Catharsis || Lashton AU - boyxboy

5. wydanie

"So this is where you wanted to be,
And it's a goddamn shame that you're not here with me.
And I can't see your face anymore,
But if I could, it wouldn't look like before."
Keaton Henson, Party Song ☯

"Are you going to tell me what the hell happened to your face?" I asked, sitting next to Ashton while I finished cleaning his face.

"I told you." He said. "My dad pistol whipped me."

I scoffed.

"I mean why, dumbass." I chuckled dryly. "Wow, that sounded kind of mean, actually. I'm sorry."

He laughed quietly, with his head kind of ducked and more to himself than anyone else.

"You're weird." He said. "You're so apologetic and out there and weird."

Sully's laugh chimed in from the background.

I shot him a glare.

"What? Kid's not wrong. You are pretty weird." He said innocently, before shooting my a smile and turning back to the dishes he was washing.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing." He said, looking up at me through his curls with little dimples that stuck out and still had a bit of blood dried in their crevices. "It's kind of nice."

I felt my cheeks redden slightly; I almost kind of hated when people pointed that stuff out, though Sully always claimed it to be that I lacked the ability to take a compliment.

If that were even a compliment.

Was it?

It doesn't matter, I think.

"You didn't answer my question." I stated, ignoring his comment altogether.

He pulled away from my hands and downed what remained of his black (somewhat burnt; Sully did that a lot) coffee, before standing up off of his stool, flashing me another dimpled smile, and walking back to the entrance.

He opened the door to leave, presumably, ringing the bell of the top before I stopped him.

"Wait!" I snapped, retracting myself back a few steps as the words successfully clawed their way out of my body.

"What?" He asked, turning back to face me.

"I-- Will you come see me later? At the corner?" I asked.

He sighed. "Sorry, Luke, I'm not a prostitue kind of guy. I'll see you around, though."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I-- What? No, I mean come by--"

"I know what you meant, Luke. It was a joke." He smiled, before turning to leave again.

"Wait!" I repeated, cringing inwardly at myself.

"What?" He chuckled.

"W-Will you?" I asked, all sheepishly and pigeon-toed.

"I'll see what I can do." He said, still grinning at me quite like a madman before turning to leave again.

"Oh! And, uh, sorry, I don't mean to keep you or anything. Sorry. You can go. Sorry." I said uncomfortably, turning around and ducking my head to go back to work.

"You're not just gonna leave a guy hanging like that, are you?" He asked, throwing his arms up in defeat and still sitting in the doorway.

"Well I was just gonna say, if you do come by, can you come at like, five? I kind of, I have an anniversary date with my girlfriend tonight and she might castrate me if I'm late." I chuckled, all hollow and awkwardly.