Everyday Amnesia

1.0

"Ash, for fuck's sake, please stop crying," Michael says. He woke up to the sight of Luke leering over him, hands pressed to his chest, and Ashton sobbing into Calum's shoulder.

Turns out, he was unconscious as soon as he hit the water, and nearly drowned. Luke had pulled his body out of the water and performed CPR.

"Thanks for waking up, I didn't wanna do mouth to mouth," Luke says. "That's Calum's job."

"Shut the fuck up!" Calum scowls, tackling Luke to the ground. Ashton sniffs and tries to slap his best friend, but didn't have the strength to do so.

"I can't help but want to cry, Mike," Ashton defends himself weakly. "You almost died."

"Give the boy some space," Hannah scolds the three boys. She wraps a blanket around Michael, drying off his hair with a towel. "I called your mum Michael. She was in hysterics until you woke up. Would you like to go home?"

Michael shakes his head. "Nah, I think I'll stay. Thank you, though."

"Are you sure?" Daniel asks, standing over the grill. Ashton watches as Michael nods and proceeds to drag Michael along the beach, looking for a shell.

"I still need to thank Luke for saving my life," Michael protests.

Ashton sighs and drops his hand, using his own to cup his mouth. "Thanks for saving Michael's life dude!" He yells.

Luke flashes them a thumbs up before turning to help Calum with whatever the fuck they were doing. Michael slaps Ashton's arm and drops to his knees, pulling a white shell from the sand.

"Is this good enough?" He deadpans, not wanting to look for shells after he nearly drowned.

"No," Ashton pouts, crossing his arms. "It needs to be really special."

Michael scowls and tosses it in his face. Ashton yelps and throws sand into Michael's hair, sticking his tongue out.

"God damn it Ash!" Michael exclaims. Ashton sits beside him and pulls him into a hug, starting to cry again.

"I thought," He sobs. "I thought you were going to die."

"Nah," Michael smiles softly, rubbing soothing circles into Ashton's back. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

After a few more minutes, they make their way back to where the rest of them were sat on logs, holding paper plates with burgers and hotdogs. Michael sits next to Calum and Ashton sits between him and Luke. He lightly touches Luke's knee to get his attention.

"Thank you," Ashton says quietly. "For saving my best friend."

Luke nods. "Yeah, no problem." He swallows hard and picks up a Sprite, popping the tab and taking a long gulp.

Once everyone's done eating, they throw out their trash and play a violent game of beach volleyball, minus Hannah and Daniel who are reading under the sun. It's Michael and Luke versus Calum and Ashton, and of course Ashton's team is winning. Especially because Luke can't serve and Michael hates sports.

"Take that bitches!" Calum yells, spiking it over the net. It smacks against the sand. "21 - 4"

"My serve!" Ashton grabs the ball after Luke rolls it under the net. He bends slow and strikes the ball hard, sending it flying. Unfortunately his hit is dead-on. Dead-on Luke's face.

"Oh, fuck," Luke says. He spits out blood onto the sand, ignoring Michael's look of disgust. Ashton apologizes frantically and tosses him a bottle of water.

He catches it and twists it open, swishing water in his mouth before spitting it out. Michael squawks and jumps backwards, away from the mess.

"We still win," Calum declares. They head back to the SUV just as the last rays of sun disappear. All of them pile into the seats after changing into clothes. Michael sits beside Calum and Ashton sits beside Luke.

About ten minutes into the ride, Luke feels a head on his shoulder. He glances down to see Ashton fast asleep, eyes shut tightly. He brings a hand up and runs his fingers through Ashton's soft curls, shining golden from the seawater.

"He knows about the song thing," Michael says quietly. Luke tilts his head back to look at him. Calum's asleep on his shoulder as well.

"I didn't mean to hurt him," Luke says. "I shouldn't have written the song."

Michael nods. "I'm glad you understand that. Just don't forget to apologize to him, yeah? And explain yourself too. Ash has been through a lot of shit. He doesn't need to deal with anymore."

"Yeah. Yeah definitely," Luke nods.

Michael smiles softly. "I knew you were a good kid. Don't let me down or I'll haul your ass to Mount Everest and push you off. And thanks for pulling me out of the water."

"I won't let you down. Promise. And, really, it was no problem," Luke insists. "Calum is such an idiot."

"Yeah," The red-head replies, looking down at him. A fond smile forms on his face and Luke grins, knowing that Michael would make a great boyfriend for Calum. He's so much better than that bitch he had been dating before.

Michael tosses Luke a pillow, which he places on his lap, and gently lowers Ashton's head. His shoulder is cramping up from the weight. Ashton makes a tiny whining noise in his slip and shifts slightly before burying his face in the pillow. Luke adjusts his seatbelt so it wouldn't dig into his neck.

"You really like him, don't you?" He turns back to Michael.

"Yeah, I do. It's funny, right? I've only known him, the new him, for so long. But I think I've been in love with him since a few years ago, when we first met. Hopefully he'll let me take him on a date once I've apologized."

'He's a stubborn ass kid, Luke," Michael says. "You just gotta keep trying. Be persistent. I know you can. That's all it'll take and then you guys can get married."

"It's awkward for you boys to talk about Luke marrying Ashton," Hannah says. Luke nearly jumps, he forgot he was where Daniel and Hannah can hear him.

"You seem like a nice boy," Daniel says. "And you did save Michael. So I suppose it'd be okay. Do me a favor, kid? Write down everything that happened at the beach and leave it on Ashton's bedside table. He'll want to remember."

"Of course," Luke blushes. "Thank you."

Michael snorts, and Luke turns around to glare at him. "Shut it mister, or you can't date my best friend."

"It's not like I want Calum."

Now it's Luke's turn to snort. "Sure you don't."

"I don't," Michael insists.

"Well, speaking of Calum, he's drooling on your shoulder."