Wrong Way » [cashton] √

0.3

[Thursday, March 17th]

-Ashton's POV-

"Well, I thought maybe he'd decided not to go to Wednesday practices anymore," Ashton said defensively, his eyes were fixed ahead as he spoke, not wanting to draw the attention of their teacher.

Luke's eyes were watching their teacher too, but flicked to Ashton as he responded, "Well he was there yesterday, been there all week, you should come again today,"

"I just think it's not meant to be," he let his eyes drift from the whiteboard to give Luke a knowing look.

"Not meant to be?" Luke scoffed, "you don't believe in that shit,"

His tone too sharp and too loud caught the teacher's attention, "Luke, Ashton, talk again and you'll be with me all lunchtime," she said sternly.

They shared a look between them before turning back to their laptops and starting back on their work again. They slogged through questions on their research topics, neither daring to start their conversation back up again. The last half hour of the class dragged on with the feeling of eyes on them, and as soon as the bell rang, they packed up their things and dashed out into the hall. They walked a few feet from the door before Luke turned, seemingly deciding it was safe to speak again.

"She was super intense today, like why is she so fixated on these reports, they don't even have anything to do with the assessment piece," he grumbled, leading Ashton back to their lockers.

Ashton scoffed, "Like you can talk since last week you've been so fixated with me coming to hockey practice, you should start a club called "Anal to a fault',"

"That's because I've just decided to care about your love life, as a friend I think that's a fair thing to do," Ashton just scoffed in response, so Luke continued, "So, what was the excuse you were going to throw at me for not coming today?" he asked not looking back at Ashton as they weaved through the bodies moving against them like the stream against two Salmon.

"It just seems kind of pathetic to keep going over there hoping that I might see him," Luke sighed, Ashton could tell he was starting to lose hope of convincing him. Which may or may not have disappointed him; he liked the push, it made it easier for him to act without seeming more than indifferent. "Okay, I'll come today, just one last time,"

That's how Ashton ended up back in his spot in the stands, this time though he'd only brought a wrap and no book. He found his entertainment in the practice game the team was having. One team wore loose-fitting, elastic pullovers in a bright red colour while the rest wore matching white ones.

You didn't have to be a genius or a sportsperson to figure out the general goal of the teams in field hockey. As Ashton saw it, they were, score in the other team's goal, don't get scored on and don't be too rough. From what he could tell, it seemed like Luke played an offensive position, and if he didn't, he was awful at defending. Ashton cheered when Luke came close to scoring and whooped and yelled when he did finally score, the shorter boy wasn't sure where the confidence came from, but he was just so proud. Luke was actually really good, and whenever Ashton yelled as soon as he got a chance, Luke would throw him a wide grin and a wave or thumbs up. As much fun as he was having, it came at the cost of more whispering from the girls behind him, but he paid it no mind.

Just before the practice game concluded a tall, sweaty blonde boy appeared beside him. But not the tall, sweaty blonde boy he was used to this one was cute too but with striking green eyes and a decent amount of stubble for a seventeen-year-old. It was Reece Edson; Ashton knew him from around school and because he was kind of a friend of Luke's. What he was doing walking up to Ashton with a big grin, scratching the back of his head was anyone's guess.

"Hey, Ashton, isn't it?" He asked, moving to join him on the bench.

He guessed if Reece didn't know who he was maybe Luke had sent him up to ask for something, "Uh yeah, that's me what's up?"

"Was just coming up to see what it would take to get you to cheer for me like that?"

Was this flirting? Was he flirting with Ashton? Surely not. "Be the best on the team," He replied with a shrug of his shoulders, but he couldn't help the smirk that found its way onto his face.

"Oh wow, that's a low blow," the other boy chuckled letting his head loll. As he straightened back up, he seemed as though he was going to continue, but his eyes caught on something behind Ashton's shoulder. He looked over his shoulder, attempting to follow the gaze and his eyes landed on Luke who was making his way up the stairs.

"Ashy, what are two chatting about?" he said, stopping close behind Ashton and placing a large hand on his shoulder.

He turned back to Reece, "was just asking what it'd take for Ashton to cheer like that for me," Reece said offering Luke a smile, Ashton couldn't see Luke's response from where he sat, but his hand was still firmly planted on his shoulder.

"Being the best boyfriend ever tends to help," Luke said, leaning down and kissing Ashton on the cheek. He heard the whispers of the girls behind them increase, and he rolled his eyes how could no one else hear the falseness in Luke's voice.

Reece seemed to take the eye roll as an endearment rather than an exasperation because he chuckled awkwardly, "Well I guess I'll have a hard time doing that, anyway I'm going to hit the showers," he stood quickly which made everything even more awkward than it already was before leaving down the grandstand steps.

The girls moved past straight after giggling and whispering, and Luke finally lifted his hand and sat down beside Ashton, "do I get an explanation for that, or?"

"You can't date that idiot, you're saving yourself for Calum," Luke stated matter-of-factly. Ashton groaned loudly tilting his head back and looking to the sky if God could see him please, please could he do something about this idiot? He got no immediate response, typical. "Oh, come on, like you like guys like that."

"What hot guys? No, never, strictly against hot guys," He said sarcastically.

"Good, 'cause you're promised to cute boy Calum,"

He was having a tough time believing Luke had his best intentions at heart; it was starting to feel like he might have ulterior motives.