"Ashton," I greet him. Luke, Calum and Michael have all wandered off, probably in search of fruit punch and hot girls.
Ashton stares at me before answering, I flutter inside as his eyes scan my body, his mouth wide with amazement. "You look great, Ella."
"You do, too." I'm not lying, he looks drop dead gorgeous in his black tuxedo, his long hair slicked back. An urge races through me to tussle and mess it up, I'm so used to his hair being wavy and loose.
"So, in all my years of high school, I've never been to one of these," he admits, glancing around the crowded gymnasium. "What are you supposed to do?"
"Dance, eat, talk," I say. "I don't really know, I've never been to one of these before either!"
"I'll go find us some food," he says. "Want anything specific?" He digs his hands deep into his pockets, teetering on his heels anxiously.
"Anything with chocolate."
He grins cheekily and nods, swiveling around and walking away, in search of the concession stand.
I lean against the wall for a few minutes, waiting for Ashton's return. I'm really hungry, with an enormous craving for chocolate, that he had best hurry up.
"So, who are you here with?"
I'm startled by the voice and I jump, turning to to see its owner.
Tyler smiles, showing off his bright white teeth. Nervously, I smile back.
"Ashton, is who I'm here with," I answer. Tyler cocks an eyebrow and tilts his head, obviously baffled.
"Irwin?"
"Yep."
"You do realize that he's just here to sleep with you, yeah? I've never seen him at a school event before, ever," he replies, sneering at the mention of Ash.
My small hands clench at my sides and I stand up straight. I'm tiny to compared to Tyler, well, I'm tiny compared to everyone, and I still have to look up in order to look him in the eyes, but my posture is tall and my confidence is high.
"I'll have you know Ashton would never use me for sex, he'd never hurt me. And I thought you were more kind, considering we were friends, or at least I assumed we were."
"Friends, huh?" He laughs, shrugging his shoulders. "We were, before you blew me off for a few weeks. I liked you! And you stopped talking to me."
"You know what?" I answer, pursing my lips. "For that, I am sorry. But it was honestly never my intention to abandon you.
"Despite that, however, I'd think you'd act more mature and not trash talk Ashton in front of me." I'm speaking so much like an adult it surprises me, I've grown a lot since I moved here, I can tell.
"Immature. I'm not being immature!" Tyler argues, crossing his arms and pouting, clearly proving my point. He smirks and drops his arms to his sides. "You wanna bet?"
I sigh, tired of his presence and praying that Ashton will return soon with food. "Bet on what?"
"He'll hurt you, Ella. That's the bet. I know you don't think he will, but he will, trust me."
"And why should I trust you?" I hiss.
"That's the bet," he says simply, and then walks away. God, what a prick.
Ashton returns, with a plate toppled with chocolate brownies in one hand, and two fizzy drinks in the other. "What was that about?" He questions, handing me my drink.
"Oh, nothing," I say, forcing a smile.
I grab a brownie off the tray and bite into it. It's moist and delicious, quite possibly one of the best brownies I've ever tasted. Bless whoever made these.
"Good?" Ashton asks as I let out a small moan, taking another bite. "Wow, a brownie can make you moan more than I can," he teases.
"Mm," I hum. "We could always test that out."
"Maybe at the end of the night, babe. I've planned something."
"Oh really?" I ask, my curiosity sparked. "What's that?"
"You'll just have to wait and find out, won't you."
"I suppose. But the longer I wait, the longer you do, too." I smirk, and stare at him as I sip from my straw.
"I'll take care of this," he says, plopping the tray of brownies on a nearby empty table. He grabs my drink too and places it down. "Let's dance."
"Dance? I never thought I'd hear you say that."
Without replying, he takes my hand in his gently and guides me to the center of the room. A fast paced song is playing that I don't recognize.
"I don't know how to dance," I tell him over the loud music.
"Then I guess we'll find out together."
For a few seconds we only stand there, clueless on what to do. Then Ash steps forward and presses his hands on my waist, I wrap mine around his neck.
Slowly, we move along to the song. Our dancing is way out of sync with the beat, but who the hell cares.
