Chapter Text
Imagine being in a class with Ashton and you’ve had a secret crush on him for ages. It’s your sophomore year in college and you have him in your writing class, and you always catch yourself sneaking glances at him. You both were quiet in the class because you guys didn’t really talk to anyone there.
Your current assignment in class was to write a fiction story that you would want to be true in your life, whether it would be the way things would have been if something didn’t happen or just something that you dream about.
One day, your professor asked you to get into pairs for a peer review and since everyone in class had friends with them, you were stuck by yourself.
“No partner, y/n?” You shook your head
“I think everyone is already paired up.” She shook her head and signaled someone to come over to where we were.
“Ashton, I found you a partner.” Your eyes bulged out of your head when you heard his name.
There was no way.
But sure enough, you looked up and saw a tall blonde boy making his way over to your seat.
“Great, thank you. I was beginning to think I was peer reviewing my own paper,” you couldn't help but laugh lightly as he sat down in the seat next to you, “I’m Ashton, by the way.” He stuck out his hand, waiting for you to shake it
“I’m y/n.” You wiped your clammy hands on your pants before shaking his and, you swear, you felt sparks
“That’s a pretty name,” he smiled and you saw his dimples pop out which you’ve only seen a few times, they were perfect. He cleared his throat and began to talk, “so, what is your paper on?”
“Oh, um, it’s lame,” you felt your face fire up, you forgot you wrote a love story…something you have never had, “it’s a love story.” His face showed an unreadable emotion.
“Really?” You nodded slowly. “Mine is too, I didn't think anyone else would write a romance.”
Your eyes lit up
“You don’t seem like the romance writer type.” He shook his head and laughed, you couldn’t help but follow suit
“I like to think about if things were different. Almost like how life would be if I could share it with someone.” You could see his cheeks turn a light shade of pink and you wanted to ask more about what he meant, but your professor interrupted your chance.
“Okay guys, class is going to end soon and I hope you got some good criticism on your stories, if not then have someone read them before next class. I hope everyone has a good rest of their day and I’ll see you all next week!”
You look up at Ashton busily packing his notebook away, and you wanted so badly to ask about his paper but you figured it was too late. As you made your way out of the door to leave the room, Ashton walked in front of you and began scratching the back of his neck before speaking to you.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to look at your story, I would have loved to see what your take on romance is.”
“Yeah, who knows maybe we wrote the same thing.” You felt a nervous laugh come out, which caused him to smile with those dimples.
“Do you live on campus? Maybe we could meet at the library and we can peer review them there?”
You were speechless, the guy you have been fawning over for months wants to meet up outside of class? This had to be a dream.
“Yeah, I live in the suites. And thanks, that sounds great. When is it good for you?” You tried to act as normal as possible but you weren’t sure if you were pulling it off. You look out of the window to see snow flurries falling.
“I have a class after this but then I’m free for the weekend. Whenever works for you, works for me.”
“Do you maybe want to wait? It looks like the snow is going to come down pretty hard and I don’t want us to get stuck in the library.” You looked at his face and almost saw a hint of disappointment and before you knew it, you started talking again. “But you can come over to the lounge in my building if that works for you.” He turned towards you with a confused look on his face.
“What about if the snow gets too bad for me to leave?” You felt your cheeks heat up again. Was he trying to get out of this?. You locked eyes with the floor to avoid eye contact.
“I’m sorry, never mind”, you started to shuffle your feet around, “just let me know whenever it works for you after the storm.” He stood there, almost in shock, so you gave him a small smile before beginning your walk back to your room, feeling the most embarrassed that you have in years.
-2 hours later-
Since the snow showed no sign of stopping, you decided to wrap yourself up in your blankets with comfy clothes on, and watch movies to pass the time.
In the middle of your second movie, the front desk worker texted you to say there was someone here for you but they didn't know where to find you. You thought it was odd so you asked if they could snap a picture to show you who it was.
When the picture came in, you were in shock.
It was Ashton.
You got up, changed so you looked decent, and walked to the front lobby to meet him.
“Hey y/n, sorry this must be weird that i just showed up like this.” He started to scratch the back of his neck, it took you a second to realize he was actually in front of you.
“Don’t worry about it,” you nervously laughed before continuing, “are you here to peer review?”
“That was my purpose for coming but…I forgot my paper and the snow was getting too bad to go get it and then come back.” You were confused, what was he saying? “So I thought maybe we could just hang out? As long as you would want to.”
You felt your face heating up, there was no stopping it. He wanted to hang out with you, the guy you’ve been in love with wants to hang out. No way.
“No, that sounds fun! Did you want to come to my room?” He nodded slowly and you led the way to your room, your heart beating faster and louder than it ever has before.
Ashton was coming to your room, and it’s not a dream.
You were walking in silence, trying to figure out what to say before things got awkward but you were too late. As you opened up the door, Ashton walked in nervously, careful to not knock anything over or touch anything he wasn’t supposed to. You couldn’t help but glance at him and smile, he was so dorky it was cute.
He had on a bulky winter coat and a pair of black skinny jeans-something you could never catch him not wearing, and his usually slicked back hair is contained in a beanie with his natural curls popping out of the bottom. You liked his hair the way he usually did it, but the natural look was always your favorite.
He looked in your direction, snapping you out of your thoughts, and gave you a look as if to ask if it was alright to sit on the couch that was in the middle of the room. You nodded quickly, and a few more minutes of silence passed until you heard a shiver come from Ash’s mouth.
“I’m sorry our heat in here is broken, it gets a little chilly.” You laughed nervously and he just gave you a smile, showing his dimples.
“It’s no problem at all, I prefer the cold to the heat anyway.”
