Far Gone (Mashton)(au)

I Was Never Very Good With Stress

I told myself I wasn't going to do it again, but midway through the August heat when it was almost too hot to breath, I may have gotten a tad bit upset and stabbed one of my tires with a kitchen knife. It wasn't my fault really, I was just stressed because I'd been in DC with Liam and his team for two weeks, and got back to find six of my clients dropped out. I thought about calling Luke, then just stomped back into the elevator and snatched Calum's phone off the kitchen counter.

"Hello?" Ashton said carefully after I'd stolen his number and put it in my phone.

"Ashton, hi," I said with a drawn out sigh. I pressed the length of three of my fingers to my forehead, trying to stop the pounding there. "One of the tires on my car got-" I swallowed thickly when he hummed happily on the other line. "It's sort of- I stabbed my tire."

There was a pause, where I wasn't even sure he was breathing anymore, and then, "You stabbed it?"

"Yeah," I groaned and thought about just hanging up, saying it was a prank call, but he made a small noise that was maybe a mix between sad and happy at the same time.

"Alright, I'll be right there. Have you got a spare?" He asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly. He didn't say anything for a second, but there was some rustling around on his side of the phone.

"It might take me a while to get there, traffic is insane, but," he paused and I heard a door slam shut. "Stay put, yeah?"

"Yeah," I breathed out. I hung up after he didn't say anything for a second, and leaned bodily against the counter. My head kept pounding and it felt like something was pushing against my skull painfully. I dragged myself over to the couch and collapsed on top of it, grabbing at my hair and trying to control my breathing. My vision blurred and stretched, everything in the room multiplying until I started seeing black and red spots instead of the carpet. 

I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up again, Ashton was kneeling next to me and pressing a hand to my head. His eyebrows were pulled together like they were when he was working, and his lips were pressed into a thin frown. He managed a small smile when he saw my confused expression though.

"I think you're sick," he pushed his hand back into my hair and scratched at my scalp. The pounding headache was still there, just slightly less noticeable, and I could actually see now.

"How did you get in?" My voice was low and gravely and I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. My entire body ached and pounded painfully.

"Calum gave me a key a while ago," he said softly, sinking down so he was sitting on the floor in front of me. I pushed my head up into his hand and fluttered my eyes shut when he started rubbing through my hair and across my head. "I'm going to call Calum and tell him you're not coming in today, I think he already left."

"Already-" my eyes flew open. "What time is it?"

Ashton looked down at his phone. "7ish. You called me at like, 5:30, so sorry it took me so long to get here." He frowned and switched hands, letting one pull through my hair and the other scroll through his phone. "Do you want some water, or anything?" I shook my head and he helped me up gently, letting his palms rest lightly against my back and arms and chest. I let out an involuntary shiver and leaned into him when I got on my feet.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked, looking down at him. "You didn't have to come."

"Yeah, I know," he shrugged. He was leading me to my bedroom and I was too tired to even start day dreaming. My brain felt heavy and my eyelids kept burning. He helped me into bed and tucked me in, cuddling the blankets tightly around my shoulders. "You sleep and I'll call Calum, alright?"