A romantic song comes on next, All of Me by John Legend, and I can't breathe, because Ashton is spinning and dipping me and what if he drops me? Better yet, I can't believe he's being affectionate in public. Not that he hasn't done it before, it's just foreign to me.
Ashton twirls me around, lifting my hand above my head as I spin around. I'm dizzy but he keeps me steady. When he pulls me back to him, I'm pressed to his chest and he dips me, my long hair almost touching the floor.
I giggle as he pulls be back up when the chorus of the song begins and gives me a kiss. When he starts to dip me again, I wrap a hand around his neck and tug his lips to mine instead.
Once the song ends we retreat to the wall together and hang out until we are approached by Luke, Michael, Calum, and a girl I've never met before, who's holding Calum's hand.
Ashton tenses up and coughs suddenly, staring at the girl. Then he grabs my hand and narrows his brow.
The girl is stunning, her dress is light blue and flows down to mid-thigh, and it matches Calum's bow tie. She has curly brown hair that goes to her shoulder and gorgeous green eyes.
She stands near me while the boys talk for a while and I give her a small smile. "Hey," she says in a sweet voice, "wanna go to the bathroom to freshen up?"
I nod. I could touch-up my make up and fix my hair. Ashton doesn't agree, however.
Frowning, he glances angrily at the girl before returning his gaze to mine. He softly laces his hands in mine. "You should stay with me."
The girl gives Ashton a puzzled look and I'm briefly annoyed with Ash for being so damn clingy, before I wipe away that feeling quickly. But I'm only going to the bathroom to tidy up, so he shouldn't be so against it.
I pull away from Ashton. "Let's go."
As we walk down the hallway, the girl says, "my name's Eda."
"Oh, that's a pretty name," I tell her, "I'm-" I start but Eda cuts me off.
"Ella, I know," she replies. Her voice is delicate and fragile and I could listen to it on replay.
"How'd yo know that?" I laugh. We head into the bathroom together and she steps into a stall and takes care of her business. Meanwhile, I touch up my make up and hair in the mirror.
Eda steps out and as she washes her hands, she explains. "Oh, Calum told me." I look at her as she speaks but her eyes are trained on the sink.
"Ah," I hum in response.
"Should we head back?" She asks. "Oh, actually. I wanted to ask you, I'm throwing a party next weekend, Saturday, in fact. Maybe you and Ashton could come?"
In the hallway, as we are returning to the gymnasium, I say, "yeah, I'll try and convince Ash. He likes parties so he'll probably be okay with it."
"Okay."
I retreated to Ashton's side while Michael and Luke chatted, Calum and Eda were embracing PDA a lot in the corner.
"Did she say anything?" Ashton asked.
"No, why? Well, she did invite us to a party next weekend. We should go."
"No, we really shouldn't," he says, biting his lip harshly. He wants to say something else, I can tell by his features. Narrowed eyes, biting the lip, his fingers closing around my hand tightly. But he's holding it back.
I sigh, shaking my head. "I'm going. You should come too."
"Why though? We can lay around and eat pizza, get naked and sleep," he says, his expression changing into a playful one, a smile tugging at his lips.
"While that does sound tempting," I say, smiling, "we could always do that tonight." I run a hand up his arm, reaching his neck. I gently pull his head down and press my lips to his.
"You have no idea what I've got in store for tonight, though," he mumbles against my lips.
Moving away, I drop my hands to my side and pout. "I wish you'd tell me."
"You'll find out soon enough. Can you sleep over tonight?" He asks.
I frown and shrug. "I'll call my mom and tell her I'm sleeping over at Paula's or something. . ."
I walk away, out of the gymnasium, and grab my phone from my bag. I dial my mom's number and press it to my ear. It rings for a brief moment before she picks up. "Hello?" Her voice is muffled slightly but I can hear a second voice in the background.
"Hey, mom. I need to ask something, but first, who's with you?" I can't help my curiosity and my tendency to be nosy.
"Jared," she tells me. "What do you need, honey?"
"Can I sleep over at Paula's? Maggie has a ride, and Paula said I could stay over."
