TATTOOS & FLOWERS: LASHTON

TWO

"Hey, hey!" Michael called, as he entered the parlour. Luke looked up and smiled at his friend.

"You, you, I don't like your girlfriend!" he called back, laughing. Michael rolled his eyes at the blonde.

"Shut up." Michael laughed along.

He walked beside Luke, and started his daily routine, clicking his pen and jotting times down. Comfortable silence arrived, when Michael asked something out of the blue.

"Hey, did you see the new shop across us?" the red head spoke up. Luke nodded.

"Uh, yeah. The flower shop?"

"Uh-huh." Michael replied. "It seems cute."

Luke tried to contain his laugh. Michael was always the "hardcore, punk rock" (or that's what he would call himself) type, and would never call anything cute.

Before Luke could burst out into giggles, a member of staff poked his head in from the back door.

"Luke, go out to buy some milk! We ran out of it for our coffee in the staff room!" one of the workers yelled.

Luke was always the one to do the errands.

It was probably because he was the only one that didn't say 'no', but he was one hundred percent sure it was because he was the only worker that looked like a shy white boy, so the shops wouldn't judge him.

"Yeah, yeah." Luke replied, skipping out from behind the desk, and putting on his coat.

"See ya'!" Michael called.

Luke closed the door behind him, and zipped up his coat. He raised his foot to walk, before his eyes caught the same shop he saw last night.

Irwin's Florist

He looked down at the actual shop, and saw how bright and colourful it was. Pastel flowers layed out in front, with cute signs saying the prices, and small white shelves with flower pots set on them.

He smiled to himself at how pretty the shop seemed. He stood there mesmerised, when his glance soon set on a boy.

He had light brown wavy hair, swept to one side, and a purple apron, reading the shop's name.

He seemed to be around Luke's age, maybe older, and Luke couldn't help but keep his eyes locked on the pretty flower boy.

Luke looked around himself, and shrugged.

"Eh, one quick trip won't hurt." He muttered to himself, and with that he skipped across the street to the flower shop.

The boy he saw from across the street was organising the flowers on display, and Luke couldn't help but feel a bit out of place amongst the pastel colours of the shop.

An "uh" escaped Luke's mouth, as the wavy haired boy turned to face him.

"Oh, hi!" the boy smiled.

"Uh, hey -- " Luke replied awkwardly.

"So, what brings someone like you here?" the boy asked, sweetly.

"Th-That was meant with no offense, by the way -- " the boy added, giving off a small smile.

"Don't worry, and I- I just wanted to check this place out, you know. It seemed cute." Luke replied, adding a past comment of Michael's in there.

"Oh, uh, thanks." the boy said, causing Luke's cheek's to turn slightly pink.

"Wait, are you from the tattoo parlour, opposite?"

"Yep. Deathly Tattoos. Pretty dark compared to Irwin's Florist."

"That's awesome!" the boy said, excitedly. "I've always wanted a tattoo. Not something big. Just a small tattoo, but I'm scared it won't suit me."

"Plus, I've heard it hurts..."

Luke chuckled at the boy's comment.

"Nah. It depends if you flinch easily at small things."

The boy nodded along.

"So..." Luke said, awkwardly.

"So -- um, how comes you're out? Is it your break?" the boy asked.

"Uh, not quite..." Luke smiled awkwardly. "I'm - uh - supposed to be buying milk, for a co-worker..."

The smaller boy giggled, causing Luke to smile.

"I'm surprised you'd rather stay here and talk to me than do an errand for your job... " the boy said, his voice a bit more quiet than before, as he played with his fingers.

"Who wouldn't want to talk to you?" Luke blurted out, his voice sounding rather shocked.

"I mean, look at you!"

The boy's hazel eyes widened, his cheeks heating up, as a smile grew on his face.

"Oh - um -- Thank you -- " the boy said, slightly flustered. "You're n - not so bad yourself..."

Luke blushed, "Oh - uh --  no, I mean, thank you, but really..."

"Shut up. You seem like an amazing person"

Luke chuckled lightly, at the boy's comment.

"Same to you, uh -- " Luke paused, realising he didn't even know the boy's name.

"Ashton. Ashton Irwin." he smiled.

"Oh! Is that why-?" Luke stopped to point to the sign.

"Yep. It was actually my mum's shop, but then - uh- yeah -- I'd rather not talk about it. It's a pretty depressing subject to talk about. Especially to someone you just met."

"But yeah, I took over for her, it was originally somewhere else, but then I moved it here." Ashton looked down, and started playing with his fingers again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. -- I shouldn't have -"

"No, no! I mean, it's fine, you didn't know." The boy said, raising his hands to tell Luke to stop.

"Well, it's cute you took over." Luke smiled.

"Thanks, um - " Ashton paused, not knowing the boy's name.

"Luke -- Hemmings." Luke added in quickly, since Ashton had added his last name before.

"Well, Luke Hemmings, maybe you should buy your milk, before you get fired." Ashton laughed.

"Nah, they love me too much to fire me." Luke laughed along. "But you're right."

The blonde boy tucked his hands in his coat pockets, and smiled.

"See you around."

"See ya'." Ashton smiled back, waving as Luke walked off.

Luke replayed what had just happened in his head, and couldn't help but smile.

Ashton was just the cutest, and probably the most adorable person he had ever met, not to mention the sweetest. The way he took over for his mum, and his cute giggles.

He thought about how utterly beautiful Ashton was too. He normally would never think anything of any guys he found attractive, but for some reason Ashton's hazel eyes, and dimples were permanently plastered in Luke's brain.

Meanwhile, Ashton blushed over the scene that had just happened.

Someone had actually approached him to talk to him. And not just that, but the person that had talked to him was immensely attractive.

Luke's blue eyes, that stood out with his blond hair were imprinted in Ashton's mind, as he smiled over the moment.

Ashton's overthinking brain took over, and imagined all the adorable scenes that Luke and him would have. All the cuddles and kisses. But that was just him fantasising, and it would probably never happen.

But even from the distance that was now between them, both boys smiled at how they would be able to see each other everyday, even if the only interaction they could have was a wave.