Flatmates

Morning After

          Ashton's Sunday morning was very much like his Saturday one. He woke up with a hammering headache, that was way worse than the previous one, but pills and water were on his nightstand. Again. Breakfast was made and waiting for him downstairs. Again. He ate slowly, figuring out that the whole flat was very silent. He supposed that Luke was out, maybe for a run. Again. He got back to bed after. And woke up around 2 in the after-noon. He had missed calls from Olivia but he decided to ignore them. He showered and dressed up lazily in grey sweatpants and black hoodie.

He thought about going to his office and writing. He hasn't done that in a couple of days now. But for the first time in a while, he wasn't feeling too down, and had a bit of a happy mood. Deciding to take advantage of it while it lasted, he went to the living room. The apartment sounded as desert as before this morning. He wondered where Luke could be. But he wasn't complaining about having the flat for himself.

He sat at the piano. It's been a while he hasn't play, with his trip to Singapore, then he locked up in his room to avoid Luke, and finally the hangovers. He didn't really know what to play, so he went with the flow. He played some cords or bits and pieces of whatever came to his mind. After a moment he started to sing quietly.

"Every morning after, I'm the same disaster. Every time I fall faster. Tell me, have you moved on? Am I just a sad song, playing every night and day? Say, can you read between the lines I'm singing, read between the lines I'm singing."

Little did he know that Luke wasn't out of the apartment; he was on the roof top, but came back in went he heard the faint sound of the piano. Little did he know that he was listening closely, standing on the mezzanine, eyes riveted on him. Little did he know that if this night and the one before he was the one mesmerized by the other's voice, today, the tables had turned.

          "Got me on a bender, I'm a great pretender, putting on a masquerade. But when the party's over, all alone and sober, what keeps me wide awake? Say, can you read between the lines I'm singing, read between the lines I'm singing."

Luke stood there silent but oh-so-attentive. Ashton had such a great voice. It wasn't as smooth as his own, but a bit huskier, yet so warm and so full of emotions. Luke remembered very clearly Ashton singing while he was drunk, two nights ago. He had thought it was beautiful back then despite all of its defaults, but it was nothing compared to what he just heard.

The melody shifted after and for a while it was very changing and fluctuant, until some other song started.

"Look at you, sat in the shadow, only lit by our lies' glow, as the cold is taking your soul. Look at you, at the other pole, closing your eyes on all the wrong. Can't you see we've changed in the long?" he sang slowly and went to the chorus with a little more confidence and force. "We've gone such a long way; we've gone on the distance. And I hate you so much, But I still love you. We've gone such a long way; we've suffered in silence. And I hate you so much. But I still love you more.

"I live in house made of glass, half filled by your water. Endlessly the level rises. I'm the ghost who wander. I'm the stranger of you heart. Yet take a look at how we're hurt... We've gone such a long way; we've gone on the distance. And I hate you so much, But I still love you. We've gone such a long way; we've suffered in silence. And I hate you so much. But I still love you more. I still love you more..."

Luke had to resist the urge to applause. It was so deep, so beautiful. But what shocked him the most is that he knew, just by looking at him, at his face, at his eyes, that Ashton thought and meant every single word he said. He wasn't playing music; he was living it.