of downtown Sydney. By no means did Ashton dislike the downtown area; in fact he quite liked it. It was the best place to purchase antiques and collectables for a modest price, not to mention that the residents were not half bad.

He looked down to his watch, realizing that the party had started a while ago and he was very late. He contemplated with himself whether he should hope that Elodie noticed that he was not present or not, but either way, he just wanted to see the look on her face when he handed her the gift.

Ashton continued to drive, humming along to Do it now, remember it later by Sleeping with Sirens as it played quietly from the radio. He passed the several houses and trees around the city. It was not until he was a mere ten minutes away when his phone began to ring in his pocket. He thought that it must have only been one of the boys wondering where he was so he decided to ignore it. But when the phone rang a second time, he knew it wasn't just one of the boys. His three bandmates/roommates never called more than once, including himself. If someone did not answer their call they simply considered it as the person not wanting to talk to them and accepted it, so it had to be someone else.

Ashton pulled over to the side of the road and grasped his phone from his pocket. His eyes flickered to the caller ID and he swiped the screen immediately.

"Hello?" he spoke into the phone, trying to sound as casual as possible, but seriously failing as his voice switched to an awkward high pitch.

Muffled sounds came from the other line, before a quiet voice spoke, "hey, you said I could call you whenever I needed to talk to someone." Her voice sounded hoarse and weak, almost broken.

His heart beat sped up lightly. She needed someone and out of all people, she was calling him. Not Michael, not Liam, hi[sa1] m. Even though it sounds cheesy, he felt honoured that she had called him and couldn't help a smile spread on his face. He did a little jig in his seat before he was interrupted.

"Ashton?"

Hefroze, a blush rising to his cheeks even though she couldn't see him. He let out a slight giggle andf brought the phone back to his ear.

"Yeah, hey sorry. I-uh lost connection for a moment." He spoke sternly, trying not seem like he had been caught in the act.

"Okay, well I just really need someone right now." she spoke, her voice shaking.

Now this was really worrying him now. Their seemed to be absolutely no background noise from the call, wasn't she supposed to be at the party?

"Elodie where are you?" he asked, turning on the ignition once again.

"I'm outside the Bakery."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, trying to figure out why on earth she was there when she had a party going on back at the house, "why are you out there?" he asked her.

"Something really bad happed Ash, really bad." She whispered. Her tone of voice sent chills down his spine. He drove his car back onto the road and began to drive in the direction of the bakery.

"Stay put, I'm coming to pick you up."

-

Ashton discovered that Sydney is actually rather dark and cold in the evening, and he sadly learnt that the hard way. He knew he should have brought a coat. He breathed out, letting the air escape his lips and pulled his sweater sleeves over his hands. He ran out of gas on the way to the bakery about two blocks away so here he was, walking around in the freezing cold, searching for a girl who is pretty much off limits.

He heard sniffles from a distance and snapped his head in the direction of the sound.

"El, is that you?" he called out, jogging over the source of the sound.

He found her cooped up in a ball on the ground. Her head between her knees and her blue hair knotty and all over the place. She looked up to him, her shoulders shaking gently a she sobbed. He eyes were glossy and red, puffy too. She looked miserable and is broke Ashton's heart.

"Hey," he whispered, sitting down next to her, placing his arm around her shoulder and rubbing her arm I attempt to make her warm

She sniffled and wipe her eyes, "hey," she tried to smile but her face dropped and she began to sob again.

"Elodie what happened." He demanded, raising an eyebrow in her direction. She laughed in response, but it was not a real laugh, it was bitter, sarcastic; fake.

She shook her head and cried even more, the tears running down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"Just tell me El." He demanded again, "if you don't tell me I can't help you."

Her eyes narrowed at him and she let out another bitter laugh, "oh and what makes you think I need help?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him this time.

"because you're out here sobbing when you should be at your party.

She sighed and looked down at her hands which were laced together on her lap.

"It's a long story."

"And we have time."

She rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance, "fine,"

Ashton looked up to her face as she started straight at the wall in front of her, "remember I'm from America and I moved here earlier in the year?" he nodded.

"It all started when I was at college, Harvard, by the way. It was great, I had a scholarship and everything, friends, great professors an awesome sorority. But then I met this guy, uh-Zayn actually." Ashton suddenly felt strange, so that's where Zayn knew her from.

"He was super nice, sweet and cool and we dated for a while. I was still a virgin and he wanted to, you know with me and I was scared. I was sure that I loved him and I decided I was ready but it turned out he didn't even like me." She sighed, wiping tears from under her eyes.

"He filmed us, showed to all of his friends and sent it to other people. I was humiliated and I just left. I came here and now Zayn is back and I don't know what to do." She cringed, breaking into sobs once again. Her fingers trembled slightly, but her voice was uneasy, almost hesitant with her words.

Ashton clenched his fists in anger, "what?" he growled, lifting himself off of the ground.

"What are you doing?" she asked, panic laced in her voice, she pushed herself off of the ground and grabbed his arm.

"I'm gonna go mess this guy up."

-

Hi guys, sorry for the slow updates.

I'm going on a trip to Germany with my school so I won't be on for a while, but I'll try my best to continue writing.

I really want to finish this fanfic because I really want to start 'Changing the script' and 'Never better'

Thanks to everyone who has been patient and stuck with this fanfic x