Walkman [Lashton AU]

Chapter 3

i also wanna make it clear that like...I'm not trying to make Calum and Michael necessarily bad people. During this time period, it is not at all common to be gay like it is nowdays. Even ten years ago, it was so different. So this is over twenty years ago and i want you to keep that in mind. Of course what they're saying is wrong and bad, but remember they aren't raised in the society we are, which is more accepting of gay people.

-October, 1991 I he's my favorite addiction.

It's been a couple days since Luke saw Ashton. He hasn't been on the bus and Luke has a slight suspicion that it's because of him. He doesn't want to be conceited and assume Ashton was literally avoiding the bus because of him, but he didn't look sick or anything on Monday, so what other explanation could there be?

Luke has been thinking about the boy more than he should and he couldn't get him off his mind. There was this suffocating feeling of emotions that built up whenever he even thought of the guy. Ashton was consuming his mind and every thought. It was getting to be worrying how much he dreamt and thought of him.

The worst part is that he has a date Saturday with Aleisha and he doesn't even like her. Hell, he doesn't even like girls but even if he did, he wouldn't like her. They were such polar opposites and never got along. That's why he was irritated when ordered to send down an envelope to the office where Aleisha worked in her free time.

Since he's the class president, he has a lot of responsibilities and one of them is getting information around. He has to learn to get along with people, even if he didn't like them.

When he entered the office, he saw Aleisha on the phone consoling someone from the teen crisis hotline. It looked serious and Luke didn't want to interrupt. He may not understand why someone would want to call in, but he was going to respect it. He just got lost with how the person was calling if they were supposed to be in class.

"Just know that family isn't just blood," Aleisha assured, voice soothing as she wrote something down on a pad. "Do you have any close friends who you talk to?" she hummed thoughtfully,"Yes, of course. If you cannot talk to them about this then maybe you can find some other friends that you can trust. You do not need to get rid of those friends, but you can always have more."

It was weird seeing her like this. Usually she's snapping at people and biting their heads off. However, here she was talking softly and even smiling a bit as if the person could see her. Luke never knew she had this side in her. Then again, she did come up with the idea of a crisis hotline and that in itself was different for her.

After a couple more moments of discussing, she said goodbye and assured the person to call back if they needed to. Once the phone was hung up, she sighed heavily and had this thoughtful look on her face.

Luke took this moment to knock on the door lightly and announce his arrival. She glanced up and made a grim face,"Luke, I hope you just got here. We're not supposed to have others overhear conversations."

"Well, it was only one-sided so," Luke shrugged and walked over. "I have to send this envelope down. I think it's for the confirmation letters for people who want to join the hotline."

She nodded and took the envelope. "Yeah, I had to ask for more. There are more teens having crises than I thought. It's sad to know people are out there in pain and this is their moment of comfort."

"Yeah, I think everyone has something going on that others don't know about," Luke offered politely. He never knows what to say in these situations. He's not good with tension and sadness.

Aleisha stood up and took out the papers. "Is that all? Do you want to discuss our date? I figured you were picking me up, so I suggest not going to the door. My father isn't keen on me being with boys. I swear, sometimes he acts like he'd prefer me as a lesbian."