Emilia's POV

Softly poking my cheek, Ashton tries to wake me up, but he doesn't realize that for the past five minutes that he's been doing this, I've been awake. I've stayed silent for so long because I like to hear him as he whispers to me in his low morning voice that sends chills down my spine. "You're so beautiful," "Emmie," "Wake up," "I've never noticed the freckle by your nose," "It's cute," "I love you." With everything he says, I have to fight the urge to smile. I love hearing him talk to me. He doesn't filter himself and instead, says whatever is on his mind.

"You do realize that I know you're awake," he says, poking me one last time and keeping his finger there until I push it away.

Opening my eyes, I look over to Ashton who is lying on his stomach with his cheek resting against his pillow and his eyes half-closed. "How did you know?" I ask.

Even this early, his chuckle is enough to make my stomach flip. "Because you've been playing with my feet this entire time."

I shuffle my feet against his. "My toes were cold."

"Your toes are always cold," he retorts. "I don't understand why you don't just wear socks to bed."

"Because I don't like wearing socks when I sleep. It feels weird and they always end up coming off by morning anyway."

"I guess I'll just have to stick with being your foot warmer then." He pushes himself up and his arms flex in the process as he hovers over me. "Good morning." He smiles and pecks my lips softly, barely even touching me.

"Good morning to you too." I smile lazily and reach my hand up to brush his wavy hair out of his eyes. "What time is it?"  

"I want to say some time after noon. I've been too busy trying to wake you up to check the time."

I'm not used to sleeping in during the week anymore, but now that school is over, I don't really have a reason to wake up early. I would prefer to sleep longer, but Curly here isn't having it.

He looks so much different as he lies above me; blissful in a way, but at the same time he looks at me like I'm going to fly away any second and wants to have every detail of me savored and encrypted in his memory before I'm out of view.

"I'm not going anywhere," I say.

His face twists in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You're looking at me like I'm the last thing you're going to see. I'm not going anywhere."

He presses his lips together and sighs. "I know you're not and I don't mean to look at you that way, but can you really blame me?"

There's only one person who comes to mind as he says that. Even though he doesn't like to admit it, he still has his problems with Natalie. I don't want to push him to tell me about it because it might just anger him, but I also don't want for him to keep it bottled inside.

"I really don't want to talk or even think about that," he says. "All of that is done and over with and I have you now. I have someone who loves me right in front of my eyes and that takes precedence over everything. So let me look at you like you're the last thing I'm going to see because I'd be satisfied with just that."

My lips involuntarily curve up and his own smile affirms everything he has just said. At a loss of words, I change topics to avoid any more conversations about Natalie and return to the present. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not too long. Once you started playing footsies with me, it was hard to go back to sleep," he jokes and a giggle escapes my lips. "So I need to ask you something."

My face twists into confusion and I shuffle underneath him. "Okay?"

"Ever since the guys and I moved here, we normally go to one of the frat parties to celebrate the end of the semester and let loose. We used to go to other parties during the semester, but ever since you showed up, we stopped going."

"I'm sorry?" My apology comes out more as a question and I don't know whether or not I should feel offended by his statement.  

"No, I didn't mean it like that," he assures and I take back the offense. "We had more fun hanging out with you so that's why we stopped going. That and this semester was a bit more difficult than the last."

He's beating around the bush and I just want him to get to the point because so far, I don't like where this is going. "Okay, so where are you going with this?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come with us to the party tonight."

I sigh loudly. "Ash, we literally just started winter break and you want me to go to a party?"

"So that's a no?"

"Can't we just stay in bed?" I try to wiggle my way out from underneath him but his legs on either side of my waist are hindering my attempt.

A devilish smirk plays on his lips as he leans down. "We can if you'd like," he whispers and his hot breath against my neck makes me shiver. From my jaw down to my collar bone, he leaves a trail of kisses while one hand slides underneath my shirt and traces random patterns along my ribcage.

I extend my neck out, giving him more access and as I look to the side, his bedroom door slowly opens, revealing a chipper blonde.

"Hey Ash, did you ask her? Oh shit-" Luke stands in the doorway, his eyes bulging and mouth agape as he stares directly at me. "Uh..."

Frantically, I shove Ashton off of me and watch as he falls to the floor with the blanket twisted around his waist. Even though I'm fully clothed, it still feels like I'm exposed to Luke, although that could just be because he caught me and Ash and I'm just extremely embarrassed.

"Didn't know you were that strong Emmie," Luke says, surprised, yet impressed at how easy it was for me to push my boyfriend to the ground.

