golden boy ✩ mashton ☑️

Chapter 15: Focus

[ look at him! HES SO CUTE GAHH. the gif is a visual image of Calum in this chapter ok (outer space) carry on]

 The drive to Calum's soccer game was quiet, primarily because the boys were both deep in thought. They were unaware that both had secrets they were keeping from each other and equally, they felt just as guilty. Ashton knew that the main source in a relationship was honesty and he'd already screwed it up. He should have told Michael that Luke liked him instead of keeping it from him, but he was worried that if he did it would ruin their growing relationship. It was selfish of him and he knew that. Ashton parked the car and the two boys got out, the curly-haired boy shivering from the cool winter breeze.

They walked over to the bleachers hand in hand and Ashton looked around, seeing if he could spot Luke anywhere but of course he didn't. And so, he just sat down with Michael. Ashton nervously pulled his sleeves over his hands and continued his search for Luke for a few minutes until he finally spotted him. The crowd roared, startling Ashton when Calum's team ran onto the field and started their warm ups. He really needed to talk to Luke before the game started.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick," He told Michael and he nodded, kissing Ashton's cheek.

"Hurry back," Ashton smiled and felt his cheeks begin to heat up as he got down from the bleachers and walked over to where Luke was sitting, being careful not to be seen by Michael. When Luke spotted him coming over, he waved at him and raised an eyebrow when the boy walked straight past him. Luke stood up and followed behind him and was extremely confused when Ashton lead him to the bathrooms behind the bleachers.

"Good, you followed." Ashton said and Luke nodded slowly.

"Yeah? Um, are you still mad at me for hitting you?" Luke asked, still not sure why Ashton lead him there.

"No, it was pay back from when I hit you. But I know why you did it."

"You do?" Luke began to feel worried for Calum, if Ashton knew that Calum liked him it could cause a lot of problems. And plus, the raven-haired boy told Luke that he wanted to focus on soccer since him and Ashton would obviously never happen.

Ashton hesitated before saying, "You hit me because I was sticking up for Michael, you got jealous."

"Wait, what? Why would I be—" Luke's eyes widened in shock and he felt like laughing. "No. No, no. That's not the reason! Jesus... I don't like you like that." Now Ashton was the confused one.

"What? Why'd you hit me then? Why'd you hit Michael? Why'd you sound so defensive? I mean... If you don't like me... Wait! You like M—" Ashton was cut off when Luke slapped his hand over his mouth.

"God, shut up and stop asking so many questions!" Luke shouted, taking his hand off of Ashton's mouth, but the boy didn't say anything. "You've got it all wrong."

"But, how? It made sense in my head..." Ashton argued.

"Look, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. You're a good person and you're... attractive, but I don't like you like that." Ashton smiled timidly at the compliment, yet, if Luke didn't like him or Michael then who did? There must be some reason why Luke hit them. He must have been really angry. Maybe he did it for someone. As Luke started walking away, it finally clicked. How could he have not realised sooner?

"Wait." Ashton pressed. "It's not Calum, is it?" Luke ignored him and just kept walking, Ashton knowing that it was the truth. There were so many signs that Calum liked him and Ashton ignored them all, he was oblivious. However, he had to keep ignoring the signs because he was with Michael now and he didn't want to ruin that. The boy sighed, feeling a lot worse than he did before. He walked back over to the bleachers and sat down next to Michael.

"I saw Luke following you, what was that about?" Michael questioned, Ashton's lips forming a thin line.

"Nothing to worry about." Ashton said, not wanting to talk about it. Michael didn't push the subject, mainly because he had a secret that he was keeping too. They weren't even in a proper relationship and they were already keeping secrets from each other. It got Michael thinking, if they weren't honest with each other than how would it work between them?

Luke knew that he completely blew Calum's cover by not answering Ashton. He could have just said no, but he froze and now Ashton knew. He wondered if he should tell Calum now or if he should wait until after his game. Either way he'll get killed, but maybe he should just get it over with. The blonde walked over to the team and saw that they just finished warming up, meaning the game would start soon. Calum walked over to Luke when seeing him and the blonde instantly became more anxious.

"What's up?" Calum enquired, noticing Luke's nervousness.

"Uh, well... Ashton kind of knows that you like him now. Anyway, have a good game!" Luke blurted out and ran away from him, Calum's mouth dropping and he started to blink rapidly. He was cut out of his shock when he was called over by the coach. Throughout the entire game, Calum was able to push his thoughts aside and focus on the game which he was thankful for; and like usual, he scored the winning goal. Soccer was basically the only thing he had, it was the only thing he was good at. He didn't want to mess up for anything or anyone, he just needed to focus.