The Bet (Lashton)

Chapter 7

[I'm having waaaay too much fun with these editing apps. This one is garbage but idc. Someone needs to stop me—]

***

A new day.

    Today was Thursday, which Luke thought was an even worse day than Monday. Mondays were at least were a fresh start, whereas on Thursday, it was so close to the weekend but it wasn't so you're disappointed and also burnt out from the entire week. He hated Thursdays.

    He also really didn't want to go to school. He liked his classes and the work, but with the weird way Ashton and his posse had been acting, he wanted nothing more than to stay home in his fuzziest pajama pants and a hoodie, watching the latest episode of the Bachelor on Hulu.

He was just so confused. At least before all this weirdness he knew what to expect. He was going to be tortured. It was much easier to walk into the building knowing he'd be thrown against a locker on his way to his first class than it was to walk inside a building and not know what could happen. Would he be pushed to the floor or would he get a bro nod from a jock? Would someone pour hot coffee in his backpack or would Ashton smile at him and ask how he was doing? The not knowing was driving him crazy and he had slept like crap the night before since he'd been tossing and turning all night thinking.

    Luke tucked his earphones into his ears, deciding to forget his worries and distract himself with Brenden Urie's beautiful voice on his walk to school. Unfortunately, Luke lived about a mile and a half from his school, and wasn't given a bus. You had to live more than 2 miles away in order to get a bus, so he had to walk every day, in the snow, rain, or sunshine because he didn't have his own car yet. On days that his mom had off from work (she was a nurse in a hospital and worked 4 days a week,) she would drive him, but otherwise he had to walk.

    Usually he didn't mind when the weather was nice, and today was just that. It was a warm 78  degrees, so he was wearing a white blouse with pink and purple flowers on it with a matching purple tennis skirt and white converse high tops. He'd thought about wearing the flower crown in his dark blonde curls, but then decided he was already pushing his luck with the flowers and purple skirt, he didn't want to give them more of a reason to attack him.

    Luke looked around as he walked past, waving to the elderly couple who sat outside on their porch every morning. He admired all the nice houses in the neighborhood, looking at the yards and the house and trying to think of things he would do to improve the look. He enjoyed makeovers, and remodeling was just like a makeover for the house.

    About halfway through his walk he heard the sound of a loud car through his headphones. He turned back to look, expecting to see some dinky old truck or something, but instead was met with a shiny silver sportscar with the convertible top down. Shaking his head with a "Someone's overcompensating for something" muttered out his lips, he continued his walk.

    After a second, he realized the sound was closer and seemed to be following him. He glanced out the side of his face, and was sort of unsurprised to be met with a grinning Ashton Irwin. With the way his week was going, he almost should have expected this.

    "Hey, Luke. You on your way to school?" The soccer player asked.

    Luke nodded in response, having taken one of his headphones out so he could hear.

    "Oh, cool. Do you want a ride?"

    Did he...want a ride?

    Ashton Irwin was asking him, Luke Hemmings to get in his car and take him to school?

    "I-is that a joke?" he asked shyly, biting his lip as he continued to walk while Ashton drove slowly along side him.

    Ashton laughed, stopping the car. No, he didn't laugh, he fucking giggled. It was actually kind of cute, Luke thought.