I woke up the next morning with a slight headache. I was assuming it was from the alcohol that I consumed last night. It wasn't bad but I wasn't expecting it to be because of the fact I didn't intake much last night.
I ran my fingers over my temples and rolled over, feeling something under my back that made laying down extremely uncomfortable. I arched my back and snaked my hand behind me, feeling something fluffy and pulling it out from under me.
A penguin.
Of course it was the penguin that Cal had won me last night (even though I told him he didn't need to). I ran my fingers over the soft fabric of the stuffed animal and smiled at it. It was cuter than I remembered it too be honest, not that I'm complaining or anything.
I glanced at the window and hid my eyes from the sunlight. I could only imagine how awful Calum was going to feel when he saw the sunlight. He was so wasted last night he probably drank the most out of everyone at the party. I'm surprised that he wasn't already awake and complaining because this bus ride hasn't been the most pleasant thing to try to sleep through but we had to because we had to get to Pittsburgh.
Calum. We kissed last night. Well more like he kissed me. Damn it. And Ashton saw too. Damn it again.
I could already tell that today wasn't going to be enjoyable.
I snuck out of the back room where I had been sleeping. Molly slept in Michael's bunk with him last night so I didn't have to worry about being careful.
I slid open the door and saw that Ashton's bunk had the curtain drawn back and revealed that it was empty. I gulped, nervous of what to expect from Ashton after last night. I mean, Ashton could be an understanding person and it wasn't like he knew the full story, right?
I carried the penguin with me to the table where Ash was sitting on his phone and eating a bowl of Fruit Loops. I placed the penguin in the booth and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. I waited until the best moment to start pouring things because you'd expect yourself to get used to pouring things in a moving vehicle to a point of where you were a professional at it but you could never be more wrong about something in your life. I swear that we've lost at least two gallons of milk and a box of cereal to the struggles of bus eating.
I grabbed a spoon and joined Ashton at the table. He continues to stare at his phone and act as if I wasn't there. I don't know if he felt awkward about the whole thing or if he was trying to punish me or something but whatever it was, it was working.
I wanted to use my phone but I had to manage my plan and make sure that I didn't use up all the data I purchased because I didn't feel like having to buy more, like Ash always needs to.
I stared out the window and continued to eat my bowl of Lucky Charms. I waited another minute to see if Ashton would say something and when he didn't, I decided to break the silence.
"Morning Ashton." I chirped.
"Peyton." He was definitely giving me the cold shoulder, asshole.
"Ash-"
"I don't want to hear it."
"Hear what?" I stared at him with evident confusion.
"Your excuse for making out with Calum. Is that why you two didn't want to play a second game? So you could make out?" He started to raise his voice at me which was rare. I had to remind him that we had people still asleep so that he would lower his voice.
"Ash, I can explain. I-"
"I thought that you didn't believe in love. I guess that was all a lie, aye? Wait, you told me that you weren't sleeping with him. Was that a lie too Peyton? Goddamn it. What else did you lie about, huh?"
The thing with Ash and I was when we fought, we fought. Everything that we had been bottling up came out at once so we were constantly bringing up topics from weeks or months earlier. "Are you serious Ash?"
"Yeah. And I promise you I'm not lying about that." He snapped at me as I rolled my eyes.
I understood why he was angry. I shouldn't be ok with all his anger towards me, but it had to come out at some point. Plus, if you saw your little sister making out with one of your best mates after she told you she didn't like him that way, wouldn't you be angry?
"Are you going to continue yelling at me or are you going to let me explain myself?" I awaited a response from the aggressive drummer across the table from me.
"It depends. Are you going to tell the truth or lie some more?" He challenged me.
"I promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth." I swore and he nodded. "So, I'm just going to start with this statement; Calum kissed me and I didn't kiss him."
"Thank God." Ashton ran his hand over his forehead and pretended to wipe of invisible sweat. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Short version or long version?"
"Long version. I want to know how badly I have to beat Calum's ass."
"Don't beat him up Ash."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because if anyone is going to beat him up, it's going to be me." I said with a serious face. I was going to have to talk to him about this at some point and I wanted to make sure it was me and not Ashton addressing the topic.
