hiccup ➳ lashton au ☑️

Chapter 18

[i think that gif really suits cashton's friendship in this story]

Calum's eyes fluttered open only to be met with the dim light coming from the hospital hallway. Calum groaned sleepily and rubbed at his eyes, realising it must have been really late and he had forgotten to ring his parents to let them know where he was. After stretching his legs, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and cursed when seeing how many calls and texts he got from his Mum. He quickly typed a message telling him where he was and pocketed his phone, looking around for Ashton. The raven-haired boy frowned, expecting Ashton or even Luke to be asleep next to him, but when he didn't see them it made him a tad worried.

Just as Calum went to stand up, Ashton walked around the corner and Calum let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding in. Ashton was carrying 2 bottles of water and a medium sized packet of chips and Calum's stomach grumbled.

"Oh good, you're - awake." Ashton said quietly, sitting in the chair next to Calum and handed him his bottle of water before opening the chips.

"Where's Luke?" Calum asked, grabbing a handful of chips and ate them one at a time, whereas Ashton was eating like 5 at once.

"His Mum picked - him up an hour ago." Ashton told the boy "I can't believe - this happened, Calum." Calum frowned, resting his head on Ashton's shoulder and Ashton leaned his head on Calum's head.

Ashton had missed this he will admit. Calum was his best friend since they were born and he missed being close to him like this. Ever since Luke arrived, the two haven't really had a chance to hang out or anything. Calum didn't mind, however. He did miss his relationship with Ashton, but he knew him and Luke were something now and didn't want to interfere.

"I'm guessing there hasn't been any news?" Calum questioned and Ashton placed his hand on top of Calum's, really not wanting to have to say what he had to.

"There has.. U-um, he's.. Calum, Michael's in a coma." Calum felt his blood run cold, tears threatening to spill when Ashton continued. "They don't know if he's gonna make it." Calum furiously wiped a tear, standing up and before Ashton could stop him Calum was rushing out of the waiting room.

Ashton slumped in his chair in defeat. Squeezing his eyes shut and opened them again, vision blurred with tears. Life had seemed pointless to Ashton these days. There was never really a moment he felt happy anymore, unless he was with Luke. That wasn't okay. It was his fault that this was happening, maybe if he didn't over react Michael would have payed more attention to his surroundings. And now it was a possibility that Michael could die. It was also his fault that Luke hit him. Luke's only ever hit Ashton twice, both he deserved so it wasn't really classed as abuse. And Ashton hit a girl, that wasn't okay either.

Ashton's become a person he never thought he would ever be. He didn't like it, over reacting for stupid reasons and just causing trouble overall. He needed to fix things and he needed to soon. Luke and Ashton's concert was in 3 weeks time, but he honestly didn't know if going to the concert would be a good idea anymore. Michael was fighting for his life, he couldn't just leave. Something might happen while he was gone and he couldn't take that risk. It was a shame since Michael and Calum spent so much money on the plane and concert ticket, but maybe Ashton could sell it before the concert and get the money back.

Ashton checked the time on his phone which read 3:04AM and he sighed, pocketing his phone and trying to get more comfortable on the hospital waiting chair. When Liz came by to take Luke home, Anne did the same but Ashton refused to leave just in case there was any news. There was but it wasn't good. Luke doesn't know yet, considering he left before Ashton found out and he wasn't looking forward to telling him. He didn't want Luke to have to lose another person. He already lost his brother, he can't lose Michael too.