Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Four - You make me strong.

*Ashton’s POV*
I had never seen Luke so completely and utterly devastated. He was so uncharacteristically helpless and vulnerable, it pained me to see him like this. He had always been the strong one in the band, the one who kept Michael, Calum, and I going. Here lately, though, he was falling apart. I could see it in his eyes; he was growing weaker every day, both physically and emotionally—and the worst part of it all was that I could only sit back and watch. I wanted to help him, but every time I made an effort to, he would shut me out. He had so many walls up that even I couldn’t break through, no matter how hard I tried. I keep telling myself that he’s just scared because he’s never been in an intimate relationship before, and he’s not sure how to open up to anyone just yet. However, there’s another part of me that can’t help but think he doesn’t trust me enough to tell me all of what’s bothering him.

            I shook my head, as if trying to force such a terrible thought away. I know Luke trusts and loves me, more than he’s ever loved anyone else. I am his boyfriend, after all. Sometimes I think he feels like I’m all he has, even though there are hundreds of other people who care about him.

            We sat there in complete silence, both lost in our own thoughts, until the door opened once more and Austin walked in, followed by Colin and Cody. “I heard what happened,” Austin said softly, putting his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
            “I am so tired of people asking me that,” Luke stood up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “because the answer is always no. No, I am not okay.”

            Colin smiled at him sympathetically and sat down on a chair near the window. “Things will get better. Trust me, I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but they will.”

            Luke shrugged and walked over to stand beside me. “Sure they will.”

            Colin picked at his fingernails thoughtfully for a few seconds before speaking again. “Did anything strange happen to you while you and Ashton were stranded on that island the other day, Hemmings?”

            Luke and I both gave him a strange look. We had tried to forget all the events that had happened on the island; why was he bringing it back up now? “Well, yeah,” Luke said after a moment. “The whole thing was strange, but other than Nathan and his friends showing up, nothing too out of the ordinary happened.”

            “Think really hard. Are you sure nothing happened?” Colin asked once more.

            “Are you thinking something on the island might be causing my vocal problems?” Luke wondered aloud. “It makes sense, actually.”

            I shook my head, interrupting Colin before he could reply. “It doesn’t make sense, Lukey. You were struggling before that. Remember the Billboard Awards?”

            “That was just nerves,” Luke said quickly. “I know that for a fact.” He turned back to Colin and opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment a strange expression crossed his face and he sunk down on the couch once more. “Ariana,” he whispered. “Ariana did this.”
            “Wait—are you sure?” Cody asked in confusion. “She seems so sweet and innocent, how in the world could she be capable of doing something like this?”

            Luke picked at his lip ring nervously. “I don’t know. All I do know is that when we were on the island, she did something to me.” He closed his eyes, as if he was remembering what had happened. “I had said something to her that she didn’t like, and all of a sudden she lifted her hands and started mumbling some weird foreign-sounding words. Anyway, when she had lifted her hands, it felt like a weight was crushing down on my chest and it was like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs—and now that I’m thinking about it, that was probably her taking away my singing voice.”