Belief

6.7

Ashton's POV

The London chills nip at the sides of my neck, making me wrap my scarf a little tighter as our group heads back to the apartment. We had spent the morning taking the girls sight seeing to places like Buckingham Palace and the London Eye, all that fun stuff. The three of them were chatting happily in front of us, making us turn down little side streets to look at boutiques and English shops. Calum slugged at my side, half asleep as his feet carry him forward. Luke and Michael were walking right in front of us, out of earshot from the girls, but talking loud enough where I could hear them.

"She is still mad at me," Luke mutters to Michael, clearly annoyed. "She hasn't talked to me since we got home yesterday. I don't get the big deal I thought she would support me."

"Luke, you were a total dick!" Michael rolls his eyes, as if this was an obvious fact. Which it was, at least to me.

"I was?" Luke's face of anger twists into worry.

"Uh yeah, that was sort of an asshole move," Michael stuff his hands in his pockets. I just smirk silently to myself, Calum shooting me a questioning look.

"Shit," Luke runs a hand through his hair, glancing up at the girls walking a few feet in front of us.

"She is right, the girl is always right. You're an idiot, how do you not know that by now?" Michael rolls his eyes. Luke mumbles under his breath, fiddling with the strings of his beanie, glancing from Michael to Maddie as if he was unsure of what to do. Michael stares at him, waiting. "Are you going to talk to her?"

"Oh, shit, yeah," Luke mumbles as if his brain was scattered and unable to focus on a single voice inside of his head. "I just- I just need everything to be okay, you know? There is just so much-"

"Just go talk to her," Michael shuts him up, pushing him forward. Michael glances back at me, shrugging.

Calum leans over, whispering in my ear, "here we go again."

"Maddie!" Luke calls, walking faster to separate the distance. Maddie was laughing with Grace and Charlie as they entered a little park across from town.

"Not now Luke," she avoids eye contact with him. The other two girls cross their arms, holding their ground next to Maddie as the three of them turn around to face Luke.

"Please?" Luke holds out his hand, but Maddie just stares. "I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry," he mutters pleadingly.

"It's okay," Maddie shrugs, looking everywhere but him.

"No it's not. You say it's okay, but you are still mad, aren't you?"

Maddie stays silent, and I can see Luke's face fall with every passing millisecond of cold silence. Her eyes scan the tree line before settling on mine. I can't help the feeling settling in my stomach, the feeling that I know I could be so much better for her. Luke stares at her, waiting, but her eyes are on me, soft and vulnerable. I can see her struggling to stay strong. Luke catches on, his hands falling limp to his sides, I can see the struggle in his eyes but I choose to ignore it. He isn't the one who deserves my sympathy.

"I'm sorry," Luke nearly whispers, taking a step closer to Maddie. He reaches out to touch her cheek, but she turns her head away, taking a step back. Luke stands in shock, in hurt, in helplessness.

Then he breaks down.

"I'm sorry okay? I'm fucking sorry!" His voice is raised now, making even Charlie's eyes open in shock. "I know that was an asshole move of me, and I'm sorry!" His fingers curl into fists at his sides.

"Luke, stop," Maddie takes a step back, looking at the ground.

Luke throws his head back in frustration, in defeat, walking over to the chain fence we had just entered through to get to the park. He starts punching it, grabbing ahold of the wire and kicking the bottom of the fence. His grip on the wire was so tight that his knuckles start to turn white. He rests his head against the fence, angered breaths make his shoulders rise and fall. "I can't do anything right. I'm sorry," he whispers more to himself than to us. Michael and Calum shoot me a fearful glance, Grace and Charlie walk over to us hurriedly.