Ashton groans in pain and rubs his elbow that is now red and possibly bruised. He stands to his feet and throws the blanket back onto the bed which I use to cover up with and he goes to sit on his desk chair. "Yeah, I didn't know either." I mouth a sincere "sorry" to Ash and he playfully sticks his tongue out at me in response.

"So are you coming to the party with us?" Luke asks.

"Yes she is," Julia answers for me as she enters the bedroom and joins the conversation.

Once Julia makes a decision, it is close to impossible to go against her so I don't bother fighting with her. "Why are you making me go out?" I whine and pull the blanket over my head, shielding myself from everyone's view.

"Because you need to have some fun," she replies and yanks the blanket off of me and lets it fall to the floor again.

"I think I've had enough fun for the year."

"Nonsense!" she exclaims.

Sometimes I wonder how I'm even friends with this loud girl. Our personalities are the complete opposite yet we complement each other well. She gets me out of the house and I keep her from being stupid. True friendship.

"What time is the party?" I ask.

Luke and Ashton chuckle lightly at me. "There's not a set time, Emmie," Luke says and I roll my eyes.

"Well then what time do we plan on going?"

"Around 7ish," he answers and I internally cheer.

"Sweet, that gives me more time to sleep." I lean over the edge of the bed and grab the blanket off the floor and wrap myself comfortably in it again.

"I don't think so." Julia pulls the blanket off once again and I bite my cheek to keep from swearing at her. I just want to sleep. "You and I are going shopping."

"I really feel like you're trying to kill me." First the party and now shopping? Haven't I had enough socialization?

Julia giggles and grabs my hands, pulling me off the bed and to my feet. "That's hardly my intention. Ashton, do you mind if I steal her for a bit?"

"Are you going to bring her back?" he asks in all seriousness.

"Of course!" she exclaims.

I look over to Ashton with pleading eyes, mentally begging him to not let me go with her, but he smiles brightly and ignores me. "Then you may steal her."

Julia rushes me to get dressed so that we can leave and just to piss her off, I decide to take my sweet time. I change into a pair of black leggings and a long-sleeved white tunic that I have stashed in Ashton's dresser and closet. Having extra clothes here has really proved to be useful so far. After making my hair look semi-decent, grabbing my jacket, and sliding into a pair of brown boots, I scowl at Ashton who only shakes his head and kisses my forehead.

"Have fun." His tone is full of sarcasm and if I was tall enough to wipe the smirk off of his cute face then I would.

After being dragged against my will to the car and spending a good fifteen minutes complaining on the drive over to the mall, Julia and I stroll around, window shopping and gazing at things that we want but are too poor to afford. As much as I hate the activity of shopping, Julia makes it worthwhile as she talks about how she finally told Calum that she's loves him. After hearing them in his bedroom, I'm not surprised that she finally told him. She's not the type of girl to sleep with every guy that she's with unless she love them and that has only happened once before she and Cal got together.

Calum has my approval though. He's like a brother and I trust him with her. Yeah, he can be an idiot a lot of the time, but he knows how to make her happy and that's all that matters. However, he could be a bit more courteous and let everyone know when they're going to have sex so that we don't have to hear it. It would be much appreciated.

I tell Julia of the day when everyone in the house left to get away from the loud noise coming from Calum's room and she apologizes like crazy. I get a kick out of her embarrassed self as she tries to calm down by pulling me into a random store and changes topics.  

"You never told me how it went with meeting his mom," Julia says as she sifts through one of the clothes racks and searches for her shirt size.

Instead of standing around looking like a lost child in a store, I mindlessly shuffle through the clothes and silently judge the sluttyness of each piece. "It went well actually," I say and grimace at a pink sequined tank top that should honestly be burned. "She's really sweet and already loves me. I'm not sure how though seeing that I was extremely awkward and admitted that I was a virgin to her."

"Why did you tell her that?"

"She asked why I was in Ash's clothes and I panicked." 

Julia stifles a laugh and continues on her search for a shirt. 

"I got to talk to her alone as well," I say. She told me thank you for helping Ash with his trust issues and that she likes me better than Natalie. Then she asked if I love Ash and I openly admitted it to her. That was the first time I said it." Thinking about it now, it's kind of awkward telling your boyfriend's mom that you love him for the first time, however, it seems like everything I do is awkward.

"She sounds nice."

"She is. I like her a lot. The only weird thing is that she sounds like my mom."

Julia stops sliding the hangers across the metal bar and quirks an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"     

"Her voice. It sounds exactly like my mom's," I explain and quickly give up on looking for anything decent looking in this store. "I was honestly freaked out and thought it was her for a split second until I heard his mom's accent."

