Paint You Wings // Ashton Irwin [au]

Thirty-seven (Part Two)

Emilia's POV

1 hour earlier...

We all sit together in the unlit living room, Calum and Julia snuggling up together on the floor, Michael and Luke sitting on opposite ends of the sofa, and Ashton and I on the loveseat, watching infomercials and commenting on how stupid people are for considering buying these products as well as how bad the actors are.

When we came back to Ashton's house after eating (which ended up being a total waste in money because the food sucked, so to compensate for eating shitty food, we went to Taco Bell), Michael wanted to dive straight into eating his chocolate cake that Luke bought for him which we all finished off fairly quickly. In our defense, it was a small cake, so eating it all in one night is acceptable. Since there were no gifts to be given, except for Ashton's little entertainment back at the restaurant that surprised us all, we decided to just relax for the rest of the night.

Today was supposed to be a day of fun; to celebrate Michael's twenty-third birthday and not have to deal with fucking Jared. We haven't had to worry about him for a while and now he shows up unwanted.

From what Ashton told me, Jared didn't flinch when he told him to leave and then he threatened to call the police. I don't know why Jared didn't leave in the first place. He should know the repercussions of going against the restraining order. Thankfully, Ash stood up to him—not in the best way, but he did regardless. I don't know what it is that Jared said that pushed Ash over the edge to the point where he actually raised his fist, but it must have been something important for him to actually use violence.

I'll admit it was a good hit for Ash. I'm surprised that the force of his punch was enough to knock Jared to the ground. From the amount of blood that was spilling out from Jared's hand, I can only assume that Ash must have broken his nose which I'll give him props for. I never liked Jared's button nose.

However, I'm not an idiot. I know that one punch isn't going to make Jared run away for good like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs. There has to be a reason as to why he left so quickly without putting up a fight and it'll only be a matter of time before we find out.

"Are you okay?" Ashton whispers in my ear from behind me. I don't have to turn my head much to face him since I'm sitting in between his legs with my back resting on his chest. When I meet his gaze, he flickers his eyes over to my hand that is caressing his swollen one, my fingers rubbing gently over his knuckles.

I move my hand away and place it on my stomach. I know his hand is okay. Nothing is broken or fractured; it's just a little bruised. I just care about his well-being.

"Yeah," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

He wraps his arms right below my chest and squeezes me for a second before loosening his grip. "It doesn't hurt anymore. It's a little sore, but it's nothing to worry about," he assures before placing his lips on my shoulder. He lingers there for what seems like minutes, but couldn't have been more than ten seconds before he pulls away. "Smile," he says.

"What?" I look at him, perplexed by his demand.

"Smile," he repeats and then proceeds to tickle my sides, throwing me into a fit of laughter in this otherwise quiet room.

My legs kick in the air uncontrollably as I try to shimmy out of his hold and escape this humorous torture. Loud screams of amusement escape my mouth, gaining the attention of everyone else in the room and causing them to laugh along with me, or at me—I'm not really sure since my eyes are tightly shut; trying not to let the tears of amusement slip from them.

"I'm smiling!" I manage to say. I continue to wiggle out of his grasp and in my success I end up slipping off the edge of the loveseat, dropping the short distance to the floor and landing on my stomach. I laugh even harder for some reason and I know that my face probably resembles Michael's hair by now.