PHONE TALK: LASHTON

SIXTEEN

The plan was finally finished.

They had spent so long on it, and had even had some unnecessary sleepovers, but now it was finally over.

And not just that, but now Ashton was able to hang out with Luke again.

He could laugh with Luke again, and text him again, and call him again, and Ashton was over the moon, practically prancing around the school.

He skipped his way down the halls, and made his way to Luke's locker, his grin widening when seeing the blonde already there.

"Hey." he cheered, as he smiled over at Luke.

The blonde slowly turned to face Ashton, but then rapidly turned back, acting as if the smaller boy wasn't present.

Ashton worried a little, his smile fading, and facial expression dropping.

"You okay?" he asked, but Luke still ignored him, and continued rummaging in his locker.

The hazel boy furrowed his eyebrows.

How come Luke was so off?

He let his gaze land on the floor, his eyebrows still furrowed, as his mind flooded with ideas on why Luke could be mad.

Maybe he woke up on the wrong side of the bed?  Maybe he forgot his homework? Maybe he tripped on the way to school?

Ashton's eyes scanned the ground, and for some reason, as soon his eyes landed on Luke's fully black converse a light bulb lit up in his head.

Luke was sad because of me ignoring him.

That's why he's mad.

It was all clear to Ashton, but now he didn't know what to do.

He didn't blame Luke. How Ashton acted during "Operation Lashton" was pretty douche-y.

But now, Ashton had no way of getting around it. Ashton was the one that made the final stage of the plan fit together.

If him and Luke weren't communicating, it wouldn't work, therefore all those hours spent on the elaborate set up would have been wasted for nothing.

The ringing of the bell snapped Ashton out of dreamland, and he watched as Luke walked passed him, not even sparing a glance whilst doing so.

The curly haired sighed quietly, slouching slightly, and walked to his uninteresting and totally useless class.

Maybe "Operation Lashton" wasn't the best idea.

:::

"I don't know what's up with him." Michael told Calum.

The two were examining Ashton from afar, the boy grabbing books out of his locker, obviously in a bad mood.

"And he's been like that all this morning?" Calum asked Michael.

The boy with the dyed hair nodded, and looked over at Ashton again.

"He seemed fine when we were walking to school though. But then in class he was just... blegh." Michael explained, and Calum nodded slowly, looking Ashton up and down.

"Well, have you asked him what's wrong?" the raven haired questioned, facing Michael again.

"Uh, well, not exactly-"

Calum rolled his eyes with a sigh at Michael's comment, and before Michael could say no, he was already walking towards Ashton.

"Wait, Cal!" Michael called out, quickly catching up with the Kiwi boy.

"Hey Ash." Calum spoke smoothly.

Ashton let his eyes move to the side, and look Calum up and down, before moving onto Michael, who was out of breath.

Calum noticed Ashton's glare towards the boy beside him, and rapidly hit Michael on the arm so he would shut up with the panting.

"Ow! I mean -- sorry." the boy yelped, but quickly looked down awkwardly, avoiding Ashton's stare.

"Ignore him." Calum spoke, and Ashton faced his locker once more, taking out another book.

"Are -- Are you okay?"

The curly haired sighed.

"No." he replied sternly.

"What's-" Michael stopped to rub his hurt arm. "What's wrong?"

Calum and Michael watched as Ashton slammed his locker closed, and turned to face them, fully.

"It's the plan."

The two friends' eyes widened.

"What about it?" Michael and Calum asked in unison.

"I just think it was a bad idea to not have Luke know about it." Ashton explained, looking down at his shoes.

Michael furrowed his eyebrows.

"But if Luke knew, then it wouldn't be a surprise." he explained, Calum nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, but now Luke hates me!" the wavy haired yelled, the exasperation in his voice prominent.

A small silence drifted between the three friends. Calum bit his lip, worried.

He didn't want Ashton to become frustrated or think that the plan was a bad idea, because it really wasn't.

And so he tried his best to make Ashton feel better.

"Luke's not mad. He's just disappointed."

Ashton rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." he scoffed.

The raven haired sighed. He was all out of ways to try and make the situation better.

The three looked around them, not letting their eyes land on each other once.

Suddenly, a clicking sound from a pen was heard, and Calum and Ashton's eyes snapped up.

Michael rapidly grabbed a scrap piece of paper from his back pocket, and leaned it against a locker, Calum and Ashton watching him in confusion.

"Here's what we'll do."

:::

fiLLeR chAptEr

the next chapters are when things are fiNALLY gonna start happening,,, i seriously can't stand writing fillers anymore ohmygod

but uh yeah, not very eventful, i know

also, ya'll should all check out my christmas malum fanfic #spon

- ria