The Runaway | Ashton Irwin AU

Part 7

        

        

.

[Ashton's POV]

It was completely insane to me thy I had run into Charlie like that. She had actually taken the time to come into the store just to see me. Years I spent pining after this girl and she walks into my work place three years later like we had known each other forever. It was awkward yes, but it was the best part of my day. I had spent so much time thinking she hadn't even known who I was.

Don't even get me started on her mother. She was a positively explosive woman and obviously didn't give any fucks about embarrassing her daughter in front of me. At least by the red tint to her cheeks when her mother told her to get my number, just had me assuming. But my cheeks had undoubtedly mirrored her's in that moment as well. Needless to say, I was very excited about the idea of having dinner at Charlie Brennan's house.

I was practically bouncing off the walls when I got home that night, admitting to my grandmother over dinner that Charlie was still as gorgeous as I remembered her to be, if not more so. She had asked me so many questions, obviously trying to live vicariously through me, since nowadays she barely ever left the apartment except for hospital visits.

"So are you going to see her again today?" My grandmother asked from her spot at the kitchen table the next morning.

I sighed as I eyes the toaster, hoping it would pop sooner rather than later. "No, gran, she has her own life. We don't know each other at all."

"Well wouldn't you like to change that?" She sipped her coffee.

"No, I'd like to stay strangers forever," I spoke sarcastically.

"It's now or never then, hun," She spoke as she flipped over the newspaper she was reading.

I sighed heavily, not saying a word in response, before I turned back to the toaster just as it popped up. Buttering my toast, I moved across the tiled floor and took a seat next to the old woman I knew as my only family.

It didn't take long for me to finish breakfast and head down to my truck. I hated Mondays, not because it was Monday and the start of the workweek, but because it meant that absolutely no one would be coming into the store today. Monday was just that kind of day. So instead, I spent my time reorganizing the book shelves near the back of the store where people liked to put the books they had picked up previously but then decided that they didn't actually want to purchase them. How difficult is it for someone to put something back where they found it?

I pushed aside a few books, making room for another to take up the space, and noticed as someone taped a flier up to the outside of the front windows. I squinted my eyes, wishing I could read the words that shown through the paper from the light beating down on it from the opposite side. So after shoving another book in its place, I set down the other books that were still in my arms and left them to wait for my return.

The annoying bell that dinged every time the door opened, sounded out as I made my way out of the store. My feet were firmly planted in their spot out on the sidewalk as I stared with wide eyes are the flier the anonymous person had left behind.

|Come see Atlas Rose play at the Windy Mesa this Saturday night!|

Was this real, or was someone playing a sick joke on me? But as I turned my head and looked down the street, I counted out a few similar looking posters off in the distance.

Atlas Rose. By that they meant Charlie Brennan. Why had she allowed them to give her a stage name like that? It certainly fit the music that I had heard playing over the radio that one day, but it didn't come close to depicting the actual girl. But I guess that was kind of the point. Atlas Rose was a persona, a whole different person. A mask that Charlie wore so she didn't have to face reality. Even though she had gotten what she had always dreamed of, it still wasn't what she wanted. She still wasn't playing the music she wanted.

I hadn't asked her about her rise to fame and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't very interested in it because of the fact that it wasn't the music I knew she wanted to be producing. Was she too afraid to stand up for what she believed in? I didn't know. What I did know, was that I was most definitely going to the Windy Mesa this Saturday night.

There wasn't much to say about the Windy. It was just another bar. The only difference was that it was where most, if not all, the locals went. I guess that was the nice thing about that place, everyone knew each other and everyone always seemed to have a good time.

I wasn't much of a drinker to be completely honest, but it wasn't like I didn't drink at all, because I did. But normally it was out of stress, which is never a good reason to start drinking. Because out of that can spawn an addiction and that was something I did not want and that I was somewhat afraid of happening. Really, I used drinking as a way to escape from the pressure of my grandmother's illness. So if I ever did go to the bar, which was rare and I only drank a beer or two.

My hands reached out and plucked the paper from the glass window as I headed back inside to finish the rest of my boring shift.

It was around six when I finally closed up the store, deciding to head home early seeing as no one had been around at all today. I turned the key in the lock, tugging on the door to make sure it was securely locked, before I turned and headed down the dusty sidewalk. I heard the sound of chattering people, and as I turned the corner to the street that my car was parked on, I saw her.

It's like my eyes always seemed to be magnetized to her when she was in the same vicinity as me. It was the same in high school. I felt bad for her. A group of girls our age, some I knew and some I didn't, had crowded around her, most likely bombarding her with questions about her new found fame. It was funny to see how people acted around her now. Like sucking up to her was going to off handedly make them famous too.

Each one of those girls must have said something rude about Charlie in high school. As our eyes met for the first time, I could see how badly she wanted to escape from their grasp. But the words she spoke said differently as she laughed loudly with the small group of girls. Yet another mask.

I ducted my head, stepping off the sidewalk and heading across the street to where my car was parked just a few feet away. I took my chances and turned to look back in Charlie's direction, and to my surprise she was already looking at me. The smile she gave me was jaw dropping, but I held myself together, smiling back and giving a slight wave before I got into my rust bucket of a truck and drove away.

. . . . .

A/N: So I was thinking about the other 5sos boys. I'm not sure if I'll put all of them in as random characters, but maybe one or two. What do you think? Vote? Comment? Love.