“Ashton,” Luke whined, a small pout appearing on his face as he sat on his bed. He was about two seconds from pulling his hair out and it was completely Ashton’s fault.
“Luke,” Ashton said, his voice slightly exasperated, turning around to look up at the other boy from down on the floor, his body propped up against the bed. “You’re not focusing.”
“Yes, I am,” he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a petulant manner. He had to fight every urge not to roll his eyes. Instead, he just avoided Ashton’s stare, looking everywhere else but down on the ground.
He heard Ashton’s loud sigh, and then some shuffling. The next thing he knew Luke was joined on the bed by the other boy, his blue eyes meeting hazel.
“Listen, I know it’s hard, but-”
“No,” Luke interrupted, shaking his head. “It’s not hard for you! You’re basically fluent!” Luke couldn’t help but continue to pout again.
Ashton tilted his head to the side, giving Luke his best dirty look. It wasn’t very menacing, if that’s what he was going for.
“Just because I’m decent at French doesn’t mean I don’t understand the struggle. Why do you think you’re helping me out with maths?” he sighed again.
Luke rolled his eyes this time. “You’re more than decent, Ash. Don’t be modest.”
Ashton smiled, a cheeky glint in his eyes.
“Yeah, I know,” he said, his grin infectious as Luke found himself smiling right along with him.
“Anyway, I am trying,” Luke stated, uncrossing his arms as he leaned back on his elbows, propping himself up on the bed.
He watched Ashton shake his head, still smiling.
“No, you’re not. You’ve been completely distracted all afternoon,” Ashton said, giving Luke a pointed glance.
He was right, of course. Luke was totally distracted. He couldn’t really help it, though.
Luke was in love with Ashton, that much was obvious. He couldn’t even count how many times Calum had to tell Luke to stop staring when they all hung out together. That didn’t happen very often anymore, since Ashton was off at uni during the weeks and everyone else was graduating high school this year. The only times Luke ever got the chance to see Ashton lately was when they did stuff like this.
But now, Ashton was off for winter break and Luke was in the middle of finals week. The only exam he had left was his French one, which he was extremely nervous about. Ashton had been working with him for a few days now, going over each section that would be on his test. Right now, they were going over anatomy and nothing was sticking for Luke. It was because Ashton himself was a constant distraction and also because Luke was severely burned out. All he wanted to do was sleep after a long week of studying and exams. It wasn’t his fault that he could have cared less about it all.
“I’m just tired,” Luke replied, moving one of his hands to scrub across his face and into his hair. He tugged a little on the ends, trying to do whatever it took to keep him focused and alert.
Ashton nodded, remaining quiet for a moment.
Ashton had always been incredible at French for as long as Luke could remember. He didn’t know a lot of details but he thought he remembered Ashton saying something about his mom’s boyfriend being French or something, and that he spoke it a lot around the house growing up. He apparently taught Ashton quite a bit and it was easy for him to pick it up. He obviously took French classes all throughout high school and easily passed each and every one of them.
