PHONE TALK: LASHTON

NINETEEN

Luke froze.

His blue eyes scanned the setting, but his body was still paralysed, the last note he had followed still held in his hand.

It was so beautiful, it looked almost fake. As if Luke had just stepped into some sort of Dreamland, but not just any Dreamland.

A Luke sort of Dreamland.

There were fairylights wrapped around tall trees, making Luke question how someone would even be able to reach up there.

A small pathway was created using candles, and as Luke's eyes followed them, they were led to a blanket laid on the floor.

A blanket with all kinds of picnic related things displayed on it, such as a basket, and glasses.

And all of this was placed in the center of a quiet forest, where there were no loud sounds, except for the soft breeze blowing, and the only view being the bright stars scattered in the night sky.

The blonde finally began to thaw his frozen structure, and went to take a step, wanting to explore the scenery more.

But before his foot could touch the ground, a cough stopped him in his tracks. Luke perked up and turned around towards the direction of the sound.

Ashton.

The corners of Luke's mouth turned upwards, and although every single part of his brain was telling him he should be mad, he couldn't seem to stop himself.

Ashton just stared. It seemed creepy in his head, but he couldn't help himself. He hadn't been this close to the blonde in a while, and he had almost forgotten how pretty Luke's eyes were, and how adorable his smile was.

And so he sort of just took the small moment to take it all in, admiring Luke as much as he could.

A few seconds passed, and he finally blinked, snapping himself out of the long gaze.

"Oh, uh -" he stuttered, coughing awkwardly to stop his nerves.

"um -- Hey." was all he managed to get out, shying away when Luke giggled.

The blonde sent a small wave to the tanned boy, his smile still glued onto his face.

Ashton bit his lip, and looked down at his shoes.

"So, uh, do you -- do you like it?"

Luke's eyes widened. He pointed at Ashton, and then used his thumb to point behind him at the set up, all with a surprised face.

Ashton let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah, I did it. Well, sort of. I'll explain it all properly when we sit down."

He took a few steps towards Luke, taking a hold of his hand, and walking him to the blanket area.

The two sat down, Ashton with his legs crossed, and the blonde sitting on his own ones.

"So the story is -- " the older one began, Luke shuffiling a little closer to show that all his attention was on Ashton.

"I kinda, wanted to take you out, but I didn't want it to be boring, and since I suck at romantic crap, Michael and Calum helped me out, and that's how this -- " he stopped to point around him. "Happened."

Luke smiled, as Ashton went to add on to his explanation.

"And that's why Calum and Michael and I were avoiding you, we just didn't want you to find out. I seriously didn't mean to make you upset. Like, I'm surprised you're even here right now, I thought you wanted to plan my murder or something."