It had taken her a while to reply to his message. Ashton had even thought she had entirely blown him off and was already catching a shower to go to dinner with the guys. They weren't going to do anything extravagant. Luke was still pretty much out of it. He spent most of the time texting on his phone or talking to Liz or to April's mother. So Calum had thought they could go to the hotel buffet.
Just as Ashton stepped out of the shower, he saw his phone light up with a text notification. He instantly felt his heart do a small leap when he saw 'Mia browneyes' across the screen. He almost dropped his phone when he tried to read it. All she had sent was a simple 'yes' with a smiley face but that was enough for him.
He had thrown on a green hoody and black skinny jeans before he headed out the door. He didn't even stop to tell the guys he was going. Just screamed out he was going to dinner with Mia. And here he was, one short uber drive to her dorm.
"Excuse me," Ashton said as he bumped into a girl who was coming out of the dorm building. She stumbled a few steps, but caught herself.
A few papers flew out of her hands and began to scatter over the sidewalk. Ashton didn't hesitate to bend down and begin to help her pick them up. She was fuming at the fact he had bumped into her. Worse, that he had disrupted her neat pile of flyers.
"You know, you should really watch where you're goi-," her hands were on her hips as she stood back up ready to pick a fight, but her words cut short as she stared at him, her eyes growing wide. "You're Ashton Irwin..."
Fuck...
Ashton cursed mentally as he looked at his watch and back at the girl.
"Yeah, I am. I'm here picking up a friend," he said.
"Oh my God! What are you doing here?" She asked. He could literally see her entire body begin to shake. She was one of those fans...
"Why do you think Court! He's here for Mia," a second girl said as she joined them.
"Oh dear! So it's true. I didn't want to believe it, but everyone said it really was her. She's the girl from LA isn't she? Mia is your mystery girl?" The words were stumbling out of her mouth and Ashton wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to the girl who had just joined them.
"I can't believe we live next to Ashton Irwin's mystery girl!" The second girl continued to ramble on, taking a few steps closer to Ashton and whipping out her phone. "Courtney take a picture of us! Better yet take a selfie of all of us."
They didn't even ask for permission as Courtney opened up the phones camera app and began to snap pictures of them. The fact that they were still standing at the entrance was catching a bit of attention of them. So much for a quiet night between him and Mia, he thought.
"I should really get going," Ashton said, trying to move away as a few other girls started to show up. They in unison began to protest, but he tried his best to make his way across the hallway until he reached Mia's bedroom.
"Are you guys going on a date?"
"Are you two still an item?"
"Oh my gosh I ship it!"
"They'd have cute babies together, wouldn't they Sarah?"
He let out a shaky breath as the distance muffled their voices. He ran a hand over his hair before he raised it to knock on the door, but before he could it swung open. Her friend Will looked surprised to see him there.
"Sorry... I was just leaving," Will said softly. He avoided eye contact as he made his way past Ashton to leave.
Ashton gave Mia a quizzical look as she stood in front of the mirror fixing her braid. She wore her short overalls with a white crop top underneath. Definitely not the type of outfit you would be wearing to go out to dinner.
"Weren't we going out?" He asked as he removed his coat and placed it over her desk chair. The place looked different now that he hasn't intoxicated. The night before he hadn't looked around too much. In fact, he hadn't given the room too much thought when he had been there that morning. There were Polaroid's tapped above her bed. He recognized some from her time on Los Angeles. Others were from New York with people he didn't recognized.
"Not at all, Mr. Irwin," she said her voice bring him back from his thoughts.
Mia moved away from him and towards the fridge in her dorm room. She started picking out ingredients and holding them in her arms. She always had this habit of holding much more than she could handle. He took a quick step forward to grab a block of cheese that slipped her fingers.
"Watch it, butter fingers," he teased her. The words came out so easily. The earlier awkwardness had evaporated from between them. He saw a genuine grin form over her lips as she looked at him, their eyes leveled as they met.
"So what are we going to do? I came here because you said yes to dinner," he pointed out, looking confused.
"We are going to have dinner. I am going to show you the wonders of toaster over pizza," she said with a chuckle as she set down the ingredients onto the table.
"Should I have Domino's on speed dial?" Ashton teased her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as she scoffed at him. This felt nice. This felt right. "I'm joking, browneyes. It sounds like a challenge," he added with a chuckle, his lips pressing to the piece of exposed skin in that place where her neck met her shoulder.
"You haven't called me that in so long..." she murmured the words as if it was just a thought spoken out loud. Quickly she continued to say, "Do you have to make everything into a competition?"
Ashton noticed as a strand of hair fell out of her braid. He had to resist the urge to reach over and tuck it behind her ear. He moved his body away from hers and leaned against the table, watching her.
"Of course I do. I am the topping master after all," he said, his words making her chuckle.
"You wish!" She said with a chuckle.
Now this was something he could deal with unlike the earlier awkwardness and tiptoeing. He grabbed one of the pre-made pizza crusts and placed it over one of the plates she had pulled out for them to work in.
"Ready to put your money where your mouth is babe?" He challenged, his smirk growing as something inside those brown eyes sparked at his words.
"Bring it on, Irwin. You're really eager to get your butt kicked," she added as she picked the other pizza crust and placed it on her own plate.
He let it pass, moving on as he scooped a slice of mushroom into his mouth, biting down on the heavily juiced vegetable. "Don't act like you forgot, Mia. I'm amazing when it comes to toppings. You'll think you died and went to heaven when you taste my masterpiece." Ashton flashed her a smirk, reaching for another mushroom slice.
