(unedited)
3 years ago
Luke and Ashton sat on the floor of Luke's basement across from each other and legs intertwined. Luke had his guitar on his lap and he was lazily strumming on it while Ashton was trying to talk to him.
"We can go to the beach together when you come visit, and we can walk down Hollywood together! It'll be so fun!" Ashton told his boyfriend excitedly, flipping through his college brochure and marking sections that he wanted to go back to with small sticky notes. When he didn't hear a reply, he looked up to see Luke focused on his guitar rather than him. He frowned. "Luke." He said loudly, trying to get his boyfriend's attention. The blond grunted in response, shooting the brunet a quick glance with his blue eyes before looking back down at his acoustic guitar.
"You are going to visit me, right?" Ashton asked hopefully.
"Yeah, sure." The blond said in a neutral tone, not bothering to look up from his guitar. Ashton looked at his boyfriend who didn't seem to pay any attention to him and sighed softly. He shook any sad thoughts out of his head before looking down at the brochure and piping up again.
"Maybe we can hike up to the Hollywood sign and have a picnic there too! Calum said that when he went on vacation there with Michael's family, they did that and they had a lot of fun." Ashton suggested, already picturing how romantic everything would be. Luke scoffed.
"You and I both know we hate anything that has to do with exercising." Luke stated. Ashton paused. He did know, but it was the thought that counts, right? He looked back down at his brochure and sadly folded it up and placed it back into his bag. He untangled his legs from Luke's and stood up.
"I'm gonna go now, you seem a bit preoccupied." Ashton muttered, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulders. Luke hummed in response, still keeping his eyes concentrated on the neck of his guitar where his fingers were pressing down on the frets while he was strumming. The blond did nothing but grunt in response.
"I love you." Ashton added before leaving. He waited for the blond to respond, and when he didn't he sighed sadly before trudging up the stairs to leave.
Present Day
Ashton had no idea what went wrong. He tried his best to repress that memory all the way in the back of his mind. They ended up breaking up two days after graduation, Ashton doesn't really remember the details, he just knows that it happened. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
From: Calum
I didn't know you were back in Sydney! Why didn't you tell me? Can we meet up soon?
Ashton smiled slightly, wondering how his best friend knew that he was back in town. It was probably his mum. It's always his mum. He decided instead of texting back, he would dial his number and call him. After two rings, his raven haired best friend picked up.
"Ashton! Why didn't you tell me you were back? I had to hear from my mum because yours told her." He heard Calum's false angry tone. He laughed slightly. Of course it was his mum.
"Sorry, mate. Sorta forgot." Ashton said, ruffling his hand through his brunet curls. He really needed to get a haircut.
"Thanks, Ash. Forgetting about your best friend." Calum grumbled from the other line and letting out a few creative profanities. Ashton smiled fondly at his voice. "Anyways, let's meet up soon. We have so much to catch up on!"
After Ashton and Calum agreed to meet up for lunch in exactly a week (when classes ended for the raven haired man and enough time to get that haircut), the two hung up hesitantly, not wanting to stop talking.
"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.
"Hey, isn't that--"
"Luke." Ashton whispered. He recognized the blond's familiar smiling face immediately. He still looked the same as he did when they were 18, but more mature like his mum said. His dirty blond hair was swooped over his forehead messily with small strands drenched in sweat probably from coming from a game and the humidity outside, and a light beard covered his sharp jawline. His lips curled into a smile when he heard one of his teammates crack a joke and his deep dimple gave him a slight childish look. Ashton took note that he wasn't wearing his lip ring. He remembered that he was there holding his hand when he got it.
"Lauren, let's go." Ashton stood up and grabbed his sister's arm to pull her up as well.
"Wait! I'm not done!" she exclaimed as she was roughly pulled up by her brother. Ashton looked behind him and widened his eyes when he met the familiar blue eyes from across the room. They looked at him as if they were trying to figure out his face. Ashton quickly turned his head around and looked at Lauren.
