ashleigh ୨ৎ

some of my favourite bands are bad omens, thousand below, sace6, motionless in white, dayseeker, spiritbox, sleep token, holding absence, static dress, silent planet, black veil brides, too close to touch, honey revenge, thornhill, wage war, architects, the plot in you and rain city drive!! i'm from the uk, near london to be specific, so if any of these bands are on tour there's a chance i'll be at their shows!

running in circles is my favourite song in the whole world (besides sex by the 1975 lmao) so obviously that's where the blog name came from, i even have a tattoo of some of the lyrics from that song because it means so much to me <3 also i'd say it's bad omens most underrated song ever but hey that's just me!

i found wattpad when i was 9 because i had unrestricted internet access and an obsession with some minecraft youtubers 🫣 and i definitely shouldn't have been on there now i'm looking back on it, but i've always loved coming up with ideas for stories, writing them down in old diaries and scrapbooks, and then i found somewhere i could share them with other people!! and 12 years later i'm still doing the same thing <3

my dream job is to be a hairdresser, (but a super cool alternative one! my worst fear is doing balyages for the rest of my life) so i'm currently saving up to be able to afford a course! i'd love to pursue writing but it's always just been something i do for fun, and if i was to take it too seriously it wouldn't end up being fun anymore, so i'll stick to giggling and kicking my feet and writing noah sebastian fics :)

One thing about Noah is that he’s always gotten his own way. Every time he’s flirted with a girl with the intention of taking her home, it’s worked. Every time he’s talked to a girl with the intention of getting her number, he’s succeeded.

He assumed you would be no different. The moment he saw you, a pretty girl sitting all alone at the bar, he knew immediately where he wanted to spend the rest of his night.

“Dude, you’re staring.” Davis said, and Noah suddenly turned his attention back to the group of friends he had walked in with twenty minutes ago.

“She’s pretty.” Noah nodded.

“Go over and talk to her then.” Ruffilo encouraged, taking a sip of his beer.

“I will.” Noah smirked as he finished what was left of his drink, then left his friends with no hesitation.

You saw him coming. You saw him talking to his friends, you saw them all glance over at you. So you knew exactly what to expect.

You sighed, staring back down at your drink and stirred it with your straw as he approached.

The problem was, he was pretty. He was the type that knew he was hot, you could tell by the cocky grin on his face. If he had been less attractive then maybe you’d assume it wasn’t a prank. But to you, he felt so out of your league, leaving you feeling suspicious.

“Hey.” Noah said, resting one arm against the bar.

“No.”

He blinked, his brows already furrowing.

“…No?”

For a moment he was confused, perhaps wondering if you weren’t even into men.

“How much are they paying you?” You asked before finally turning your head to look at him, “Or what bet did you lose?”

Noah had never been more confused. But now he could see you up close, he realised you were even more beautiful than you looked across the room. The colour of your eyes, your glossy lips- he just didn’t like the tired look on your face.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Noah said genuinely, and it only made you sigh.

“You can go tell your friends you did it.” You said before taking a sip of your drink.

“Did what?”

“Talked to the fat girl.”

Oh.

So that was it.

Noah just stared at you for a moment, almost in shock at how casually you said it. How certain you were about it. Like this conversation had happened before.

“You think that’s why I’m here?”

You shrugged.

“What else would it be?”

He looked at you in disbelief, before laughing. Not because it was funny, but because he was just so fucking confused.

“I walked over because I thought you were gorgeous and I wanted to talk to you.”

“Sure.” You laughed.

“I did.”

“Mhm.”

“No…” He shook his head. “I actually did.”

You gave him a polite, sympathetic smile, as if you were humouring a child.

“What’s your name?”

“Noah.”

“Well, Noah, I know how this ends.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

“Either your friends, who have been staring at you this whole time- you should let them know they’re not subtle- come over here and start laughing. Or you get your way, win me over and take me home, just to say you’ve fucked a fat girl.”

The smile slowly disappeared from Noah’s face. He glanced back at his friends for a moment, and they weren’t laughing. They weren’t even watching to see if he’d succeeded. Davis was talking to Jolly, Ruffilo was on his phone, they’d already forgotten Noah had walked away.

Then he looked back at you.

“You really think that?”

You gave a small shrug.

“I know that.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You think that.”

“Well, yes. Because it’s happened before.”

Noah stared at you for a long moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer.

“…People have done that?”

You let out a humourless laugh.

“You’d be surprised what people find funny after a few drinks.”

He felt something unpleasant in his chest, not guilt, not pity, but anger. Not towards you, but to every guy who’d treated you this way before, everyone who used you for their entertainment.

It suddenly made perfect sense why you’d sighed the second he’d approached, why you didn’t even look at him, why you didn’t even entertain the possibility that he was being genuine.

“So…” You swirled the ice around in your glass. “How long do we have before the big reveal? Before they turn around and you laugh and go gotcha!”

“There isn’t one.”

“Mhm.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

This was new. Normally, by now, he’d have someone laughing at one of his stupid jokes. Normally, flirting came easily and women believed him when he complimented them and they would already be blushing and giggling.

You, on the other hand, didn’t believe a single word coming out of his mouth.

“So…” he said slowly, “…what, I’m just wasting my own time then?”

You looked at him.

“What?”

“If I wanted to play some stupid prank…” He gestured around the club. “…why would I still be standing here arguing with you?”

You frowned.

“Maybe you’re just committed?”

He let out a disbelieving laugh.

“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?”

“I’ve had practice.” You shrugged.

Noah looked at you for a second before pulling the empty stool beside him out a little further and sitting down.

He was making sure you realised he wasn’t leaving.

“You don’t have to commit this hard, you know.” You said.

“I know,” he said before looking at you with a smirk, “I’m just stubborn.”

That earned him the tiniest twitch at the corner of your mouth, and Noah’s face lit up when he caught it.

“I saw that.” He smiled.

“Saw what?”

“You nearly smiled.”

“No I didn’t.”

“C’mon. You can’t lie to me, baby.”

Oh.

That one simple word went straight to your tummy, making you feel warm and fluttery. You felt heat rush to your cheeks too, and god you hated that he saw it.

“Heh,” his smirk widened, “Made you blush.” He teased, and you couldn’t help the smile that crept onto your lips as you shook your head.

“Shut up.” You tried to hide your smile behind your straw as you took another sip of your drink.

“So… does the prettiest lady at the bar have a name?”

You rolled your eyes, not even trying to hide the smile now as you felt your walls you’ve built over the years slowly start to come down for him, and you told him.