The Prince's Curse

Chapter 15 - The Photos

~Chapter 15~

*The Photos*

"Haha, it's been 2 days, mate, how are you still sick?"

    Ashton just groaned in response. The party was on Friday night and all weekend Ashton felt horrible. He barely got out of bed on Saturday, although he was just grateful to get off the bathroom floor. Yesterday he ate actual food, not just a slice of toast, but still felt nauseated and his head was still pounding. Today, the headache and nausea were still there.

    "You must have drank a lot, you probably have like, alcohol poisoning,"

    "Do not mention that word, please," Even the thought of alcohol made him feel worse. He never wanted to drink ever again.

    "Sorry," Calum took pity on him, putting his arm on his shoulder. "Do you need to take a break? I can let you sit in the managers office with the lights off, or you can go into the dining area and sit for a bit with your eyes closed,"

    "No, I will be okay. There is only an hour and a half left in my shift, anyway,"

    "Kay, just let me know if you end up needing anything, yeah? You can crash with me if needed," Calum said, emphasizing the words in reference to their previous conversation.

    "Sure," Ashton nodded, slight blush on his cheeks as he continued to slowly cut the cucumbers. The sound of the knife on the chopping board was slowly thudding through his skull and he wasn't sure he could take it, but he didn't want to quit. He could suffer through it for a little bit longer if he had to.

    Calum left and it was just him for a bit in the back of the kitchen. Luke had been pulled someplace else, volunteering to go when one of the student managers asked one of them to help out front. Ashton didn't mind today, usually he would be upset that Luke was trying to keep him protected in the back, but today he felt so sick he couldn't be bothered to care.

    "Hey, Ash, I'm back." Luke announced a bit later. He'd been at deli again, helping out because it was constantly so busy and they were horribly understaffed. Luke thought they should try to hire more people, but Calum insisted they've hired everyone who applied, they just haven't had enough people to apply.

    Ashton ignored the tall blonde, shifting away from him and continuing his slicing.

    Luke sighed.

    "What's next on the list?" Again, Ashton didn't respond. Luke figured this would happen, but that didn't stop the pang in his chest at the blatant rejection. "Is there something left for me to do?" Ashton finished cutting the cucumber he'd been holding before passing the list Luke's direction without looking at him.

    Four things were crossed off the list and there were 2 left, cucumbers and onions.

    "Okay, I'll work on onions then," he said in a low voice. He knew Ashton was still sensitive about noise and light, his head was still bothering him.

    Ashton had also been ignoring him since yesterday morning. Every time Luke tried to talk to him, the brunette would pretend he couldn't hear. He wouldn't even look in Luke's direction, keeping his gaze on anything else he could. Luke wasn't sure what he did, but Ashton wouldn't tell him what was wrong. He'd tried, oh he'd tried, but the little prince could be stubborn.

    "I'll stay over here, hopefully that won't bother your eyes as much," Luke walked around to the farthest corner away from Ashton as possible, knowing he was ultra sensitive to the onions. He wanted to offer Ashton the goggles, but he knew he probably wouldn't take them if Luke suggested it. Instead he pushed them over to a space in between them, hoping he would just take them.