drive → lashton

prologue

Ashton felt empty.

He was living, but he never felt as if he were alive.

To him, it was the same routine every single day. Wake up, take a shower, walk the dog, go to school, be ignored and bullied all day, listening to all of his teachers tell him that if he gets bad grades, he won't amount to anything in life, go home, get yelled at for being a 'failure' and a 'fag' by his parents, cry himself to sleep, wake up at 9:00, goes on his phone until midnight, cries again because he didn't start his homework, stays up until 4:00 in the morning doing homework, wake up, repeat.

Every. Single. Day.

And he was tired of it.

He wanted adventure. He wanted inspiration. But most of all, he wanted to get out.

-

"An 89%?! Why the hell didn't you study harder?! You need to study or else no college is going to want you! No one likes people who slack off, Ashton! Get your fucking act together and get a 100% next time! I did not raise a failure of a son!"

Ashton stares at his raging mother blankly. This happens all of the time. Any grade that isn't a perfect score is a failure in her eyes.

"Sorry, mother. I didn't mean to disappoint you."

She narrows her eyes at him, sneering, "Disappoint me? Are you kidding me? You passed disappointment a long time ago! I did not raise my son to be gay!"

Ashton rolled his eyes, saying calmly, "You can't choose your sexuality, mother." He is used to this; he hears this same speech every day. He has nothing left in him to argue back at her anymore, he's just done.

"It's all in your head! You know what? I'm done with you, go to your room. I don't want to see you, you're such a disgrace," his mother shakes her head in shame.

Ashton shakes his head in disbelief before exiting the living room, ignoring the pang in his chest that never seems to go away. He walks into his room and slams the door before collapsing onto his bed, screaming into his pillow out of anger and frustration. He eventually rolls over, staring at the ceiling blankly while tears slowly make their way down his face.

He stayed like that for hours. He just laid there, just staring blankly at nothing. He used this time to be alone with his thoughts, not like that was anything new to him of course.

But the more Ashton laid there, the more he realized that his life is spiraling downhill and he can't save it – not staying here that is. He realizes that his parents don't love or care for him, basically his whole school bullies him and hates him, his teachers lost hope in him, he has lost hope in him, and he realizes that there is no point in staying here anymore. Connecticut just holds bad memories for him, and he wants to learn how to live his life to the fullest, and being here just wasn't cutting it.

So, he decided he was going to leave. It's not like anyone would care if he was gone, anyway. And with that in mind, he collected all of his savings and all of his necessary belongings, shoved them into two bags, and waited until everyone was asleep before he quietly left his house, not once looking back to that house of bad memories. He got into his car – perks of having rich parents who couldn't bother to drive him to his piano lessons, so they just bought him a car to save them the trouble – and he drove.

He didn't know where he was running to, but he won't look back.

And he ended up in the first of what will soon be many stops of his new chapter in life: Manhattan.

Little does he know that he will soon meet someone who will turn his entire life around.

-

hello! i'm really excited to write this story omg i have a lot of things planned! sorry if this was short, but i already started the first chapter and didn't want to make this too long lol

but please vote and comment? it'll mean a lot! i hope you enjoyed the prologue :-)

thank you for reading xx