stomachaches ; lashton

four

"luke, what do you want?"

"uhh," luke looked at the menu carefully, obviously fighting with himself in his head.

"strawberry-kiwi for him," i stepped in, knowing what he wanted to say but didn't have the courage to.

"thanks," i heard him mumble, i just nodded in response.

after we all ordered, we sat down at a four person booth and began conversing like normal again. except for luke. he was looking at a man that was in line to order.

suddenly, his eyes grew big and he started to tap my arm repeatedly until he got my attention, "ash-ash-ash."

"huh?"

"that's josh- josh is here!" luke slowly sank into the booth and wrapped his arms around one of mine, desperately trying to hide but josh noticed him after a few seconds of squinting.

"luke?" he asked enthusiastically as he approached the four of us.

luke sat up and stared at the man before him.

"is that really you?"

"yeah i'm luke, and you are?"

"joshua? remember? we dated for a little bit. god, your hair has gotten long," joshua was beaming.

"oh-" luke was suddenly being cut off by calum.

"—oh yeah, you almost killed luke, i remember you."

"well i don't think he was that big-"

"—no, stop," i cut in.

"listen, luke. i regret doing that, i was just trying to cover up my own insecurities, i really want to try again."

"i'm not going back to you," luke snickered slightly, "you're funny, mate."

"i meant as friends, at least," he mumbled.

"you seem the same."

"ive changed, lukey, i promise."

"you have no idea what you put him through, please go on and leave him alone," i replied for luke. luke looked flustered by the situation.

"i understand that i can't undo the damage that i did but i'd like to get past it! i regret treating him like my own little science experiment just because i knew i could manipulate him like that. it was a big mistake and if i had the chance to redo everything i would prevent myself from doing it."

he seemed pretty genuine when he said that which made me sigh. i was conflicted, i didn't know what to do. luke seemed pretty uncomfortable with him being there but whatever i said, he had an excuse or apology for it.

"you don't even know everything that you did though, mate," calum shook his head, dismissing him.

"ive gotta use the restroom," luke said as he stood up and pushed past joshua.

joshua then decided to give up and leave our table in defeat.

~~~

luke's pov

i stood at the sink, washing my hands, unaware of the familiar face beside me.

"hey, big boy," he laughed.

i looked up at the mirror, my eyes a bit wide. my body was so bulky compared to the other's.  i looked like the hulk.

"hi," i murmured. i was never so quiet or meek but while i was with him, i was a completely different person. not in the good way either.

"so? are you going to tell me why they're acting like you almost died because you lost like," he looked at me for a second, "7 pounds?"

"88.2."

"what?"

"then gained 61.2."

josh looked at me and i could've sworn i saw an evil glint in his eyes but that thought got shut down when he wrapped his arms around me and started to mumble apologies in between quiet sobs.

"and you said i couldn't do it. i was smaller than my 'original petite size', josh. i proved you wrong," i shook my head and pushed him away from me, before slipping out of the bathroom, leaving him there alone.

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