“Really? You’re the type of person who would rather sit in an igloo rather than sit on a beach?”
He started laughing, and it was perfect. You’ve only heard snippets of it from when he would be in the cafe with his friends, but now that you’re hearing it in its entirety, you fell in love a little more.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he laughed lightly before continuing, “I’m just a naturally hot person so I prefer the cool to balance me out.” You could feel your face heating up, he really is naturally hot.
“Naturally hot? Big ego you got there!” After a few minutes of making jokes back and forth, he shivered again and you felt bad.
“Would you like some hot chocolate? I feel so bad that you’re so cold.” You made your way over to the kitchen area, and he got up from the couch to follow you.
“That actually sounds perfect, thank you!” You smiled at him, thinking about how he would be waking up in the morning to make him coffee. You felt your face heat up from your thoughts and continued to heat up the hot chocolate.
“I’m sorry there’s not much to do here, but can I offer you a movie night?” His head perked up and nodded quickly.
“Movie nights are one of my favorite things to do, they’re so relaxing.”
“I know! No matter what mood you’re in, there’s a movie and I love it.” He nodded, and then knitted his eyebrows together.
“So what mood are you in right now? What are you thinking?” You were thinking about making him coffee in the mornings, but you knew you couldn’t tell him that.
“Well, we can go in one of two directions”, you began, “we can watch a comedy because those are always fun or we can watch a romance because of our papers.” He thought for a moment before finally speaking.
“I like romance one, believe it or not, I am a huge sucker for romance.”
“Is that why you like writing about romance?” He nodded.
“I think I just really like the way that things end with a happy ending. You know? With romance, you know how it will end in most cases, but the middle is a mystery and I really like that,” he paused before speaking again, “it’s weird, I’m sorry” he started to scratch the back of his neck, something you noticed that he does when he is nervous or anxious.
“No, I get it. I actually feel the same. What got you into it exactly?”
“It’s kind of stupid…”
“If you tell me, then I’ll tell you why I did.” He smiled a wide smile before talking.
“Well, I once read a story, I think my classmate in middle school wrote it, and it was about a man who didn’t believe in love anymore because he’s been hurt so many times. The only thing he really cared about was this lemon tree that he planted a few years back. One day, when he was at the checkout at a store, he was rung up by this woman that he thought was breathtaking. I’m not sure how everything went down but he introduced himself, and they hung out. The story ended with that, not telling you what happened and that just really interested me so I kept reading romance to see their takes.” You couldn’t take your eyes off of him because he seemed to be so emotionally attached to the story, it was admirable.
“Okay, I need a copy to read. You’re like the abstract but I need the full text.” He started laughing.
“You’re such a nerd, but it’s true,” you both were laughing at this point, “okay, your turn.”
You took a deep breath as you handed him his hot chocolate, moving on to make one for yourself.
“Mine is not nearly as cute as that, it’s kind of sad. So even though I am an absolute hopeless romantic, I’ve never had that love feeling, or even been in a relationship. But I’ve always longed to know what it felt like. I read romance to see how it makes the characters feel, some feel sparks, some feel butterflies, and some don’t feel anything. And then I like writing it because I can choose how it pans out. As lame as it sounds, I usually base the main character around myself so I can make my own fate or whatever with a guy I like or something like that.”
You could feel yourself rambling, and you felt like you were probably boring him, “I don’t know, it’s stupid. Sorry.” You felt a nervous laugh slip out as you were stirring the hot chocolate, ignoring eye contact with him. It was quiet for a moment before you cleared your throat and decided to change the subject. “Would you like to start the movie?”
“Are we going with romance?” He plops down on the left side of the couch, while you make your way over to the right and grab a blanket for the two of you to use.
“Only if that’s okay with you, I’m good with anything!”
“No, that sounds perfect” You smiled lightly before turning Netflix on the TV and throwing the remote at him gently.
“I’m terrible with choosing, this is your call.” He shook his head while laughing and chose ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, one of your favorites. You two were watching the movie in silence until Ash decided to speak up.
“May I ask you a question?” You looked up at him and nodded.
“Why have you never been in a relationship?” You started playing with your fingers anxiously.
“No one really ever wanted me, it’s okay though!” You try to act as if it doesn’t bother you, but both Ash and you knew it was lie.
“That’s not true y/n.” You knitted your eyebrows together in confusion.
“What do you mean?” He took a deep breath and thought for a moment before speaking.
“I’ve been into you since I laid eyes on you. I’ve just been too anxious to talk to you or anything like that but I know you have had to catch me staring at you once or twice in class.” You were shocked.
The only words you could mutter were, “No.”
Now he was the confused one. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“There’s no way this is real. I’ve had the biggest crush on you for forever and am always staring at YOU in class, I’m basically in love with the back of your head.” His face allowed his dimples to show to accompany his bright smile.
“This sounds like a romance story.” You let out a laugh, you still couldn’t believe this was happening.
“It really does, maybe this is what we should have based our papers on!” Ash got quiet and you were worried that you did something wrong.
“Well, funny you should say that, because I based my paper off of you.” Your mouth fell open.
“No way, what did you write?” He scratched the back of his neck.
“I wrote about how the main character has been in love with a girl who had absolutely no idea who he was. I wrote about how her eyes sparkle when she’s writing on the computer, and how she always looks so beautiful, no matter what her mood is that day. I wrote about how her voice is like silk, smooth and cool in the air, and how he could listen to her laugh all day and night. I wrote about how when he can see that she’s sad, he wants nothing more than to go up and ask her about it, and be the person she goes to with her problems. I wrote about how he wants to go up and talk to her, but he doesn’t want to bother her because she always looks so peaceful. I wrote about you Y/N.”