Dreams || Lashton

nine

The constant beeping of a heart monitor is so irritating when a person wakes up. Luke blinked his eyes a couple of times, tugging his arm upwards slightly when he felt the IV in it. Turning his head to the side, he looked to see Michael sleeping, Calum in the chair beside him scrolling through his phone on either Twitter or Instagram. 

"What happened?" Luke asked in a soft voice, raspy and barely audible but thankfully due to the silence of the boring sterile hospital room, Luke was able to be heard over the heart monitor beeps. 

Calum shook Michael's shoulders, waking the young man who glared at Calum for a second before remembering where he was, and his eyes filled with a sadness unfamiliar to the blond within the hospital bed. 

Michael rose, looking at the dark bags under Luke's eyes, and a large number of hickeys covering his body. Concern was an understatement for how he and Calum felt. What the hell was his friend up to? Not only had he not shown up for laser tag, but now he seemed to be sleeping around when he prior had no interest in sex with someone he wasn't dating, and he looked like he hadn't sleep in days. 

When he called the blond, Luke sounded like he was on a mixed bag of drugs. His voice slurred, and he giggled softly as he spoke. He hadn't shown up for his shift that day, and Luke's co-worker Darci called Michael panicking about the blond. 

"You um...I called you, and you answered sounding really out of it. I heard a thud, and you stopped responding so I called 911. They found you lying unconscious on the floor beside your bed. You were unresponsive but still had a pulse. When you fell you hit your head pretty hard and were bleeding a little when they found you," Michael explained, his voice occasionally wavering as he spoke. 

"I don't remember-."

"Who is Ashton?" Michael asked, interrupting Luke before the blond could go on any further. "They found a note on your nightstand- is it the person who gave you all the hickeys? Are they the reason you are acting like this?"

"W-What? No...Ashton is just um," Luke tried to come up with an explanation, but everything was rushing at him at once. "He is...a guy I know."

An incredulous look appeared upon Michael's face, and he stared at Luke silently. Looking to his boyfriend who had his lips pressed into a line, watching as the two spoke. 

"Who is he Luke?" Michael asked, his tone a lot softer now as he knew arguing would get them nowhere.

"I don't know much about him okay?!" The blond shouted feeling the unfamiliar anger that reminded him of when the hunk at the bar tried to get his number. "Why the fuck does it matter?!"

Emerald eyes stared at Luke in shock, Michael's mouth agape for a few seconds before it shut and he turned his body away to look at Calum. 

A doctor entered the room upon hearing the commotion, but it was now silent as the couple stared at their blond friend in confusion and hurt. He was an older man, with short grey hair, a receding hairline, and glasses in the shape of circles. His skin was a dark umber color with darker freckles scattered across his wrinkled face. He gave the tense people within the room he entered a gentle smile. 

"No need to argue now," He laughed, "So, it's good to see you are awake now Mr. Hemmings, your friends here were very concerned about you."

Luke glanced at the doctor, the blues of his eyes much darker like the blue of the Atlantic Ocean rather than the crystal water of the Carribean. "Do you know how long it will be until I can leave?"

The doctor's empathy remained, as he checked Luke's vitals, writing notes on a clipboard he had brought in with him. Checking the IV drip bag, and calling in a nurse to have it changed to a new one. "Well, that is up to you I am sure. You are reading as okay now, but I find myself concerned this will happen again. To me, it appears you have experienced a great deal of sleep deprivation and your body finally collapsed of exhaustion. Have you not been sleeping, Mr. Hemmings? You see, if you don't sleep you will keep ending up right in that bed."