Ashton checked with his manager to make sure everything was all good before heading over to Michael's bar for their Wednesday hang out.

    He'd been attending the last couple weeks because he hadn't seen Luke around much and had hoped to catch a glimpse of him.

    There was something weird going on with the blonde boy, and Ashton was determined to figure it out. He felt like the two of them had started off rocky, then there was some point where they were almost friends, but all of a sudden Luke started acting weird again. He'd like to know why and get some answers.

    Ashton entered the bar through the back staircase that he knew was kept unlocked. Often the staff would use it, but he figured he was able to use it too. Once he reached the top floor and looked around, he attempted to locate Luke. He saw Harry and Naba at the bar flicking each other with towels since there weren't any customers. Michael, Nicky, Heather, Liam, and Ben were at their usual table, but no Luke. Maybe he was in the office or something.

    Ashton made his way to the bar to get a drink before he went to sit with his friends.

    "Eyyy it's Ashton!" Harry announced, throwing his towel at Naba to end their game before he leaned on the counter in front of where Ashton took a seat. Naba caught the towel and shook her head at Harry, even though he couldn't see her. Ashton gave her an understanding smile.

    "'Ello Harry," Ashton greeted, grinning as he sat on one of the leather stools.

    "What can I get for ya?" Harry asked.

    "Whiskey sour?"

    "Sure thing," Harry set about making the drink and Ashton pretended to be casual and look around.

    "It's kinda dead here tonight,"

    Harry shrugged, focusing on the drink in his hand.

    "I guess so. I mean, Wednesday night isn't exactly a prime bar night, but we're usually decently busy with Michael and his gang."

    "Hm, yeah." Ashton nodded his head slowly. "What's Luke doing? Is he working in the office tonight? I know he does that sometimes,"

    Great job, Ashton. Way to sound totally casual.

    "No, he hasn't been around much. Michael said that incident the other night really shook him up, so he's only here when Michael can be with him. He's relaxing at home tonight." Harry didn't notice anything suspicious about his questioning.

    Ashton frowned. Poor Luke, that must be terrible to not feel comfortable in the very bar he worked at.

    Then Ashton thought about it.

    The situation was fine until Michael intervened. Ashton had shown up while Luke was laughing and chatting with those guys, and Michael was the one who got all angry. What was Luke upset over?

    Ashton took his drink and walked over to the table.

    "Hey, Ash!" Michael cheered, and everyone threw him a hi or hey.

    "It's real nice to see you here every week," Heather said with a wink. She was still hoping that Ashton would ditch his preferences for men and slide over to her.

    She was hoping in vain.

    Ashton just rolled his eyes because he'd tried to let her down gently at first but since she still wasn't getting it, he had to become more intense. Now he sort of just ignored her thirsty comments.

    "What's going on, everyone?" He said, taking a seat at the end of the booth. He was two people away from Heather, which seemed a bit too close for his liking, but there was no other place. He was next to Michael which was good, because then maybe he could get more information about Luke's whereabouts.

    Liam smiled at him and restarted the story he'd been telling before Ashton had arrived.

    "It was crazy, I swear, it was like one of those scenes from a movie."

    "You expect us to believe some handsome rich dude ran you over with his BMW and invited you back to his place and made out with you?" Michael raised an eyebrow at their friend. Liam just shrugged.

    "It happened, I don't care if you believe me," He said, but moments later he was still talking about it, begging someone to believe him.

    Ashton waited about an hour before bringing Luke up.

    "Hey, Mike," Michael turned towards Ashton with an easy smile. By now Michael had had three drinks and wasn't as there as he could have been.

    "Sup, Ashy?"

    "Oh, I was just wondering how your fiancee was," he shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Haven't seen him in a while, how's the show going?"

    Ashton noticed Michael roll his eyes slightly before giving a slight smile.

    "You know him, he's fine. He's been so busy thought, lately, I swear I never see him anymore." Michael commented, then quickly turned away when Ashton opened his mouth to ask a follow up question.

    Something was definitely going on with them. Michael had been acting very strange lately. He was never like this, they both might have been players back in college, but if either of them were in a steady relationship for a while, they would treat their partner much better than how Michael seemed to be treating Luke.

    Another thing that confused Ashton was Michael just said Luke was so busy and they never saw each other, but Michael was at the bar instead of home with Luke. If Luke was home, as Harry had mentioned, why wasn't Michael with him?

    Ashton bent his head, massaging his temple with his fingers.

    "Ashy, are you okay?" Heather asked immediately. Ashton would be frustrated that she was the one who was checking on him, but everyone turned their attention to him after that.

    "Yeah, just got a really bad headache..."

    "I have some ibuprofen in my bag," she said, already reaching over to grab her purse off the shelf nearby.

    "No, no it's okay," Ashton blurted quickly. He didn't trust the girl not to drug him and take him home against his will. She was that crazy. "I think I might head home though and go to bed. That usually helps,"

    "All right man, see ya later," Liam gave him a fist bump and the rest of the group said their goodbyes.

    "Feel better, mate," Michael gave his leg a quick pat before Ashton got up.

