the sound, settle down [mashton af]

// w h e n w e w e r e y o u n g p a r t 1 //

when we were young, part 1, august 2018

Michael will never forget the first day Ashton talked to him.

It was early into sophomore year, only the second week into the semester. Ashton's assigned seat was exactly in front of Michael. Mike was able to spend two semesters of Honors Geometry staring at the back of Ashton's neck.

Michael wasn't able to see over Ashton's broad shoulders and tall frame, but he wouldn't dare complain.

It was a Wednesday morning and Ashton was early to class instead of his usual fifteen minutes after the bell. He threw his bag below his chair and sat down, facing Michael. "Do we have a homework check today?"

Mike raised an eyebrow in surprise, suddenly overwhelmed. "Uh, yeah. Chapter 1, sections 5 and 8." Michael and Ashton were kind of in the same friend group, but they've never had more than a few quick conversations.

"Can I copy it?"

Michael turned the papers (which were already stacked neatly in order) to face Ashton, "It's a lot."

Ashton took Michael's pencil from his hand and ripped a few pages from his journal. This is the type of thing to bother Michael, but it was Ashton. Michael was weak for Ashton.

Ashton began scribbling, purposely changing a few numbers so their teacher wouldn't be suspicious of Ash suddenly getting perfect scores. "You write like a girl."

"That's not a bad thing."

Ashton looked up, his golden eyes sparkling in the fluorescent lights, "I didn't say it was." He looked back down, trying to make his messy calligraphy legible. He flipped over, going faster than Michael has ever seen.

These papers took Michael 4 days to do and it was taking Ashton 4 minutes to copy.

"You're Luke's friend, right?"

"Kind of."

Ash chuckled, "He's a dick, yeah?" Ashton gave Michael the first sheet back, continuing to copy the second.

"A little bit."

"Have we talked before? I feel like I'd remember a pretty face like yours." Ashton knew what he was doing to the 14-(almost 15)-year-old. "Did you used to have blue hair?"

Michael nodded, trying to hide the red in his cheeks. "Yeah. My mom hated it and refused to talk to me until I got it back to a blonde."

Ashton looked up. He reached out his left hand and felt over the dirty blonde fringe laying over Michael's forehead, "It looks good."

"Thanks," Michael responded, not sure what else to say.

Ashton looked back down, copying the rest of the sheets. "I don't know why I'm in this class, I don't even show up half the time."

"I've noticed."

Ashton sat up and yawned, stretching out his back and reaching out his arms. "Have you? That's kinda cute."

Michael wasn't sure if Ashton was flirting with him. "I guess so."

"Luke is my dealer," Ashton leant in and whispered, "you can figure out what we're doing in the back of my car."

Michael could smell his minty breath and strong cologne and he felt like he was about to pass out. "Probably."

Ashton reached out his hand again, resting it on the side of Michael's face, "I mean, if you ever wanna come out and join, let me know." He softly patted his cheeks before turning back around.

They didn't talk again for a week.