"hey guys," luke smiled as he sat down next to calum.
"hey luke," ashton replied before kissing baylee on the cheek.
"where's michael?" luke asked curiously.
"i don't know," calum mumbled as he looked up from his phone, "he's probably sick."
"text him," baylee suggested.
"yeah, okay," luke agreed.
from: lukey ✨👼🏼
to: babyboy mikey 💖
babyyy where are you ???
9:02am
from: lukey ✨👼🏼
to: babyboy mikey 💖
michael !!!!!
9:10am
from: lukey ✨👼🏼
to: babyboy mikey 💖
you've probably slept in.. you do that a lot lol
9:15am
from: lukey ✨👼🏼
to: babyboy mikey 💖
see you this afternoon. hope things are good with your mum. i love you. xx
9:16am
"he won't answer," luke pouted.
"luke he's probably sick. when he's sick he sleeps a lot," calum reassured luke. luke just smiled unsurely in response.
the bell blared out across the school, signalling that it was time to go to first period.
"what class do you guys have?" ashton asked as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and stood up.
"umm i think i have maths," luke replied.
"yeah we all have maths," calum said.
"cool, lets go," ashton said before wrapping his arm around baylee's waist.
"our class is this way ashton" luke said as he pointed towards the path that was left of where the group was walking.
"alright, bye guys," ashton smiled.
"bye," calum and baylee said at the same time.
++
ashton, baylee, calum and luke were sat at a table that was placed at the back of the cafeteria eating the lunch ladies meatloaf.
"why did the school hire her? this isn't even meat," calum said in disgust before throwing his plastic fork onto his tray.
"i think it's delicious," ashton replied as he shoved a mouthful of meatloaf into his mouth earning a slap on the shoulder from his girlfriend. "what?" he giggled.
"stop being a pig," she scolded playfully.
"sorry," he laughed before turning his attention to luke, who was pouting across the table from him. "luke? what's up?"
"michael won't text me back."
"it's okay luke, he's probably asleep."
"for over 12 hours?"
"he's a teenage boy, he's gonna sleep."
"yeah, i'm also a teenage boy. i never sleep that much," luke said, slightly annoyed.
"sorry," ashton mumbled.
"don't be sorry ashton. i shouldn't be so grumpy," luke sighed before the group went silent. "ashton?" the small blonde said softly.
"yeah?"
"can we talk.. privately?"
"yeah, sure. come on."
the taller boy lead luke outside the cafeteria to a vacant bench. the two teens sat down next to each other.
"what's up?" ashton said as he turned to his best friend.
"on saturday, i went to michael's house at two am and woke him up. i told him i was taking him on an adventure. i ended up making him ride a bike to the city pool. we ended up breaking in and going swimming. we kissed and shit then we went back to my house and drank. we got so drunk." luke giggled at the memory. "we actually ended up doing some shit. like, sexual shit."
"wait. you and michael fucked?" ashton asked in disbelief.
"yeah," luke smiled.
"good on ya," ashton giggled.
"thanks. there's more to the story, though." luke lead off.
"oh, sorry. keep going."
"we woke up the next morning and michael had completely forgotten about the night before. when i told him what happened he was.. angry. but he calmed down when i started crying. his mum called him after that and yelled at him. i drove michael home and i haven't seen him since then," luke said sadly.
"crap.. are you alright?" ashton said as he moved closer to luke and wrapped his arm around luke's shoulder.
"no, i'm not," luke pouted. "please don't tell anyone i told you what i'm about to tell you."
"no luke, i won't."
"okay," luke said before taking a deep breath. "michael told me that his mum abuses him. i saw the bruises and everything. ashton i'm fucking terrified that she's hurt him."
"shit," ashton breathed out, "we're going to his house after school."
"thank you," luke whispered before hugging ashton.
++
luke pulled into the familiar driveway and turned off his car. he turned to his best friend who was sat in the passenger seat and smiled nervously at him.
"you ready?" ashton asked.
"yeah. let's go."
the two boys made their way up to the front door of michael's house and knocked loudly. after a minute or so a woman answered the door. she looked broken. her eye's were bloodshot and her cheeks were tear stained.
"who are you?" she asked weakly.
"i-i'm luke, and this is ashton," luke said nervously, "we're friend's of michael's."
the woman started sobbing after luke mentioned michael's name.
"is everything okay?" ashton asked worriedly.
"no," she simply stated, "come in, please."
the boys wiped their shoes on the door mat and entered the house.
"take a seat. there's something i need to tell you."
luke and ashton sat down on the white leather lounge next to michael's mum.
"this may be hard for you to hear but, michael's hurt."
"what do you mean hurt?" luke said, his eyes glassy.
"michael was in a car accident. the doctors don't know if he'll survive."
"w-what?" luke asked not believing his own ears.
"i'm sorry." michael's mum sobbed. luke's heart shattered into a million pieces. the thought of michael being trapped inside of his small car, trying to desperately stay alive broke him. he couldn't stand the fact the he wasn't there to help his baby. he knew that there wasn't anything he could've done but it still hurt.
"ohmygod," luke sobbed. "michael." the small blonde brought his knees to his chest and cried into them.
"luke, it's going to be okay. he's gonna be fine," ashton said softly as he pulled luke onto his lap. luke cried into ashton's neck as he wrapped his arms around him.
"it was my fault," michael's mum said softly.
"what?" luke asked confused.
"don't say that. you can't put this on yourself. there was nothing you could've done to stop it." ashton said, trying to comfort michael's mum.
"i'm the reason he got in the crash." she said before looking down at her hands.
"what did you do?" luke yelled, looking at her with his bloodshot eyes.
"i kicked him out."
"why?" luke was full of rage. she was supposed to be the person who helped michael. she was supposed to save him. but she was the one that hurt him.
"he told me he had a boyfriend."
luke shot up to his feet. "what the fuck is wrong with you? is being gay a crime? does it really matter if your son likes boys? people like you disgust me," he spat.
"get out of my house," she yelled back.
"gladly," luke said before stomping to the front door, ashton following close behind, "oh and by the way, i'm michael's boyfriend. we make each other happy and now you've ruined that. have a nice day," luke said calmly before slamming the front door shut.
