I'm Sorry • Lashton

Chapter 7

All I know is we said hello,
and your eyes look like coming home,
All I know is a simple name,
Everything has changed

-Everything has changed // Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

Ashton felt that his times of coming home from school held a bit of a shit reputation. He wasn't sure why or what karma was testing his life, but bad news two days in a row was obviously a bit much.

When he came home from school on Thursday, there were far too many overalled men for his liking. And the fact that this time, his mother was nowhere in sight, pretty much frightened him. So, he decided to walk out into the back garden (which he had been promptly avoiding due to the foul smell, which, for the record, didn't actually smell that bad anymore, but Ashton expertised in being easily put off things) and found his younger brother sitting on the grass, flying a superman action figure in the air.

"Harry?" Ashton called, dodging a few foreign men to get to his brother,

Harry looked up, smiling brightly when seeing his brother,

"Hey Ashton! Do you want to come play-" But the older boy was quickly cutting him off,

"What's going on? Why are there so many workers? What did I miss-"

Harry was frowning, his superman still in mid-air, temporarily forgotten as he struggled to answer Ashton's question as best he could,

"Well, I don't actually know. Mum was all panicky and then she said something about pipes and something else about moving, but Ash- why are we moving if we just moved?" Ashton's mouth was agape slightly, his mind running with NoNoNoPleaseNo, because this actually could not be happening. He turned back to his younger brother who was staring at him inquisitively and Ashton found himself forcing a shaky smile,

"We'll be okay Harry" He assured and it was obvious that those words were not reassurance for only his little brother.

***

Ashton did manage to find his mother in the end, emerging from the kitchen, her face contorted with a look that could only be described as franticity.

"Ashton!" She pretty much yelled, as she had done the day before, and her son suddenly moved forward, in desperate attempts to comfort his mother with his presence,

"Mum, what's going on?"

"We- we're being relocated Ash, we have to move out temporarily, it's impossible to use the bathrooms in this house, with the pipe burst like that. We have less than a week to find ourselves a new accommodation, or they'll move us away themselves to some dingy bed and breakfast. Oh god, this was never meant to happen, I can't deal with this, and I've got so much going on at work as well, and how am I supposed to cope when-"

"Hey hey mum." Ashton placed a consoling hand on his rambling mother's shoulder "We'll be okay, we'll figure it out. Don't- don't fret over it, because that's not going to help with anything. Just calm down yeah? Deep breaths, c'mon..." The boy had grown used to the way his mother panicked over small situations, and he had figured out the way to comfort her. He knew that she'd be fine in a few hours, so he gave her a little time to cool off, and was relieved when hearing her shoo out the workmen, knowing that she was back to her usual, bossy self.

***

Ashton found time to ring Rio that night, after all the commotion had calmed. He was just as worried as his mother, but two frantic people wouldn't help anything, so he had bottled it all in for the time being.

"Hey Rio,"

"What's up -What the fuck is wrong with you- Ash?"

Ashton rolled his eyes, completely used to Rio's side comment whilst speaking to him, indicating he was probably playing a violent video game of some sort,