Saudade // ashton irwin au

3

The next time I saw Ashton, I hadn't expected him to sit next to me at lunch and want to know my name. He was way too attractive for me. I was surprised that we even got along, and that he didn't bring up my crying situation before. 

It was really weird.

--

"How are things now, Tahlia?" Calum asked me softly as we took our regular seat in the cafeteria, all the way next to the windows. I was staring out of them as I took a bite of my sandwich.

"They're okay. . ." I mumbled, telling half the truth. "Mom said she wouldn't be leaving, and that she'd try her best to get along with my dad. I don't think it's going to work though."

I ended up telling Calum about how my mom threatened to leave my dad, and we sat on Calum's bed in his nasty bedroom, and watched a movie so I wouldn't cry anymore. But the movie ended really badly so I cried again and Calum had to hold me till I calmed down. I didn't go home that night.

"Tahlia, you have to be positive. Things will work out, I know it will. Just give it time." Calum sighed, taking a drink of his water.

"I'm giving it time, Cal. It's just hard."

He nodded, understanding that he should just drop it now and move on.

"Hey Calum," a voice said from behind me, causing me to turn and look. It was the boy from the other day that I bumped into. I couldn't stop the blush that spread onto my face as he took a seat next to me. "Luke told me I could find you here."

The boy looked over at me and smiled, then opened his bag of chips as he got comfortable. I looked over at Calum, wondering who this kid thought he was and why he was sitting here. Usually, it was just Calum and I who sat here, occasionally Luke or Michael would sit here but that was about it. We liked our privacy. 

"Did you need something, Ashton?" Calum cleared his throat, sitting up some as his eyes darted behind me. I couldn't help but smile, he was looking at Callie, this girl he had the biggest crush on. They'd look really good together.

"Not really, just someone to sit with honestly. I don't know anyone but you and Luke."

"How do you know Calum?" I asked Ashton, trying my best to not be rude. Ashton's name fit his face and curls perfectly to me for some reason.

"After you and I kind of ran into each other in the hall, Calum and I became friends. What's your name by the way?" Ashton took a sip of his coke, licking his lips.

"Tahlia." I choked out, staring at his lips. Ashton was extremely attractive and the fact that he even wanted to know my name surprised me. 

"Cute, it fits you." He nodded his head. "Oh hey, there's Luke. Luke!"

Luke's head snapped towards our direction, and I smiled at him. He was also one of my best friends and I had to admit, I had a tiny crush on him. Only Calum knew about it, and he always tried to get me to confess to Luke about my feelings but I've been too chicken shit to do it. I didn't want to ruin our friendship.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Luke took a seat next to Calum, and smiled at me. I blushed again.

"Great, so I got a question." Ashton spoke up.

"Okay? What is it?" Luke leaned back in his seat after stealing one of my chips and smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed, looking over at Ashton.

"What's this about the party on Saturday?" 

"Don't go to those." I shook my head. "They're a waste of time."

"To you, maybe." Calum chuckled. "Great place to go to get fucked."

Luke chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, true mate. It's also fun to get fucked up at those parties. Tahlia wouldn't know that, though. She's too chicken shit to go to one."

"I am not!" I argued, rolling my eyes again. "Every time I go to one, I'm left alone while you guys go and do drugs or some shit."

Luke chuckled. "They're not even bad, Tahlia. It's just weed."

"Whatever." I looked away from them to stare outside, playing with my food.

It wasn't that I thought weed was bad for you, it was just that I was afraid of getting caught smoking it. I was sort of a goodie-two-shoes and there was no way I wanted to get caught smoking pot.

"You should go, I wanna go." Ashton said.

I looked over at him and shook my head. "Not my type of place."

"Tahlia, it's the end of the school year party. You should go, just this once." Calum said.

"Seriously, you should come with us." Luke added.

"Are you going to leave me again?" I asked.

"I don't know about them, but I won't." Ashton smiled at me, his arm resting on the back of my chair now.

"If you leave me, I'll be so pissed."

"So it's a yes then?" Luke asked.

"It's a yes."

"Wow, Irwin. It's like you come along and now Tahlia actually wants to be social." Calum snorted as the words flew out of Luke's mouth and I blushed a deep red. 

"Shut up, Luke!" 

-

And that was basically how I agreed into having one of the best and worst nights of my life.