*** Ashton's P.O.V. ***
"You're here!" My mum exclaimed, opening the front door and pulling me into her arms.
"Hi mum." I said, smiling into her embrace.
"Oh my gosh, I didn't know you were coming back so soon. What a great surprise. Oh! I still need to tell Lauren and Harry! Hold on, let me go find them." She said, and pulled away from me to go find my two siblings.
I entered my old house, pulling the door shut behind me. While waiting for my mother to get back, I pulled out my phone.
Michael had sent me a few more messages. Most of them saying more about how I'm an idiot and I need to talk with Luke, not run away from my problems.
He's wrong, though. I knew he wouldn't understand, that's why I didn't tell him in person. I knew he'd try to talk me out of it, or wouldn't let me leave.
I had to go. It's for the best. I know Luke will remember within the time I'm gone. During that time, I'll be trying to erase any romantic feelings I've ever had for him. It'll be best for the both of us. He can move on and find someone who he doesn't have such a bad history with, and by then, I should no longer have any feelings towards him.
It'll work out better this way. This way, maybe we can go back to being friends. Maybe he'll find some reason to forgive me. Maybe...we can go back to the way we were.
What am I thinking? Of course that's never going to happen. Too much has happened between then and now.
Maybe....just maybe, we could become friends again, but in order for that to happen, I can't feel this way about him anymore.
"Ashton!" Shortly after hearing that, I was tackled and fell to the ground.
"Hey little bro." I said, smiling at my brother.
"Hi." He smiled back, and my eyes widened in surprise as I noticed something.
"Did your voice get deeper?" I asked him.
He nodded, "Yeah, I sound cool now."
I chuckled. "How long have I been gone?" I asked, just now noticing the pimples on his face and the small, barely noticeable bit of stubble by his upper lip.
"Too long." My sister answered my question, and I stood up from the ground to pull her into a hug.
"I'm sorry for not visiting sooner. I've missed you guys." I told them, and frowned when I felt my shirt dampen a bit.
"Lauren...please don't cry." I said, rubbing her back.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sad I'm just- I'm so happy you're back." She said, holding onto me tighter.
"I'm sorry. I promise next time to Skype and FaceTime more, and I'll visit as often as I can. If I can get the money, that is."
"We'll send you money." My mom spoke up. "You don't have to use your money, we just want you to visit more."
"Don't leave again." Lauren said, looking up at me. It was so hard to look at her wet, red cheeks and not start crying myself.
"I'm staying for a week." I told them. "I'm going back after my birthday. I'll get to spend that with you guys."
Lauren shook her head. "That's not long enough."
"Well...I could stay a week longer, I guess."
"Yes! Yes! Please?" Harry exclaimed, appearing next to Lauren.
I looked at my hopeful little brother. Then at my sister smiling pleadingly at me, her eyes still red and glossy. Finally, I glanced at my mom, who seemed to be looking at me with a mix of both those expressions. She looked as though she was about to burst into tears, yet at the same time looked extremely happy and hopeful like Harry.
I couldn't possibly say no then.
***
"Here, let me help with the dishes." I said to my mum, picking up a towel.
"Thank you. Harry and Lauren will probably want you to say goodnight to them though."
"I can do that after, or do they go to sleep early?"
She shook her head, Harry's up all night playing video games. Lauren is either doing her homework at the last minute, or talking to her friends until midnight."
"Wow." I breathed out. "Has it really been that long?"
"Mhm," she hummed in response, "over a year."
I turned to look at her. "I really am sorry-"
She shook her head. "Ash, it's fine."
"No, it's not okay for me to do that. I should of at least called you. Texted you. It's not right for a son to not talk to his family for over a year."
She smiled gratefully at me. "Well, you're here now. That's all that matters. So, now we just have to make the best of it." She ruffled my hair, then went back to washing the dishes.
She washed, and I dried in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, she said,
"So, what's happened in the past year? It better be something pretty big if it made you forget about us." She said jokingly.
