Hey Bartender, Love me (book 2)

Chapter 6

The whir of the engine could hardly be heard over the thoughts replaying in Luke's mind.

No person under 30 expected his father to be dying. Luke knew his dad had cancer, but he thought they'd been able to manage it, at least for ten more years. He wouldn't have thought something like this would happen seemingly out of the blue.

Now Luke and Ashton were flying to Florida to visit his dying father.

After Luke had passed out the night before at dinner, he woke up in his bed. They'd called an ambulance at the restaurant, but the medics said it wasn't a big issue and he was just in shock, so Ashton waited for him to wake up before taking him home. Luke didn't remember much of the ride back.

They'd ended up talking the entire night about what they should do, how they would manage the bars in their absence, and Luke spent a good two hours talking about some of his favorite memories of his dad at Ashton's request.

Ashton knew in situations like this it was best to think of good times instead of dwelling on the sad things. After sharing his memories, Luke was smiling and happy again for a few moments, which in turn made Ashton feel better. He didn't know what to do to help his partner, but he knew he'd do anything he could to keep that smile on his face.

Luke couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to find upon getting to Florida. Was his dad going to look like himself? Would he be a shell of who he once was? Would he look normal, maybe the cancer was only affecting his insides?

Luke felt someone's hand on his thigh and opened his eyes. He was met with a concerned Ashton, looking worried.

"Lukey, you're tense again. Do you want to talk?"

He shook his head. All he'd done since he found out two days ago was talk, and he was tired of it. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest properly until he got there and saw his dad.

"Caity said it might be better for you to talk," Ashton told him, rubbing circles on his knee over his jeans. Both Ashton and the therapist knew Luke internalized things and kept his thoughts and feelings to himself and knew telling another person helped him process.

He shook his head. Of course Ashton had called his therapist in the morning after he'd gone out with his friends. She came over to their house, which wasn't something she often did, but under these circumstances, she didn't hesitate. They'd talked for two hours on top of him talking to Ashton the entire night before. All he'd been doing since he got the news had been talking. It was helpful, but he just didn't want to now.

"You sure, love? Let me in, what's going on right now?" Ashton put his hand on his arm.

"Ash, please," Luke shut his eyes and sighed, pulling away and leaning his head on the glass window. "I just...can't right now,"

"Oh okay, I-I'm sorry," Ashton let him go and shifted back. "I was just trying to help," He muttered weakly. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and then closed it, remembering there was no service in the air.

"Ash..." Luke felt bad. He knew his boyfriend was only trying to help, and he'd been so great, Luke couldn't imagine if he had to go through all this alone, but sometimes he didn't need anything. "Hey," Luke opened his eyes and lifted his hand to Ashton's stubbly cheek, moving so they were looking at each other. "I appreciate you more than you could ever know, you take such good care of me," Luke half smiled, which was all he could muster in the current circumstances.

"I love you, Sweetheart,"

"I love you too."

"But..."