Just like me, Julia thought it was weird and couldn't figure out an explanation for it. I've heard about people having similar faces, but voices? That's new. We don't question it for long and instead, accept it. I have no complaints of it, so there's no reason to try and dig for logical answers.

We leave the store after being put off by their overly revealing clothing and continue shopping for modest apparel. Even after my refusal, Julia makes me go inside Victoria's Secret where the bras aren't comfortable and everything is over-fucking-priced. The sales woman who won't stop following us around the store keeps advertising what she calls, 'Power Panties' which as she says are "supposed to make you feel empowered and full of confidence," and I almost laugh at the horrible name and description that she gives the thin pieces of fabric. Julia falls into her poor sales pitch and takes it upon herself to buy a few pairs of said 'Power Panties,' and a couple of bras to match them. Like the best friend she is she chooses colors that could mix-and-match since I'm the laziest person and could care less if my underwear matched.

She then proceeds to tell me that Ashton will go crazy when he sees me in them and I'm embarrassed at the mere thought. I'm normally not into enhancing my appearance for the sake of others, not even for Ashton, but I guess stepping out of my comfort zone is okay every once in a while. At least I won't be the only one surprised with what I'll be hiding underneath my clothes.

After spending three hours at the mall and allowing Julia to spend a shit ton of money on clothes that I don't need but she insists I do, we head back over to Ash's where I drop the bags in my hands onto the ground and face plant onto his bed.  

"Hey Julia, when I said to bring back Emilia, I meant alive," Ashton jokingly yells from the threshold before closing his door. "I don't understand why you two don't do something else when you hang out."

"The girl loves to shop," I muffle into the pillow before turning my head and letting my cheek rest on it. "And we've always gone shopping together since we were teenagers. Yeah, I hate it, but it makes her happy and I somehow find a way to somewhat enjoy it."

He hums and sits on the edge of the bed and peeks in the bags. "So what did you get?"

"Some jeans, a couple shirts...I don't really know. Julia picked mostly everything in those bags." I, of course gave my approval for what she actually bought me, but it's still all out of my element.

He picks up a small pink striped bag and starts to remove the white tissue paper from it. "What's in here?"

I swiftly snatch the bag away from his grasp and hold it behind me. "That's nothing." He would choose the one bag that I want to keep away from him.

Laughing lightly, he says, "Well now you're making me more curious as to what's in the bag. Let me see." He takes the bag back and stands up, holding it high above him where I can't reach and laughs at my attempts to take it back. He reaches inside and his eyebrows rise when his fingers come in contact with the lacy fabric and pulls out the pure white bra and matching underwear. "What are these?"

With an innocent look and hesitant chuckle, I say, "Power Panties?"

"What the hell are 'Power Panties'?" His eyes stay locked on the risqué fabric, examining them thoroughly.   

I let out an exasperated sigh and shrug. "I don't know. The stupid sales woman called them that." And I hate myself for even repeating her.

He puts the two pieces back in the bag and shuffles inside again and pulls out an emerald green bra similar to the white one, except this one has a black lace design on the cups. Faintly, I hear him mutter, "Damn," under his breath. His eyes flicker from the bra to me several times before he tosses it and the bag to me.

"It was Julia's idea for me to get them," I say in my defense and shove the bra back in the bag.

"Remind me to tell her thank you." He winks.

"You're such a perv." I lightly hit him with the bag and he laughs at the impact.

"I'm kidding. You don't have to wear those if you don't want to. Don't get me wrong, they're nice, but since you don't like wearing fancy things like that you don't have to force yourself to." His tall frame stands before me and he lazily drapes his arms on my shoulders. "I'd like to see you wear them at least once though, but that can be on your time."

I love how he still gives me control over when I do things. There's no time limit or rush. He's always considerate and is taking baby steps with me in our relationship. He has so much patience, more than any person I know and if it were anyone else dating me, they wouldn't have gone as far as Ash is to make sure that no boundaries are crossed.

I rest my hands on his chest and can feel his irregular heartbeat pulsing through my palms. "You'll see them...eventually," I murmur.

"Eventually is fine by me," he whispers sweetly and closes the gap between us by attaching his soft lips to mine.

His bedroom door flies open and we withdraw from each other, only to see a bubbly Julia in the threshold. "Awe, you too are so cute," she coos. "Sorry for interrupting, but Em, we need to start getting ready."

"Ready for what?" Ashton asks.

I sigh and pick up all the shopping bags off the floor. "She wants to do my hair and makeup for the party. She paid for all my clothes so as repayment, I'm letting her." I did, however, say that I didn't want her to go heavy on the makeup and to not use the entire can of hairspray on me.  Those were my only two conditions.

"You keep stealing my girlfriend away from me, Julia," he whines.