"Sure, sweetie. Now have fun, it's homecoming. No more calling your mother," she says teasingly. I don't have to see her to know she's smiling.
"Bye," I chuckle. Hanging up, I put my phone in my bag and head back inside the gym.
I'm excited to see what Ashton is speaking of for tonight, I actually wonder if we should just ditch homecoming. But, no, because this is my first school dance and I bought this damn dress, so I'm going to wear it for at least a few more hours.
I hear a speaker being bumped as I approach Ash and my eyes avert to the stage, where the vice principal, Mr. Leonard, is standing.
"Attention, please, can I have your attentions?" He says, tapping the microphone.
Ashton clutches onto my hands as we both look at Mr. Leonard.
"I would like to tell you the homecoming queen and king candidates. Then, after that, you can go to the voting booth," he pauses to point to where the booth is, "and vote for those candidates."
Clearing his throat, he says, "the homecoming queen candidates are Stacy Valley, Vanessa Frost, and Ella Ventue."
My head shoots up at my name and I look at Ashton, confusion etched onto my face.
"Now for the king candidates, John Packer, Daniel Baker, and Ashton Irwin. Thank you for your time, and please, remember to vote!" With that, Mr. Leonard walks off the stage.
I stare at Ashton. "We were nominated?"
"I guess," he says, shrugging. "Pretty cool, I guess. But you're always my queen, no matter what," he says cheekily.
I playfully punch him in the arm and he pretends to wince.
"What do you wanna do, baby girl?" He asks, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to his side.
"I don't know," I say, "I guess homecoming isn't as exciting as I thought I would be.
I glance around at the gym before continuing. "In the movies it's all bump-and-grind dancing, alcohol and drugs." Frowning, I lean my head against his arm and sigh.
He chuckles, "nah, school dances aren't like that."
"After the king and queen candidates can we head out?" I ask quietly.
"Sure."
For another hour, Ashton and I sit on a one of the empty tables, drinking punch and eating brownies until Mr. Leonard returns to the stage, carrying two sealed envelopes.
"Can I have your attention, students?" He speaks into the microphone. "I will now announce the homecoming queen."
I take another bite of my brownie and watch him carefully.
"The homecoming queen is. . . Ella Ventue!"
My jaw drops and I glance over at Ashton. He looks freaked out, knowing that he'll be called up for king.
I sit up and almost trip on my way to the stage. I can hear giggling and murmurs from the other students as I stand beside Mr. Leonard.
I furrow my eyebrows and look at Ashton, who's making a swiping motion across his mouth, his eyes wide.
Slowly, I reach up and wipe my mouth with my hand. When I glance down at it, there's chocolate smeared on my fingers. Great.
I clear my throat and gaze at Mr. Leonard. He smiles at me and walks in front of me, carefully placing the plastic tiara on my hand.
I smile nervously as he announced the king next. Of course, it's Ashton.
I know Ashton didn't want to be king, and honestly, I didn't want to be queen either.
Ashton stands beside me and Mr. Leonard places the crown on top of his head.
"Students, this is your 2016 homecoming king and queen!"
Students clap as Ashton and I escort ourselves off the stage. I'm greeted by Paula and Maggie, who congratulate me.
"Should we head out now?" Ashton asks, peering down at me. I nod in return, and together we exit the school.
"Ash, how are we gonna get to the trailer?" I ask. There's no way I'm riding a motorcycle in the dress, not even for this guy.
"Oh, I didn't actually drive the motorcycle here," he laughs. "I have a car, it's just in a garage all the time."
A surprised expression takes over my features. "I didn't know that. How come we never drove in it?"
"Ella, a motorcycle is way more badass," he chuckles. "And Luke borrowed it from me once to pick you up."
I nod and once we reach the car, I do recognize it. The seats are fairly comfortable and Ashton plays music on the way.
Gravel crunches beneath the tires as he pulls in and parks it beside his motorcycle. When I exit the car, I glance at one of the windows in the trailer and it's dark inside.
"Are you excited?" Ashton grabs my hand and leads me to the screen door.
I nod, and Ashton swings open the door to reveal the surprise.
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