Off Ones Rockers II • Lashton

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

-

The sun was attempting to pierce through the thick layer of clouds, but failing miserable creating an awful glare. Luke sat squinting, pulling at pieces of grass and shredding them into thin strips before dumping them back on the floor again. 

Although Michael was sat to his left, Calum to his right and Ashton in front of him, the blonde felt alone. The conversation the trio were having just sounded like continuous loud noise that made no sense to the blonde. His brain was focusing on the conversation that was occurring internally. 

All Luke wanted was to be able to interact with the trio who he thought of as his friends but his head would never let him and he couldn't comprehend why.

His closed his eyes tightly, scrunching up his nose, wanting to rid of all the horrible noise that felt like it was scratching and clawing at his skull.

"Luke are you okay?" Ashton asked, noticing the boys actions. Although he had been silent the whole half an hour they had been outside, Ashton didn't forget about the blonde's presence. He'd watch his stare into space, and look down at the grass and occasionally mutter something to himself: basically watch him in his own little world that looked no more pleasant than reality.

His eyes snapping open, Luke began to nod but stopped and frowned when seeing thick black circles around and behind Ashton.  Quickly shutting his eyes, again Luke allowed for them to open slowly figuring his vision had gone blurry after the breakfast he skipped in the morning and not yet being collected for his feed. 

Nonetheless, the black circles became more prominent to reveal their more distinct features, jagged wings and black protruding eyes. "Ashton," Luke whispered, pointing towards the curly-haired boy, scampering to his feet from his cross-legged position so he was upon his feet. 

Ashton, alongside Michael and Calum, looked at the younger boy puzzled wondering if maybe there was a wasp near him. But the way the blonde was reacting it seemed more like there was a tiger or bear. 

"B-bats!" he whispered, taking a step back before turning around and running back into the ward, not muttering another word or giving an explanation for his behaviour. 

Ashton scanned the area around him not seeing anything but grass and a few other patients scattered around the trio. The curly-haired boy sighed and collapsed so that he was on his back staring up at the grey sky.

"Did he have breakfast this morning?" Michael asked looking back at the ward, the blonde completely out of their sight now, presumably heading back to his room.

"I don't know," the curly-haired boy said, placing his hands on his chest, not wanting to get too stressed by the situation, but at the same time wanted to find the blonde and calm him down. Something that he had already done once today.

"Maybe he's hallucinating," Calum suggested. "That happens when you don't eat right? I didn't eat for like three hours once and thought I was dying."

Michael rolled his eyes and playfully slapped the tan boy, but also agreed with the boy.

Ashton, on the other hand, remained silent thinking about what had just happened, how similar it was to the experience Luke had a week ago during the middle of the night. Neither now nor then was he malnourished to the extent he would hallucinate. All Ashton could think about was the conversation he had with Alex and Sid about the blondes mental state and his obligation to tell them if anything further happened. Whilst his first one may have simply been a misunderstood nightmare, this no one wanted to jump to conclusions, this one Ashton could be certain that Luke was awake and fully conscious.

Exhaling sharply Ashton pushed himself up from the grass and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Micheal asked, throwing a handful of grass at Calum, in which most of it became intertwined with his hair, creating green highlights.

"To talk to Alex," he shouted back, leaving the duo behind, whom he had no doubt would prefer to be alone so they could subconsciously flirt with one another.

-

Lightly tapping Alex's door, Ashton waited beside it patiently, hearing murmurs from inside, assuming the man had a session at present. Within a couple of seconds, the door flung open and Alex looked the curly-haired boy up and down. 

Acknowledging the worried look on the boys face he assumed it was urgent and not some gossip that Ashton wanted therefore asked. "I have five more minutes left with this patient, are you okay to wait, or I'll collect you from-"

"I'll wait," Ashton concluded, looking down at the floor the whole time. Alex nodded thankfully and shut the door.

Ashton slid down the wall and sat there with knees up to his chest, reflecting upon his life. He was proud of all that he'd achieved over the months he had been here. Not only the ability to control his emotions but the way he had emerged into adulthood. The ability to care for himself, to get to places on time as well as find a means of entertainment that wasn't a phone.

He had achieved everything he had come here for, and more. And with Luke in the equation, he didn't know if he had now achieved a relationship. He didn't know what Luke was to him. If he was a lover or someone he simply cared for because he was young and vulnerable. He couldn't deny that he felt something for the boy, but he didn't know how genuine his feelings were. And he certainly, at present could not imagine giving their relationship a title because the state they were both in was complicated.

Ashton knew he would have to wait and see if fate paired them together in the future when they were both stable and didn't demand a different level of care from one another.

Ashton was interrupted from his thoughts when a boy around his age stormed out of the room, his fists clenched and nose twitching. The curly-haired boy dared not look at him, knowing that Alex often dealt with drug takers or alcoholics who could quite easily knock him unconscious with one punch.

Standing up, he pulled his shirt down, smoothing it out and entered the room. 

"What happened?" Alex asked as the door closed behind him, still writing something down before putting it in a file and into a desk drawer.

"It happened again," Ashton said, sitting down on a sofa and staring straight ahead. He explained to the older man what had happened and how it was similar to what happened before. "I don't know where he is now or what he's doing. I thought I'd tell you first."

Alex nodded, placing a supportive hand on the curly-haired boy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned for the bipolar boy. 

Ashton simply shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. It's just confusing and terrifying to see."

"I can see if Sid's free if you need to talk to him?"

Ashton shook his head before standing up. "No, I'll be fine. Just need to know that Luke's okay. I think I'll go back outside with Michael and Calum"

"Alright. I'll see if I can find him. I need to get his feed done so maybe whilst we do that I can see if he'll say anything to me."

"And if he doesn't?"

Alex shrugged. "We'll just have to continue to wait until he's ready."

"And if he's never ready, can't you just-" Ashton began, getting frustrated.

"Ashton, this is my concern okay. You are here for yourself and only yourself. If Luke is burdening you or stunting your recovery in any way I can try and get him a room change."

Ashton looked down at the floor ashamed. "No, just want him to be okay, normal you know?"

Alex just chuckled. "Normal. And you're normal Ashton. You, even me, are off one's rockers in one way or another." 

-

I hope you enjoyed this, I'm trying to incorporate Ashton more than I did before as otherwise, he'll just seem 2D. 

Please let me know what you think.

Thank you so much for reading.