Ashton's POV

A parade can be marching in my room right now, spreading joy and happiness and whatever other fucking positivity it creates and it wouldn't even come close to the inexpressible merriment that saturates my entire being as I stare at my girlfriend lying beneath me.

Girlfriend. Emilia is my girlfriend.

I love that sound of that. She is mine, and I am hers. My days of longing for her have come to an end, and I don't have to struggle to hide my affection from her anymore. Everything is out in the open and words of adoration have been exchanged. There is no confusion, no second thoughts, and absolutely no doubts. This is what we want; what we need. This was never planned. I never set out to fall for her and vice versa; it just happened. It's not the end of our friendship; no, this is the beginning of something greater—something right.

Her arms stay wrapped around my neck, one hand playing with the short hair at the nape of my neck and the other resting on my shoulder blade. As I look into her eyes at such close proximity, I can see the white and dark blue rays that enhance the overall grey color of her iris. She blinks slowly, her pupils changing from dilated to un-dilated in milliseconds.

Emilia parts her mouth and speaks softly. "You're hot," she says.

I lift my head up, quirking an eyebrow and smirking. This is new.

In a split-second, realization flashes over her eyes and her cheeks turn a shade of crimson. She removes her hands from my body and chills run down my spine from the loss of contact. "I didn't mean it that way!" she says. "I meant that your skin is hot. I'm burning up here with my hoodie, you lying on top of me, and the heater that seems to be on full blast. It's like a sauna in here."

I chuckle and pull myself up off of her small body and sit next to her. I'm pretty sure it's more than just the physical heat around her that is making her burn up, but I keep my thoughts to myself. "I'm still going to take that as a compliment," I say, winking at her.

She rolls her eyes and tries to hide a smile. "So now what?" she asks sheepishly, fixing her hair before pushing the sleeves of her hoodie up to her elbows. She really doesn't have any experience with being in a relationship, seeing that I'm her first real boyfriend, so I'm not surprised that she's unaware of how this works.

"We just carry on with our day like we always do. Nothing has changed. Things are going to be exactly as before, except now I can kiss you whenever I want to," I say, kissing the top of her head as an example.

"Well, if we're carrying on with our day, I should probably leave then."

My face falls and turns to a mixture of hurt and puzzlement. "Why would you leave?" We literally just became a couple and now she wants to leave.

"I still have two other classes to go to today. We kind of spent the time that we normally use to get lunch talking and kissing on your bed and my next class starts in," she pauses, taking out her phone and checking the time, "less than an hour."

Right. Well, this blows. I wanted to spend the rest of the day with her. "Can't you skip?" I ask, hopeful that she'll say 'yes' so that we can just sit and bask in each other's presence.

She shakes her head and I frown. "I've skipped a lot of days already," she says. "I can't really afford to miss anymore class right now since there's only like five or six weeks left until the end of the semester and I want to start early on studying so that I don't stress out too much before finals."

Is that all that's left of the semester? I haven't really been paying attention to what's going on at school. "Wait, did we already have midterms?"

She shakes her head. "No. Apparently a lot of the professors decided not to assign midterms this semester in order to focus on preparing the students for comprehensive final exams."

Great, so they're going to make us want to kill ourselves as we try to cram every bit of information since the beginning of the semester and pray that we remember it the day of the exam. I'm not really worried about it since I'm still acing my classes, but Emmie has to work hard for her high grades. "I don't want to keep you from your studies so I'll go get dressed and drive you over there," I say.

"You don't have to," she says. "I drove Julia's car here."

"I'm trying to be a good boyfriend but you keep shooting me down," I joke.

"Sorry! I'll make it up to you."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Didn't you say that you wanted to take me out on a date?" she asks and I nod. "Well, I'll go."

"I expected you to go with me anyway, so you're not really making it up to me that way."

Her eyebrow arches. "How do you know that I won't say no to your date offer?"

"Are you saying no?"

"Well, no—"

"So you're saying yes?"

"I plan to, but that's not the point."

"So what is the point?"

She huffs in frustration, annoyed by my witty remarks. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

I smile. "Every second of it."

"You're such an idiot."

"Ah, but I'm your idiot now, and you're stuck with me."

She rolls her eyes, trying to act unamused, but she is a terrible actress. "Oh, joy."

"Don't act like you hate it," I say. "Now, as much as I hate to do this, I'm going to have to kick you out of my house."

"I'm feeling the love already," she teases and I shake my head in amusement. I love that we can be so sarcastic with one another. That's something that will always occur between us because we are so laid back.

