help → lashton ✓

nineteen

some comments won't make sense

Luke's POV

"A-Are you sure they said this was okay?" I asked, fiddling nervously with the ends of my oversized hoodie's sleeves as we stood in a phone shop.

It'd been a few weeks since I'd been home, I was adjusting fairly well to living back with my parents, but I was struggling more so with venturing out of the house, even with the aid of Ashton. My parents had insisted on Ashton taking me shopping today, we'd already been and bought some new clothes and bedding for my room, and they were all pushing me to get a phone. None of them would say it but I think they wanted me to have one more for the security of it, meaning I could contact any of them when I needed and so they wouldn't have to worry about being detached from me, or maybe I was just reassured about not being detached from them.

"Your parents really want you to have a phone, and it's useful for you to have one." Ashton said, giving me a reassuring smile before turning back to look at the phones on the counter, reading some of the details next to each phone. "Now, I personally lean more towards iPhones, but it's your phone so you should pick whichever one you feel like you'd be most comfortable with."

Biting my lip, I turned my attention away from Ashton and looked down at the phones with him, I didn't really understand any of the information that was presented to me and I'd already convinced Ashton not to talk to one of the sales people out of embarrassment of not understanding anything anyway.

"Uhm...I-I'll get whichever you think is best." I said, hoping the answer was useful enough for Ashton.

Letting out a small sigh, Ashton moved to take hold of my hand and gave it a squeeze, "Which one do you like the look of best? Like the colour, the size?" Glancing at all the options, I took a few moments before pointing at one and then glancing back up at Ashton, who smiled softly at me. "Then we'll get that one." He said before leaning down to press a kiss to my temple.

It turned out that I'd picked one of the iPhone options, Ashton seemed excited to go home and help me set it up and I was just happy about seeing him so excited. It still surprised me that he was so eager and even happy to help me do things that must be mundane and simple for him, but it gave me a really warm feeling in my chest.

"Are you ready to head home? Your mum said to be back for tea." Ashton more so suggested as we left the phone shop, and I just nodded in response.

We'd been out shopping for a few hours now, and I was really ready to head home and curl up on the couch with Ashton, technically having been ready for that since we left the house earlier in the afternoon.

Smiling, Ashton moved to pile all the shopping bags onto his left arm before taking hold of my hand with his right, "I can take some of the bags, you know? It's my stuff anyway." I said.

Shaking his head, Ashton started us walking, "No, you just worry about the train tickets in a minute."

Walking to the train station only took a couple of minutes, and I presented the tickets to the staff at the gate like Ashton had said. I had hoped to just get on the train and start heading home but the arrivals/departures board was saying that we'd just missed the train and it was a fifteen-minute wait until the next one.

Given we were in the city, the platforms weren't exactly empty and I was starting to feel uncomfortable with waiting in such a crowded area. Crowds seemed to make me uncomfortable, as I'd discovered every time we had ventured outside and into more busy areas, I didn't like how close people stood near me, particularly if it was older men. Ashton kept saying it was normal, that my anxiety in general was normal, and that we could see someone about it soon, but it being 'normal' didn't do much to help me when I started getting worked up.