Thorns (G/t) Chapter 10

Ashton thundered out of the room, stomping down the hallway away from the bathroom I’d had the misfortune of being in earlier, and past a couple other closed white doors. I immediately tensed up. What if his father was in one of those rooms? My stomach turned at the thought of having to meet another freaking giant person. And if he was anything like Ashton…

Well…screw me

Again, doing that creepy mind-reading thing he loved to do, Ashton's deep voice suddenly spoke up, rumbling around me.

“You don't have to worry, by the way. My dad’s not here today, he's out on a…uh, business trip until tonight. Which comes in handy anyways, cuz I have school tomorrow.”

That did little to nothing to console me. His father would be home. Tonight. did that mean I had to see him?

Ashton's steps slowed to a halt, stopping in what appeared to be a kitchen, giant windows outlining a marble kitchen built against sunshine yellow walls. An island lay in the middle of it with high, light burgundy chairs. There wasn’t a dining room table that I could see, the entirety of that kitchen surrounding the island with its bright sunflower petal walls. I remembered, in the back of my mind, Ashton mentioning that his favorite color was yellow.

With a huff, I was plopped onto the marble counter, level height with Ashton's hips so that now I could see the vast majority of him. My throat instantly tightened as his shadow swallowed me, squirming away from the counter to put as much distance as I could between us. He was dressed in jeans, again, probably the same ones as yesterday that hugged his thighs a little, and across his torso was a dusty grey sweater with one pocket at the breast. Something in my chest knotted.

Ashton looked like someone I would like back at home. Maybe even be attracted too. That is, if he was normal sized... And, you know, not a kidnapper.

Ashton suddenly ducked down to face me and I jolted back, alarmed by the sudden giant face. His voice hushed, making a slightly audible “shhh” consoling noise as he looked at me with seriousness, something I wasn't used to seeing on his face. His blue eyes pierced directly into mine, lips slightly parting and I began to feel lightheaded.

“When my dad gets home, you need to stay hidden. I'll keep you safe from him, don't worry. It's not like he'd do anything to you.”

He paused, biting his lip.

“It's just that it might be traumatic for him. He swore he'd never see a human again. I, however…”

His serious expression morphed into a smirk on his lips that twisted my gut.

“…Made no such promise.”

I bit my cheek and looked down, pulling the ends of my sleeves over my fingertips. I wished he had…

He rose back up, putting me at that oh-so wonderful and mildly terrifying angle again, and he padded over to a pantry at the end of the kitchen, putting me at a very safe distance from him. In fact, from this angle I could, for the first time, see him all the way from his socked feet to the mess of curls, almost looking normal. I cherished the moment.

He reached into the pantry and yanked out a giant red box, bright animated patters decorated onto the sides. I watched carefully then as he turned around to another cabinet, retrieving a bowl and then something else I couldn't quite see, pinched between his fingertips. His sweater stretched over his waist as he leaned up, exposing a slight layer of skin. I bit my lip.
Tightening his jaw, Ashton placed the objects on the counter, keeping the pinched object cupped in his hand as he reached into the fridge and yanked out a tub of smooth brown liquid. Chocolate milk, I assumed.

Imagine the cows that that came out of.

It was almost fascinating, watching all of his giant movements grind and glide through the kitchen, the veins of his forearm pulsing through his skin as he held the gallon, his hips turning and stretching as he reached in the cupboards, the intricate, yet overwhelmingly pronounced facial features edged out behind waves of brown curls, and the spark in his eye that made him seem less than a monster and more like a man.

It was like watching one of those 4D interactive movies, where you can feel everything buzzing and shaking around you with alarming spontaneity, all the enormous movements left completely out of your hands. Ashton was the film, too huge to be real, too surreal to be a figment of my imagination. Every step was like the booming bass you feel in your chest at the front seat of a concert.  Sometimes it felt as though I could hear his skin twitching and his own blood flowing, as I was merely the size of a finger. It was something I may have been completely fascinated and only mildly terrified with, if my situation had been any different.

I hadn't realized I had been gawking until I saw Ashton's eyes find mine and then narrow, that wide smirk of his stretching across his face as he gathered up to objects of the counter and advanced towards me. The ground rumbled under his footsteps.

“Like something you see?” He raised an eyebrow at me, something he seemed to do quite a lot, and something made me feel as if I would crumble every single time he did for reasons I couldn’t put my finger on.

I stumbled back a little but on the counter as he approached, body stretching taller and taller with every second.

“What? N-no I was just-”

Ashton chuckled, reaching down onto the counter to ruffle the top of my hair before I could get away in time.

“It's okay, it's okay. I get it. I'm a sexy beast. I couldn't expect a mere mortal like you to resist.”