"And I always bring her back to you, so suck it up. Go hang out with Calum or something because we're taking over your room," Julia states and places her shopping bags, makeup, and hair tools on his bed.

"You do know that this isn't your house right?" he asks. 

"Yes, but I also know that you will let us use your room regardless," she fires back and I glance over to Ashton, awaiting his comeback, but he fails to give one.

"Fine," he huffs. "But I get her the rest of the night."

"Deal."

Ashton leaves the room and allows for me and Julia to get started. Since she isn't going to do anything dramatic to me, I let her get ready first. She curls her blonde hair into loose ringlets and puts on a full face of makeup that actually looks quite natural. Her smoky eye shadow is the only thing that's bold, but it really makes her eyes pop out. Julia goes through her shopping bags and changes into a maroon skirt that rests to her mid-thigh and pairs it with black stockings and a white loose button up shirt that she tucks into the skirt. Sometimes I wish that I could take the time to dress myself up like that, but then I remember that I don't give a shit about my appearance.

Once Julia is finished, she begins working on me. Like I had asked, she only puts on a little bit of makeup; some foundation, blush, and some mascara, which is less than what she did for me for the business party. Instead of curling or straightening my hair, she pulls it back into a low messy bun, leaving several strands of hair loose to "frame my face," as she says. When she's finished, I pull out the light blue sweater tunic with a low v-neck from one of the bags and switch it with the one I'm currently wearing. Thankfully, I get to keep wearing my leggings because they go with the outfit and I refuse to take them off because they're so comfortable.

After Julia gives me the thumbs up for my appearance and I do the same for her, we grab our scarves and head downstairs and into the living room where all four boys are waiting for us so that we can leave. Calum whistles at Julia and she giggles like a little girl. Even though I'm dressed very casually, Ash, Michael, and Luke gawk at me like they did when I was in a dress.

Ashton eyes me up and down and even makes me twirl in a circle. "You look beautiful," he says and pecks my cheek.

I give him a warm smile and link my arm with his. "Thank you."

"Shall we get going?" Luke asks, twirling the car keys around his finger.

Everyone agrees and we tightly pack ourselves inside Ashton's car. The frat house is only a couple streets down from the guys' house and parked cars line the curb on either side of the street. Loud music can be heard outside of the house and I'm surprised the police haven't come to stop the party for disturbing the peace in a neighborhood. When we get inside, I cling onto Ashton's arm as we snake through the crowded room of drunken students. Luke and Michael follow us into the kitchen while Calum and Julia go dance in the crowd after grabbing two red cups filled with beer.

Instead of grabbing me a red cup, Ashton hands me a bottle of Smirnoff from the cooler and a beer for him. I don't really like beer anyway so this is a better alternative. Michael and Luke fill their cups with beer from the keg before separating away from me and Ash. Taking a sip of the bottle and tasting the sweet green apple flavor, warmth quickly spreads throughout my body as I chug even more.

When I was at the Halloween party, the dancing wasn't nearly as provocative as it is here. "I don't understand how that is considered dancing," I shout to Ashton over the loud music. "They might as well just strip and have sex right there with the way they're grinding against each other."

Ashton laughs and fills up his cup again as well as grabbing me another bottle to replace my already empty one. "You don't have to dance like them."

"I don't plan to."

"What do you plan to do?"

"Stand here and hope people are drunk enough to think that I am actually moving back and forth."   

He takes a swig of his drink and takes my hand, pulling me over near Calum and Julia who are dancing against each other—well more like Julia dancing against Calum while he just stands there. Ashton gives his drink to Calum which he chugs quickly. I finish off my second bottle and hand the empty bottle to Julia to dispose of and Ashton takes both of my hands in his. "Dance with me," he says.

"I don't dance nor do I know how to."

"You danced with me before and you seemed to know what you were doing."

"We were moving from side-to-side. I would hardly call that dancing."

"Let's just try." He moves our arms back-and-forth so that we are twisting from side-to-side and my elbow almost knocks a girl's drink out of her hand. The girl is too hammered to even comprehend what just happened and she giggles like it's the funniest thing in the world which only makes Ashton and I burst into a fit of laughter. "Okay, maybe we shouldn't dance," he suggests and brings me back over to the kitchen where Luke is refilling his cup.

"Nice moves out there," the blonde boy teases. His eyes are puffy and look tired, but he's extremely energetic and lively.  

I roll my eyes. "Like you could do better?"

He scoffs. "I'll have you know that I am very flexible."

Ashton shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "You started something that you really shouldn't have, Emmie."

