"Oh, I really like this..." I mutter under my breath. After shopping for nearly an hour and visiting nearly six stores, we make one last quick stop at our favourite jewelry store, Charming Charlies. This store is an OCD's dream come true. All the merch is color coordinated and placed on racks around the store. All the silver jewelry is in one area, all the gold in another, the red, the green, the purple and so on, each in their own section. It's really awesome. They have all the colors you could ever need. It's perfect to match that one shirt you have that nothing else will go with.

The bracelet I was admiring was made of little fake diamonds arranged in flowers with a small pink gemstone in the middle of each flower. It was simple, but that's my style. I think about buying it, but I take one look at the line and decided I don't need it that badly. The line almost wraps around the store. If it wasn't long, I would get it, but I don't want my friends to wait for me. The boys are probably at the food court waiting for us already.

"C'mon, Vi!" Sarah says. She's standing over my shoulder, tapping her foot impatiently at me. I set the bracelet down and walk towards the exit.

"Where's Sammi?"

"She's paying. She said to go meet the boys so they don't think we forgot them. There were only a couple people in front of her, so she'll meet us soon."

We walk upstairs to the food court, but I don't see Luke or Ashton.

"Where are they?"

Sarah shrugs. She pulls out her phone and starts texting away furiously.

"I'll text Ashton." I ask him where he is and he responds in under a minute.

Ashy 😍: Be there in 5 just leaving store

"Ugh, they're still in a store!" I complain. Sarah rolls her eyes as Sammi walks up the stairs.

"Oh, come on. The girls could get out of the mall before the guys?"

I laugh. Our guys are just higher maintenance than we are.

A few minutes later, they show up.

"'Bout time." I greet Ashton, fake scowling at him. Instead of retaliating with a classic Irwin zinger, he kisses my cheek.

"You ladies ready?" Ashton holds his arm out for me and I place my arm in it. Before I turn, I see Luke do the same for Sammi. She blushes and grabs it.

I glance at Sarah, but she's looking at Sammi and Luke with a look of satisfaction on her face. I was worried she'd feel left out at bring the fifth wheel, but she seems okay. Even though she's obsessed with boys, she's never been one to be jealous of someone else's relationship.

Luke gets a ride with Sammi and Sarah, even though he drove here with us.

"Do you want to ride with us?" I ask Sarah quietly before she gets in the car. I feel bad that she's the only one by herself; I can at least make her feel wanted.

"Nah, I have to chaperone this vehicle." She say loudly enough for Sammi to hear it. I see Sammi blush furiously and stare daggers at Sarah, but she continues, "I wish I could be in both cars, that way I could monitor all of you," she eye's Ashton who looks away. "But alas. I'll settle here. Be good kids." And she gets in the car.

I roll my eyes. She's so dramatic.

"Want me to drive, babe?" Ashton asks. I throw him my keys. We took my car because we were driving Luke, and I have a back seat. Ashton's truck only has the one row.

We get in and buckle up. I plug my phone in to charge and Ashton throws the car into reverse. Once we're out on the street, he puts his hand onto the gear shift and frowns.

"This isn't your truck, Ashy. It's automatic."

"Oh yeah..." He looks at it again before shaking his head. "I forgot."

He merges on to the expressway and glances at me with a look I've begun to recognise as his, 'I'm probably up to no good' look.

He rests his hand on my knee and my eyes swivel to him before returning my gaze to the window. Well that wasn't bad. Maybe I don't know his looks very well... No sooner than I think that, he slides his hand a little higher up my leg.

I start singing along to the radio and he shifts his hand again so now it's on my upper thigh. He rubs little circles with his thumb that I can feel through my jeans and my voice hitches. He smiles triumphantly, keeping his eyes on the road, not saying anything. He keeps it up and I have to stop singing. My arms have goosebumps all over them and I have to stop singing because I actually can't. I want to make him stop, but I enjoy it too much. I'll have to find a way to get back at him...

We get back to the apartment. Sammi and Sarah aren't back yet because they had to drop Luke off at home. Ashton takes my hand and leads me to his apartment. I set my bags by the floor of his room and sit on his bed as he begins putting his things away. He bought some new boots, even though he has a bunch, a pair of sunglasses, and a couple pairs of black jeans. He won't buy his own shirts or sweatshirts, he likes to have me help him pick them out.

"Hey, go through this bag, will ya?" He chucks a dark green bag at me, placing the glasses he'd purchased on his face. I try to keep a straight face at the red plastic heart frames, but the more I look at him, the more I realize he's actually rocking them. How is that fair, he looks good in literally everything.

"What am I, your slave?" I tease, taking the tissue paper out.

"You can consider it part of your wifely duties training." I scoff, but comply with his request.

"What, putting away your things from the mall?"

"No, listening to my commands when I tell you to do something." He removes his head from the closet and stalks over to me, placing his hands on his hips and attempting to intimidate me. Even if he looks good, those glasses don't give off an intimidating vibe, so I just stick my tongue out at him. "Yeah, I shouldn't have hoped for so much..." He sighs.

I nod in agreement and pull a shoe box out of the bag, taking the shoes out and lining it up with the others on the bottom of his closet.

"Is there anything else in that bag?" He asks.

I check in the bottom; there's a small silver jewelry box hidden underneath a piece of tissue paper.

"What's this?"

He shrugs.

"Open it."

Curious, I do as he says. Inside is the flower bracelet I'd been looking at.

"Ashton," I gasp. "You didn't have to...how did you even know?"

"I know, I did it because I wanted to. Happy four months and 8 day anniversary." He throws his arm around me and plants a quick kiss on my lips. "Sammi helped me. She stayed behind to show me what you were looking at. It's why we were late."

"Ash, that's so thoughtful. Thank you," He takes the box from my hands and removes the bracelet, fastening it around my wrist. He adjusts it so the clasp is at the bottom. "I can't believe you know exactly how long it's been." I say.

One corner of his mouth turns up in a smile. He hesitates before walking over to his desk and pulling a small pocket calendar from a drawer. He looks down at it before nervously peering over at me and handing it over. I look at him quizzically, but open it and search for today's date. On every day he's got the number of days we've been together written on it. I flip back to previous months and see he's written down important things that's happened, like our first date, the first time we hung out together, the walks we went on, and important events like the swing dance club party.

"I love you, Ashton." I look at him, then drop my gaze. 

Why did I just say that? It's far too soon, what if he thinks-

He quickly closes the distance between us and puts his finger under my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"And I love you, Vi."

He kisses me, and I forget who I am and where I am. I never thought it was possible to love someone this much. I pull away when I feel my head going fuzzy and he rests his forehead on mine, both of us breathing heavily. He glances down at my bracelet and beings playing with it, sliding it around on my wrist.

"Well now I'm going to have to write something else down on my calendar."

"What, that you bought me a bracelet?" The calendar had fallen from my grasp when I put my arms around him and I pick it up. It fell open to four months from now, and he's even got that filled in. I flip to the end, and the entire thing is filled up. That's how confident he is in us, he thinks we'll still be together in two years.

"No, the day we first said, 'I love you' to each other."

***

Straight up not having a good time rn and I don't know why. Anybody got any jokes to tell, or funny stories? 

Hope you enjoyed the update, I think it's sort of stupid but I've got high hopes for the next couple chapters. Have a good day/night everybody, and thanks for reading. :)

~ashtonfortherwin