Daisy (lashton)

Chapter 17

Ashton had an absolute shit day and it wasn't even over yet. Not only had he woken up late, but Daisy had managed to spill her cup of grape juice all over her brand new dress Ashton's mom had gotten her for picture day. After managing to clean Daisy up in record time, he was still almost 15 minutes late dropping her off at school where the teacher was all too quick to scold Ashton. The old bat wasn't used to young parents, and as a result was all too happy to call Ashton out whenever he did even the smallest thing wrong. By the time Ashton left Daisy's school a little after 8:30 am, he was already in a bad mood.

So when Ashton received the call at work that Daisy was waiting to be picked up at eleven because of a half day, he almost started to cry. He had completely forgotten that every second Monday of the month was a half day, and because of that, he was stuck working a full day and had no one to watch Daisy. He started to panic. His mom was at work, Lauren was back at school, and Calum was out of town on a business trip. Ashton was royally fucked.

He had no other choice, no other option. He'd already used up his sick days when Daisy was hospitalized for a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting a few months earlier. Nearly four days in the hospital had left Ashton without any time off left, and with no one else to turn to, he called Crystal.

And he'd been worrying ever since. He never left Daisy with anyone other than family or Calum, and to say he was panicking would be a bit of an understatement. He hadn't been able to concentrate on work at all, and four dishes had been sent back during his shift, leading to a thorough chewing out by Clement. By the time Ashton finished work, he was ready to crawl into bed and never leave.

Even the radio was annoying him as he drove, but it wasn't until he called Crystal that he was really grinding his teeth.

"Heeeey Ashton." The tone of Crystal's voice immediately made Ashton suspicious.

"Hey Crystal, how's Daisy doing? Hope she's not being too much trouble." Crystal laughed through the phone before sighing.

"About that,"

"What happened? Is Daisy okay?" Ashton couldn't hide the panic in his voice as he clenched the phone in his hand.

"Ashton, she's fine don't worry. I couldn't watch her at my apartment though so I brought her to Michael and Luke's place." Ashton ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Okay, well I've just left work so I'll be there to pick her up in about 30."

"Sounds good, also just a heads up, I had an, um, appointment, that Michael had to take me to, so we had to leave Daisy with Luke about 40 minutes ago, but I figured you wouldn't mind since she seems to like him so much." Ashton could feel his blood boiling.

"You left her with Luke? The guy who hates kids?"

"I'm sorry, Ash, but everything is fine. They've been alone less than an hour. They're probably just watching cartoons." Ashton wanted to be mad that Crystal left his only child with what could basically be considered a complete stranger, but he felt like he didn't have the right. If Crystal hadn't been able to watch Daisy today he didn't know what he would have done. And what was the difference between leaving Daisy with a random babysitter and Luke anyways? Besides the fact that babysitters actually like children...

Ashton sighed as he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Okay, can you just let Luke know I'll be there soon?"

"Of course, and the apartment number is 305, sorry again!"

"It's okay." With a final goodbye, Ashton hung up the phone and pressed his foot a bit harder against the gas pedal. As he drove he couldn't help but let the worst case scenarios run through his head. What if Luke left Daisy unattended and she burned her hand on the stove? What if Luke was watching something on HBO that scars Daisy for life? What if a bee flies in through an open window and stings her? Ashton started to sweat as he thought about the numerous possibilities.