"As you should," I say, walking over to my desk chair and grabbing the shirt that hangs over it and pulling it over my head. I move back over to Emmie and reach for her hand, lacing it with mine before guiding us out of my room and downstairs.

I can hear the guys talking amongst themselves as we descend the stairs and as soon as we come into their view, they stop immediately. They must be talking about us. Seeing that they decided to barge in on us at the worst time ever, they should have plenty of gossip to go around. I need to make a note to lock my door from now on. I'd rather not have any more repeats of my best mates walking in on what could have been a great make-out session.

I guide Emmie into the living room, spotting her backpack sitting against the loveseat and grabbing it in my free hand. Emmie tries to take it from me, but I refuse to let her hold it. If she won't skip class or let me drive her to school, the least I can do is carry her bag from here to her car. I toss the strap over my shoulder, letting go of Emmie's hand briefly, so that I can slip into my shoes that sit in the entryway before walking back over and returning my hand to hers.

"You're leaving already?" Luke asks Emmie. She nods and before she has a chance to explain why, Michael cuts in.

"Did Ash screw up already? From what I saw, I thought things were going good between you two," he says, raising his eyebrows up and down. Emmie leans against my arm and hides her face in embarrassment, telling him to shut up.

"He's just messing with you Em," Calum says.

I mentally thank Calum for being the bigger man and comforting Emmie.

I place my hand at the small of her back, gently pushing her in the direction of the front door. "I don't want her to be late for her classes because of you guys, so say your goodbyes so she can leave," I say.

"Pushy," Luke mumbles under his breath.

"Dick," I deadpan, causing Emmie to giggle next to me.

"I'll see you guys later!" Emmie says, waving them off and receiving 'byes' from each of them as she walks by my side and out the door.

If there's one thing that I don't like, it would have to be cold weather. The overcast sky above us adds to the drop in temperature and the thick clouds shroud all sunlight from streaming down. If the sun were actually visible, it probably wouldn't be so cold and the wind wouldn't be making Emmie resist the strong force that pushes her back as we walk to her car.

She takes her keys out and unlocks the door, allowing for me to hold it open as she crawls inside. Emmie looks so small in comparison to the car as she situates herself in the driver's seat. The car is small to begin with, but with her height, it makes me wonder if she can even see past the hood of the car, let alone the dashboard. I hand her the backpack and she places it on the passenger seat next to her. She shuts the car door and starts the car before rolling down the window.

I rest my arms on the doorframe and peek my head inside. "You're gonna call me later, right?"

"Don't be clingy," she says in a diva tone, causing us to break into a fit of laughter.

"You're so sassy," I tease, taking my hand and tilting her chin up to me. I bring her lips to mine, leaving them there momentarily just to feel the pleasurable dizziness that has become my weakness. I detach myself from her, leaving a featherlike peck on her cheek before moving away from the car. "Now go learn stuff."

Emmie smiles widely, nodding her head and telling me 'bye' before rolling the window up and giving me a small wave. She twits her torso to look out the back window, pulling out of the driveway and onto the city streets. I watch her car as it drives off in the direction of the university until she turns onto another street; the vehicle no longer in my sight.

I hurry back inside, rubbing my hands up and down my arms to try and warm myself up since I failed to remember to put on a jacket before going outside. I kick my shoes off and place them back to their previous position in the entryway and go sit in the living room with the guys.

"So you guys are a thing now?" Luke asks, but it sounds like a statement more than a question.

If he already knows the answer, I don't see why he has to ask. I'm pretty sure he, as well as Michael and Calum, knew what the outcome of our 'talking' would be which is most likely why they barged in on us; to show their support as well as embarrass the hell out of me. I know they mean well, but come on.

"Yeah," I say.

"We're really happy for you, Ash," Calum says, smiling. "We've been rooting for you two since the very beginning."

"Thanks."

Michael shifts positions on the sofa from sitting to lying on his back with his head resting on the arm rest. "There are a few things we want to talk to you about though," he says, switching the celebratory mood to one of a serious nature. "Emilia is naïve. She doesn't know how to be in a relationship, and with her past experience, you have to take things slow." I'm already aware of this but I let him continue. "She may have learned how to socialize again as well as open herself to others, but she is still clueless to the development of relationships."

"You have more experience than her," Luke adds. "You had what, like two girlfriends before you ended up with Nat? Add that to the fact that you were also engaged at one point and know what it's like to be in a serious relationship. To Emmie, you're like a relationship guru and you're the only one who can teach her what it's like to be romantically involved with someone."

