roommates • lashton

2.6

l u k e

With my hands hidden in the sleeves of my sweatshirt and my soccer shoes sloppily tied, I looked down at my feet as I walked down the field.

"Luke, wait up!" Michael called from behind me, making me stop and turn around to see him jog towards me. He smiled small as he reached my side, pursing his lips as he looked around the field with furrowed eyebrows.

"Do you know why Ashton isn't here?" he asked as he placed his eyes on me again. I bit the inside of my cheek and sighed quietly.

"Um yeah, he's talking to coach" I mumbled, biting my lip lightly when seeing Michael frown.

"Why? Is he okay? Is something wrong with him?" he rambled with worry laced in his voice. I cleared my throat and bit my lip harder.

"Yeah, he's okay," I said quickly and shrugged, "They just had some stuff to talk about, I think"

"During practice?" Michael asked and furrowed his eyebrows. I just shrugged and gave him a quick tight smile before continuing to walk again. I was stopped only a few feet away when Michael tugged me back again.

"You know something, don't you?" he asked and looked at me intensely, "I don't know what the hell is going on with you and Ash, but you two keep so many fucking secrets that I'm starting to feel like my own best friend is a stranger"

Guilt filled me as I watched Michael look at me with big green eyes. He looked worried, and who was I to not tell him what was going on with his best friend?

I took a deep breath and looked at him with apologizing eyes, "Okay, Ashton's talking to coach because-"

"Clifford and Hemmings, this is football practice, not a chat room. Move and keep your attention on the game" one of the coaches said. I sighed but turned to look at Michael again.

"Ashton-"

"Hemmings," the coach said again, gaining both Michael and I's attention, "I'm not gonna tell you again. Focus and play, now"

I heard Michael sigh from beside me before he started to jog up to the team to get the teams picked out for the next exercise.

"I'll tell you after, I promise" I said quickly as I jogged past Michael and got to the team. Michael gave me a glance and nodded his head before jogging to the other side of the group.

"We're working on strategies today-" coach started speaking, but I tuned him out as soon as I heard his voice.

All I thought about was what was happening with Ashton. When I left, coach didn't look very pleased and I hated to leave Ashton like that when it was basically my idea to make him talk.

I felt bad. Actually, I felt fucking awful for doing this shit. I had told Ashton to tell them because I was so sure that they would understand. I did, so why couldn't they? Just because someone has a disorder doesn't mean they're still not a good player and less than a worthy human being.

Ashton's gotten so many compliments for playing so professionally, and it would be so fucked up if everyone would just drop him because he's suddenly not like everyone else.

What stung even more was the fact that this was just what I hoped for in the beginning of the camp; that Ashton would go home so I could bask in all the glory myself. I just hoped Ashton understood that that wasn't the case anymore.

Now, I actually wanted him to stay.

"Hemmings, are you listening?" one of the coaches spoke, making me raise my eyebrows and looked at him with a slightly confused look.