#MukeAffinity

Two

//Just in case people actually read this thing lol :)

"Hey bro!"

I turned around to face my best friend. His mouth was curved slightly into a smile, but his eyes portrayed the emotion I had heard on the phone.

"Ashton!" I exclaimed, wrapping him in a quick bro hug. Ashton giggled against my chest, but as we drifted apart, his expression suddenly faded into a more serious emotion.

"Dude," I said, snapping my fingers in front of him.

Ashton only sighed, sitting on the steps near us.

"What would you do if I told you that I only have a month left to live?"

I stared at Ashton, appalled.

"What the hell happened to make you think that way?"

"Nothing really. Just asking."

"I'd drop outta school 'cuz school's gonna be boring without you and I'd help you do everything on your bucket list... even if it's illegal."

"Even if I told you to be friends with Luke Hemmings?"

"Are you serious?" I shouted. "You can make me do anything but try to befriend that son of a-"

"Just asking."

It was the simplicity of his reply that shocked me. Not that Ashton was a complex speaker, but he made up for everyday speech with incessant chatter. He could talk for hours without end-if he spoke less than 5 words at one time, it was considered to be a miracle. Our relationship was that Ashton was the talker and I was the listener. But that day, our roles seemed to have been reversed. I could try to search his face for a reason, but that would be a lot harder than trying to get him to talk. He wasn't very good at keeping secrets after all...

"If you do have a month to live, I will try for you," I told Ashton, trying the only path I knew to get him to open up.

"I have as many months as I want to live," Ashton replied. "I just want to..."

Ashton looked up at me, checking to see if I was paying attention. Seeing how intently I was focused on his words, his eyes widened.

"What?" I asked, smirking slightly.

"See if you still felt the same way about Luke."

"Nothing can change how I feel. I have hated him since kindergarten, and I'm not stopping anytime soon."

"What would you do if I told you that there's a chance that Luke will die within the next month?"

I threw my head back and laughed.

"Best joke ever, Ashton."

"No really." His face was serious.

"Look at me," I gestured at my body. "Do you think that this booty will give a rat's ass?"

"Well uh..." Ashton fidgeted with his bracelets. "Lukehemmingskindofhascancer."

He said it so fast that it took me a while to understand what he had just said. But when I did understand what Ashton had said, I was in no mood to take it seriously.

"What?!" I shouted.

Ashton's eyes widened. The only times I yelled like that were when I was over excited, or when Luke and I were talking. Neither was taking place at the moment, but in that instance, I allowed my emotions to take over me.

"Are you s******* me, Ashton?"

"It's true."

"It isn't."

"It is."

"It isn't."

"It is."

"Don't f****** lie to me."

As soon as the profanity slipped from my mouth, Ashton stood up, so that he was at the same level as me. His brilliant eyes held my gaze as he clenched his jaw.

"Michael Gordon Cifford, I'm your best friend. I will never lie to you. Maybe you're just not strong enough to accept that Luke Hemmings has f******* terminal cancer."

"I know. I heard you the first time."

Maybe Ashton was right-I couldn't accept the fact that Luke had cancer. Perhaps it was because he never stuck me as the kind of person who would get sick-as far as I knew, he was a health freak. But another thought lingered in my mind, and this thought scared me more than anything else could.

Maybe I can jinx the future.

It was too scary a thought for me to handle. I did not want to imagine that everything I said and did could change the future. I wanted to believe that someone else was in control, not me. But the past events seemed to add up to reality.

I hate you. I never want to see you again. The words played over and over in my head. Anyone who knows Luke and I could tell you that we hated each other, or at least I hated Luke. Nobody really knew what that blonde thought, except for Ashton. Then again, Ashton Irwin was the friend of the world. He could befriend anyone, even someone who hides in their shell as much as Luke did. Since Ashton was friends with both of us, my not-so-affinity with Luke didn't make much sense to anyone. Some people even had the nerve to call us "Muke Affinity", mocking our unpleasant relationship. I didn't care that they thought I was insensible... but if there's one thing I hated, it was to have anything to do with Luke Hemmings.

"Why are you telling this to me anyway?" I confronted Ashton.

The brunette shrugged.

"Just wanted you to know what's up."

"Seems legit."

I began to walk towards the door leading inside the school when I heard Ashton say something in reply.

"But maybe a part of me is hoping that you'll change your mind about him."