"We're leaving." He said. He quickly dragged her out of the shack, not missing the way the blond's eyes followed him until he left. Ashton finally let go of his sister's wrist once they got into the car. He let out a heavy breath and slumped back into the leather seat of his mum's SUV. Lauren looked at him with a concerned expression.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Ashton shot his hazel eyes to meet her worried blue ones. He gave her a fake smile and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a bit surprised to see him, that's all." Ashton replied calmly. His mind flashed back to Luke's confused face. He bit his lip. Was he that so insignificant in the blond's life that he didn't even remember him?
"Oh." was all Lauren let out. She decided not to say anything else about it, knowing how touchy her brother was about the subject. Ashton looked back at her. He felt a bit guilty that he had them leave before they could finish their smoothies.
"I'll go get you that lipstick you wanted that mum wouldn't get you." He said, remembering one of the stories she told him about when she and Anne went to the mall and Anne wouldn't buy her the lipstick she wanted no matter how much she begged. He watched how Lauren's face light up in delight and he smiled to himself, happy that he could make his sister happy.
After the two got home from the mall, Lauren thanked him and hugged him a thousand times before running up to her room to tell her friends that she finally got the lipstick. Ashton watched her run up the stairs with a fond expression on his face. He wished he remembered what it was like to be a carefree high schooler. Now he had to be worried about bills, and taxes, and life. His mom came up from behind him and thanked him for taking Lauren with him.
"It's no problem. I love spending time with her. I can't wait till Harry comes home from camp so I can spend time with him too." He said, mentioning his youngest sibling who was on a camping trip with his best friend's family. Anne nodded.
"Well, go get yourself cleaned up, dear. Dinner will be ready soon." She patted his back softly. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before running up the stairs and into his room. He took a quick shower to rinse any hairs that weren't properly brushed off his face and neck when he got his haircut and then slipped into a comfortable pair of sweats and a tank top. After he heard Lauren knock on his door loudly and yell that dinner was ready, he quickly towel dried his curls and rushed down the stairs to eat the roast chicken and baked potatoes that his mum prepared.
When Ashton got into bed that night, his mind kept replaying the scene from the smoothie shack. The way Luke's familiar laugh flowed through the air and how confused he looked when they made eye contact. Ashton buried his face into his pillow and groaned. It wasn't fair. How come Luke got to mature and look like a real man in two years while Ashton still had trouble ordering alcohol at restaurants in America because he still looked like an 18 year old kid. He sighed. He rarely ever saw Luke smile and laugh like that while they were together. Did he know the reason why? No. Not at all. The blond would only ever smile when he was playing his guitar, or winning a football match. Before Ashton knew it, he was falling asleep with the thoughts of messy blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes fresh in his mind.
After the week had finally passed, it was finally the day that Ashton was looking forward to. He rolled out of bed excitedly and walked into his bathroom to brush his teeth. After he brushed his teeth, he stripped out of his pajamas to take a shower. After he stepped out of the shower, he wrapped his towel around his waist and left his bathroom, shivering slightly at the sudden change from the sauna-like bathroom to his cold room. He quickly dried off his body and slipped on his black skinny jeans and a random distressed band tee. He dried his curls with Lauren's blow dryer that he stole from her bathroom and then popped his contacts onto each eye. When he was finished in the bathroom, he quickly grabbed his wallet, phone and keys before heading downstairs to put his shoes on. After he laced his boots up, he rushed into the kitchen to find Anne baking cookies.
"I'm gonna go and have lunch with Cal." Ashton told her. She hummed in response, humming in approval and he kissed her cheek goodbye.
When Ashton walked into his and Calum's old favorite high school restaurant, he immediately noticed that his best friend was sitting at their old 'usual' table in the back corner, waiting for him on his phone. Ashton smiled, seeing how the raven haired man didn't change one bit, except for the fact that the blond streak he had throughout high school was gone. He walked up to the table and poked his shoulder. Calum looked up with a pissed off expression, about to go off on whoever touched him, but was quickly replaced with a surprised smile when he realized that it was Ashton.
