Burn ▹ Ashton Irwin

thirty seven

The next few days after that I started off very skeptical about Ashton's "plan" for Thursday night. I made sure to keep reminding him to actually tell us his ideas this time, instead of just winging it without anyone else knowing. That's happened before, and unfortuntately Ashton assuming the rest of us would just catch on got him shot in the stomach. He told us once he thought of a good plan for crashing Vince's party, he would be sure to let us know every detail.

But even if there was going to be a set plan, I was still not feeling right about this.

The problem is that no matter how many times I told Ashton the truth that sabotaging the younger brother of the guy that already wants to kill him is a bad idea, he never listened. Sure, he would take my opinions into consideration, but he never agreed with them. Quite frankly, I think this is a dumb idea, but everyone else seems super excited about it.

When Thursday afternoon finally rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. I was a nervous wreck for two reasons: one was becuase of what's going to go down tonight, and the other was because Ashton was currently trying to light a cigarette again.

"Come on Ashton, it's not that hard." Michael said from where he sat beside me on the edge of the bed. We were all sitting quietly on the squeaky mattress, watching Ashton as he stood in the middle of the room. He held the lighter tight in his right hand, and a new cigarrette in his left. He hasn't said much, he's just been staring down at the thing with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I know." he mumbled. "It's not."

"Just push down on the latch." Calum said, though we've said that to Ashton maybe 10 times already. I could tell a few of us were starting to get a little impatient.

"I know, Calum!" Ashton snapped, glaring at his friend from the corner of his eyes. He then glanced at me and he sighed when he looked away. "Sorry."

"Here- if you do it, Skylar will suck your dick," Michael said casually, pointing to me.

"No I won't." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah you will."

"Michael, stop annoying her," Ashton sighed, thumping Michael on the back of the head.

"Then hurry up!" he retorted. "We believe in you."

"Sure."

"We do!" I said. "All you have to do is light one little cigarette. Here- I'll hold it for you."

I knew that Ashton needed some assistance (which was cute but really sad at the same time), so I got up and slowly took the cigarette from his fingertips, and held it infront of his face. Ashton stared at it sadly. "I hate me." he frowned.

Dammit. I thought. I hate it when he says that. "No, come on," I nudged his hand that held the lighter. "You can do it."

"Will you suck my dick if I do it?"

"She will!" Michael hollered, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Do it!"

"I don't know, uh- sure," I laughed, shaking my head. "But I'm serious, Ashton. I want you to get over this."

"I know..." he stared at me helplessly and spoke quietly, like everyone else in the room suddenly wasn't there. "I can't, Stubby."

"Yes you can, I promise." I said, placing my hand on his back. I didn't look away until he got the message I was trying to send him through my eyes. I raised my eyebrows and he sighed, turning his attention back to the lighter.

"Someone count to three." he ordered, clearing his throat.

"I will," I offered as Ashton re-gripped his hands around the lighter. "Ready?"