Sex, Lace and Tiaras → Lashton

Eleven;

The only way Ashton was going to see me at two in the morning was if I looked my best. I'd taken a bath with my favourite pink Lush bath bomb, shaved my legs and exfoliated my skin so it was smooth. Using my best shampoo to make my hair fluffy and lathering orange body scrub up and down my body, I deemed myself clean enough for Ashton.

I stood in front of my wardrobe for what felt like an hour, deciding what to wear. All I knew was that I had to look good; I had to make him want me. Nothing was standing out to me so I reached out a blind hand and chose the first thing that I touched. Lacy white shorts with flower embroideries. I chose a black knitted sweater to go with it and tucked the front into the shorts.

Once I was clean and dressed, I now had to wait. It was only ten pm, and I had no idea how to entertain myself until it was time to see Ashton. I tried to finish some homework, but I was too jittery and excited. I was about to grab my laptop and mess around on tumblr when Jack knocked on the door. I could tell my family members' knocks apart and knew it was Jack by the three brisk taps, pause, one tap.

"It's open!" I called.

Jack stepped in, nervously closing the door behind him and dropping my school bag that he had dutifully brought home by my bookshelf. "Hey, um Luke, I need to talk to you?"

"Why?"

Letting out a shaky breath, Jack wrings his hands together and sits down on my bed across from me.

"I've gotta tell you something really important, okay? But you've got to promise not to tell mum. Sneaky-weaky-double-trouble promise you won't?"

Sneaky-weaky-double-trouble promises had started between Jack and I when Ben started high school and started to focus more on his studies. During this process, Jack got bored because no one would play the latest Grand Theft Auto game with him, and he would act up. I would always be the one to catch Jack doing something he shouldn't have been doing, and to bribe me into not telling on him, Jack invented the Sneaky-weaky-double-trouble promises.

"Promise you won't tell, Luke?" Jack asked with a scared expression in his eyes. I watched as he cleaned up mum's ancient shattered vase, the highlighter-green tennis ball rolling away. "Sneaky-weaky-double-trouble promise?"

"I promise."

"Good," Jack smiled with relief. "Because we're a team, right? Double trouble? Eh, puke?"

"We just gotta be sneaky," eight year old me had whispered. "Hide the ed-iv-ence."

"I promise," I said to Jack. "No matter what, you've got me."

He looked hesitant, like he was about to cry. I leaned forward into the most uncomfortable position I could fathom, wrapping my arms over his shoulders as his hands dangled between his open knees helplessly.

"Jack?" I prompted.

"She's pregnant," Jack whispered hoarsely. "She's fucking pregnant."

I flinched at the swear word that fell from Jack's lips but ignored it. "Who? Celeste?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, just wanted to tell someone. Needed to tell."

"I think you should talk."

Jack sucked in a breath and his shoulders started shaking. This was the first time he had willingly let me see him cry. "I, uh. I found out today. After school, after you got picked up. She was crying and she pulled out the white stick thing out of her bag-"

"The test?"

"Yeah. And it's got a little plus on it, and she goes, she goes like 'it's yours'. And I'm like, 'what do I do with it?' and she told me she doesn't want it, and I don't want it. I'm still in school, I've got hockey and stuff, I don't, I can't have a baby to worry about."

A sob racks through his body, and he's turning into me, crying into my sweater. "And I feel so bad, Lukey. I don't want a baby, my baby. How selfish is that?"

"It's not selfish," I murmured. "What would be selfish is going through with it, having a baby that neither you or Celeste can care for at the moment, purely for the purpose of having a baby because it's there. You can't financially or lovingly support the baby yet. Your time will come, Jack, it doesn't need to be right now."

Jack curled into my touch for another half a minute before he collected himself, kissed the top of my head and left without a word.

I didn't really want Celeste to abort the baby. I agreed with what I said though, they're both too young for now, it would be irresponsible. And I know that it's the mother's body, the mother's choice, but a selfish part of me wanted her to keep it so I could have someone to coddle and cuddle and love.

"Not your choice, Luke," I muttered to myself, clicking iTunes on my laptop. The first song up was by Alt-j and I let the song blare from the speakers.

I got so into the song that I let go, let myself stand up, let my body flow and weave itself in dance.Let the worries about Jack fall off my shoulders like waves. My eyes fluttered closed and I let my body feel its way through the song. My body had control, and I let go.

The spell was broken when my phone dinged with a new text.

From / Ashy:

You look cute princess 💚

Looking around wildly, thinking Ashton had somehow gotten into the room with me, my eyes found him through the window. He was sitting on his windowsill, phone in hand, fatal smirk dancing on his lips much like I was previously.

I poked my tongue out at him in place of replying to him, and was about to start dancing again before a new message appeared.

From / Ashy:

You're not being bad are you?

Was he being serious, or just messing with me? Teasing? Involuntarily biting on my lip, I looked over at him for confirmation. He was looking back at me, eyebrow raised daringly.

To / Ashy:

You're the one being bad, daddy

My cheeks flushed bright red and I nearly screamed in frustration. My phone had a habit of correcting words to something completely different, no matter how slowly I typed or how high of a score I got on the spelling test in eighth grade.

To / Ashy:

You're the one being bad, BADDY. I meant baddy im sorry i was calling you a baddy because youre being bad i swear

From / Ashy:

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