"Ash!" Calum exclaimed, jumping up to envelope the brunet in a tight hug. Ashton returned the hug just as tightly, remembering how good it feels to be hugged by your best friend. The two sat down across from each other and began to catch up on each others' lives after they ordered their food.
"How are you and Michael?" Ashton asked, referring to Calum's boyfriend since junior year. Calum's brown eyes lit up at the mention of his boyfriend's name, and Ashton felt a tinge of jealousy. He wanted someone's face to light up as bright as Calum's did at the mere mention of his own name.
"We're doing good. Great actually! We're planning on moving in together soon." Calum said excitedly. Ashton smiled at his best friend, the raven haired man's happiness being very contagious. Calum directed the attention away from himself and back to the brunet.
"How are you? We never really heard from you again after the break up between you and-- yeah." Calum stopped himself once he saw the brunet's pained expression from the memory.
"I'm fine. Living in LA is quite tiring. A lot of traffic, but the school is amazing." Ashton told him. He nodded in understandment.
"Any new boyfriend?" Calum asked curiously. Ashton smiled bitterly and shook his head no.
"Haven't found the time." Lie. But it wasn't like he was still hung up on a certain blond haired blue eyed guitar player or anything. Also a lie.
"That's understandable, you have to keep up with you schoolwork to maintain your scholarship." Calum mentioned. Ashton nodded.
Throughout their lunch together, Ashton tried his hardest to keep his mouth from asking about how Luke was. But once Calum mentioned his name, his mouth was already open before his mind could tell him to shut up.
"Yeah, Michael, Luke and I all went to the concert. It was crazy, you should've been there!"
"How is Luke, by the way?" Ashton asked. Calum was taken aback by his sudden question.
"He's good." Calum replied, not knowing what his friend wanted to hear. "He asked me if I knew that you were back. He says that he thought he saw you at that smoothie place that we'd all used to go to while we were in high school."
"Oh yeah, I saw him too." Ashton told him. Calum's looked at him with interested eyes.
"Did you guys say anything to each other?" The raven haired man asked. Ashton shook his head no.
"Left right after I realized it was him." Ashton said truthfully. Calum hummed in response. "Is he seeing anyone right now?" Ashton asked. His questioned surprised himself. Why does it matter?
"Nope." Calum said simply. Ashton felt a wave a relief wash through his body. He didn't know why. "You know, he was a wreck after you guys broke up."
Ashton snorted.
"That's hard to believe." The brunet muttered, pushing the carrots around on his plate.
"How?" He heard Calum ask with a confused tone. He looked up at the raven haired man also had an equally as confused expression on his face. Now it was Ashton's turn to be confused.
"Haven't you ever noticed how distant Luke was becoming towards graduation? It's like he suddenly just stopped loving me or something." Ashton tone turned into a soft whisper at the end of his sentence. Calum looked at him as if he were crazy.
"What are you talking about? He was seriously crushed when you left." Calum told him, his confused expression never leaving his face. Ashton said nothing and continued to push the carrots around his plate. Was Luke actually upset that they broke up?
After Calum and Ashton finished up their lunch, they were walking out of the restaurant together and trying to make plans on when they should meet up again.
"There's this end of the year party that one of the frats from my university throws every year. You should come with Michael and me." Calum suggested "It's this Friday night. I'll pick you up from your mum's." Ashton looked at him warily.
"I don't know... I won't really know anyone..." He trailed off, nervously eyeing his best friend. Calum shook his head.
"You'll know me! And Mikey!" He said enthusiastically, trying to persuade his best friend into coming with him. "C'mon, Ash! There's going to be drinks, and hot boys!"
How could Ashton turn down drinks and hot boys?
So he finally nodded hesitantly, agreeing to go to the party with his friend. Calum cheered in excitement and gave the brunet a tight hug.
