cherry wine [cashton]

fist-fighting with fire

Ashton was awoken, when he felt a tingle near his scalp. He slowly opened his eyes, savoring waking up peacefully for once.

Hazel eyes met brown, and Ashton's eyes widened. For a split second he had forgotten the events from the day before, but the memories quickly came rushing back taking over his peaceful state.

He needed to call Jim and apologize, he reminded himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Calum's rough morning voice broke the silence. His hands had stopped rubbing slow circles through the other man's curls.

Ashton considered his options for a second but decided against mentioning Jim for now. He knew Calum wasn't overly fond of his boyfriend at the moment. Just like this mother, he thought bitterly to himself.

"We need to get ready for school," he said instead and got out of his bed.

Calum got up as well. They had both only slept in their boxers, but since they had been best friends for so long, they didn't find it weird. Maybe some friends weren't so comfortable around each other, but Ashton and Calum had always been close.

When Calum went to the bathroom, Ashton put on some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, avoiding the mirror near his dresser.

They had done this routine ever since they were little. But since Jim had come into the picture, they rarely shared a bed or hung out much outside of school. Honestly, Ashton had missed it. But at the same time, he felt selfish for wanting to spend time with someone that wasn't Jim.

His boyfriend didn't like it, when they spent too much time apart from each other. After all they were a couple, so why should they need anyone else? Jim had reasoned.

Downstairs they ate breakfast together, whilst talking about the weekend's party, which Ashton still hadn't mustered the courage to tell Calum, he wasn't going to.

"Your eye looks even worse today, if that's possible," Calum suddenly said, and Ashton's smile immediately disappeared.

He had avoided looking at it, but he knew comments about it would be inevitable. But he had hoped that Calum wouldn't bring it up again at least.

Instead of answering Ashton grabbed his and Calum's plates and put them in the dishwasher.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Calum said softly from behind Ashton, not missing the way he flinched in surprise.

"It's fine, I just wish, you would back off," Ashton finally spoke and turned around to face the tan boy.

He was about to say something more but was cut off by his phone ringing.

He accepted the incoming call and greeted his boyfriend.

"Hey baby, how's your morning? I haven't been able to get you off my mind all night," Jim breathed through the phone.

Ashton blushed slightly, avoiding Calum's focused gaze. "Just the usual. Calum and I just ate breakfast and we're leaving for school in a bit."

"You spent the night with Calum?" Jim's voice had an edge to it, and Ashton's hands turned clammy.

"Y-yeah?" he said, trying to remain calm.

"We'll talk about this, when I get off from work," he answered and hung up.

He sounded almost jealous, Ashton thought to himself. But also, angry. Ashton didn't like it, when Jim was angry. Especially not with him. He needed to fix things and apologize to Jim, when they saw each other later. He hated it, when he messed up. Jim knew, he was new to relationships, so hopefully he would forgive him. But he also knew, that he couldn't keep messing up like this. At some point Jim would get impatient and leave, if he didn't get his act together.

-

"Just go anyways. He's not your mom, he can't decide for you," Michael's voice boomed through the cafeteria.

Ashton had tried to explain to the boys, that he couldn't make it to the party a few days from now.

"You don't understand," he sighed.

Calum sent him a worried look, but Ashton kept his gaze firmly planted on Michael, silently wishing that he would just drop it.

"Then help us to," Luke intervened.

"He's angry enough with me already," he spoke truthfully. "And he said, he doesn't want to go, so..."

He didn't want to piss off Jim any more than he already had. But at the time, he really wanted to go the party and hang out with his friends.

"What if.... he didn't know?" Calum speculated, and Ashton's widened gaze immediately met his. Luke and Michael instantly caught on to the idea and started planning the whole thing along with Calum, whilst Ashton sat back lost in his thoughts. Maybe that would work...

But a nagging feeling couldn't help but make him wonder, what would happen, if Jim found out.