Emilia's POV

Ashton's dad is a prick; nothing more, nothing less. I find it ridiculous how controlling he wants to be over Ash. When Nolan brought up the meeting that he scheduled for Ashton, I knew at that moment that he pushed Ash over his limit. The way Ashton shook me off and didn't want me to get involved was evidence enough to know that he was livid. I've only seen him enraged once before and that was when he confronted Jared for the restraining order. But I'm glad that he stood up for himself and said exactly what he needed to in order for his dad to get the hint through his thick head.

The day after seeing his dad, Ashton went to his advisor, while I was working in the library, to discuss and make the proper accommodations to switch his major from business and marketing to liberal arts—specifically visual arts. He now has to go to the Nagel Art Studio building to speak with a new advisor and create a new degree plan.

By doing so, it will push his expected graduation date back a couple years but it doesn't matter to him. He is getting his way and pursuing something that he finds pleasure in. I may not have seen all of his artwork and I hope that he shares more with me one day, but even with the disturbing paintings that I had the opportunity to view, I know that he can succeed in becoming an artist.

Ash told me that after he left from seeing his advisor in the business department, he and his dad ran into one another. His dad didn't say anything to him and brushed him off as another insignificant student. I'm not surprised that his dad basically disowned him after what happened. He went against his word and stood up for himself, and whether or not his dad would be pleased with his decision didn't matter to Ashton.

I know that Ash was unhappy with his previous career path and I would rather him be happy with a job that he finds enjoyment in, rather than suffer with one that would slowly kill him from the inside out.

He has always told me that he is proud of me for battling my demons and now I can say that I am so proud of him for proving to his dad, and most importantly to himself, that he can be his own person and not let anyone control his life no matter what long-term effects may occur because of his choices.

Now that Ashton's issues with his dad are over and done with, everything has gone back to normal; a drama-less lifestyle. The only issue now are the three failing marks on my trigonometry quizzes from last week that mock me as I stare at the unsatisfactory grade. I don't dare tell Ashton about it because I know damn well that he'll scold me for not going to see Luke yet for tutoring. I know I need to see Luke, but my pride is keeping me from asking for help even though I promised Ash that I would let Luke tutor me.

I shove the papers inside my backpack and zip it up before placing the bag in one of the storage cabinets behind the front desk of the library. Ashton left not too long ago to go buy us some drinks from the bookstore, but I'm actually glad that he isn't here right now. Mother Nature decided to make an appearance during my history class earlier, and I accidentally snapped at Michael when he asked me to help him dye his hair this weekend. I didn't mean to yell at him and say "fucking do it yourself" but I apologized and agreed to help.

I forgot to take a couple days worth of my birth control which completely screwed up my cycle, so instead of having absolutely no period and no symptoms of it, I have to experience the unpleasant pain that I haven't felt in so long until everything regulates once again.

Working right now doesn't help at all, especially since Finn is making me run around the entire library to put away books that have been scattered about away. I'd rather do something else like sit and work the front desk or just lay on one of the tables and curl up into a ball, but neither of those are an option. Fucking Finn and his superiority over my job duties.

I place several books onto the rolling cart and push it around to each respected section that the books belong to. I bend down to the lowest part of one of the shelves, my jeans digging into my waist and my bloated muffin top spilling out from it as I push the astronomy book in the empty slot from where it was removed. Just as I am about to stand up, I feel two fingers poke my sides, causing me to yelp and hit my head on the edge of one of the shelves as I jolt up.

I groan in pain and rub the area on my head that has now generated a pulsing headache from where I hit it.

"Shit, Emilia, are you okay?" Ashton says, spinning me around to face him. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to make you hurt yourself." The exact same panic infused with worry expression takes over his face just like our first encounter. He removes my hand from my head and replaces it with his.

"I'm fine, and it's okay," I mumble, wanting to lash out at him, but I suppress the anger when I see that he is holding a plastic white bag full of drinks in his other hand. "My head just hurts now."