"I have to go now, I told Mikey that I'd pick him up from his mum's, but I'll see you Friday!" Calum said, checking his phone for the time. The two shared another quick hug before parting ways to their cars.
Once Ashton returned home, he was immediately pushed back out of the house with a long grocery list from his mum.
"Why can't you do it?" Ashton complained, he didn't want to go out and try scavenge for lightly salted kale chips and olive oil. Since when did his mum start eating kale chips? His mum handed him a crisp $100 dollar bill to buy the groceries with. That shut him up immediately.
"You can use the change to get whatever you want. Just make sure it's not useless. We still have bags of those little pill thingys you used to splurge your allowance on." She told him, mentioning the small capsules that he would buy from the market that would turn into large objects when you kept them in water for long enough. He chuckled and nodded his head. He bent down so Anne could give him a quick kiss on the forehead before he could leave.
When he got to the grocery store, he grabbed a random cart that he saw in the parking lot and took the crumpled grocery list out of his pocket. He saw that the first thing on the list was 'cereal' written in his mother's beautiful cursive writing so he headed for the cereal aisle first. He pushed the cart slowly and looked through the rows of cereal, trying to decide on what to get before he suddenly halted to a stop and heard a loud crash. He quickly looked ahead of him to see that he had accidentally crashed into someone else's cart. He looked up at the owner to apologize, but immediately lost his voice when he saw who it was.
"Ashton?"
The brunet watched how the familiar blue eyes lit up in surprise. How lucky could Ashton be? Literally crashing into his ex boyfriend at the supermarket. Note the sarcasm. Ashton took a good look at the blond, now that they were all up close and personal instead of across the room like they were at the smoothie shack. His hair was in the hairstyle it was a few days ago except this time, it wasn't drenched in sweat, and he still sported the scruffy beard along his jawline. He also noticed that this time he had his black lip ring on. Man, you'll never guess how much he cried that day when he got it, but Ashton will never tell you. He promised not to. The blond was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and black shorts that were showing off his pale yet muscular legs. He also had a pair of black trainers on his feet. He looked very casual and sporty. Maybe he just came from football practice. Ashton looked up to meet his blue eyes again. Was he always that tall? Ashton doesn't remember having to look that far up to meet his eyes.
"I'm-- um-- sorry." Ashton finally let out, quickly looking away from Luke's eyes and down at feet in embarrassment. He heard Luke laugh softly. He can't remember the last time her heard his laugh, but oh god, did it sound like music to his ears.
"It's fine, Ash." Luke said. Ashton looked up when he heard the nickname. He didn't realize how much he missed his name coming out of the blond's mouth. But he did. He missed it so much. "Your mum mentioned to me that you were back in town when I saw her a few days ago. I didn't imagine that we would end up seeing each other doing groceries, though."
"Oh." Was all the brunet could let out. Nice one, Ashton. Is that all you have to say for yourself? Luke gave him a friendly smile, and they just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say.
"Hey Luke! I got the eggs. We can go now!" Their silence was suddenly broken by a feminine voice coming from behind Luke. The blond turned around to reveal a short raven haired girl who was carrying two cartons of eggs. She placed the eggs in the cart and Ashton eyes trailed down to look in their cart. Milk, sugar, flour, chocolate chips. He frowned. Who was that girl, and why is she going to bake cookies with Luke? "Who is this?" She asked, finally noticing Ashton who was staring at them. Luke turned around to look back at the brunet.
"Oh, this is my old bo-- friend Ashton." Luke introduced. Ashton noticed how Luke stopped himself from saying boyfriend. "Ashton, this is Arzaylea." He looked back at the small girl to see a friendly smile on her face and her tiny hand held out to shake his. He grabbed in hesitantly and shook it.
