It's Ashton Not Ashley

6.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing the next day and I grumbled to myself silently as I answered. "H-Hello?" I stuttered out, my morning voice still raspy.

"Hi Ashton."

I groaned loudly, showing pure frustration in my voice. "Hi Luke. What do you want?"
It sounded a lot more harsh than I intended it to be, but at this point, I don't care. It's early and I'm tired. I just wanted to go back to bed.

"I need to talk to you. You don't have to come over here and I don't need to go to your house either. But can we meet at Dunkin to talk? I'll even get you breakfast."

I sighed quietly and paused for a long moment, trying not to cry as the memories of yesterday flooded overwhelmed my mind.

"Ashton?"

"Yes?"

"How does that sound?"

"Sure."
"Great! I'll meet you there."
"Bye Luke." I hung up and dragged myself out of bed to get dressed.
I went for a more casual look which was a pair of dark skinny jeans and a red flannel. The minute I buttoned up my shirt, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my ribs. "Oh," I groaned. I passed the pain off as hunger even though it didn't make sense to me why it was coming through my rib. I winced in pain as I walked to Dunkin.

----

I got there no sooner after I left and I went in, sitting at the closest booth there was. I put in my earbuds and played some music on my Spotify as I waited for Luke to show.

After a couple of minutes, Luke still didn't show and I started getting mad. "Did he really blow me off?" I said quietly, starting to tear up.

I quickly wiped my tears as I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Hi."
I took my earbuds out and looked up at the blond boy standing in front of me. "Hey," I sucked at my cheek, hiding a small smile.
No matter if he hurts me, I'm always going to fall stupidly when I look at him.

"Can I sit?"

I nodded and he sat down across from me.
"Shit," I said quietly as the sharp pain shot through my ribs more as I leaned back in my seat.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm just super hungry."
"So, let's get donuts then?" He asked me.
I nodded, but realized it's probably not the best thing to consume at this time of day. "Actually, I'll take a egg and cheese croissant."

"Okay, I'll be right back," he got up and went to order our meals.
I looked at Luke and then slowly rolled up my sleeve, revealing scarring arms. I looked back at Luke and sighed, "he's so cute, but such a jerk!" I said to myself, "why do you always fall for the bad boys? You're just going to end up hurt," I sat there, thinking to myself as I picked at my arm.

----

"I'm back," Luke said and sat down once again with the tray. A sandwich for you and some donuts for me," he said and handed me the sandwich as well as a small coffee. "Not sure what kind you liked so I went for a regular iced mocha."

I nodded and took a sip from my drink. He took out a donut and started eating the chocolate glaze. I watched silently as he consumed it.

"Are you going to eat?" Luke asked with a mouthful of donut.
"Yeah," I unwrapped my sandwich and took a small bite.
"Do you know why I asked you here?" Luke said and I shook my head.
"Okay," he sighed, "I really hate saying sorry, Ashton. I'm going to do it anyways because when I do apologize, I mean it. I'm sorry for hurting you." He motions towards my arms and looked down."The thing is, I know I'm a terrible person. It hurts me to know that I hurt others. Trust me, it doesn't make me feel good at all. I am trying to be better and I know it's not good enough though and I'm sorry," he looked at me, tears welling up in his eyes, lip quivering.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry!" I watched silently as tears fell down his face.

"Luke?"

"Fuck! Ashton, I'm so fucking sorry!" I got up and went to the other side of the booth, the one he was sitting in and I hugged him tightly. "Hey, it's okay," I pulled him close and kissed his head. "I'm not mad, Luke."

"You're not?"

I shook my head hesitantly. "No, I'm not mad. I'm just a little hurt that you attempted to call me a fag again even after you said that I wasn't. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable Luke," I said quietly and pulled away from the hug.

"Hey, Ashton? You didn't make me uncomfortable, I'm making myself that way."

"How?"

Luke shrugged and his eyes turned from a dark blue back to his normal sky-blue color. He wiped away his tears and smiled weakly at me. "You didn't finish your sandwich, Ashton Irwin."

"Take it." I held up the sandwich that had one bite taken out of it.

"Really?" I smiled as I saw his face light up.

"Luke, I see you eyeing the damn thing, eat it." I shoved the sandwich in his face.

He took a bite and snatched it from my hands. "Man, I'm always hungry and I don't know why."

I poked his stomach gently. "Maybe you're pregnant. It feels like there's something in there!" I exclaimed excitedly, poking at his stomach harder. "Stop poking my belly. You're going to kill my food baby," Luke pouted and pulled my fingers away from his stomach.
"My food baby, not yours!"
I laughed, "who's the daddy?"

"The daddy is Niall Horan. He's the daddy of my child," Luke squealed loudly. I'll even tweet it right now!" He took out his phone and typed it.
"How does this sound? Congratulations Niall Horan! You got me pregnant!"

I laughed, "yes that's perfect," I said as I wiped the tears away from my eyes from laughing too hard.

Luke sent the tweet. "If Niall replies, I'll flip," Luke said. "He's so cute!"

Luke seemed to mention liking Niall a lot and being confused which made me think he secretly liked boys. I opened my mouth to say something, but I figured it was best not to. Luke and I just made up, there's no way I'm ruining it by asking him something stupid.

Maybe I did have some small hope though that he was into boys because then he will like me.

I smiled to myself. "I need to get going home, I'm grounded," Luke said, "and I may or may not have snuck out."
I gasped, "is Luke Hemmings a rebel?"
He nodded with a small smirk on his face. "Meet me at the theater tonight?" Luke asked, lips pressed into a thin line.

I nodded, "yeah, I'll see you later."

Chapter 6 is out now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's cuter and less sad. I have a job now though, but I only work weekends  because I'm only 15. Anyways, I love you and have an amazing day!

Word count: 1,224