Cold | Lashton.

-7-

Luke's POV

Michael and Calum must've played about five games of Fifa before they actually let anyone else have a go. They kept winning then losing and even drawing, and each of them refused to lose to the other. Ashton tried to persuade them to leave it at a draw and eventually they did, which then made it time for him to play. He played against both of the other guys more than once whilst I sat in silence and watched, and though Ashton did occasionally check on me to see if I was okay there wasn't much conversation from me.

The final game between Michael and Ashton ended with Michael jumping up on the sofa and doing a little victory dance after he won, and Ashton simply rolling his eyes and laughing at him. I laughed a little too although I tried not to make it obvious, but that ended when Calum suddenly looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey Luke, do you wanna play a game?" The other guys joined him in looking at me and I immediately looked anywhere but at them.

"Um, I'm not sure." I said, staring down at my lap. I twiddled my thumbs and didn't look up for a minute, but when I did Calum tilted his head slightly and frowned.

"What, don't you like Fifa?"

I sighed and shook my head. "It's not that. Well, I don't know... I've never actually played it."

Calum and Michael's eyes widened and their jaws dropped. "You've never played Fifa?!" They looked at me as if I was some kind of alien from another planet and at that point I just looked over at Ashton with a look to ask for help. I wasn't sure what kind of help he could give me but I didn't know what to do for myself so it was worth a try.

"Guys, chill out. Remember Luke did live on the streets." He gave them a look to say they were overreacting but also as if to tell them to be respectful to me which made me feel a little self conscious. I know I've lived on the streets for a long time but that doesn't really make me different to anyone else, apart from the fact that I've had to deal with life in a different way.

The guys nodded and at that point I thought it was over, but I was majorly wrong. I was looking back down at my lap again when I felt someone nudge closer to me, and when I looked up I saw Ashton sitting right next to me with a smile on his face. He was holding the console remote in his hands but he placed the left hand of it in my right hand and kept hold of the other side. He nodded to Michael who then began setting up the game, and when it came to choosing our teams he let me (us) go first. Ashton asked me who I wanted to be and tried to get my input, but since I had no idea what I was doing he made most of the decisions and I just trusted him to pick a good team.

Near the beginning of the game Ashton gave me directions from afar, just holding onto his side of the remote and telling me what buttons to push, but as it went on he started getting closer and closer, sitting almost as close as possible and pointing at the buttons, sometimes even pressing them for me. It was a little uncomfortable but it wasn't horrible. It wasn't like I'd want to push him away from me or anything, it just felt weird...

It was a difficult game, not surprising considering it was the first time I'd played it, but Ashton really did help me. Michael was winning, then I caught up, then he was winning again, then I was beating him, and thanks to Ashton's help I managed to keep my score up and get a goal in before the timer ended. I'll be honest, that made me really happy. Michael is really good at Fifa; it was hard to beat him and I almost didn't, but to be honest I'm pretty sure he didn't try as hard as the game went on, though if he didn't I'm not sure why.

When my team's name came up as the winner's it was impossible to hide the big grin forming on my face, and I was surprised when everyone started clapping and cheering and even more surprised when Ashton hugged me leading everyone else to surround me and pull me into a group hug.

I had a feeling Michael let me win but I didn't really mind. Either way, I felt like I was getting on with the boys and maybe... and maybe even making some friends.