"Nice to meet you, Ashton! Any friend of Luke's is a friend of mine." She smiled at him "But I'm afraid that we have to go now, four dozen cookies need to be baked for the football banquet, and we all know that they won't bake themselves." She motioned towards the cart filled with chocolate chip cookie ingredients. She looked back at Luke "I'll go check these out while you say goodbye." Ashton watched her walk off with the cart towards the front of the store and then he looked back at Luke who was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Girlfriend?" Ashton asked immediately. He cursed himself. He shouldn't feel the need to instigate in his ex boyfriend's life. Luke shook his head no and laughed, finding it very funny that Ashton could ever think that he would date a girl. Ashton was relieved.
"Just stuck having to help the coach's daughter bake cookies for our banquet." Luke explained. Ashton nodded. "Well, I have to get going, or else Arz might kill me. Um, let's meet up again, yeah?" The blond asked, with a hopeful glint in his eye. Ashton was taken aback by the look in his eyes. When was the last time that Luke ever looked at him like that? He nodded cautiously and Luke's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Alright! Great! You still have the same number right? I'll text you!" After Ashton nodded confirming that his number was still the same, the two share a quick goodbye. Ashton stared at Luke's retreating figure down the aisle until he couldn't be seen anymore. He looked back at the rows of cereal and tried to process what had just happened. He saw Luke. Luke wanted to meet up again. Luke never wanted to meet up again. What was happening?
When Friday came around, Ashton still never got that text from Luke asking if they could meet up. It's not like he was upset or anything (he was), but couldn't the blond at least have the decency to keep his word? He sighed again as he checked himself in his small mirror one more time. He had on his usual black skinny jeans and a black shirt underneath his denim jacket. For his shoes, he decided on one of his favorite pairs of black leather chelsea boots. He ran hand through his curls, in an attempt to calm them down before making his way downstairs to wait for Calum to text him that he was here.
"Where are you heading off to looking so nice, dear?" Anne asked from the couch. She looked at him over her glasses which were perched on the bridge of her nose before looking back down at her laptop she had on the TV tray in front of her.
"Going to a party with Calum and Michael. I told you remember." Ashton said. He heard Anne's hum in approval before he felt his phone vibrate. It was a text from Calum saying that he was outside. "I'm leaving now."
"Okay, Ash. Be careful." She said, not taking her eyes off from her laptop screen. He nodded and then quickly left the house to get into Calum's car. He was stuck sitting in the back when he realized that the passenger's seat was already occupied by a certain eyebrow pierced, bleached blond haired boyfriend.
"Ashton! It's so good to see you again!" Michael exclaimed once the brunet climbed into the backseat. Ashton smiled at the blond's sincere tone.
"It's good to see you again too, Michael. Hi Cal." He nodded towards the driver who simply nodded back through the rearview mirror. They started on the short journey to the college neighborhood while jamming out to Blink-182 and Green Day in the car. Once they finally arrived to the large house, Ashton could already see dozens of university students hanging out on the front lawn with red solo cups in their hands and drunk dancing through the windows of the house. He was nervous. The brunet never really went to any college parties down in LA because he was very keen on trying to keep his grades up, which meant studying all night.
"I'll go get us some drinks." He heard Michael yell through the loud trap music that was blasting out of the speakers in the house. Calum and Ashton nodded before the blond disappeared into the large crowd of sweaty students. Calum lead Ashton to one of the unoccupied couches in the living room.
"If you don't want to stay, we can do something else." Calum yelled over the music. Ashton frowned. As uncomfortable as he was feeling around the large group of university students he didn't know, he didn't want to spoil the fun for his two friends so he shook his head no.
"I'm having a good time." Ashton yelled back, not really lying because maybe he will have a good time after he gets a few drinks in his system. Calum looked at him, trying to figure out if the brunet was telling the truth or not. Ashton just smiled at him. Michael came back with three bottles of beer and handed one each to the two men on the couch. He saw Michael whisper something into Calum's ear and the raven haired man smiled and shoved him lightly. He looked at Ashton.
"Mikey and I are gonna go dance." He told him "Go meet some new friends, Ash. Have some fun!" And with that, the raven haired man was being pulled away by his boyfriend to the dance floor. Ashton sighed. He looked at the beer bottle in his hand before shrugging. Might as well have a good time while I'm here. He downed the whole bottle and then stood up to find the kitchen to get himself another drink.
