Off Ones Rockers II • Lashton

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-six

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His eyes barely open he saw the faint figure of a man sitting in the chair beside him. His head already pounding, he could only fathom one person sitting next to him right now, so he muttered. "Dad?"

There was a gentle tap on his hand and a voice said. "It's Alex, Luke."

It took a while for the blonde to come around after he realises it wasn't who he thought it was. Luke laid there limply staring at the ceiling. Trying to figure out why he was here. What was even his last memory? After about ten minutes he turned his head to look at the man.

"You've never mentioned your father before," Alex said. Not even Liz had mentioned anything, but that they had been divorced for a while. The reason for that not even stated. He didn't want to pry. But, he never thought to think about how that would have affected Luke growing up.

Luke brought his heavy hand to his dry throat. "He left when I was eleven," he stated simply. "He was cheating. Mum never wanted us to see him again and he had no problem with that". The blonde then laughed causing Alex to look at him oddly, "That's when I really started to get fat you know? Dad always used to tell me I was a pig, and that I couldn't eat this or that if I were going to be a football player. He wanted at least one of us to be a football player, I was his last hope."

"Luke," Alex said softly, sensing the boy was upset. "That's emotional abuse."

Luke opened his eyes and shook his head. "It was constructive. At least he kept me healthy. Mum can't even control me. It's her fault all of this happened."

"You don't mean that, Luke," Alex said, knowing how much that would have upset the woman. But, Luke was still delusional, and angry.

"She's the reason I am here right now!"

"You ran away Luke," Alex reminded him. "It was your choice. You could have at least returned home."

Luke closed his eyes tightly. He didn't know what was going on. "Why am I even here? I've been eating. I was just sat on a bench."

"You feel asleep in the park Luke, do you remember the paramedics waking you up there?" Alex asked slightly concerned with the memory of the blonde.

Luke shook his head and looked out of the window. It was dark out, but there was a slight light to the sky. "What time is it?"

"About five in the morning. They found you a couple of hours ago. You had hypothermia. Do you know how fatal that could have been for you?"

Luke groaned and grabbed at his hair. "It's your fault anyway."

Alex looked down at the floor. "I think you're blaming everyone but yourself here. But, you are of a sound mind to decide your own things. Your sixteen now. You chose to run away, rather than talk to your mum."

"She said I wouldn't take this well. She wasn't going to say anything to me. No one is telling me the truth!" Luke exclaimed irritated.

He began to sit up but Alex stopped him, ensuring the covers were pulled tightly over him, his skin still slightly pale.

"On my last day," Luke whispered, looking directly at the older man. "Were you and mum together then? Did you lie to me?"

Alex shook his head. "No Luke. We both liked each other. But we were just friends."

"She's never even dated anyone after dad left. She said she never wanted to again," Luke muttered. "What changed her mind?"

Alex shrugged. He didn't know this. "I don't know Luke. But people get lonely sometimes."

"But she has Jack and me, and Ben and her work. I don't understand."

Alex reached over and took the blonde's hands from his hair. "Jack is out a lot Luke, and you can be pretty hostile at times. It's like you have Ashton, she needed someone too."

"But why you?" Luke complained. "You're my therapist."

"That's not forever Luke."

"It feels like it's going to be forever. Especially if you marry her!"

Alex chuckled. "It's a bit soon for that Luke. And if that were to happen, me as your therapist and me as your mother's boyfriend will be two separate people. I will help you when I need to, but at the dinner table I will forget to pass you the salt."

"I don't like salt!"

Alex smiled and looked at the blonde once again. He looked well, the pixels didn't do that justice when they had their sessions. "You've really done well Luke. I didn't expect this from you. How are you feeling?"

Luke looked down at his body covered by countless sheets and shrugged. "Fine, I guess. My body isn't coping well, I'm always bloated. But, I'm okay with what I'm eating."

"And how are you feeling in general."

Luke thought about it. He was numb, undoubtedly numb. But, yet again he could not explain it. So he just clarified and then reclarified, "Okay. I'm okay."

-

Quite happy with how this one turned out, a little short but I didn't want to force anything extra into it.

Please comment what you think.

Thank you so much for reading.