He digs into the plastic bag and pulls out a cold bottle of water and hands it to me. "Here, drink this," he says. "Do you want me to get you some medicine or something?"

"I'm pretty sure I have some ibuprofen in my backpack," I say. "Just go up to the front desk and tell Finn that I sent you to get something from my bag."

Ashton nods, places a soft kiss to my head, and takes off.

Even though food and drinks aren't allowed in the library, I twist open the lid anyway and take a sip of water. At least the ibuprofen should help not only with my headache but also my cramps.

I continue placing books away and wait for Ashton to come back with the medicine which is taking a lot longer than needed. Just as I am placing the last book that belongs on the first floor onto a shelf, Ash stands in the open space between the two large bookshelves with three papers in one hand and the bottle of medicine that I requested in the other. He doesn't even look at me as he tosses the bottle to me; his eyes are glued onto the pages in his hands and I have a hunch as to what they are.

"Emmie, what is this?" he asks. He turns the pages around, and sure enough, they're the quizzes that I failed.

I don't respond. Instead, I take two pills out of the bottle and pop them in my mouth, and take a swig of water to help wash them down.

"Emilia," Ashton says sternly.

I exhale loudly and push the cart of books past him. "What does it look like, Ashton?" I say, padding across the library to the elevator to head up to the second floor.

"You said that you would go to Luke for help with math," Ashton says. "By the look of these, you haven't."

I'm very irritable right now, and I honestly don't want to hear him nag. "Bingo." The sarcasm slips easily off my tongue. I press the up button for the elevator and wait for the doors to open.

Ashton stands and waits next to me. "Why haven't you? You know that you need help with it, so stop being so stubborn."

The doors slide open and we step inside. I press the '2' button followed by the 'close doors' one and wait for the sliding doors to shut. "Ash, I really don't want to talk about this right now."

"You're going to have to seeing that finals are in what, three weeks? You're going to fail at this rate." The elevator jerks and begins to ascend. My foot tapping on the floor is my only response to him. "Emilia, you said yourself that you can't afford to fail, so go see Luke. He already agreed to help you."

I'm already tired of hearing him talk at this point and the rising volume of his voice isn't helping my headache. "I understand the situation I'm in and I don't need you to lecture me about it." I raise my voice just as loud.

"I'm trying to help you, but you're getting all pissed off for no reason."

"If I go to him later today will you shut the fuck up?" I snap. Ooh. Good one, Emilia.

Ashton is bewildered by my language towards him and if I weren't so crabby, I might actually feel bad for talking to him like this. "What is with you today?" he asks. "Because right now, you're acting like a bit—" he stops himself before finishing the word and gives me the most apologetic look.

"Like what? A bitch? I'm on my period for god sake," I shout. "So the more you irritate me, the more I'm going to lash out on you," I say and he keeps quiet. I feel like I should take more offense to the fact that he almost called me a bitch, but since he stopped himself from saying the full word, I know he doesn't mean it.

The elevator dings and the doors open, and before I exit, I turn to him. "Just go home, Ashton," I say before walking out and leaving him alone in the elevator. I really can't deal with him right now. I just want to finish my shift and go home.

___

Only twenty minutes left until I can leave. My body feels like it's dragging and I just want to lay down for the rest of the day. When Ashton left, I started to regret yelling at him. He didn't know what was going on and I should have told him from the start that I'm on my period. He always wants to help me and sometimes I try to push him away, but I really should accept his generosity and do what he knows is best for me.

I spin around in the rolling chair at the front desk since there is nothing else for me to do and wait for my shift to end. When I spin back around, I'm surprised to see Luke leaning on the desk and smiling down at me.

"Hey there," he says. It's rare for Luke to ever come into the library. I think I've only seen him in here once before this and that was before I even knew him on a personal level.