Five beer bottles and three shots later, Ashton found himself in the middle of the sweaty crowd, dancing to the loud trap music that he didn't even like, but he was too intoxicated to care. In the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar blond haired man in the corner of the room and taking a drink from a bottle of beer, watching the crowd of dancing student in amusement. Ashton stumbled out of the crowd and made his way up to the tall blond.
"Hi Lukey." the brunet slurred out. He saw that Luke looked at him with a surprised expression.
"Ash, what are you doing here?" He heard the blond yell over the music, his voice laced with confusion and concern. Ashton thought for a second before finally remembering why he was here.
"Mikey and Cal took me here!" The brunet exclaimed and giggled cutely. Ashton was drunk out of his mind. Luke looked at him with a pained expression before finally deciding to take him upstairs to his room. He didn't want the brunet to be taken advantage of by anyone. He heard Ashton's complaints that he wasn't done dancing and that he wanted more drinks as he dragged him up the stairs. Once they got up to the second floor, Ashton decided that he was tired, so he took a seat on the floor. Luke looked back down at him with an annoyed expression.
"Ash, get up." Luke ordered. Ashton shook his head no and closed his eyes..
"M'tired." He slurred, refusing to get up and keeping all his body weight down so that Luke couldn't drag him up. The blond sighed in frustration before bending down and lifting the brunet over his shoulder. Ashton gasped in surprise when his face was swiftly met with Luke's bum. He felt the blond's strong hands gripping onto his thigh and butt before he giggled again.
"Lukey, you're touching my butt." Ashton giggled. Luke peered an eye over his shoulder to see Ashton's giggling face. He rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement before making his way towards his bedroom. He reached into his pocket and took a key out to unlock the room before slipping inside and locking the door again. He placed the giggling mess on his bed before grabbing one of the water bottles he hoarded on his bedside table and handed it to him.
"Drink up." Luke told him, standing in front of the brunet, between his legs. Ashton shoved the water bottle out of Luke's hand. "Hey!"
Before the blond could pick the water bottle back up, he was quickly pulled down onto his bed on top of the brunet. Ashton had his hands gripped tightly onto the blond's striped shirt and was placing wet kisses along the side of his neck. The brunet quickly flipped the two over and pinned the blond down, refusing to leave his lips from his neck. He had his thighs on either side of the blond's hips and softly grinded down against his crotch as he sucked on the pale skin of Luke's neck. The blond moaned softly before realizing what was happening and roughly pushed Ashton off of him. He looked down and saw that he was starting to have a boner before grabbing one of his pillows and covering his lap. He looked at Ashton whose hazel eyes were filled with hurt.
"Ashton, you're drunk." Luke stated, trying to brush a lock of the brunet's curls from his eye. Ashton flinched at the action causing Luke to frown.
"Why don't you love me anymore?"
Luke widened his eyes at the brunet's sudden question. He furrowed his brows. What was Ashton talking about? He's been in love with the brunet since they met freshman year. Ashton was the one who broke up with him. He saw Ashton's shaking body, and immediately cursed to himself. He was crying. He was drunk and crying and Luke didn't know what to do. So he did all that he could do and enveloped the brunet in a warm hug. He wrapped his arms around the brunet's shoulder and he felt the way Ashton snuggled into the crook of his neck where he fit as perfectly as he did three years ago. He buried his nose into Ashton's curls, inhaling the same fruity shampoo that he loved in high school and the sweat from dancing so much in a living room full of drunk students. After a few moments, Ashton's shaking has ceased and the blond didn't hear any more sniffle come out from his nose. He pulled away to see that Ashton had fallen asleep. He smiled fondly at the brunet. He still looked the same sleeping as he did back when they took naps together in high school. He carefully laid the smaller man down on the left side of his queen sized bed and removed his boots before tucking him into his duvet. He got up again, and looked down, his boner completely forgotten and getting quite uncomfortable in his black skinny jeans. He looked back at the sleeping Ashton before biting his lip and walking into his bathroom, locking the door behind him. So maybe he was about to jerk off to the feeling of Ashton's drunk body grinding against his own. No one had to know.
