The Runaway | Ashton Irwin AU

Part 11

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[Ashton's POV]

I tried my hardest to pay attention as the 20-something year old boy talked loudly at me. How he managed to get a stable job, especially here of all places, with his hair the color that it was, was beyond me. I've only known this guy for about three days now. He had accidentally bumbled in here thinking it was the Chinese restaurant two doors down and decided to stay and chat. He was nice and very talkative, which was a good thing, considering that I wasn't particularly at talkative person. But he kept the conversation going without a hitch.

"And then she told me she wasn't interested!" His tone of voice caused me to look over at him. "And I asked her, 'is it the hair?'"

I rolled my eyes. "It probably was."

"It was!" He laughed loudly.

"Well not to be rude, Michael, but your hair color choices, that you've mentioned so far, have been a bit unorthodox."

"I wouldn't exactly call blue hair unorthodox, Ashton," He huffed. "If girls don't like the hair, then it's their loss!"

"Sure thing," I rolled my eyes yet again. Michael Clifford was definitely a character.

It's been a week since having dinner at Charlie's. And it's been a week since the little incident with my grandmother. To be completely honest, I was more than embarrassed that Charlie had to witness my grandmother the way she did because that wasn't her, that rarely happened to my grandmother. I blame cancer.

"So is this really what you do?" Michael brought my back from my thoughts. "Or is it just some kind of undercover operation?"

I shook my head, chuckling slightly. "This is what I do."

"Everyday?" Michael looked peeved by the idea.

"Yup!" I popped the 'p', leaning my elbows on the counter in a lazy manner as I stood behind it.

Let me tell you the few things that I've learned about Michael in just the few short days of knowing him. He moved here to Page about two years ago, which I found quite interesting seeing as I had never seen him before a couple of days ago. He told me he hadn't gone out much up until recently because of his job. Michael is a photo-journalist for some travel magazine based in Flagstaff. He writes mostly from the safety of his apartment, until he's asked to go out on location and shoot for upcoming stories. That was fascinating to me, all the places he's gotten to travel to. That was something I hoped to be able to do one day. I did not want to be stuck in this desert town forever.

"Would you stop taking pictures of me?!" I stood to my full height as Michael pulled his camera away from his face with a loud laugh.

"But your facial expressions are just so great!" He explained.

"I hate having my picture taken," I mumbled under my breath.

"Oh, don't worry," His eyes were turned out toward the store windows. "I've just replaced you with a new muse."

"Huh?" His statement caught my attention as I too turned to look out the front windows.

My heart started to pound in my chest when I realized who was coming this way and who Michael's new muse was.

I hadn't seen Charlie since that night and I wasn't sure how she was going to act around me now. I wasn't even sure how I should act around her. That night had been, well it had been horrible at the start, but ended up being the most fun I have had in a while. I've always loved to drive out to the middle of nowhere and scream at nothing and as stupid as it sounds, I was happy to be able to share that experience with her.

The bell above the door rang out and none other than Charlie Brennan walked through the door. Michael immediately put his camera to his face, the shutter being heard throughout the desolate shop. Another odd thing about Michael was that he still used a 35mm film camera. I thought it was cool, but much less efficient than digital.

Charlie stared between the two of us with a confused look on her face before she finally turned fully toward Michael and stuck her hand out for him to shake. "Hi, I'm Charlie."

"Hello, beautiful," He spoke confidently. "I'm Michael and also this kids new best friend."

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the thousandth time since I've met him, my cheeks heating up as Charlie giggled at his comment. Damn you, Michael Clifford.

"He's not my best friend," I leaned against the counter, watching the two interact.

Michael laughed. "I'll break down those walls you have up, Irwin. Just you wait."

Charlie's laugh yet again sounded out and I covered my face already feeling it heat up again. "Oh my god, shut up, Michael."

The two continued to laugh at my expense, Michael speaking between breaths. "Okay, okay, I'm done!"

Once their laughter subsided, the three of us just stood there in a comfortable silence. It's nice to see that Charlie wasn't acting differently around me, actually it seemed as though she was even more comfortable with me. I thought after that night she might not want to talk me anymore. I didn't know why I thought that, but ever since my grandmother's diagnosis, I've been jumping to the worst conclusion for most every situation.

"Was there something you needed?" Michael spoke up, seeing me just standing there dumbly. "A CD, or a book maybe?"

"Oh, no!" Charlie smiled at him sweetly. "But thanks for asking."

"I don't even work here and I could sell a CD better than you," Michael joked as he turned to look at me. "Ash, you should be taking notes!"

"I hate you," I tried to hide the smile that tugged at my lips.

"Actually I need to go, my mom is waiting for me," Charlie took a step toward the door. "I only came in because I knew you'd be working and I wanted to say hi."

"O-oh," I fumbled with my words. "That was nice of you."

She laughed a little and I swear there was a little pink tint to her cheeks. "Really, it's no problem."

"It was nice meeting you, Michael," She gave me another glance and a smile before she left the shop almost as quickly as she came.

Just as the door shut behind her, Michael gave an over exaggerated sigh. "Please tell me you're working on that, because she obviously has a thing for you."

"What?" I laughed nervous, looking out the window to see Charlie helping her mother with grocery bags.

"She does not have a thing for me," I turned back to look at him.

"A girl doesn't just come to a guys work place just to say hi," A smirk was evident on his face.

With that the conversation ended and Michael turned to head down one of the many aisles of bookshelves, calling back to me as he did so. "But seriously, Ash, I think we're going to be great friends!"

I leaned up against the counter in my usual spot and turned my head to look out the window once again, mumbling to myself. "I think so too."

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A/N: Yay new chapter! Hope you guys liked it. :) What do you think of Michael's character?

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