The Doppelgänger Effect ❃ lashton

meeting

A S H T O N

     Ashton tossed and turned the whole night, not being able to sleep. Around four in the morning he turned on ‘The Night before Christmas’, not being to sleep at all. His eyes scanned around the room, feeling a bit paranoid since Leo came into his life. He finally got out of bed at six thirty-two in the morning. He sighed and rubbed his face, walking towards the kitchen. He sat on the counter, looking at twitter on his phone. His eyes scanned over the world’s new news. His mind filled with things he had to do that day, hazed only by Leo’s presence in his mind. He shook his head, attempting to shake Leo’s presence away, it didn’t work. He finally hopped off the counter and jogged up the steps, walking into his room, and changing into his ‘Nirvana baseball t-shirt’ and black skinny jeans. He slipped on his black converse, walking out the door. He decided to head to the park, bored before he headed to work. He counted the number of cars that passed him. He finally made it to the park, spotting a certain blonde headed boy.

“L-Leo?” Ashton spoke, timidly as he made his way over.

The boy glanced at him, his eyes widened, “Um.. No?” He whispered.

“Aren’t you the boy who—“

“Ashton. I know who you are.” The boy stood up and packed his sketch-pad into his bag, “You must be talking about someone else, yeah?” He spoke, that was the most he spoken ever, to anyone except Willow.

“Oh. Sorry.” Ashton whispered, backing up a bit, “How do you know me?”

“The boy that works at the video store.” The other boy spoke.

“Oh, um. Mhm.” Ashton mumbled, “And who are you?”

“Luke.”

“Oh alright. Well, sorry for getting your name wrong, you just look like someone else I know.”

“No problem.” Luke’s voice got quieter; his face got paler as well, his eyes shifting away.

“Nice meeting you, I guess.” Ashton gave a quick smile before walking away towards the video store for his shift.

    Ashton blushed, walking away. He swore that boy looked exactly like Leo. Except maybe the hair, it was a bit different, he supposed. He wondered why the boy had acted more anxious around him. Maybe he just wasn’t used to talking to people, like he was. He glanced around, feeling paranoid once again. He started to pull at his sleeves as he walked in the small video store.

“Hey, Ash.” One of the other employees’ called.

“Hi.” He muttered, unsure of if the other employee could hear it.

“Ash, could you rearrange the video tapes in alphabetical order? That would be awesome. I need a lunch break.” Alex spoke; another employee, walking to the back and grabbing his lunch bag.

“Sure.”

     Ashton watched the outside of the store for a moment; the park was almost in sight. He restlessly started to tug at his sleeves again. He walked towards the videotapes and started to rearrange them. This took about two hours before he stood up at the end of the aisle, glancing around, then towards the front door. The little bell rung as someone walked in, a flash of blonde quiffed hair. He stood a bit taller, trying to see over the shelves but couldn’t. He walked around, nervously speaking,

“Hello?” He tried to sound not as nervous as he was, but failed.

The footsteps on the floor stopped before heading back the way the man had come in, only to turn down the aisle Ashton was in,