After he was busy doing his 'personal business', Luke slipped his boxers back on and changed into a clean shirt. He turned off his light and climbed into bed next to Ashton, pulling the brunet into his chest and wrapping an arm around him in a protective manner. He let his eyes drift to sleep, not knowing what he should be prepared for when they wake up in the morning.
Ashton's eyes fluttered open and he immediately jolted up, last night's memories flooding through his head.
Dancing.
Seeing Luke.
Being carried by Luke into Luke's room.
Kissing Luke.
Being pushed away by Luke.
Crying.
Being held by Luke.
He grabbed his forehead in pain, feeling his hangover hit him hard. When he looked the the right side of him, he saw that the bed was empty. He frowned. Where was Luke? The bathroom door was opened to reveal the blond. He was wearing grey sweats and a white shirt and his hair was wet from a shower with his face freshly shaved. Ashton marveled at him. How was it possible for someone to look so attractive?
"Morning sleeping beauty." Luke greeted lazily. He looked through one of his drawers before finding a bottle of aspirin and handing it to the brunet along with a random water bottle. Ashton gratefully took it from him. After a few moments of silence, the brunet decided to speak up.
"I'm sorry about last night." He said, blushing at the memory. Luke waved it off.
"It's fine." The blond said "Not my first time taking care of you." His mind flashed back to when they were in high school and Ashton would be sick in bed. Although being stupidly drunk and sick aren't the same, the feeling of caring for Ashton still was. Ashton's face heated up more in embarrassment.
"I should really get going, Calum and Michael are probably worried." Ashton remembered their two friends and immediately started to freak out. Luke laughed.
"Don't worry, I already took care of them." The blond stated, remembering how shocked Calum sounded over the phone when he said that Ashton was sleeping in his bed.
"Well, I have to get home. I don't want my mum to be worried that I never came home last night." Ashton said again. He found his boots sitting next to one of Luke's drawers and quickly slipped them on his feet. He noticed a framed picture of him and Luke sitting on the drawer. He picked it up.
"Do you remember that picture? It was our first date, and my mum couldn't stop taking pictures of us." Luke laughed at the memory. Ashton nodded. They were both sophomores. Luke had his arm wrapped awkwardly around Ashton's shoulder and Ashton was hugging Luke's torso tightly. That was when Luke actually bothered trying in their relationship. Ashton set the frame back down and looked at the blond who was standing closely behind him.
"I'm gonna go now." Ashton said shyly, moving around the blond to the door "I'm sorry again, thank you for taking care of my drunk self." Luke grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"I'll drive you home."
Luke ended up convincing Ashton to go to a small cafe with him and get breakfast before he dropped him off back home. After they both go their coffee and a chocolate croissant each, they found a table and took a seat across from each other. The two were eating in comfortable silence before Luke spoke up.
"Can I ask you something?" Luke asked, nervously. Ashton giggled.
"You already did." The brunet joked. Luke shook his head but smiled nonetheless. "But yeah, ask me anything."
"What did you mean by asking why I don't love you anymore?" Ashton paused, completely forgetting that he asked that last night. Were they really going to talk about this right here? Right now?
"I'm sorry, I just-- I never really understood why you stopped loving me." Ashton said truthfully, refusing to look at the blond's piercing blue eyes. There was a moment of silence before Luke spoke up again.
"You were the one that broke up with me." He said in a confused tone.
Ashton looked at him with disbelief.
"You were the one who became distant and uninterested in me during the end of senior year." Ashton accused, Luke fell quiet "Remember when we were sitting in your basement and I was telling you about all the cool things that we could do together in LA? No, you probably don't remember, because you brushed me off like I was no big deal."
