Hello, How May I Help You? | Lashton

Chapter 26

What Ashton's wearing <3 <3 <3 <3 

[Luke's POV] 

I was at my locker, getting my homework into my backpack. I waited for Ashton to meet me there since we were going to be walking back to Ashton's house instead of Michael driving us. Ashton and I had decided we wanted a little time alone since we got together and Michael understood, completely agreeing that we needed a little private time.

I set my chemistry book on top of the locker and positioned everything so it would fit. As I bent down to get my notebook from the bottom of the locker, someone gave me a slight kick in the butt, trying to knock me over. It sort of worked, but I didn't fall and instead wobbled. 

I stood up, expecting it to be Ashton, but I was instead faced with Calum. "Oh, hi, Calum."

"Hey, Luke," he said with a smile.

I noticed that he wasn't with his usual posse and that confused me a little, but I didn't think much of it. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to hangout at the mall with me? I can drive, it's not a huge deal," Calum asked.

"I thought you were grounded?" I asked.

"Well, I am, but they think that I'm staying after school to get extra help on my homework," Calum told me, rolling his eyes. "So, what do you say? You game?" 

"Well, actually, I can't. Ashton and I ar-" I started, but he cut me off.

"He can come too!" Calum said, a bit more excited than I would expect him to be. I quirked my eyebrow at him because last time I checked, the two had a mutual hate for each other.

"Um, I don't know if he would really want to do that," I said, trying not to sound rude. I saw Calum's happy expression fall and immediately, I felt bad. "Let me talk to him? Maybe he'll be do-"

"Um, hi, Luke. Calum," Ashton said, walking over. He looked as if he was holding back a glare as he looked at Calum. "Are you ready, Luke?"

"Well, I actually had something to ask you," I started, getting hopeful eyes from Calum. I didn't know why he wanted to start hanging out with me all of a sudden. 

"Um, okay? What?" he asked, furrowing his brow at me.

"Calum wanted to know if we wanted to hangout with him at the mall? Just for a little bit," I offered with a tight smile. I knew that he didn't want to hangout with Calum because Ashton didn't like him. But I knew that Calum wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Um, but I thought that we were going to go to my place...?" Ashton asked. I knew that he didn't want to be rude, even though he hated Calum. Ashton just wasn't a fan of being rude to anyone except Michael, but even that was out of love. 

I looked at Calum and saw hope in his eyes as he looked at me, literally pleading me to convince Ashton with his eyes. "We can afterwards if you still want to."

Ashton looked at me, his eyes slightly narrowing at me. I knew that he didn't want to spend what was supposed to be our alone time with Calum. I just gave him a look, hoping he'd understand that I would explain to him later. 

"How long do you plan on staying out? I have to tell my mum if we're going to be there for dinner," Ashton huffed. I glanced at Calum, who rolled his eyes. I slightly glared at him, but he didn't notice.

"Um, maybe an hour or so? Is that okay, Calum?" I asked him. 

Calum nodded quickly. "Yeah, that's perfectly fine. I can bring you guys home too."