"That's my girl." He held his fist out for me to fist bump which I successfully did (not that you could screw up a fist bump). "Anyways, get along with the story."
"I mean, it actually isn't that long but I'll tell you everything." I cleared my throat and got ready to talk. "So, Calum and I seriously played in the arcade. We raced cars, which I won two outta the three rounds because Cal was definitely drunk, but who cares, a win is a win. Oh! We also played air hockey so it wasn't like we were back there making out or anything by those means. But, at some point I was drawn to the crane machine because I saw this penguin," I held out the stuffed animal which Ashton grabbed from my hands.
"It's cute."
He handed it back to me, "Thanks. Anyways, Cal saw me staring at the machine and was like 'oh what prize do you want? I can win it for you' and shit like that. And I told him not to worry about it. Like he already won me that giant one that I snuggle with in the back room. Like I don't need another stuffed animal, right? Anyways, he ignored me and all my efforts and spotted the penguin and because he's my best friend he knew that I wanted it. And being the cocky Calum he is, placed money in the machine and we tried to win it. I don't know how much money or time we spent on that machine but it felt like hundreds of dollars and hours on end. Eventfully, Calum was down to his last dollar. He didn't get it on the first try, but on the second one he grabbed it and actually won it." Ashton nodded. "Pretty good for a drunk kid if you ask me." I commented.
"Ok, that all makes sense. So why exactly where you kissing?"
"I'm getting to that. Calm down you impatient loser." Ash held his hands up, surrendering to me. "The kiss. Well, I hugged Calum because he won and I was excited, naturally. This hug was different though. He was hugging tighter, not that I minded. But, then I heard you calling for us and I tried to pull away but Cal didn't let go completely. Like yeah, he loosened his grip but I still couldn't go. I stared him in the eyes and his pupils were dilated and I said we should go but he just shh'd me. I asked him if he was ok. He didn't answer but I heard you again. So I turned to see if I could see you because your voice was getting louder and when I turned back around to face him, he kissed me."
"Just like that? He kissed you?"
"Yeah. It was random and that's when you walked in."
"So, let me just double check here." Ashton spoke. "Calum kissed you."
"Yep."
"So you don't have feelings for Calum?"
"Not those kinds of feelings."
"So are you going to forgive me for freaking out at you earlier?"
"Of course."
"Good. Sorry about freaking out about that." Ash apologized. "I just didn't expect it and I was caught off guard, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. I would've probably thought or said the same thing you did if I was in your shoes." I agreed with him.
Suddenly we heard footsteps coming down the bus and we could both tell that someone had just woken up. We halted our conversation and stared at the hallway to see who it was.
Of course.
Calum.
"Speak of the devil." Ashton whispered to me and I rolled my eyes.
"Did you say something?" Calum said, resting his hand on his head.
"No." Ash lied.
"Do we have any aspirin? My head hurts like a bitch. I guess I drank too much last night." He laughed softly before wincing in pain.
"In the cupboard." Ashton instructed as we watched Calum slowly pop two pills into his mouth and down them with water. Once he finished that, he sat down next to me and on top of my penguin. I tried to save him but it was too late.
"What the fuck am I sitting on?" Calum grumbled as he reaches down and pulled the penguin out from under his ass. "Another penguin? Is it Luke's?"
"No. It's mine." I grabbed it from his hands, a little confused.
"It's cute. When did you get it?"
"You won it for me at the bowling alley last night..."
"Really? Damn. Go me." He laughed again. "I don't remember anything after like the eighth round or whatever in that first game."
"You don't remember anything?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"No, why? Should I? Did something happen?" Ashton and I exchanged a quick glance.
Ashton tried to speak but I spoke first, "no." Ashton glared at me and I could tell he was mad.
"Good. I'd hate to miss any of the excitement." He rubbed his temples. "I'm going to go lay back in bed and wait for this aspirin to start working." He walked away leaving Ashton and me alone.
"Why didn't you tell him!?"
"Ash, he was drunk and didn't remember anything. It's better if we just forget it ever happened."
"Pey, you can't run away from all your problems. You'll have to address it at some point."
"At some point. Just not now." I agreed with him in hopes he would drop it.
"If you don't Pey, I will." Ashton warned me.