"Hi," I say softly and stop spinning around in the chair. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that you and Ash got into your first fight earlier," he says.

Have we really never fought before? Well, at least it was over something stupid even though it was mostly my fault that we fought in the first place.

"Yeah," I say, sighing. "I'm just not feeling the best today."

"So I've heard," he says, chuckling. I'm not surprised that Ashton told him or the rest of the boys about my current condition. They tell each other everything just like I tell Julia everything.

I throw a paperclip that is sitting on the desk at him. "Shut up," I say.

Luke pretends to duck and laughs. Seconds later, Finn stands next to Luke and tells me that I can leave early since there's no point in me staying if there's nothing to do. I quickly grab my backpack from the storage cabinet and follow Luke out of the library.

"I'm going to take you home if that's alright?" Luke says. I'm surprised even after mine and Ashton's fight, Ashton didn't come to pick me up like he normally does.

"That's fine," I say. We walk the short distance to Ashton's car which Luke decided to borrow once again and we take off away from the school. I notice that Luke doesn't take the right turn to my house. "I thought you were taking me home?" I say.

"I didn't say your home," Luke says, a smirk creeping up on his face. "Ashton wants to see you and he also wanted me to talk to you." Here we go again. "I saw your grades and you seriously need some help. I know that you don't like asking people for help, but sometimes you really need to put your pride aside and let people in. It doesn't make you any less independent by asking for help. You can't get by in this world without some sort of support or assistance. Without it, you'll crumble and never achieve anything. Let me help you, Emilia."

For something as small as tutoring, I'm making bigger deal about it than necessary. I really am stubborn. Now I feel extremely guilty about arguing with Ash. I need to apologize to him as soon as I see him. "When should we start our first tutoring session?" I ask and a smile forms on Luke's face.

"Come by tomorrow after your afternoon classes," he says.

I agree and thank him. He's too nice for this world, but I like that about him.

__

Sometimes I think Luke likes to speed when he drives because it doesn't take long for us to reach the house and go inside. Luke tells me that Ashton is upstairs so I tread up the steps and knock twice before entering his room. There, sitting up on his bed with his back against the headboard, is Ashton with a sketchbook in his lap and a pencil pressed against the paper.

He lifts his head slightly and glances towards me. "Hey," he says.

"Hey," I repeat, and he closes the sketchbook and places it on his nightstand along with the pencil. I walk towards the middle of the room and shift back and forth on the ball of my heels.

Ashton rolls off his bed, walks past me, and goes over to the door to turn the lock on the doorknob. I guess he bought a new one because I don't remember it having a lock before. We stare at each other without saying anything. My gaze drifts away from his and down to his attire. His red and black raglan shirt clings to his body nicely and his tight, black skinny jeans make his legs look better than mine. But it's his messy hair that throws me off the edge and makes my body tingle. Damn hormones.

Earlier, I didn't even look at him that much because I was so moody, but now I feel the need to just touch him; to feel his soft hair between my fingers and his lips against mine. I wouldn't even mind trailing my hand up and down his torso just to see what it feels like.

I've never had thoughts like these and blame my stupid period for making me think like this.

I take two steps forwards and press my body against Ashton, attaching our lips together hastily. He is shocked by my forward action and stumbles back onto the bed with me on top on him. At first he stays still, but relaxes and moves his lips in sync with mine. I bypass his torso and bring my hands to his hair, running my fingers through it and tugging slightly, causing him to elicit a low groan.

Ashton places his hands firmly on my hips and pulls me as close as he can to him. He tugs at my bottom lip, something that I have never experience before and I can't help but feel pleasure from it. He lets go and slips his tongue between my parted lips. He rolls us over, him now hovering over me and detaching his lips from mine and placing them along my jawline and down to my neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses.

The image of Jared doing this to me in the storage closet pops into my mind, and I open my eyes and freeze. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about him. This is Ashton not Jared. They are nothing alike. Ashton kissing me right now is pleasurable while Jared was disgusting. I need to keep the two separate and think about now, not the past.

