I pulled my jacket tighter around my body as the wind blew, the fall weather starting to catch up with me. It would only be so long before I wasn't able to wear my signature dress and combat boot combination anymore. I sighed and glanced over at Ashton, who was obviously not adjusting to the new cold weather either.

"Cold, Murphy?" Ashton winked at me, noticing how hard I was struggling to keep warm with only my light jacket.

"Only a little." I shrugged in response. Ashton adjusted the beanie resting on top of his head and smiled.

"You aren't used to waiting for the bus, are you? Just wait until winter." He chuckled.

"Hopefully by the time it's winter my mother will come to her senses and let me have my car back." I said, my teeth slowly starting to chatter from the sudden cold.

"I doubt it." Ashton smirked, bringing the cigarette that seemed to be glued to his fingers back to his mouth.

"I will get my car back, and when I do I'm not giving you a ride to school." I stuck my tongue out at Ashton, teasing him.

"That's perfectly fine with me. Why would I want to be stuck in a car with you every morning? Besides, I like taking the bus" Ashton rolled his eyes.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because they're so big. If the bus crashes I have a cushion of protection." Ashton explained. He stared down at the ground as he spoke, like he was ashamed of this idea.

"What if the bus flips on it's side?" I said after a moment.

"I'll climb out a window. There's always options, Murphy." Ashton replied. He had obviously put a lot of thought into this, so I chose not to argue with him any further.

I took my phone out of my jacket pocket and unlocked it, letting Ashton know that our conversation was over.

"Murphy?" Ashton broke the silence between us as we awkwardly stood together.

"Are you ever going to call me by my actual name, Irwin?" I asked, abruptly looking up from my phone. I had been concentrating on an intense game of Flappy Bird, I wanted to try and beat Michael's score so if I ever met him again I would have something to talk about with him.

"Danielle." Ashton smirked.

"Dani." I corrected him.

"Anyway Murphy, today is Friday." Ashton continued.

"That's really observant, thanks for letting me know." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes and returning back to my game.

"Stop being such a sarcastic little shit, Murphy." Ashton groaned. "Do you have any plans for this fine Friday night?"

"Irwin, are you trying to ask me out?" I sighed.

"No. I just wanted to know if you would come get something to eat with me. Just as friends, of course." Ashton shrugged. He shifted his weight nervously on his feet, passing his cigarette from one hand to another.

"Just as friends?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at Ashton. As much as I wanted this to be more than just a friendly dinner I felt that Ashton wasn't going go budge, even though it seemed like he may want more as well.

"Just as friends. I'm in the mood for a burger." Ashton flashed me a big smile before focusing his attention to the cigarette in his hand once more.

"Well you're in luck, because so am I."

-

"I can't believe you've never been here before!" Ashton rolled his eyes. He had brought me to a burger joint down town, and to Ashton's surprise I had never even heard of it. It didn't surprise me either, the only time I really ever ate out was at a fast food restaurant, I hardly ever went to a sit down place.

"I don't really eat out often." I shrugged.

"But this place is so good!" Ashton said, tapping his fingers to the rhythm of the song playing on the radio.

"It's decent." I smiled, popping a french fry into my mouth.

"You are crazy, Murphy." Ashton shook his head at me.

"Shut up, I said it was decent." This time I was the one to roll my eyes.

"Decent isn't good enough." Ashton smirked. He finished off his burger and pushed his plate away from him, leaning back in his chair.

"I really like Mexican food, so you can take me out for Mexican next time." I sighed. I wasn't trying to push it, but I hoped that after tonight Ashton may consider taking me out again. He said this wasn't a date, but I think we both knew that it was.

"Oh, so now there's going to be a next time?" Ashton scoffed.

"Yes." I nodded.

"You're so persistent." Ashton laughed.

"So is that a yes?" I asked.

"What?" Ashton raised an eyebrow. He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on the table.

"Are you going to ask me out again?" I smiled, trying hard not to start laughing.

"This isn't a date." Ashton sighed.

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Well, hypothetically speaking, if I was to ask you out on a date, would you say yes?" Ashton asked.

"I said yes to this, didn't I?" I said, finishing my own burger.

"This wasn't a date!" Ashton laughed.

"Okay, fine. Hypothetically speaking, I would say yes." I sighed. Ashton nodded, then quickly changed the subject.

"Murphy, Murphy, listen! They're playing The Killers!" Ashton said excitedly. He reached over the table and grabbed both of my hands, holding them down flat.

I stayed silent for a moment, trying to hear the music over the loud chatter of others in the restaurant.

"Oh, I guess they are." I shrugged.

"I mean, it's only Somebody Told Me. That's the song everybody knows by them. I wish they would play some of their other songs on the radio." Ashton rambled on.

"There are so many better songs by them." I agreed.

"Right? Like, usually when I ask people if they've heard them they say they only know this song." Ashton groaned.

"Or they've never heard of them." I said.

"Or they've never heard of them!" Ashton repeated. "Man, I'm so glad I found someone to talk to about the music I like."

"You never had anyone before?" I asked.

