Catharsis || Lashton AU - boyxboy

6. kioldó

"I am everybody in that I miss you,
and you're not even mine to miss,
but I can't control myself."
Against Grace, Please Don't Go ☯

l.h.

"You've been glancing at that clock every five minutes for the past two hours." Sully said, a ghost of a smirk playing at his features. "What's the big deal about that Ashton kid?"

I whipped around to face him.

"I'll tell you what, Van Gogh, oh, I will tell you. See, I recently came to the conclusion that I'm totally a nosey prick who probably cares about people's problems more than he cares about actually helping them despite the fact that I would very much like to be wrong about that conclusion. And Ashton is a guy who I recently met at the corner with mental disorders up the freakin' wazoo and just came in here fucking pistol-whipped by his dad and has yet to actually finish telling me his story because he apparently finds it necessary to be some goddamn motherfucking mysterious slash profound asshole!" I said, squealing at the lack of oxygen in my lungs.

Sully bit down visibly on the corners of his lips.

"That answer was much too elaborate considering what I actually asked in the first place, you know." He said, turning back to the dishes he was washing in the sink.

Blood rushed from my toes straight up through my legs and my torso and right into the apples of my cheeks, leaving a deep red glow that I couldn't seem to hide despite my efforts.

"Shut up." I mumbled, moving out from behind the counter and plodding to the other side of the shop to clean the tables; my best effort to get away from Sully.

He ambled over to the empty - like the rest of the shop - table, cleaning it and, no, not because it needed to be cleaned, but because, as always, he lived to embarrass every ounce of dignity right out of my bones.

"Oh come on, I think it's funny that you get so involved in all these people's lives." he laughed. "And I, for one, don't think you do it in a selfish manner at all."

I scoffed, all manner of lighthearted. "Thanks."

He clapped a hand on my shoulder, beaming at me. "Any time."

I chuckled a bit lightly, before returning to the table I was originally cleaning.

"Oh, buck up, Hemmo." Sully returned the hand to my shoulder. "Honestly, I've never met anyone who cares about a stranger's well-being more than you."

I grinned a bit at that.

"Thanks, really, Van Gogh. That was, well, nice of you, actually." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Huh. Weird."

He chuckled, patting a hand on my shoulder and walking back over to the counter.

I glanced back up at the clock, breathing an inward breath of relief when I saw that the clock had eventually hit the four-thirty mark.

I scurried over to the counter and pulled the apron off of myself, tossing the rag on the counter and hanging the apron on the post nailed messily against the wall.

"Do you think it's like, clingy of me to leave this early?" I walked towards the door, smoothing the wrinkles of my t-shirt out.

Sully scoffed.

"Do you even know Cassie? She loves clingy--"

"Not Cassie." I ducked my head in attempt to hide my blush. "Ashton."

Sully chuckled, running a hand through his messy hair and resting his hands on the counter behind him, before picking himself and setting himself down ever-so-lightly.