veracity • lashton

seven.

"Hi." He finally responded, moving a little to the side. "Come in."

I nodded, stepping inside. "The house looks... different." I stated, now analyzing the newly painted walls and furniture.

"Oh, yeah..." He started while closing the door. "Calum moved in so, we made a few adjustments."

"Sure..." I paused. "Is he here?"

"Nope."

"Bummer." I murmured underneath my breath, sarcastically of course.

"What?"

"Nothing." I answered in a regular tone.

"Okay..." He definitely was not convinced. "Kitchen?"

I shrugged my shoulders, following his path to the other room.

"I was just heating up some water, do you want some tea?" He asked, now facing the counter.

"Please." I took a seat at the table. "Two sugars and-"

"A splash of milk, I know." He cut me off, making me look back at him.

I watched him taking my favorite mug out of his pantry, which made me smile wildly.

He remembers...

He remembers everything.

"Here you go." He said, placing the cup right in front of me.

"Thank you."

I gave him an up and down look as he sat on the other side of the table, sipping on his coffee.

"So..." I started, which made him glance at me. "It seems like you are not that surprised to see me."

He shook his head from the left to the right. "After that creepy ass phone call of yours, I kind of figured you would show up eventually."

I scratched the back of my head, sighing right after. "Michael, I am so sorry. You have every right to be mad at me-"

"I am not mad at you, Luke." He interrupted me. "I mean, at some point I was... but not anymore."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I realized that I wasn't angry, just disappointed."

I played with my fingers, chills running down my spine after his last statement.

"It took a long time for me to process that somebody that I considered family, would do such awful things. I guess I just expected better from you, that's all."

"Mike-"

"I mean, since when?" He looked into my eyes. "Since when do you use innocent people for your own benefit?"

"You have to understand, Mike... I had to do it. I would have never hurt Ashton if I didn't have to, I love him."

"It doesn't matter, you still used him like a toy."

I looked to the ground, feeling ashamed of my actions.

"I never meant for it to go this far." I explained. "I never meant to hurt him."

"But you did."

"Don't you think I know that?!" I snapped, facing him again. "Because I do, and I fucking regret it. I regret hurting him, I regret hurting you... I am so, so, so sorry. For everything."

He licked his lips, scratching his eyeballs before pinching his nose slightly. "You know..." He started. "I guess I can understand that you had no other choice... Maybe I can understand why you had to go away, too. But why? Why didn't you even bother contacting me?"