He ended his statement with a ridiculous smolder, waggling his eyebrows at me with a dark glint in his eye.
Internally I rolled my eyes, huffing and plopping down onto the counter into a criss cross position as he placed a bowl on the counter in front of me, easily the size of a large hot tub. It was ceramic and painted a chipped white blue, light pink the same color of my sweater swirled into the acrylic paint like marble. It trailed up lighter and lighter to the top of the bowl, fading into a light yellow like the sky just before it falls. Even though it was just a bowl, it was beautiful.

Just before I could wonder who had painted it, Ashton spoke up, watching me with curious eyes as I examined the piece.

“You like it?” He let out a breathy laugh and I averted my wide eyed gaze from the bowl up to Ashton.

“I painted that one years ago. Hence its stunning condition.” He grinned sarcastically, trailing a large finger over the chips and bits of faded paint. I looked up at him softly, and he continued, playfulness dancing in his eyes like stars.

“I've painted practically all the bowls and plates we have here. Mostly because I run out of paper and I'm too lazy to drive to get some more. Don't worry though, I've baked it. It's sanitary. You won't die of any diseases if you licked it.”

I ignored him for the most part as I always tried to do, still entranced with the designs of the bowl. It was hard for me to think that somebody who could, well, basically kidnap a person could also create such beautiful things. It was unfair to all the other lovely things out there.

Ashton cleared his throat, leaning closer in towards the counter until his hips were pressed against the edge. I eyed him coyly, heart fluttering and watching his hands with extreme caution to make sure none of them came darting my way. They didn't.
Not for now.

“If you like that one, wait till you see this little thing.”

He opened his palm where the small hidden object he had retrieved from the cabinet was still placed, reaching out his other hand to pluck the seemingly marble sized object out of the crease of his palm. With excruciating slowness, he lowered his pinched hand onto the counter and I instantly scooted back just to be safe. He noticed and looked up, grinning at me amusedly.

“Don't worry, it's not you I'm after quite yet.” He chuckled lightly to himself as he let the tiny object clink against the counter.

‘Yet’. Great.

I waited cautiously until he withdrew his hand, watching as it returned safely to Ashton's side and then averted my gaze to whatever he had placed in front of me.

My eyes widened.

Another bowl, but this one was different. This one was my size. But that wasn't what surprised me. What really sunk into my bones, filling my chest with confusing wonder was the identical creamy blue and pink swirls on the bowl, practically the same as the larger.

“H-how…?” I muttered to myself incredulously, picking it up from the marble with careful hands and turning it around in my hands. How could Ashton paint something so…so small? It was amazing, almost as if I could find it at a chic, hipster pottery shop at home.

Ashton grinned wider at me, eyes sparkling and dimples sunk deep into his cheeks. He moved the giant sized bowl back towards the edge of the counter, picking up the large red box and noisily pouring its contents.  

“You like it?”

“It's…it's amazing.” I breathed, still in wonder at the spectacle and the talent it must have taken to paint something so articulate. Wait.

No, don't compliment him. He's bad. Bad giant. He kidnapped you, remember?

I cleared my throat, furrowing my eyebrows and placing the bowl back on the counter. Forcing a frown onto my face, I looked up at him grimly.

“Well, I mean, I guess it's fine.” I stated nonchalantly, beginning to fume as his smile only widened, obviously caught on to what I was doing. Damn him.

Ashton rolled his eyes, grinning ear to ear and obviously quite pleased with himself. I watched him angrily as he looked from my bowl to his giant one, racking his brain before picking two pieces of what seemed like cereal and carefully dropping them into mine. Both of them were the size of a dictionary, one creamy white and glazed over with sugar, and the other bright blue and pink similar to the bowl. What the-?

“Are these Lucky Charms?” I asked, my face distorted. In such a foreign world, I expected some odd and incredulous practically inedible food, not some classic American shit cereal. Not that I was really complaining. His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced at the box, reading the title as if he didn't know the name of his own damn cereal.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. I just pulled this out of the ‘human food’ cabinet. Apparently that other chick used to like these, so he designed them here the same they would've been at home. Just, well, our sized. Like I said, he's really smart. I've never actually tried it.” He stated, wrinkling his nose as he brought the familiar cereal up to his face.

Wow, Ashton's dad really did accommodate to whoever she was… I thought, picking up a large chunk of marshmallow. I couldn't believe he had actually managed to replicate something from home. I bit my cheek, unconsciously wondering what else he could steal from us.

Averting my focus, I shifted my attention to the larger than life cereal.
"Themostimportantmealoftheday..." I grumbled to myself ironically, taking a cautious bite out of the giant blue and pink sweet. It was fairly difficult to get my mouth around the giant chunk, stretching my jaw as far is it would go and still struggling to get the width in my mouth. I could feel Ashton starting at me, that amused smile smeared onto his face as he watched me attempt to eat cereal.

