Coming Up For Air

4.6

"And I let you under my skin

'Cause I love living in the sin

Boy you never told me

True love was going to hurt."

-Ella Henderson, 'Ghost'

☂Ashton☂

Ashton went to sleep the night after the date feeling empty, but he woke up at midnight full of something warm and sweet because he'd realized, sometime in the middle of the night, that he loved Luke and he loved Luke and he loved Luke, and that was it, that was all, that was everything that mattered.

That was everything that mattered, of course, until he noticed the glowing red icon on his phone and decided to check his voicemail.

"Hello, this is Trisha McCalder from the financial department here at London University, and I would just like to remind...Mr. Irwin?--yes--that you are three payments behind on your tuitions costs. These expenses must be paid by the end of the trimester or else you will be invited to attend a conference in which your continued attendance at our school will be discussed. If you are currently undergoing financial problems, I'd like to recommend a few great student loan programs..."

She went on in the voicemail for another 45 seconds, but Ashton stopped listening because three payments was a lot of money--more than he could afford, with his meager spending money earned at his once-a-week shift washing dishes at Petunia's Pub House. His tuition was being paid partly on scholarship, but mostly by his grandmother in Australia, who had been left fairly well off after she divorced his grandfather, who was a retired dentist.

This was not good.

"Grandma? Hi." Ashton had pulled out his phone almost automatically and dialed his grandmother's number,.

"Hey, sweetheart." Ashton's grandmother yawned tiredly, though in Sydney it was ten in the morning. "What's going on?"

"I just got message telling me that apparently we're pretty behind on my tuition, and I was just wondering if maybe you forgot to send it or something?" Ashton asked, glancing at the clock on his wall and seeing he had to be at his History lecture in 17 minutes.

His grandmother was oddly silent for a minute.

"Well...we've had some unexpected expenses here lately, baby. I'm really sorry about that. I'll get it up there just as soon as I possibly can. How--how behind are we? Rough estimate?"

He told her.

More silence.

"I'll--try." She muttered finally, sounding more unnerved than he'd ever heard her before.

"Try? Grandma, they'll kick me out of school if I don't pay by the end of the trimester." Ashton told her, feeling panic settle into the woodwork of his voice.

"Would coming home really be so bad? You could live with me, get a job here...there are lots of places that'd hire a good Catholic boy like you in a heartbeat. You could even finish up at the local school--what's it called? Something with--,"

"Grandma, I--I can't leave." Ashton choked. "I--I want to graduate and be a music teacher and live in London and I can't leave. And things are getting kind of serious with--ah, Olivia. I can't...can't go home. I can't leave."

After a long moment, his grandmother sighed.

"I'm trying, Ashton. I am. But things have been tight lately. I don't want you to worry, though--just focus on you school and that lovely girl you've found...what's her name again? Olivia?" Ashton felt his heart clench because he so desperately wanted to say No, it's Luke and he's so lovely, but he couldn't because then everything would be ruined.