Luke did remember. He remembered the knotted feeling in his chest while he listened to Ashton's excited voice about leaving, and he remembered the way Ashton said that he loved him, but he couldn't find it in him to say it back, too scared that his voice would crack and all the pent up emotions he had in his body would suddenly explode.
"When senior year was ending, you stopped loving me. Admit it." Ashton told him. Luke shook his head no. He heard the brunet scoff.
"Don't lie to me. You were too scared to break up with me, so I had to do it instead."
"No." Luke said. He finally looked up to meet Ashton's angry hazel eyes. "I was going to lose you."
"Well you obviously did." Ashton retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. Luke shook his head again.
"I was trying to soften the blow because I knew I was going to lose you." Luke mumbled "To some guy that you would probably meet in LA who has big dreams and a great career ahead of him. You wouldn't stay with me, a football player in his local university that likes to play guitar in his spare time."
Ashton's furrowed eyebrows and angry eyes suddenly morphed into confusion. "What?" He asked.
"I became distant because I knew that I was going to lose you." Luke admitted. He remembered the day that Ashton came over to his house with an excited smile on his face and his college acceptance letter in his hand. He faked his smile and hugged his boyfriend tightly. It's not that he wasn't proud of Ashton, he was just scared of being left behind. "LA this, LA that. You had your heart set, and I didn't want to drag you down."
"Luke..." Ashton started. He saw the blond's pained expression. "I never even dreamt about leaving you." He said softly. He frowned. Did Luke really think that he would leave him for someone else? The blond looked up to meet Ashton's eyes and gave him a small smile.
"Well to answer your question from last night, I never stopped loving you."
After Luke parked in front of Ashton's house, he insisted that he walked him up to the front door so he hurriedly got out of the car and ran to the passenger's seat side to open the door for him. Ashton laughed softly. He remembered how Luke would always try to get the door for him whenever he drove them somewhere in high school. When he got out of the car after Luke opened the door for him, he thanked the blond softly and walked towards his mum's front door. Luke trailed closely behind him. Once they made it to the door, Ashton turned around to look up at Luke.
"Thanks again, for everything." He said. He watched how Luke's blue eyes dart down at his lips and then back up to his eyes. The blond nodded.
"Yeah, it's no problem. I'll text you?" Luke asked. Ashton nodded enthusiastically. They stood there looking at each other for a few more moments until the brunet cleared his throat and giggled.
"I'm gonna go inside now." Ashton told him, taking his keys out of his pocket and sliding them into the keyhole in the door. He looked back up at Luke who was staring at him intensely. He bit his lip and glanced down at the blond's slightly parted lips. Before he knew it, they were both leaning in and their lips connected. Ashton felt the same sparks that he did 3 years ago and he smiled into the kiss when he felt Luke deepen it. The blond gently pushed him against the door causing him to gasp. Luke quickly slipped his tongue into Ashton's parted lips, shamelessly making out with the brunet in front of Anne's house. He heard the door open and before Luke could pull away from Ashton, they both fell on the floor on top of one another in the doorway of the house. They looked up to see Anne's blue eyes staring down at them in shock.
"Oh dear, why does this always happen." Anne mumbled to herself, remembering this same scenario more than 3 years ago as she helped the two up. Luke and Ashton giggled at the memories.
"Hi Mrs. Irwin, I was just dropping Ashton off." Luke said, still in a daze from his kiss with the brunet. "But I'm gonna get going now. I'll see you both later!" He quickly pecked Ashton's lips one more time before waving at Anne and turning around to rush to his car. After Anne and Ashton watched the blond speed off, she looked at Ashton with a knowing smirk. He looked down and blushed.
"So you and Luke?" She asked, poking his sides teasingly. "You guys are back on, yeah?"
Ashton said nothing and just smiled at her. He didn't exactly know what they were, considering they didn't establish a specific status.
All he knows is that he has Luke, and Luke has him, finally after 3 years.