Ashton's car.

"Seriously, Ashton. Thank you for today."

"No problem."

"So I guess I'll see you on Monday?"

"Well it is school, so," Ashton trailed off.

They were sitting in front of Luke's house, Ashton was taking him home after their day at the amusement park. For Luke's benefit, Ashton tried to be happy and upbeat for the rest of their day, but it was late now and Ashton was tired of pretending.

He knew he couldn't keep this up. Something needed to change, Luke was too good for him. Whether he wanted it or not, Luke didn't deserve someone horrible like Ashton.

Seriously, who started being friends with someone because of a bet, and then caught feelings?

Luke would never forgive him if he found out.

"Ashton, hey?" Luke nudged his shoulder, causing Ashton to blink his thoughts away and look at the cute boy next to him. "You were thinking hard about something, are you okay?"

Luke looked angelic, sitting in the passenger seat underneath the soft moonlight pouring in from the skylight. After a day of rollercoasters, his curls were wild, flying every which direction, giving him some sort of halo effect that enhanced his innocent charm. Ashton was a goner. He shifted in his seat, raking his gaze up and down Luke's body. He didn't think he could resist his charms.

Luke's breath hitched in his throat as he looked over and saw Ashton's face close to his.

Was this really happening? Was Ashton going to...

Ashton stopped, waiting to see what Luke's reaction was. The boy was flushed, his entire face a light pink color. His eyes were closed, lips slightly parted, his head tilted slightly to the right, his body facing Ashton, slowly moving closer.

He wanted this too.

Warning bells were going off in Ashton's head. This was a bad idea. He shouldn't do this. He shouldn't want to do this! He wasn't gay, he didn't like boys.

But it seemed he did like Luke.

Ashton stopped, backing up. He couldn't do this.

He cleared his throat.

"I guess I'll see you at school then?" Ashton said. Luke startled, sitting up and opening his eyes. He saw Ashton sitting at the other end of the car. He hadn't imagined that all, had he?

"Y-yeah sounds good."

Luke hesitated. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to leave or not. It sounded final, and Ashton was trying not to look at him. His hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white. Luke tried to catch his gaze. He put his hand on Ashton's arm, causing the boy to gasp. They locked eyes, and Luke smiled.

"Good night," Luke blurted out before opening the door and throwing himself out of the car. He didn't dare look back, in fear of getting trapped in Ashton's gaze again. If he found himself in his presence any longer, who knew what would happen?

Luke walked inside, opening and closing the front door, leaning back against it as he smiled and thought about the day. He heard Ashton's car start up and peeked out the sheer curtain of the window next to him to make sure he was off safely. He saw the taillights light up as Ashton sped down the street.

He sighed happily, playing a little movie scene of the last few days he'd spent with his friend. It was almost surreal how good he was feeling, it felt like he was on top of the world and nothing could bring him down.

Why hadn't Ashton kissed him? That's what he was going for, wasn't he? Was Luke not giving him the signal that he'd wanted it?

Did Luke want that?

He and Ashton were friends. That's all, right? He couldn't have feelings for the other boy, could he? We've hardly known each other a month, and let's not forget the fact that he was your BULLY for years?

It was late. The living room light was on, but Luke expected his mum to be asleep already. It was past 11 pm, so when he heard her voice, he was surprised.

"He actually just got in, you want to say hi?" he heard her come closer, walking into the room. She chuckled, phone pressed against her ear. "No, I didn't give him a curfew, I trust him unlike you two." She must be talking to Luke's brothers. "Want to talk to Ben and Jack? They're on a call,"

"Sure!"

"They want to FaceTime you, pick up your phone," Liz told him. She left once she saw him dig his phone out of his bag. "I'm going to bed now, you'll tell me all about your day tomorrow?"

He nodded, following her upstairs so he could go to his room. He had his phone in his hand, waiting patiently for his brothers to call him. He hadn't talked to them in a while, he'd been so busy with Ashton that he'd almost forgotten about them for a bit.

His phone buzzed and he jumped on his bed, pressing accept and grinning as he saw their two faces, smiling happily at him while they sat on the couch in Jack's living room. Luke recognized it from the other calls they'd made.

"Lu Lu!" Ben called, waving emphatically at him through the screen.

"Hi, Benny!"

"Hey, Lukey,"

"Jack!"

Luke loved that his older brothers still cared for him. Even though they lived far away, he knew he could talk to them about anything. They always gave him priority if he needed it. They were sort of like step-in dads when he was younger, they always looked after him when their mum was busy and he needed help. Because of that, they had a very strong bond even years later.

"Hey, bud, how's it going?" Jack asked, sitting forward so he could look at Luke through the tiny phone screen.

"So good, Jack! How are you two?"

Ben laughed.

"Cut the crap kid, mum told us all about your little date today, spill!"

Luke blushed, his cheeks turning fire engine red. He resisted the urge to take the pillow near his arm and push his face into it; that would only confirm his statement.

"It wasn't a date, Benny. It was just me and a friend from school going to 6 Flags."

"Oh, 6 Flags is so much fun!" Jack cheered. "What was your favorite ride?"

Luke thought about it.

He really liked all of them, but his favorite had to be Nitro. That first time they went, when Ashton told him if he was scared he could hold his hand, just set the tone for the rest of the day, and made him so happy.

"Nitro."

"That was always Jack's favorite!" Ben told him, Jack confirming this with a nod.

"It's Ashy's favorite too, we went on it like 12 times,"

The boys laughed.

"So, who is Ashy?" Jack asked a still blushing Luke.

"Uh, he's my friend from school. The one who I've been hanging out with,"

"Lukey, I'm so proud you made a friend!" Ben told him with a cheerful smile. Ben was always the more supportive one of Luke's brothers, whereas Jack was always there to back him up, but he was more likely to tease Luke.

"So he's your boyfriend?"

Luke didn't think his face could get more red.

"NO!" he shouted, making his brothers burst into laughter. "He isn't! He's the star of the soccer team, he started sitting next to me and we've just been talking and became friends. Not boyfriends," Luke suddenly remembered that picture of Ashton kissing his cheek when they were taking selfies the other day whatever just happened in the car. They weren't dating, at least not officially.

"All right, Puke, calm down," Jack rolled his eyes and smiled. "We are happy for you and your Boy-Space-Friend," Luke rolled his eyes. That was so childish. He was just Luke's friend and that was it. Right?

"Thank you," Luke tried to be serious, but eventually broke down into giggles, grabbing his pillow from the bed and hugging it close.

"Yeah, we got a call from Jake the other day, he told us you don't ever hang out with anyone your age, just him and some librarian during your free period, what's up with that?"

Luke shrugged, picking at his nails. He needed to paint them, maybe a nice pale blue or pink.

"You know high schoolers are immature and stupid and I don't really enjoy their company," Luke tried to remain aloof, but his brothers were concerned for him.

"But you're a high schooler, Lu, so why don't you act immature and stupid, have some fun while you can?"

"I am having fun," He lied. "I like how my life is, okay? I appreciate you both, mums, but seriously, I'm fine." Jack rolled his eyes at being called mum, but they dropped the subject and started talking about what's going on with their jobs, Ben's new girlfriend, and the whole time Luke just thought about how great it was to finally have a friend.

***

Any thoughts? I got nothing really.

Except oh! I have been working on the drafts for my next book, writing out summaries and stuff of what it's I'm gonna be about. It's a doozy. It's a book I started to write years ago but finally found the motivation for and I've made it Lashton instead of another fandom. I'll post a summary for it later today, as this book is almost done 😮

~ashtonfortherwin