"What—" Cutting me off, Luke kicks his leg up almost to my height to show off his flexibility. I'll admit, it's pretty impressive for a guy to kick that high, but if he had straightened out his knee any more, he probably would have torn a muscle. Seeing Luke do something like that is completely out of character and when he stumbles as he regains his balance, I can only assume that the alcohol is to be the blame. "What the hell was that?"

"Luke has a different reaction when he drinks beer or vodka compared to any other alcohol," Ashton explains. "He's a lot more outgoing and in some ways, flamboyant. It doesn't help that he's also a lightweight."

Now that I think of it, I haven't seen how Luke acts when he's tipsy. He passed out on Thanksgiving after having all that wine, but he didn't act like this. I'm glad I'm able to witness it though because it is fucking hilarious.

"Luke, can you watch Emmie for a minute?" Ashton asks. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom."

Luke nods and our eyes trail Ashton until he is out of sight. I push aside the empty cups and bottles on the counter and pull myself up to sit on it. Luke clears off more space and sits next to me, almost spilling his beer in the process and I take his cup from his hand. Bringing it to my nose, I inhale the hoppy aroma of the cheap beer and scrunch my face in disgust. I will never understand how people actually like this stuff.

"What do you want for Christmas?" Luke asks while playing with the cuff of his sleeve, unbuttoning and buttoning it repeatedly.

I give him back his drink which he places on the counter next to him. "I want for you to not get me anything."

"Don't be that person," he jokes, nudging my shoulder. "Seriously what do you want?"

"Why are you asking me what I want?"

"Because there are only a few weeks left until Christmas and I want to shop early instead of having to wait until the week of and spend three hours circling the mall parking lot for a parking space."

"That's what online shopping is for—to avoid all of that and sit in the comfort of your own home and not have to deal with savage shoppers."

"True, but where's the fun in that?"

"That is the fun."

His nose scrunches up as he lets out a high-pitched laugh that sounds absolutely adorable. "Fine. Whenever you think of something that you want, let me know, okay?"

As much as I hate the idea of him or any of the guys getting me a gift, I know that they will get me something regardless of what I say so I reluctantly agree. I haven't really thought much about what gifts I'm going to buy for everyone. Normally I only have to shop for Julia, but this year I have four more people to add to the list and I can already hear my wallet screaming for mercy. It'll be worth it though.

"Hey, Luke?" I say. "What do you think Ashton would want for Christmas?"

He looks over to me and then up to the ceiling, humming as he tries to come up with an answer. "He's always the difficult one to shop for. You really have to dig to figure out what he wants."

"Well that doesn't help me much. I want to get him something nice yet affordable. Affordable is the key word here."

He chuckles and takes a swig of his drink. "Come with me to go shopping and I can help you find something for him."

Having him go with me might make it easier to find a gift. He can approve or disapprove of anything that I pick out. Plus he's his best friend and has known him longer than me and should know what he likes, so why not? "I'll take you up on that offer," I say and Luke smiles widely, showing off his perfect teeth.   

Ashton comes back from around the corner and stands in between my legs. "Can we leave?" he asks like a bored child.

I cock my head to the side. "Why?"

"I wanna take you out."

"You wanted me to come to this party and now you want me to leave?"

"Yup."

I glance over to Luke who tries to play innocent and pretend that he doesn't know anything about Ashton's plan to take me out, but fails horribly at doing so. I turn back to Ashton and the apples of his cheeks rise as he grins. "Where do you want to take me?" I ask. "Neither of us can drive right now and I don't think any place would appreciate having two buzzed adults on their property."

"That's a secret and who said anything about driving? I have everything handled so don't worry."

Without so much as a second thought, I hop off the counter and take his hand that he holds out for me. I wave goodbye to Luke before I am pulled out of the kitchen and out of the house. The light snowfall and crisp air is a wonderful contrast to the party inside. I don't even feel cold right now. My body is still warm from the drinks that I had and for once, I can actually stand to be outside in the winter air. I keep one hand in my coat pocket and the other linked with Ash's as we walk down the sidewalk and let the loud music fade behind us.

__________

A/N:

Bad ending, bad chapter, baaaaaddd. Anyways, guess who's done with finals? Guess who has a 3.5 GPA for the semester? Guess who can binge write? Guess who's taking Piece of Cake off hold? ME!

Alright, I'm going to try to keep this a/n short because they are always long. Paint You Wings is nominated in the 5SOS Watty Awards: Fame Edition in the Best Ashton Irwin category hosted by @The5SOSWattyAwards. I am up against some great stories and it would mean a lot if you could vote for it!

I love you all. Please vote, comment, and share! –Rebecca xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :)

P.S. I might start up a Michael fanfic if I have time ;)