5SOS IMAGINES

Goodbye (pt 1)

He stood in the middle of a park. His hazel eyes were fixated on the dreary clouds that hung in the sky. The rain streamed down his face but he couldn’t bring his eyes away from the darkening sky. He stood there with an awestruck stare, letting his hands fall loosely at his sides. Every so often he would adjust his black beanie over his ears before easily sliding his hands into the pockets of his dark, blue jeans. His eyes still transfixed on the sky, he began to lazily walk towards the other side of the random park he found himself in on that particular day. He ignored the black shirt that clung to his chest, showing off his weekly visits to the gym. The green flannel that hung loosely around his semi- muscular frame, allowed him to be repress the memories, even if only for a little while.

He seemed to stumble around, but any onlooker could inform you that this boy was nowhere near drunk. His steps were too accurate and his eyes to clear to be intoxicated. Although the past few weeks have not been completely alcohol free, for once he was sober. He was clear and able-minded and he was happy. Only because the memories no longer entered his mind and he could not tell at this exact moment whether that was good or bad.

He finally removed his bright eyes from the horrendous sky and let his eyes wander. That also happened to be the moment in which he became aware of the torrential downpour that was occurring around him. He shivered slightly but continued to examine his surroundings. The park was of normal stature. There was a slide, a few swings, a couple of benches, but no children. In fact the park was completely silent, not even a bird. However these thoughts did not enter the boy’s mind which was finally clear of darkness. He could finally see the light in the tunnel that he had been locked in for the past month. He smiled softly at the sudden clarity he felt, showing off his dimples that he had on many occasions been informed that they made him more attractive. He didn’t know if that was true and frankly he didn’t care. He accepted the compliment with a slight nod and moved along with his day. He didn’t care if people found him attractive. As long as people thought of him as a nice lad he was content.

His Vans squished in the mud as he began to take another lap around the isolated park. He had no idea what brought him here this morning. In fact he didn’t quite remember walking here at all. He supposed he was lost in thought as he was now. That had been occurring a lot lately so it didn’t seem too unlikely that he would forget his trip here.

“Ash,” a voice called from nearby, ripping him out of his state of calmness. He spun around in the dirt and smiled widely as he saw the familiar face in front of him.

“Cal,” he yelled. He never thought that voice would reach his ears again. He thought that voice was long gone. The ethics of the situation didn’t reach Ashton until much later but for now he was happy. He was happy to see his best mate after all their time apart.

                “Luke and Mike are coming soon. They had some stuff to do.”

                “Cool,” Ash said, trying desperately to act normal but at the sound of his other mates names he found himself smiling wider.

                “How have you been Ash? You look…” Calum trailed off. In fact Calum wasn’t sure what was wrong with his friend. Other than the fact that his heart was about to break all over again.

                “I’ve been great! In fact I had this weird ass dream about you boys last night,” Ashton said, completely ignoring whatever Cal was about to say.

                “What happened,” Cal asked, politely. Calum already knew what he was going to say and the thought made his throat close up. He looked at Ashton, whose hazel eyes were lit up with happiness and joy. The fact that he had to crush the boy’s spirits made Calum’s job much harder.

                “We were at our show at the O2 and the strangest thing happened,” Ashton began to speak, laughing as he realized how stupid the whole thing really seemed.

                “Oh wait I think that’s Luke,” Calum interrupted. He couldn’t let Ashton finish the description of his dream. He was already close enough to tears as it is. He couldn’t cry in front of him. He wouldn’t let himself.

                “Hey lads,” Luke said, racing up towards them.

                “Hey Lucas,” Ashton smiled. Calum nodded slowly at Luke and Luke back at him. The tension was evident in the area in which they stood. However, the tension didn’t seem to exist between Luke and Cal. It was only between the other lads and him. Ashton scrutinized them as their solemn faces stared back at his. Luke’s bright blue eyes watered and out of the corner of his eye he could spot Calum wipe his eye with the sleeve of his sweater.

                “What’s up with you guys? Oh and don’t give me any bullshit about how there is something in your eye cause both of you are obviously crying,” Ashton yelled. He was frankly annoyed by all of this secretive behavior. They didn’t have secrets between them. They always told each other everything. What made this time so different?

                “Just wait for Mike. He had some,” Luke paused, shakily looking at Calum, “stuff to do. You know for his mum.”

                “Whatever,” Ashton hissed, rolling his eyes. He was done trying to pry this out of them. He would just wait. He would wait all day if he had to but he had to know what his two best mates were going on about. It was even odder that everyone else seemed to know but him.

                The rain was pouring harder now and Ashton’s hair that was no longer covered by his beanie was plastered to his forehead. He looked at Calum and Luke and they looked surprisingly dry. Luke’s hair was still in a neat quiff as it always was and Calum’s hair was styled to perfection. How they managed that was beyond him considering the current state he was in. He was cold, wet, and really unhappy.

                “Oh there he is,” Luke said awkwardly, pointing at something in the distance. Luke had been dreading this moment. In fact he hoped Michael never came so they didn’t have to go through with it. He hoped that they would be able to stay down here and talk like old times but his damn emotions got the best of him and now he was here crying in front of his best mates. He wanted to stay longer. He didn’t want to go yet. He wasn’t ready. But then again no one was.