Calum clears his throat. "However, you also have some learning to do yourself," he says.

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't been with someone in a little over two years," Calum says. "You've blocked yourself off from having any involvement with girls until you met Emmie. You basically saw them as little devils walking around in heels."

I stifle a laugh after picturing devils in heels and compose myself.

"Do you even remember what it's like to have a girlfriend?" he asks.

I ponder his question for a moment and think back to my past relationships and the only two things I can recall are the initiation of the relationship and the end result. The in between stages that should be clear are like a blank slate in my mind. The dates, the fights, the make-ups; I have no recollection of it.

"What we're trying to say is that you need to put everything from your past relationships out of sight and out of mind and start fresh with Emmie," Luke says. "You were both broken people before you found each other. You both have a shit ton of baggage that you will always have to carry around and you have to learn how to navigate around it. You have the upper-hand in this relationship and Emmie is going to feed off of that, so don't screw up. Take things slow and learn from one another," he finishes, leaving me at a loss of words.

I take a moment and process their words. They're right. God dammit, how is it that I'm the oldest and yet they seem to be wiser than me? I was going to take things slow with Emmie to begin with, to ease her way into being in a real relationship, but I didn't think that I would also have to re-learn how to be a boyfriend again. I know what to do and how to act, but I'm just going to have to work at a slower pace to build and strengthen our relationship.

"Baby steps," I say. "I'm going to take baby steps with Emmie. I'm not risking anything with her. She means too much to me to screw things up and potentially ruin everything that we have. Plus, I know that you'll all kick my ass if anything were to happen." I chuckle softly.

"Damn straight," Luke says, patting my shoulder.

__

I stay downstairs for most of the day to out with the guys and catch up on their lives. I've been so caught up with Emmie that I haven't really made time for them. It's refreshing to just sit here and talk with them like we used to. Even though I'm dating Emmie now, I need to make sure to always make room for these three idiots because each time we hang out like this, it helps remind me why they are my best mates and why I love them like brothers.

"Oh, Ash, I forgot to tell you that I saw your dad the other day," Calum says, killing my content mood.

"Oh yeah?" I'm still not happy with my dad—well, I never am, but ever since the party, I've generated an even larger amount of dislike for him.

"Yeah. He told me to tell you that he wants to talk to you. Apparently you haven't been going to his class?"

"Nope." After he disrespected Emmie and pissed us both off, I stopped attending his class. I don't know why he cares that I'm not going now. "And I still don't plan to go," I say. "I wasn't learning anything that I didn't already know; I was just going to please him. It doesn't really matter now since I'm going to switch majors soon. I don't want to be a part of the 'Irwin business legacy' and hate myself for pursuing a career that I have no interest in. I'll talk to him when I see my advisor to change majors next week," I explain rather calmly.

"What do you plan to switch your major to?" Michael asks.

"I haven't decided yet," I say. "If you think of something, let me know."

My phone goes off in my pocket and my lips involuntarily curve up. I've been waiting several hours for this phone call and I can't help but feel like a lovesick teenager. I'm allowed to feel this way, though. I just got together with one of the most important people in my life and I can act this way if I want to. I ditch the guys and hurry upstairs to my room where I answer the call.

I don't even get the chance to say hello before Emmie's voice comes through the receiver. "Kill me now, Ash." She sighs in exasperation.

"I'd rather not," I say. "I'd like to keep my girlfriend alive for more than a couple of hours after we just got together," I joke, causing her laugh to ring in my ears. "How was class?"

She groans loudly. "Terrible. I swear, my trigonometry class will be the death of me."

"You know that Luke will help you, right?"

"Yes, but I don't like asking people for help."

Stubborn girl. "Then you really have no room to complain." I say. "He won't mind if you ask. He actually likes math. From what I've seen by your grades, you could use his tutoring."

She waits a few seconds before responding. "Fine," she huffs.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" I ask.

"Nothing that I know of—why?"

"I'm taking you out tomorrow." I grin, even though she can't see me.

"Where?" I can hear the squeaking sound of her bed, probably from her plopping down to lay on it.

"It's a surprise," I say.

"You're not taking me to another pub are you?"

I chuckle. "No, somewhere else." I've been wanting to take her here for some time now, but there has been so much going on that I haven't had the time. It's not really the place to go on a typical date, but I think Emmie will enjoy this more than dinner and a movie.

"Will you give me a hint?" she asks. "Do I have to dress up?"

"No, you don't have to dress up. You actually have to dress down. Do you have any clothes to workout in or some type of active wear?"