“Awwwww…” Ashton began teasingly, only grinning wider as I looked up at him, cereal still lodged haphazardly in my jaw.

“Sometimes I forget how tiny you really are. It’s adorable.”

My heart thrummed in my chest and my face reddened, more so embarrassed that I couldn’t eat a freaking piece of cereal without being called out than his backhand compliment.

An idea suddenly sprang into my mind and I drew the cereal chunk from my face, looking to the counter briefly before violently smashing it onto the surface.  Ashton's jaw dropped in aghast amusement, letting out a breathy laugh at my now joyfully destroyed marshmallow. It had crumbled into several now bite size pieces on the counter. Proud of myself, I plucked up a swirl of cotton candy colors and took a bite into it, the cereal piece practically the size of an apple. As the sweet sugar taste sprinkled over my tongue, a sharp pang rang in my ribs.

If I closed my eyes and pretended like I wasn't here, like I was just outside in the deck, laying on the ground and munching cereal under the sticky sugar summer air, I could be at home. It tasted the same as it did in my own kitchen.

Suddenly I wasn't very hungry.

I put down the piece, placing it on my loose jeans as I gathered up the other shattered chunks, dropping them into the small bowl and pushing it away with a bitter taste in my mouth. I kept the chunk on my lap, lightly nibbling at its edges.

Ashton looked down at me, mouth now full of cereal and a marvelous look in his eye.

“Awe mah gawd, Wose.” He spoke to me, muffled my mouthfuls of cereal. I looked up at him with a frown.

“Dis stwuff is amawzing…hey?” Ashton's eyes looked at me closely as he chugged the cereal down with a glass of chocolate milk, enough to fill a large bathtub. I stiffened, watching him as he noticed my ignored cereal and swallowed his own.

“Why aren't you eating all you're cereal? Not a fan favorite?”

“I'm just not all that hungry…” I muttered quietly, suddenly remembering the past day’s events again, surprised that I and even managed to stop thinking about home for one second.

I glanced up at Ashton's giant looming doubtful figure and felt re-overwhelmed with fear, remembering that yes, despite his whole persona of being a normal, 18 year old high school student, he was still trapping me here. Against my own will.

He dropped his bowl onto the counter and I flinched, scooting away further from the edge on the counter and glaring at him carefully through bangs, abandoning my chunk of marshmallow. Despite everything, his seemingly calmed down persona ever since the bathroom incident, his failed attempts to assure me that I was safe, no part of me wanted to be here, and he knew it.

To my horror he began to stretch out a hand towards me, eyebrows still scrunched, and I instantly shot up to my feet, ready to make a useless but hopeful break for it. He noticed.

“Oh come on, don't keep being like that.”

In a flash, Ashton’s  hand darted out at me and fingers curled in around me, locking me into a tight fist before I could even think about running. I groaned stubbornly and squirmed as he began to lift me up, a confused smile on his face.

“When are you ever gonna stop being scared of me? I tried to tell you earlier I wasn’t gonna hurt you. Am I really all that intimidating?”

His lips curled into a smirk as he brought my struggling figure, his irises dancing over me in amusement.

Yes, yes he really was that intimidating. How could he possibly think this was funny?

I flashed a glare up at him, green eyes flaming with a snarl. His eyebrow rose in amusement.

“Well, oh I don't know, why don't you try getting kidnapped and man-handled by someone 100 times your size?”

He looked away in faux thoughtfulness, scratching his scruff dramatically and I felt my anger steam off of my skin. This insolent, obtrusive, immature-

“Well, I think I'd be grateful. To be whisked off of some lame-o world with its teeny little people to instead be in the presence of some everyday, absolutely hilarious and much more attractive person in a much safer place.”

Ashton looked away again and sighed dreamily, purposely pushing every single one of my buttons to the point where they'd practically shatter.

There was that word again. Safe. But, why-?


“Sounds like fun to me. You're luckier than you think...”


You've got to be joking. Lucky? Safe? How in the world was I either one of those things?

He looked down at me again with a soft smile that confused me, his voice trailing off at the end and his brown curls falling lazily in front of his eyes. I slumped over in his fist, exhaling and deciding to leave the whole issue alone. He just must not really get it. He didn't get that I was a person, and that I couldn't possibly be safer here.

...Could I?

Ashton suddenly lightly shook around his fist, jolting me out of my world of confusion and hopelessness. He began to bring me closer to his face, and I sucked in a short breath, wincing as I tried to look up at him clearly. I had to shut one eye so my vision didn't get too blurred.

“Hey hey hey, there you go again, escaping off to that little brain dreamland of yours. Stay with me, Rose.”

He flashed me a brilliant smile and I grumbled.

So now I didn't even have permission to use my own brain?


Surprise, surprise.