"Uh...not much." I said, not knowing what else to say.
She rolled her eyes. "I can tell when you're lying."
"I'm not lying. I'm still living with Michael. I quit my job. They wouldn't have let me take so much time off. Um...that's pretty much it."
"Yeah, I doubt it. I'm your mother, Ash, I can tell when something's wrong."
I continued to deny it. "No...no, nothing's wrong."
She put down the rag she was holding. "What is it?" She asked.
"It's nothing-"
"Ashton Fletcher Irwin stop acting like a child right now and tell your mother what's wrong." She demanded.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair, setting down the towel I was holding.
"I...I messed up, Mum."
"What happened, baby?" She asked, putting a comforting arm around my shoulder.
"I...it's a long story, and...I'm afraid you'll hate me."
"Ashton," she said sternly, "I could never hate you. You said the same thing before you told me you are gay. What is it this time?" She asked, concerned.
"It's...it's a long story." I said again.
"You've got two weeks. More than enough time. Now, you can either tell my now, or later. But you will tell me sometime before you leave."
I sighed, before finally saying,
"Okay. I'll tell you. Just...not now." I said, and she patted my back.
"It's alright. You can tell me when you're ready. I just want to know what's bothering my baby."
"Mum," I giggled, "I'm almost twenty-two."
"You'll always be my baby. Always." She said, kissing me on the cheek before going back to doing the dishes.
***
I opened the door slowly, not wanting to wake him up if he was asleep.
I stepped into the room, and soon knew that he wasn't by the sounds of gunshots and high-pitched sounds coming from the tv.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked Harry, sitting beside him on the bed.
"Playing Plants Vs. Zombies."
"Oh, cool. So, what's new?" I asked.
"Um, like, with the game or...?"
"Anything. Whatever you want to tell me."
"Well, uh, there's this girl-"
"Ew."
He laughed, playfully punching my shoulder.
"You said to tell you anything!" He said, laughing.
"I meant anything interesting." I said teasingly.
"She is interesting! She isn't one of those annoying girls. She's really funny, and she likes playing video games. I'm playing with her right now." He said, pointing to the screen.
"'TheHuntress900'." I read. "What's her real name?" I asked him.
"Mary." He answered. "She doesn't like that name, though. So she goes by her middle name, Ryan. Her full name's Mary Ryan Cole. All four letters."
"Ah, that is kind of interesting." I said, smiling at him.
"Yeah, I really like her. I'm thinking of asking her out. I haven't told mom any of this yet. You and Lauren are the only one's who know."
"Well, mom's going to be upset. You know how she likes to know everything." I said to him.
"Yeah...I just don't know how to tell her, though. I don't want her to think she's weird or anything. She doesn't really act like a girl. She's always wearing guy t-shirts and black skinny jeans, like yours. Other people think she's weird. I like her, though."
"Then go for it," I told him, "Just because she's different doesn't mean she's weird. That just means she's not afraid to be herself. I was kind of like that in high school. People kind of picked on me for playing drums, when everyone else was doing sports. I didn't care, though. I just did what I enjoyed. I'd ask her out, if I were you. She seems like a great person," I said.
"Thanks Ash," He said, "I'm really glad you came back."
"Yeah, me too." I smiled at him, giving him a sideways, brotherly hug which only lasted about three seconds. He pulled away after that, saying it was getting awkward.
___________
I wanted to update for you guys because you're all so nice and supportive and like I've never even thought I'd get this much attention for a story. I just write because it's fun and I enjoy creating stories and making my own characters.
Sorry this was kind of a filler. I felt like I needed to do it from Ashton's p.o.v. though, mainly because I tried writing it in Luke's three times and nothing worked out.
Anyway, please tell me if you enjoyed this chapter, or what you thought of it. Please share any guess, thoughts, predictions, questions, etc, you have. I love hearing anything you guys have to say.