Breaking me out of my thoughts, Ashton whispers between kisses, "I'm sorry for almost calling you a bi—I'm so sorry. You're nothing close to that; I was just frustrated." I close my eyes as he takes my hand and intertwines it with his. He nuzzles his head into my neck and his warm breath fans over my skin. My body relaxes from his affectionate touch and I feel like I'm melting in his arms.

"I'm sorry for acting the way I did," I say, squeezing his hand gently. "I should have told you that I wasn't feeling well today. I'm not angry with you and I'm sorry that I pushed you away. I know that you are only trying to help me. I'm going to study with Luke tomorrow afternoon so that he can help me with my math."

He sits up and pulls me up with him, stroking my cheek and then my bottom lip with his thumb. "We're good, right?" he asks, focusing on my lips and then flickering up to my eyes.

"We're good," I say. My lips curve up, as does his, and he removes his thumb before giving me a tender peck on the lips and nose.

I love seeing his dimples appear when he smiles like this. He's so happy and I'm glad I am the one making his happiness grow as each day passes. We're like each other's sun—the light of our lives; a necessary essential to living.

A sharp pain rises in my stomach and the feeling of my cramps returning ruins this moment. Something always has to ruin it. I lower my head and rest it on Ashton's shoulder and groan.

"What's wrong?" he asks as he pets my hair soothingly.

My eyes squint shut as another wave of pain courses through my lower abdomen and I clutch onto his shirt. "Cramps," I croak. I am never missing another day of my birth control again. Screw this crap.

"Lie down on your side," he orders. "I'll go get you something." He leaves the room and I rest my head on his pillow that smells just like him.

In a few short minutes, he returns with a heating pad covered in a soft cloth. He crawls onto the bed and lies behind me, my back pressed against his chest. He lifts my shirt very slowly up my stomach, as if he's waiting for me to stop him, but I don't and he places the heating pad on the exposed skin. The heat slowly minimizes the amount of pain the each cramp produces.

"How did you know that this would help?" I ask.

"Because I've experienced this with someone else and had to take care of them," he whispers, and I know exactly who he is talking about. Neither of our pasts seems to leave us.

I hum and he places his hand over my stomach, just above the heating pad, stroking the skin near my ribcage. "I didn't think my period would be this bad," I tell him.

"You never seemed to complain about it before."

"That's because I usually don't have one."

"What? How?"

"I've been on birth control since high school to regulate my period, and I haven't had an actual period in years, but I forgot to take the pills for a couple of days and now I have to suffer the consequences."

"Huh. I didn't know that."

"It's not really a topic that comes up in conversation a lot," I joke.

"True, but at least I learned something new about you." He cuddles closer to me, his head resting on my shoulder. "I want to know everything about you; down to the very last detail," he whispers before placing a chaste kiss below my ear.

"You and me both." I close my eyes and match my breathing with Ashton's, wallowing in the comfort of him lying next to me.

________

A/N:

Woooooooo! Lots of Ashlia in this chapter and there will be a lot more of it to come. They had their first fight ever! At least to my knowledge...And they made up! Yay for kissing and communication!

What do you think about Emmie thinking of Jared? Do you think she'll start to panic the more she and Ashton get intimate? And what about Ashton? Do you think his experiences with Natalie (before they ended) will become an issue since he has to go through them with Emmie? Let me know in the comments!!

Anyway, I have decided that I will continue this story on into the spring semester. HOWEVER, the spring semester will not be a part of PYW. I will be making a sequel (title still in progress) and the spring semester will start there. :) There's still a lot more for PYW so don't worry, it's not ending yet!

Thank you guys for 13.3k. I am amazed each time I see the number of reads. You guys are literally the best readers I could have asked for and I love you all. Please keep on voting, commenting, and sharing!! –Rebecca xoxoxoxoxo