EGL // lashton

twenty

Luke smiled small at Michael and nodded his head, making the older boy laugh. "So, we're not going to get back until then?"

"No, I thought I'd go home after I had gotten something to eat," Michael said like it was nothing, "You should stay, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble"

"No, I wanna go with you," Luke said and shook his head, "I'm already about 3 months ahead in schoolwork so I'll be fine"

Michael raised his eyebrows at the small blonde before nodding his head, "Okay then blondie, let's get going"

Luke smiled as he walked after Michael, glad that he wasn't alone anymore and that he felt safe again. Luke just searched for that feeling every day now, since he had gotten to know just how bad he could end up alone.

The two boys made their way out of school and over to Michael's car. It was similar to Ashton's, so Luke felt quite at home.

"Can I ask you something?" Luke said and looked at Michael as he drove out of the school's parking lot and onto the street.

"Yeah, go ahead" Michael answered and gave Luke a quick glance before placing his eyes back on the road.

"How can you and Ashton even be students at this school still? I mean, you barely go to any classes and you skip a whole lot"

Michael laughed softly, "We don't do anything we're not supposed to do, we do attend and we keep quiet. They don't need to know about the stuff we hand out to some people"

"What 'stuff'?" Luke asked and looked at Michael innocently.

"Nothing, don't worry about it" Michael said and gave Luke a quick smile.

Luke nodded at Michael's reply before turning his head and looked out of the window. He licked his lip before biting down at his bottom one as he checked his phone for probably the tenth time, hoping he had gotten something from Ashton or Calum, but he hadn't.

"He's fine, Luke"

"What?" Luke spoke out quietly and looked over at Michael.

"I mean Ashton, he's fine. You don't have to worry about him"

"I just wished he'd told me he was leaving. Sometimes he just leaves me alone without telling me and I don't like that. Like, sometimes he's there when I fall asleep but gone when I wake up" Luke mumbled as he looked down at his lap with a small pout.

"Don't read into it too much. He's got a lot to learn, this is all new to him, you know?" Michael spoke.

"How come you're so wise about this? Isn't Ashton supposed to know more when he's the older one?" Luke asked, making Michael chuckle lightly.

"Yeah, you'd think," Michael said, "But no, I think Ashton knows, he's just been too selfish and stubborn to let anyone see that. He always thought showing emotions and stuff was the same thing as showing weakness"

"Oh" Luke said quietly, making Michael quickly shake his head.

"No, I don't mean that he thinks it's weak to feel for you. I think he's learned now that showing and feeling emotions actually makes you stronger. I mean, look at him, he's a whole other person with you in his life. It's like he turns into the fucking hulk if someone ever even talks bad about you"

Luke blushed even though he didn't like fact about Ashton hurting people just because of himself.

"He doesn't hurt you, right? Because I don't care if you've ever said anything about me, I kind of understand if any of the guys have some problems with me. I just came into your house and 'took' Ashton away," Luke said and frowned slightly, "I just don't him to hurt you because of me"