3 Years (l.h. + a.i.) ✔️

3 Years

"Who was that, dear?" He heard his mum ask from behind him. He turned around in his chair to face Anne's kind blue eyes and soft smile.

"Just Cal." Ashton told her. She nodded in acknowledgement before walking into the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

"I had brunch with his mum yesterday." She said from the kitchen. He heard her rummaging through their pots and pans cabinet. "You'll never guess who we saw."

He hummed in response. He poured himself a cup of water from the pitcher that sat on the dining room table and took a sip, waiting for her to tell him who they saw.

"We saw Luke!" She poked her head out from the doorway of the kitchen to look at her son. Ashton choked on his water at the mention of his ex boyfriend. Anne widened her eyes and quickly rushed to the brunet and patted his back while he let out loud coughs. "My god Ashton, be careful!" The brunet couldn't say anything, as he was too busy coughing and trying to catch his breath. His mum continued her story of the small encounter with his ex. "He was eating across from us with a few other kids, probably after a football match-- they all had their uniforms on still." She explained. Ashton nodded, remembering how Luke told him about how excited he was to play for a university. He couldn't remember a time where he saw his beautiful blue eyes spark up with him the way they did whenever he talked about football, or guitar, or anything ever. He sighed softly.

"After they finished and got up to leave, he noticed us and stopped by our table to say hi." She continued "He looks so mature now! He's grown so tall since your guys' high school graduation and he even has a beard! He's still so handsome. I never understood why you two broke up. He's such a keeper." Anne smiled at the memory of seeing him from not so long ago. Ashton frowned. He never explained why they broke up. He couldn't. He never even understood it himself.

"Is that it?" Ashton asked, wanting to move on from the subject of 'Luke' as quickly as possible. Anne nodded.

"Yeah, but I did mention that you were back in town for your break, and he said that he would love to catch up with you!" She said enthusiastically "I think you should give him a ring."

Ashton looked at her as if she was crazy. Luke? Wanting to talk to him? He couldn't think of a time where that was ever a thing even while they were a couple. He watched his mum retreat back into the kitchen. He unlocked his phone and scrolled down his contacts until he found Luke's name. His finger hovered above the 'call' button before he shook his head and locked his phone, scolding himself for even thinking about trying to contact the blond.

After a few days, Ashton decided that today was the day that he was going to get his hair cut. His mum had Lauren come with him to get a trim as well. He wasn't complaining though. He would rather have someone with him than go alone. And he loved spending time with his sister, so that's just another plus. While he was driving them to the salon, he listened to her rant about how their mum embarrassed her in front of the guy she liked. Ashton laughed, listening to the story and how it reminded him of when she embarrassed him in front of Luke when he first introduced him to her. He shook the memory out of his head before continuing to listen to Lauren talk about multiple other stories that he had missed while he was away at university.

After the two had gotten their haircuts, Lauren suggested that they walk down a few blocks to get smoothies. Ashton agreed seeing that it was getting pretty hot, and a smoothie would really hit the spot right now. So they walked down a few blocks to the smoothie shack that he would always go to after school with Calum and ordered himself and his sister a smoothie. After the two had gotten their smoothies, they sat in one of the booths in the corner of the shack to enjoy their cold drinks. After a few minutes of talking about how life is like living in America, a loud group of young men in football uniforms walked in causing Ashton and Lauren to divert their attention from each other to the entrance.