    "Thanks,"

    Ashton quickly left the bar and headed down the street. He had two stops to make, and it took him about half an hour before he showed up at the apartment.

    He knocked on the door loudly, hoping the occupant would hear him.

    Ashton heard movement behind the door and assumed the resident was checking through the peephole. He put on his most charming grin as the lock was undone and the door opened a crack.

    "Ashton?" Luke asked, keeping himself covered by the door, which was half shut. He leaned his head against the door frame and peered out at his fiancees friend. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

    "I was just coming to check on you, I haven't seen you at the bar for a while,"

    "Oh, yeah. I've just been busy, you know. With the show."

    "Gotcha."

    It was silent for a moment, Ashton was hoping Luke would invite him in, and Luke was hoping Ashton would leave.

    "Well, I guess I'll—"

    "I've got some food if—"

    "—Oh, sorry,"

    "—No, you go—"

    They both stopped speaking and smiled. Luke gestured to Ashton, who spoke up.

    "I got some food, from that diner. I wasn't sure if you'd eaten yet, but I figured there's always room for some french fries..." Ashton trailed off.

    "You...just picked me up food?"

    Ashton shrugged.

    "Yeah, sure. I was hungry, I know you're a human and you get hungry too..."

    "I see." Luke nodded, biting his lip. "Uhm, thanks."

    "So...can I come in? I have some onion rings in here that will only get soggier the more they sit."

    Luke scoffed.

    "Good, they deserve it."

    Ashton shook his head.

    "Onion rings don't deserve the hate you give them,"   

    Luke just stuck his tongue out playfully.

    "G-give me just two minutes, okay? You can come in," Luke opened the door quickly and bolted down the hallway, escaping from the room.

    Ashton shook his head, wondering what that was about. He was acting weird too. He heard Luke running up the steps and closing a door. Ashton decided to walk into the kitchen and set up on the island. He didn't buy half the diner this time since he knew what Luke liked.

    He got himself a burger and onion rings, and for Luke, he'd ordered chicken fingers and french fries. That was what he ate last time, so Ashton figured it would be fine again. He'd also selected two different slices of pie that had just come out of the oven at the diner. He figured they'd be able to share them or something.

    Luke came downstairs a couple moments later.

    "Sorry, needed to use the bathroom."    

    "All good, I got the food set up," Ashton watched Luke make his way over to the counter and look over the food. Luke looked slightly different, his face and neck were slightly discolored,  like he was wearing makeup or something. Maybe it was the lights or something, Ashton thought. But he had to check. There were too many weird coincidences going on.

    "Are you wearing makeup?" Ashton asked, bringing his hand up to Luke's face to wipe at it. Luke dodged it and took a step away before Ashton could run his fingers over it.

    "Y-yeah, I was at rehearsal earlier. I must have forgotten to take it off," He said breezily. Ashton nodded, accepting the answer. That made sense.

    Luke grabbed two plates from the cupboard above the sink. He set them on the counter by the food and Ashton began to plate it for them.

    "Can I have something to drink?" He asked. "I didn't get anything from the diner, I figured you'd have something."

    "Yeah, what do you want?" Luke went to the fridge and opened it. "We've got seltzer, iced tea, water, milk?"

    "Who would drink milk with a burger?" Ashton scrunched up his nose causing Luke to chuckle.

    "I know some people who drink milk with every meal, no matter what it is. And I mean, you like onion rings, you very easily could be one of those people," Ashton rolled his eyes with a smile.

    "That's disgusting," he commented. Luke hummed in agreement. "I'll have a seltzer, please."

    Luke grabbed the bottle from the fridge and went over to the cabinet to grab a cup. He reached up to the top shelf, causing his tee shirt to ride up. Ashton did his best to look away until his eye caught a large, yellowish-purple bruise peeking out.

    "Damn, how did you get that bruise?" Ashton exclaimed, unable to stop himself. Luke dropped the cup in his hand as he turned around, pulling his shirt down over his hips and blushing.    

    "W-what bruise?"

    "The one on your hip," Ashton got up and stood in front of the trembling blonde. He tried to move Luke's shirt aside to check it out, but Luke pushed him away.

    "It-it's fine, I hit it against the counter in the bathroom the other day, it's no b-big deal."

    Ashton gave him a dubious look, frowning and raising his eyebrows. Why would he be acting like this if it was just something silly like that?

    "Are you okay, Luke? You've been acting sort of weird lately." Luke paled when he said that.

    "Yeah, f-fine, kinda hungry, though." Luke walked toward the food, and Ashton grabbed his arm to turn him to face him. Luke flinched, putting his hands up and wrenching himself out of Ashton's grip. His breathing was heavy like he'd just run up the stairs and Ashton was confused.

He almost said something when Luke turned around. "Here, got your seltzer," he said quietly, grabbing the bottle from the counter and the cup he'd dropped with shaky hands.

    Ashton was convinced now that something was wrong. He was going to get to the bottom of it, no matter what.

    He was going to help Luke with whatever problem he was having. He just needed the boy to trust him...

***

Soooo thoughts? Think Ashton is starting to know what's going on?

~ashtonfortherwin