mali's brother; cashton

four

Saturday finally rolled around, which was a major relief for Ashton. Since it was the weekend, Mali would be partying all day and too busy to hang out with him. But he still couldn't get the other night's events out of his mind. It kept replaying like a time loop, and he hated it.

"Are you alright?" A soft voice asked. Ashton looked up from his coffee to see Michael decked out in a Pikachu onesie with his hair a mess.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled, sipping his coffee. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out an iced coffee that they kept in the house specifically for Michael. He turned around and put one in front of the boy, who was now sitting at the kitchen counter.

"Luke still not up yet?" Michael shook his head. Ashton snorted and looked over at the clock.

"I'll wake him when I'm done with breakfast. You good with scrambled eggs?" Mike nodded, cracking open his iced coffee and taking a sip.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a bit while Ashton prepared breakfast.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mike asked, breaking the silence. Ashton nodded, moving the eggs around in the pan.

"I'm fine, just tired." He muttered, rubbing his eye for dramatic effect. Mike snorted and took another sip of his coffee.

"trouble in paradise?" Mike asked. Ashton looked towards the younger redhead, his eyebrow quirked up.

"How so?" He questioned. Mike shrugged, playing with the cap of his iced coffee.

"I don't know how so, that's why I'm asking you what the problem is." He smirked up at Ashton. Ashton sighed as he grabbed a plate and shoveled a pile of eggs onto it. He handed it over to Mike and made two other plates, one for himself and one for Luke. He placed Luke's into the fridge, deciding against waking him up so he could have this private conversation with Mike without being teased for it later.

Ashton sat beside Michael, taking a deep breath and preparing to say the words he's been stressing over for god knows how long.

"Okay, so say I'm good friends with Person A, right? But I actually like Person B, but Person A doesn't know that. So I'm over at Person A's house, and we're watching a movie when Person A suddenly starts acting very clingy and cuddling me. And, like, it just feels odd because I've never seen Person A as anything other than a sister."

Michael hummed, nodding along with all the new information he got.

"That's quite the situation you've gotten yourself into," he said, pushing his eggs around using his fork. Ashton nodded, chewing on a piece of egg. After a few moments of silence, Mike spoke up.

"This is about Mali, isn't it?" He asked. Ashton took a deep breath and looked down at the hardwood floors.

"Maybe," Mike nodded.

"And Person B is Calum, am I correct?" As soon as the name Calum came out of Michael's mouth, Ashton's head shot up. His eyes were wide, and it felt like all the blood was drained from his body. He wanted to vomit, but there was no bile in his throat that he could throw up.

"I take that as a yes?" Mike asked. Ashton weakly nodded, leaning back against the chair.

"Is it that obvious?" Ashton squeaked out, his skin finally turning back to its rosy color.

"yeah, but if it makes you feel any better, it seems Mali hasn't noticed yet, so that's good." Mike shrugged, putting another egg into his mouth.

"But it's also bad because that gives her more of an opportunity to think that I like her back!" Ashton whined, throwing his head back.

"Remember, we don't even know if she officially likes you," Michael chuckled. Ashton sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess you're right," he muttered.

"Also, I won't tell anyone about you liking Calum, so you have no reason to worry about that," Mike said with a smile as he finished his iced coffee. Ashton's expression went soft as he smiled back at the redhead.

"Thank you, Mike."

"Of course."

The duos' attention was now focused on the fact that they felt someone staring at them. They both turned their heads only to see a gaping Luke standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"You like Calum?!"