cherry wine [cashton]

the waves come after midnight

They drove around in Calum's car for hours. In the start Calum drove as far he could get away from their town in an hour. They felt like Bonnie and Clyde on the run. Calum had one hand on the stirring wheel and the other was interlaced with Ashton's fingers.

But in the end, they knew that they had to drive back. They couldn't run forever. Besides, Ashton had received some worried texts from his mother asking about the blood on the pavement in front of the house. He had also gotten several voicemails from Jim that he was ignoring.

When they parked in front of Ashton's house, he wasn't ready to let go of Calum's hand yet. He felt like it was the only thing that was keeping him sane in this moment. Even though they hadn't talked for most of the drive, he had never felt more understood or safe.

"Stay the night?" he whispered. He didn't know why he felt so fragile and insecure in this moment. But if Calum was to decline him, he wasn't sure if he would sleep at all.

"Of course," Calum said and smiled warmly.

When they laid down in bed together, that's when Ashton finally broke down. He was exhausted, and he hadn't expected it to make it until midnight. He was thankful for being alive, but this day had simply just been terrible to him.

Calum stroked his hair and whispered comforting words until Ashton fell asleep.

- .

A loud bang was heard downstairs and Ashton immediately stirred awake. His head was buried in Calum's chest and he pushed himself up along with a slowly awakening Calum.

"What was that?" Calum grunted tiredly.

Ashton shrugged in response and they got up to check it out. On the way down the stairs Ashton grabbed the other boy's hand for moral support.

Down in the living room they met an equally confused Ann Marie. She was staring at a broken window and went to pick up an object from the floor.

She turned around and Calum and Ashton could see that it was a brick with a paper tied to it.

"What does it say?" Ashton carefully asked, like he was afraid of the answer.

But his mom didn't reply. Instead she got her phone out of her pocket. "I'm calling the police," she finally said.

"Mom, what does it say?" he asked again.

She sent Calum a look and he realized that it was bad.

"Hey, Ashton. Let's go sit down," he calmly said.

"It's from him, isn't it?" he asked defeatedly.

"From who?" asked Ann Marie, concern evident on her face. She sat down opposite of the two boys, already having called the cops, who had sent a patrol.

"Jim," Calum explained for the smaller boy, who seemed unable to string words together into sentences at the moment. "They broke up."

"Are you gonna tell me what happened, Ashton? And while you're add it, you might also want to tell me about the blood outside," she urged on. And that's when she noticed the bruises around her son's neck. "Did he do that to you?" she asked with anger burning in her voice.

Ashton simply nodded.

"When the police come, you need to press charges," Calum joined.

Ashton gulped. Yes, he could press charges and Jim would probably get locked up. But what would happen when he got released? Would he come after him?

"I'm scared," he admitted.

"And that's okay," Calum said as he grabbed his hand. "But I'm not leaving your side. Not now. Not ever. "

To Ashton, Jim was two different people. There was the before-Jim, the one he had fallen in love with. The one who kept leaving him long voicemails where the only thing Ashton could hear was his sobs. After the first three he had stopped listening to them. Then there was the after-Jim. The one that had made Ashton fall out of love. The reason why Ashton flinched at loud noises and sudden quick movements.

"If you're not pressing charges, I am," Ann Marie spoke up. "That note on the brick? It was a death threat. If you think I'm gonna let that man come anywhere near you again, you're dead wrong."

Ashton nodded and collapsed against Calum's side, as they waited for the cops to arrive. Ashton shivered due to the cold draft from the broken window and Calum wrapped his arms around him to warm him. Ashton looked up at his tan face, finally taking in his best friend's features properly. He noticed his long eyelashes and how his eyes crinkled when he smiled down at him. Ashton smiled back and the knot in his stomach unraveled when he saw the blue blinks reflected in beautiful brown eyes. 

- 

this might be the second to last chapter, just a heads up!