7 Minutes In Heaven // Lashton

Chapter 24

"Ashton, what is it?" Clare asked, looking worried.

"You have to promise me that you're not going to get...no, you have to promise me that you're going to hear me out and let me finish," Ashton told her, making his poor aunt grow more and more concerned.

"Just tell me, Ashton. I'm becoming really worried," she pressed.

Ashton took a deep breath, still unsure if he could do this, but he knew that he had to in order for him to feel better. "I...I'm gay. Or bisexual. I'm not for sure since I had the whole relationship with Sierra, but I know that at least half of me is gay."

"What? How do you know that you're gay?" she asked.

Ashton told her everything. He told her about Ricky's party, getting stuck with Luke in the closet, how his "friends" disowned him, Calum...everything. She listened and occasionally nodded, but Ashton couldn't tell if she was mad or if she accepted it. That's what was bothering him the most and he was praying the entire time that she would be accepting of him.

"So, you're saying that you have a crush on this boy?" Clare asked.

"Y-yeah...I do. Please don't be mad, Clare," Ashton said, literally begging her.

"I'm not mad, honey. I didn't expect it is all. Does your mother know about this?" she asked. Ashton shook his head. "I think you need to tell her. She is your mother after all."

Ashton knew that she was right. He did need to tell her and being that he got the confidence up to tell Clare, who was with Ashton most of the time, he knew that he could get the confidence to talk to his mum. The only thing he was fearing was that she would disown him. It was different with Clare; she could disown him and just go back home and not come back. If his mother disowned him, she would probably kick him to the curb.

He wished that there wouldn't be that threat of being disowned. It shouldn't matter who a person loves because that isn't what defines a person. There's all these stories of how people's parents reject them just because they like the same gender and it saddens Ashton because it isn't fair. It's as if the parents think their child turned into Satan when really, they just fell in love. 

"I know...she won't be mad, will she?" Ashton asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"I don't think so. She's pretty accepting of things," Clare told him.

"Don't tell Lauren and Harry. Please. I don't want them to know yet," Ashton told her.

"I won't, don't worry. It's not my place to. Whenever you're ready to, then you go ahead and tell them. Don't let anyone push you," she told him, giving him a hug. "Now, tell me about this boy. What's he like?"

----

Luke was sitting in his room, as usual, Netflix on and attempting to do his homework. He was more interested in figuring out who the murderer was on the episode of Criminal Minds than he was finding out the slope of an exponential function. Honestly, learning about the guy who rips people's genitals off is more fun.

Luke's phone suddenly started to vibrate on his nightstand next to him. He picked it up and looked to see that it was a text from Michael. He didn't expect for him to talk to him ever again if he was honest.

From: Mikey

If you keep treating Calum the way you did Alec, you're going to lose Ashton just like you did Christa. I don't want you to go through that again, so that's why I'm telling you this.

He reread the message, feeling a bit angry that Ashton had to involve Michael, but then felt thankful because of Michael's warning. He didn't want to go through what he did with Christa again. He couldn't handle it. The way their friendship had ended was petty and he regrets it. He doesn't want the same type of thing to happen with Ashton, especially since they had only just become friends.