"No, not really. Michael doesn't like the same type of music as me and Kenzie absolutely hated The Killers." He said, slowly lifting his hands off of mine, like he had forgotten they were there.

"Did she really?" I laughed.

"Yeah, I surprised her once by taking her to their concert and she tried to ignore me for a week." Ashton explained, laughing even harder than I was.

"That's insane." I nodded.

We sat in complete silence for a minute, staring straight at each other. I took in ever inch and aspect of Ashton's face and I knew he was doing the same to me, tracing over my face like he felt the need to memorize it. Ashton finally broke the silence by crossing his eyes, making us both burst into a fit of laughter.

"Can I get the check please?" Ashton asked, stopping out waitress as she passed by our table. She returned a few minutes later and placed the black booklet down in front of Ashton, who immediately began digging around in his pockets for money.

"We can split the check." I spoke up, suddenly feeling bad about making him pay.

"No, it's alright." Ashton shook his head, rejecting my offer.

"Let me pay half." I attempted once more.

"No Murphy, I insist." Ashton said, taking out two twenty dollar bills and placing them on top of our receipt.

"I can pay for myself." I whined.

"I know you can, but do you really want to?" Ashton asked, and when I didn't answer he continued speaking. "It's my treat."

-

"The Beatles." Ashton stated, "What's your favorite Beatles song?"

"Yesterday." I answered. I actually knew a lot of Beatles songs, my dad used to play them for me all the time when I was younger. I didn't need Ashton's to introduce me to them, because I already knew a lot.

"I'm impressed. I thought you were going to say Hey Jude, that's what everyone says." Ashton chuckled.

"What's your favorite song?" I asked. Ashton and I both stopped walking, we were now in front of my house.

Ashton sighed, staring down at me. "Something."

"Nice." I nodded.

"So, hypothetically speaking..." Ashton trailed off, looking down at his feet. Surprisingly he wasn't smoking right now, though I was sure he was going to take out a cigarette the second we left the restaurant.

"Oh, so now we're back to hypotheticals." I rolled my eyes."

"If this was a date, - which it wasn't - would you say you had a good time?" Ashton blurted out.

"Hypothetically, yes. This was a good date." I laughed.

"It wasn't a date!" Ashton shouted, a low laugh escaping from his lips.

"Alright, Irwin. Hypothetically speaking, if I asked you to come to my parent's dinner party later this month would you think about showing up?" I asked before I even had a chance to think this through. It shouldn't feel like such a big deal, Luke and Brooke and Calum were already coming. It would be nice with Ashton there, maybe he would add something to my group of friends.

"Is this really hypothetical or are you actually asking me to come to your parent's dinner party?" Ashton raised an eyebrow.

"It depends. Do you want to come?" I asked.

"Do I need to wear a suit?" Ashton sighed deeply, like the thought of just putting on a nice outfit was stressing him out.

"I mean, I guess. It's fancy, yeah." I struggled to put the words together, startled that Ashton was actually considering coming.

"So, is this a real party or is it still hypothetical? Because I'm starting to get excited." Ashton laughed.

"It's real." I nodded.

"I'll think about it." Ashton said. He turned away from me, slowly backing down the street.

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun."

"A bunch of snobby rich adults in the same room? I don't know, Murphy." Ashton stopped walking away from me and instead took a step closer.

"You won't even have to talk to them. You can hang out with me and my friends." I said, though I wasn't sure how any of them would react to being put together.

"The red head and the Asian?" Ashton questioned.

"Plus the red head's boyfriend." I shrugged.

"Oh right, him." Ashton rolled his eyes, and I began to question Luke and Ashton's relationship even further.

"Calum isn't Asian, either." I sighed.

"Yeah, he told me." Ashton said, his mouth formed into a smile, laughter bubbling out of his lips.

"So you'll come?" I asked again.

"I said I'll think about it." Ashton said. "You better get inside, I don't want your parents getting mad at me for keeping you out all night."

"Okay, thanks for the date Irwin, I had a nice time." I said, teasing Ashton as he walked away from me.

"It wasn't a date, Murphy!" Ashton yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. He turned around again and marched right up to me, grabbing my shoulders in his hands.

"Yes it was." I whispered.

"If this was a date I would have kissed you before I left, wouldn't I?" Ashton snapped.

"Well I don't know, I always thought kissing on the first date was kind of cheesy..." I shrugged, Ashton's hands still on my shoulders.

Ashton furrowed his eyebrows together, looking puzzled as he tried to collect his thoughts. "So you don't like kissing on the first date?"

"It really just depends on how good of a date it was." I smirked, staring up at Ashton. He was leaning in closer, and I knew that this time I had done it.

Ashton tugged me forward, squeezing my shoulders tighter as he finally pressed his lips to mine. His lips were firm against my own, moving quickly along with mine. I didn't even have much time to react, it's like someone flipped a switch and suddenly Ashton and I were the only people on Earth. He only stayed there for a second before pulling away, letting go of me completely. I raised my hand and touched my fingers to my lips, still shocked at what just happened.

"This was one hell of a date, Murphy."