Good Boy (Lashton)

Chapter 9

We head to the park directly after school, my bag swaying with every step as we stop at a giant tree in which Ashton begins to climb.
"What are you even doing?" I ask as he sits on a low hanging branch, putting the strap of his backpack on one of the stumped branches.
"I come up here all the time, come on." he reaches his hand out for my bag. I hesitate to hand it over and begin the short climb to the same branch as him. He moves over so I am closest to the the trunk and smiles at me. "See, it's not too bad." he shrugs and pulls out some lined paper and I grab a binder to write on, getting the paper I earlier crumpled up in my pocket and smoothed it out.
"Yeah, I guess not." I mumble. We work on the song for about an hour before Ashton decides we need a break.
He hops down from the branch and I follow, placing my messenger bag securely over my shoulder as we head to a gas station on the corner.
"What kind of candy bar you want?" he asks as we stroll down the candy bar isle. I shrug and pick up a small Milky Way bar and Ashton heads to the back and takes out two Red Bulls from the coolers. He picks out a candy bar as well and goes to the counter to pay.
"Is that all for you today?" she asks as Ashton snatches the candy bar from my hand and puts it on the counter for her to scan.
"You don't have to pay for that." I mumble, he shoots me a look and shrugs.
"Well, I want to." he pays for the items and hands me my candy bar and a Red Bull as we make our way back to the park and sit on a bench.
"Thank you." I say after we are engulfed in silence.
"You're welcome." he shrugs and opens his and I do the same. We eat and drink in silence, watching children play and birds and butterflies fly around in search of a meal.
"What do you want to be when you grow up, Ash?"
"A drummer." he hums.
"You're already are a drummer." I chuckles.
"No Luke. Like a professional drummer, I want to travel the world and meet thousands of fans and play in arenas. All that fun stuff." He tells me with a sort of sparkle in his eye.
"If we all became famous together, that'd be awesome." I mumble, leaning against him.
"Yeah." he says lowly. I yawn and sit up straight and take off my messenger bag and let it plop on the bench next to Ashton.
"What are you-" I poke his cheek with a smirk.
"Tag, you're it." I giggle and run off towards the playground. I can tell he rolled his eyes but I see him jump up from the corner of my eye and begin to chase me.
I laugh as I run around, feeling his steps vibrate the ground of the playground as I jump off, sprinting to a grassy area.
I look over my shoulder to see him catching up to me and turn to run behind a tree, but he tackles me to the ground before I get the chance. He has my wrists pinned to the grass as I smile widely at the smaller boy on top of me.
"Tag." he breathes, looking me directly in the eye. I lean up to him and press my lips to his and I feel him smile against my lips as he kisses me back immediately. The kiss becomes fairly heated until someone calls out from the distance.
"I knew he was a faggot!" Jason shouts from beside a tall pine. Both of our heads snap in his direction, my face growing pale but I can see Ashton's growing red. "What's wrong faggot boy? Boyfriend steal your voice?" he snickers, and the next thing I know Ashton is no longer on me, he's storming over to my bully.
"Listen here, you little shit." I hear him growl as I scramble to my feet and race over to Ashton.
"Ashton, stop." I stand in front of him, my hands finding their way to his own fisted ones and unclench them. "Don't do anything you'll regret." I mumble, pulling him away from the other boy. "C'mon." I say, leading him back to grab our bags and return back to his home.
"Yeah, you run you miserable fags!" his voice echoes behind us and my eyes begin to water. We rush home and I lay on his couch with my face facing the back of it.
"Luke." Ashton mumbles, sitting down by my rear and placing his hand on my hip.
"Tell them to cancel rehearsal. I don't feel very well." I mumble, my stomach churning as I curl up into a ball. He hesitates but eventually gets up and I hear him on the phone with either Calum or Michael, telling them that I'm sick and to cancel.
My stomach hurts, I can feel everything sloshing around until it shoots up my throat and I am running to the nearest bathroom. I hunch over the toilet and heave up everything I had eaten today.
I feel Ashton at my side in an instant, his hand on my sweaty back as I continued to heave everything up.
"Ugh." I groan, when I feel myself finish throwing up.
"Are you okay, Lukey?" he murmurs, holding my trembling body to his chest. I nod and he hands me a toothbrush and toothpaste and I wash my mouth out, leaning heavily on Ash for support as I do. We go back to his room and lie down in his bed, he pulls my hot body to his chest and I shiver, moving closer to him and fall asleep, listening to the beat of his heart.