Asexual [cake au] ✔

Three

Picture is of Luke's top :))

Random update because i'm happy

Chapter 3

My hands went through another pile of shirts but I found nothing, so I slumped onto the floor in defeat.

"Wait a second – I have something in my wardrobe for you. I wasn't planning on giving it to you now... but treat it as an early birthday present!" he exclaimed, and after putting on my top, he hurried over to his closet, taking out a matte black rectangular box and removing the lid. "Here, there's two parts to it, which do you want first – the better one or the worse one?"

I shrugged. "Worse one."

He threw over a brown bit of fabric, which revealed itself to be a Foo Fighters top. Holy mother of... it was beautiful. What's more, it was vintage – I remembered showing it to Calum a few months ago on a website selling new clothing from the 90s. It wasn't cheap, either.

"Oh my God, Cal... thank you!" I squealed, hugging the shirt close to my chest. It had bowling pins on and for some reason, when I saw it I had an impulse to own it because it was just so amazing. It sort of reflected my life – most throws of the ball were gutter balls, but occasionally I'd get a strike. I knew it was weird and cringey; unfortunately, that's just who I was.

"And here's the other one," he said, passing me two small rectangular cards.

They were tickets to a Foo Fighters concert that would be held in two months' time at the end of December.

"What the actual fuck are you trying to do to me right now? I can't even... ugh come here you idiot." I pulled him in for a hug and held the tickets firmly in my hand.

He removed himself from my grasp after a few seconds, smiling. "You can take whoever you want – I gave you two for a reason. I'm saying this, because it doesn't have to be me."

I shook my head. "No, it has to be you. I wouldn't dream of taking anyone else – plus these tickets look super expensive!"

He blushed a little, running a hand through his brown locks. "Well, I'm honoured. C'mon, I wanna try something."

"...What?"

Rolling his eyes, he explained further: "Pretend you're Ashton. I'm gonna ask you out. You have to tell me everything that I'm doing wrong, okay?"

"There's no point, I won't know-"

"Please?" He raised his eyebrows with a pout.

"Fiiine..."

He clapped his hands and we sat facing each other on the bed, me stroking my coveted t-shirt with a gentle palm. "Hi, Ashton. I was wondering, are you doing anything after school today? Because I really wanna go to this pizza place, and it's not too expensive, and I'll pay, and-"

"Okay slow down – I can hardly hear your words! Keep it short and sweet." Honestly, who was I to be giving advice? I was going solely based on what I'd seen in TV shows.

He took a deep breath and started again. "Hey, Ashton. Are you doing anything after school?"

"Better. And no, I'm not, why?"

"I was wondering if you'd wanna get pizza with me?"

"Sure. See, that wasn't too hard, was it?"

He grinned, chuckling. "Thanks dude. Phew, suddenly I feel all nervous. It'll be okay, won't it?"

"Of course. Believe in yourself, you can do it."

~

He didn't believe in himself.

He couldn't do it.

I couldn't help but sigh when he came running at lunch time, face all crumpled up in agony.

"Luke, Luke I can't do it!!"

"For fuck's sake just go up to him, and ask. He's right there," I said, pointing behind him. We were sitting in the canteen eating sandwiches, and Ashton was approaching from behind. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"My heart is going crazy. Feel my heart," he said, abruptly grabbing my hand and pressing it on his chest.

"Ew what the fuck?" I grimaced, taking my hand away, brushing it on my thigh. "Look, it's really not that hard."

He paused, thinking. Then, Michael approached us with his backpack slung lazily over a shoulder, sitting down next to me. "Hey guys. Calum... you okay?" he asked with worry in his tone, but it wasn't real worry, not from what I could hear anyway.

"No, I'm not fucking okay."

Michael looked at me curiously, and I signalled for him to just leave it.

Suddenly, Calum cried, "Let's double date!!"

He looked hopefully at me and Michael, eyes constantly switching between us. Michael shrugged. "Who is it with?"

"Ashton."

"Yeah... okay. Luke, you in?"

"Not a cat in hell's chance am I going on a date with you dorks – leave me out."

~

And there I was, sitting in the pizza place with Michael, Ashton and Calum, twiddling my thumbs whilst the other three made conversation about football and favourite pizza toppings.

"What's your favourite, Luke? I swear I have no idea – you never eat pizza," Michael asked. It was true – I was a very healthy eater, no thanks to my mum and her weird food habits. Pizza was pretty much off-limits in my household.

"Probably just Margherita."

"That's so boring though," he replied, continuing to ask Calum, who said Hawaiian, and Ashton, who said pepperoni. "You are all boring. I like everything on one – chicken, peppers, bacon, meatballs, sweetcorn-"

"May I take your orders?" the waitress asked, cutting Michael off. He glared at her but rested his eyes on the menu, picking a random one with way too many toppings for my liking. We all chose what we liked best, and twenty long minutes later the food was at the table.

I looked over at Calum, who was eyeing Ashton like some kinda of predator. Ashton himself was contently enjoying his pizza, nodding or 'hm'-ing whenever he heard something relatable in conversation. I started to get lost in my own thoughts, thinking about what I was going to read later, what CDs I still needed to buy, what time I'd get home-

"Yeah, people like that do exist! Take Luke, for example," I heard Calum say, snapping out of my thoughts and focusing in on the conversation.

"What about me?"

Ashton gasped. "You're asexual?"

I glanced at my plate. "Yeah, what about it?"

"What a waste."

***

^same Ashton, same...

BTW guys, at the start Ashton's gonna seem like a bit of a dick but he's secretly rooting for cake, okay?

Kimmy xx