"Oh God, you're going to make me work out?" She groans.

Even though I know she hates anything relating to physical activity, I know she'll love this. "In a way, yes."

She groans again.

"But you'll enjoy it, I promise."

The line is quiet for a moment until her slightly annoyed yet subtle, excited voice comes through. "I'll go see what Julia will let me borrow," she says, sighing in defeat.

She may be complaining now, but she won't be tomorrow morning.

__

I know that Emmie is not a morning person, but she's even worse when she has to wake up before noon on a weekend. A couple pillow throws and several 'go away's later, I managed to get her out of bed, dressed, and out the door. Apart from her hair being in a ponytail, her appearance today is very different from what I'm used to. The black spandex leggings and purple tank top covered by a matching jacket make her look like she actually likes to be active.

I can't help but glance over at her every few seconds as I drive to our destination. I'll have to thank Julia for letting her borrow these clothes because they look so adorable on Emmie. It actually makes her look a bit older, but that could just be because the clothes are actually fitted compared to the loose shirts that she normally wears. Either way, she looks cute.

Emmie yawns and rubs her eyes. "So where are you taking me that I had to wake up at nine o' clock for?"

"I told you, it's a surprise," I say. I can feel Emmie glaring at me because I won't tell her where I'm taking her. She gives me the silent treatment all the way until I reach the building where our first date will start and I can't help but chuckle at her pouting face. I drive into the parking lot and once the sign on the building comes into her view, Emmie gasps loudly.

"You're taking me rock climbing?" Her mood takes a complete one-eighty as she practically bounces in her seat while I park the car in front of the indoor rock climbing building.

"You told me that you liked it when Julia took you on your birthday, so I thought it would be fun for us to go together," I say and her face glows.

"You remember that?" she asks skeptically.

"I remember everything."

She gives me a full smile before unbuckling her seatbelt and exiting the car.

I follow after her, grasping her hand in mine and walking through the automatic glass doors. Our senses are filled instantly with a combination of sweat and chalk, but it doesn't seem to bother Emmie that much. There are only three other people here, not including the employees, who had the same idea as me to come right when the place opens. Less people equals happy Emmie.

She pulls my hand, dragging me to the front register where I pay for our visit as well as the equipment. She offers to pay for herself, but I have to explain that it's my responsibility to pay for her on our date. I'm going to let her have her independence, but every now and then, I want to be the one who provides for her.

"You know, my dad used to take me rock climbing when I was younger," Emmie says, grabbing her harness, shoes and chalk bag from the worker and moving to sit on one of the benches. I grab my stuff as well and sit beside her.

"Really?" I say. "I didn't know that." I don't know much about her parents at all now that I think of it.

She takes off her jacket first and then her shoes and replaces them with the flat rock climbing shoes. "Yup," she says. "He started taking me when I was about eight and we went almost every weekend up until I started high school." So basically until they were in the accident. "I stopped going after that because it was difficult to think about going without him, but now that I'm older, it's nice to be here."

She stands to her feet and steps into the harness, pulling it up her legs and tightening it around her waist. I quickly follow her actions and put on the gear.

"So is this a good surprise?" I ask, hoping that I did well to make her happy.

Emmie clips a chalk bag to both of our harnesses and takes a step back to look at me. "It's a great surprise," she says. "But I have to ask, have you ever gone rock climbing before?"

"No, this is my first time, but it can't be that hard, right?"

She gives me a look that clearly says 'you are greatly mistaken.' "You're about to find out." She smirks before walking onto the padded flooring and going over to one of the workers who is standing by the beginner's wall.

I catch up to her and the man asks if she would like to climb the wall with or without the aid of a rope and she confidently says without. Before I can even protest her dangerous decision, she dusts some chalk on her hands and latches onto the wall, grabbing and pulling up on the different colored boulders. I crane my neck and watch as she effortlessly climbs higher and higher up the wall, and I can't stop looking at the tight leggings shaping her curves that are literally the only thing in sight from my angle.

"Girlfriend?" The man asks as he stands next to me, licking his bottom lip with his eyes focused on Emmie.

Seriously, dude? Are you really eyeing her like that right now? "Yeah," I say, trying to keep my tone even and eyebrows from furrowing with annoyance.

He doesn't even turn to look at me. "She's cute." All right, that's enough from you.

I look to the opposite side of the room and see a child with their father I presume, looking at one of the more advanced climbing walls. I tap on the man's shoulder and point in the direction of the parent and child. "I think they need some help over there," I lie. He looks over to them and leaves his position of staring at my girlfriend to consult them.

