Chasing Ashton -Lashton Hirwin-

Chapter Thirteen: Tutor.

Chapter Thirteen: Tutor.

Luke hadn't slept, not even for a second, the words printed on the letter were still rushing around his head as he laid staring at his ceiling. He still didn't understand why she didn't tell him, it was simple, it was really simple but he couldn't understand. "Luke honey, I'm going out, don't forget your teacher is coming today!" Liz shouted up the stairs, Luke sat up quickly, he'd forgotten.
"Mum, wait!" he said as he fought with the duvet to quickly get out of bed, "Wait a minute!" he shouted again rushing out of the room and down the stairs, he practically jumped on her as he got to the bottom of the stairs, hugging her tight and burying his face into her neck like he did when he was little.
"Are, you okay?" she asked tentatively wrapping her arms around him,
"I love you, I love you so so much" he said trying not to cry, she laughed and squeezed him tight,
"I love you too Luke, now let go or I'll be late" he let go of her and smiled, he kissed her cheek and she smiled back, "See you later, honey"
"See you later mum" he waved, he felt a chill as she opened and closed the front door, looking down he realised he was just in his boxers, "You, I should, go change" he mumbled to himself.

Luke paced up and down the hall going over things he could say in his head, he'd been stumped all morning, he'd already gotten all of his English stuff sprawled on the table and all that did was strike up memories of when they were sat in the library, he wasn't exactly sure why, but it did and he couldn't shake it. He was about to go in the living room when the doorbell rang, "Oh god, oh god, oh god" he said as his eyes widened, he walked up to the door and put his hand on the handle, there was a second or two when he thought to ignore and pretend he wasn't in, but after taking a deep breath he opened it, and the sight of Ashton's scruffy hair, glittery but tired eyes and faint smile told Luke that he'd not long been up. "Coffee?" was all Luke could say, Ashton nodded and stepped in,
"That would be perfect" he replied.

"No no no, c'mon Luke you know this stuff" Ashton sighed, Luke huffed and put his head on the table,
"It's useless, I don't know, I give up" Luke mumbled as he hit his head lightly on the table over and over again.
"Right, you've got the two stories, you just need to figure out if they link"
"But I know they link because you told me they do"
"Yeah but you're meant to pretend you don't know that and work it out!" Ashton said, his voice raising through the frustration, Luke hadn't picked up on it yet, he didn't know what was wrong with him but nothing was making sense to him. "Look at these two lines" Ashton said pointing to an identical line in both stories, "Why is that there?"
"Well, because she says that in response to what her mum said? Right?"
"Yeah, she makes the point of saying that so her mother understands why she doesn't want to go and see her grandmother. It makes sense in this story, because...?"
"Well, because she's meant to be all strong and independent?" Luke replied re-reading the lines,
"That's right, so why does she say it in that one?"
"Is she, uhh...Trying to, become independent?" Ashton closed his eyes and let out a deep breath,
"No"
"I give up!" Luke shouted hitting his head on the table, "In this story she's meant to be the one that dies, she wouldn't say that!" he moaned,
"Exactly, so why does she?"
"I don't know, because she wants to try and be a big shot and prove to her mum that she can walk through a forest without getting killed by the Wolf?"
"That's, right" Ashton said slightly confused, Luke looked up at him with a 'Are you being serious' expression on his face, "In a matter of words, that's one hundred percent right" Ashton smiled and Luke stood up dancing a little.
"WOO!" he said skipping over to the kettle, "More coffee?"
"How 'bout a break?" Ashton said with a smile, "We've been at this for hours now" Luke nodded and poured them both more coffee, he sat back down and sipped at it.

"Why are you staring at me?" Luke asked looking up at Ashton,
"I, heard about, you and Calum" Ashton stuttered a little,
"Oh, well, it's n-"
"You don't need to explain anything to me" Ashton butted in,
"No, seriously, it's n-"
"Let's carry on" Ashton shuffled through some papers, he was stopped when Luke put his hands on his, "Uhh, what are y-"
"Listen to me, me and Calum aren't a thing, he pushed me hard against a wall so I was in too much pain to move, he pinned my arms down and kissed me while Michael took the picture, they wanted to, out me, basically" Luke explained, Ashton's eyes had been locked with Luke's the whole time, "They pretty much bully me, because, they found out I was, am, gay" Ashton pulled his left hand from under Luke's and placed it on Luke's cheek,
"Ignore them, they're just jealous" Ashton said softly, his thumb lightly grazing Luke's skin, Luke closed his eyes and turned his head into Ashton's hand, he kissed Ashton's palm lightly before placing his hand on top of Ashton's. He opened his eyes and Ashton had shuffled closer to him, "Gay or not, you're an amazing person and anyone would be lucky to be with you" Ashton whispered, Luke smiled and bit his lip as he stared into Ashton's eyes. The moment was perfect until he remembered the letter, he squirmed a little and got up, he fell backwards into the door and then slid down it until he was sitting on the floor trying not to cry, Ashton jumped up quickly and ran over to him, "Luke, what's wrong?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around Luke, Luke put his head on his knees and curled up into Ashton's side,

"I just, it's, everything" he sobbed, "It's mainly, my mum"

Ashton was confused, Luke refused to tell him anything more, instead they just sat there for an hour, Ashton cuddled him as he cried and tried to calm him as much as possible. Luke felt guilty for doing this to Ashton, but he couldn't help it, everything was just getting to him now and this was the only way he could cope, that or going back to his old tricks.