Chapter 6-2

"Okay, let's make a compromise." I said and she tuned in. I took the over-sized sweater from one of the outfits and changed into it, leaving my leggings on. It looked like my decision truly pained her as she inhaled deeply. "I don't get it. Most girls would book a freaking spa day if they were meeting up with Ashton at Eli's house, and you won't even wear a decent outfit?" "Well if I want to be comfy I'm gonna be comfy. Plus, I'm still not being my comfiest. You're lucky I'm wearing a bra," She chuckled and shook her head. Suddenly her face fell, looking behind me. I followed her gaze to the clock on my nightstand, it was 4:07. I could feel my face burning red as I turned back to Scarlett, our faces mirroring each other. "Let's go," she said and before I could process what was happening, she had already pulled me into her car. "Um, I can drive myself," I said. "I know, but I want to pick you up so that you can tell me everything that happened," she said and started the engine. I sighed as I buckled my seat belt. When we arrived at Eli's house, both of us got the wind knocked out of us as we gazed up at the beautiful house. I said goodbye to her and ran up to the door, quickly shaking off my awe. I rang the doorbell and waited only about 10 seconds before Ashton answered it and chuckled when he saw me (which was annoyingly cute, as much as I hate to admit it). "You know, I figured that you were late because you were just taking extra long to get ready, but apparently you just didn't feel like being here on time." He said and I rolled my eyes. "So are you going to invite me in orrr....?" I asked, getting impatient. "Depends. Are you a vampire?" I heard someone call out from behind the door, I recognized that it was Kevin. I held in a giggle and Ashton opened the door wider. I walked in and waited for Ashton to guide me to where everyone was. When I walked into the room, I was immediately welcomed with warm smiles from everyone. "Crys!!" Kevin shouted and engulfed me in a huge bear hug. I chuckled as he finally let me go. "You guys know each other?" Ashton asked. "Well, duh. We're besties," Kevin answered as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "Hey Crystal," Eli said and I looked into his deep, brown eyes. "Hey," I smiled back. George just kind of smiled at me and didn't say anything. Ashton had already set up everything that we needed for a poster. "Really? A poster?" I said and looked at him. "What's wrong with a poster?" he asked and I sighed. After all of the ways that we were going to represent it, he decides on a poster? Being the type A students we were, we both had already done the research and just needed to put it on a poster. I took out one of the pencils and wrote "Evolutionary Genetics" at the top of the poster in bubble letters. I had learned the hard way never to write in sharpie first. After I outlined the letters with a black marker, I looked back up at Ashton's angelic face to see what he was doing. He was talking about sports stuff with the boys, which I only partially understood. I cleared my throat and he looked back at me. "What?" he asked and I gestured to the poster. He sighed and began to glue on his typed notes. After our notes were done, I started to draw the different visuals that we needed. "Those look really good," I heard someone say. I looked up to see Eli gazing down at our poster, his dark brown eyes staring at my drawings. I tried my hardest not to blush, but I'm sure that I failed. "Thanks," I replied and his intense yet comforting eyes met my gaze before Ashton walked back into the room with plastic water bottles. When I finished the last visual, I looked up to Ashton, who was handing me a water bottle. "I finished," I stated and took a sip of the crisp, refreshingly cool water. "Good," he said and sat back down a couple feet away from me. "It just has to dry," I added. "I think I know how glue works," He snickered as he picked up the poster and brought it over to a table, to let dry. I started to text Scarlett to pick me up when someone grabbed my phone from me. I looked up to see Kevin's adorable smirk on his lips. "Give me my phone back," I said and reached up for it, he pulled away. A mischievous grin spread across his face as he started to back away. I quickly pounced up, but by the time I got up he had disappeared. "Oh you little-" I was cut off by someone lifting my up from behind me. I squealed and noticed that the person was holding my phone in his hand. "GODDAMNIT KEVIN put me down!" I said as he was laughing. I have to say- when he was holding me I felt warm and fuzzy, and it was almost hard for me to be mad at him. He eventually put me down and I shoved him while he was hysterically laughing. "Relax, all I did was put in my contact." He informed me and I checked just to make sure he was telling the truth, which he was. I finished sending the text to Scarlet and she said how she would be there in ten minutes. Eli, Kevin, and George were all laughing in another room together, and I wondered where Ashton was. I was waiting by the front door when I heard someone approaching from me side. "You're pretty good at drawing," Ashton said, his deep voice floating through the air. I looked up at him, keeping my chin raised slightly to make sure he knew I was still looking down on him, though. "Thanks," I said and slightly grinned. He didn't smiled back though, not wanting to show too much niceness. "I didn't think you were capable of giving compliments," I said, looking out the window for Scarlett. "I am, I just never feel like giving them." He said, still showing no emotion. The dark lighting was only lit up by the moon creeping through the window, which seemed to make him look even better than before. Scarlett pulled up and I looked back to Ashton. "Bye," I said. He nodded then walked away. Classy. On the way home, Scarlet made me tell her about everything. I didn't tell her about Ashton's compliment, because I didn't want to make her think that he actually respected me in any way. When I got home I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep to the mixed emotions swirling throughout my head.