I look back up to Emmie who is already descending the wall just as easily as she climbed it. Once reaching a short distance from the ground, she jumps down from the wall and lands on her feet.

"Does it still look easy?" she asks. She's mocking me. She knows that I'm going to find this to be difficult. I just narrow my eyes teasingly at her. "This is the short wall compared to the others, so I'm used to climbing this one without a rope," she says. "You have to use one though."

She waves her hand in the air, gaining the attention of a different worker to come attach the hook and rope to my harness. After I am safely hooked up, I approach the not-so-intimidating wall. I place my hands on two of the boulders for leverage and then place my foot on another, pushing myself up off of it and onto another boulder.

"Put your left hand on that green rock next to you," Emmie instructs and I follow. "Now step on the rock just above your right foot." I do as she says and climb a little but further up the wall. This is a lot more difficult than I imagined. I continue climbing, taking one step at a time before reaching the top. "Okay, now you have to rappel down."

Climbing up is the easy part, but getting down... "Easier said than done, Emilia," I shout to her and she just laughs.

"Do you want me to show you how?" she asks.

"That would be greatly appreciated right now," I say, gripping tightly onto the boulders.

"Just hang on while I get set up," she orders.

"I can't really do anything else but hang on."

"Smartass." I look down and see Emmie climbing up just as fast as she did a few minutes ago. It doesn't take her long before she's by my side. "All right, grab the rope that's hanging right in front of you. That's the one that's holding you up right now." I put one hand around the rope and wait for further instruction. "Now lean back a little and shift your feet to where they are flat against the wall." She demonstrates how to do it and I follow suit. "Good. Now grab the other rope that's threaded through the pulley on your harness and hold onto it tightly."

I am hesitant to remove my hand from the boulder that is holding me steady, but Emilia places her hand on mine, giving me the encouragement to let go and grip onto the rope for dear life. I let out a deep breath, thankful that I didn't just fall and die on our date. Emmie situates herself into the same position as me and pushes her feet off of the wall, descending down a short distance before her feet are firmly placed back onto the wall.

"All right, Ash, your turn," she says.

I copy her actions and push my feet off the wall, propelling down to Emmie before my feet make contact with the wall again. "That was easier than I thought," I say proudly.

"Well if you think it's easy, how about we race down?" She smirks playfully at me. I haven't seen her this excited and happy about an activity since, well, ever. I don't know if it's because we're on a date right now or if it's because she's partaking in an activity that she loved to do with her dad. Either reason is fine with me as long as I can keep the spark in her eyes shining bright.

"You're on, love," I say before pushing my feet hard against the wall with Emmie hot on my trail.

By the time I'm close to jumping off and onto the padded flooring, Emmie is already standing with her hands on her hips, gloating at the fact that she won the race. I jump down and let the worker remove the pulley devices off of my harness before making my way over to her.

"So what's my prize for winning?" she asks. Her pale eyes gleam with the satisfaction of victory.

"If I had known prizes were involved, I wouldn't have agreed to our race," I say, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

Emmie takes my hand, filling the spaces between our fingers. "Was that my prize?"

I chuckle lightly. "If you want it to be."

"It'll do, for now." She shrugs, trying to act like it was a mediocre prize even though her flushed cheeks tell a different story. She pulls me across the room and to a different wall with a deep arch.

We let the workers attach the gear to our harnesses again and I decide to climb next to Emmie this time. Just as our feet leave the surface of the ground and attach to the boulders, I stop and meet with her eyes.

"Tell me more about your parents," I say.

_____

A/N:

Wooo!

Here are some questions for you guys: So what do you think of the other boys and their talk with Ash? Do you think it was the right thing for his friends to do? What about Ashlia's date? Did Ash do a good job with what he chose to do? Aren't they just so cute? How do you think Emmie is going to react when telling Ash about her parents?

I just want to give a big thank you to all of my readers! Thank you for 5.6k reads and over 600 votes. I am seriously blown away by the success of this story. It may not be a high number for some people, but even ten reads is enough for me, just as long people enjoy my writing.

I want to give a shout out to @AlyHemss. You should all go check out her story 'Demons' because it is amazing and beautifully written! I love it and if you have a thing for 'bad boy Luke' then you will enjoy it as well.

I also want to give a shout out to @octoberluke. She just recently started a story called 'Target Employees' and I am absolutely hooked! 5sos as Target employees, 'nuff said.

Thank you guys again for reading and please continue to vote, comment, and share. I love you guys! –Rebecca xoxoxoxoxoxoxo