"If you keep eating our toppings we're going to end up with nothing!" Mia exclaimed as he grabbed one of the pre-sliced peppers and popped it into his mouth. He was starving. He hadn't eaten anything since that coffee and pastries he had had with her earlier.
For the next few minutes the two of them concentrating in creating the most amazing pizza they could master to surpass the other. As she grated some cheese, Ashton continued to munch on the toppings. She continued to teasingly argue with him until she took away the topping tray all together. He could see her grinning at the way he pouted at her.
"You're such a dork," she said with a chuckle as she broke off a piece of cheese and fed it to him. He smiled at her, making sure his lips brushed against his fingers as he ate her offering. The time just seemed to fly between them. Twenty minutes later she was pulling out the mini pizza's from the toaster oven and cutting them up before plating them.
"I don't know about you, but my pizza wins the better looking contest," he told her, earning him an elbow to the side as she muttered to him "Shut up and eat your pizza."
They moved towards the floor beside her bed, the pizza plates between them before they each grabbed a slice the other person made and took a bite. He hated to admit it, but she was an amazing cook. Yet the small noise she made when she bit into his pizza told him he hadn't made a too shabby job himself.
"You can say it," he teased.
"You are so sure of yourself all the time," Mia said with a roll of her eyes before she took a small bite of the pizza.
Ashton smirked further more, leaning over the food after setting his slice down, momentarily, to press his lips to her cheek. "Fine. You don't need to say it, but you're welcome."
That earned him yet another exaggerated eye roll from her part, but he could tell how her cheeks were tinting the slightest of red. He was actually proud that he could still make her blush like that.
"Way too full of yourself," Mia said with a chuckle, flashing him a small close lip smile before she went for another bite of the pizza finishing off the one he had prepared.
"At this rate, you're going to be done with both of our pizza's and I am going to have to order Domino's after all!" He told her with a chuckle as he grabbed himself one of the slices he had prepared. He had done a really good job with this, he thought.
"Your a jerk," she said with a chuckle.
"A sexy, amazing pizza topping-chef, jerk," Ashton amended, nudging her shoulder before he laid his head down on her lap, rolling the drooping cheese into his mouth slowly.
His words seemed to have made her chuckle once again and that made him truly happy. He hadn't heard her laugh so much since LA. Her laugh was some of the things he missed the most about her. Along with just about everything else.
She down onto her lap so she could watch him with amused eyes. "Yeah, that kind of jerk," she teased.
"See? You even like the jerk part of me. You think it's sexy," Ashton said, laughing along with her.
"Just eat your pizza," she said. Mia laid her head back against the mattress, shaking it slowly from side to side.
He smirked, satisfied he had won their little teasing game and followed her demand through; greedily stuffing himself with pizza until he could no longer even glance at the food without his stomach protesting to anymore.
"I am never eating again," she murmured, laying her hand across her stomach as if that would sooth her from all the food she just ingested.
Ashton turned his head to look at her, his head shaking as he chuckled in response to her statement. "I didn't think you were one of those hunger strike types. Could have fooled me."
"New York has changed me," she teased easily with a wink. Mia chuckled and looked at him closely as she began to comb her fingers through his unruly hair. "Mmm but you're right. I like to eat too much for me to go on a hunger strike."
Ashton lifted up from her lap and leaned in close to her, his own fingers brushing softly against the gentle skin of her cheek.
"Good, because you wouldn't be able to resist my pizza topping skills anyways," he murmured.
"Are you never going to give up?" She murmured back.
"Never."
"To be honest. They weren't that good." Mia said teasingly, her smile growing as he inched even closer to her. "Good thing your music career is really paying off and you don't need to work at a pizza shop."
"That's not what you said a while ago. In fact, you were moaning like it was giving you an orgasm." Ashton smirked, his lips kissing her cheek, slowly inching closer to her lips.
"Fat chance, Irwin," she said with a chuckle before she pressed her lips to his. The kiss was tender and soft. He didn't dare rush it. In fact, he let her lead it. She seemed to be scared to kiss him. And he couldn't blame her since he was scared himself. Every time he had the chance, he felt like she could disappear from right in front of him. Turn out to be just one of his many dreams.
His hand squeezed her hip gently to encourage her. The action seemed to have made her relax as she melted in his arms. Her hands resting at the nape of his neck as the kiss continued to go on. A brush of lips before she pulled away. Her eyes were closed and Ashton couldn't help but think how beautiful she really was.
"Want to hear something funny?" He murmured the question softly; afraid he would disturb this newfound peace they had seemed to settle into. Her eyes fluttered open, showing him those beautiful chocolate brown eyes he loved so much.
"Tell me," she whispered.
"You have fans," he teased. He watched with amusement as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his words. She didn't say anything so he decided to continue. "When I showed up at the dorms I bumped into some girls who knew who I was, but they were more concerned about the fact that you were in fact my LA girl."
"You're lying," she said shaking her head.
"Wish I was. Looks like we have fans. They probably already have a ship name for us," he teased further.
"It's probably something silly like Mash or Ashia," she said, laughter lacing around her voice.
"I think I like Mash better," he whispered.
"Yeah, me too," she said before she pressed her lips against his once again.
(Author's Note: And here it is finally! I know it has been ages, but I was in a rut! I am finally out and better than ever! Ready to load you guys with Mash cuteness and bring ASM to a finish so I can focus completely on LMMDI||Luke fanfic. I also promise that next chapter will be from Mia's point of view since the last three have been from Ashton's (oops!) Hope you guys enjoy it! Remember to vote, comment and share! Thanks for all of your support always! xx)