never will you ever ⇒cashton s.s. [completed]

four

(the next day)

ashton took deep breaths as he ran up the field. he dribbled the ball a bit before passing it to a teammate. they were scrimmaging again in preparation for the upcoming weekend tournament. he'd been feeling pretty good about his game lately, but today he was pushing himself to get better at the smaller things. after all, fundamentals are just as important as skill.

someone from his team (they were skins this time) made a shot but the goalie picked it up and threw it downfield. ashton ran back down the field and continued to move around, trying to stay open for his teammate to pass it to him. one did, and he ran up the field again. he focused so hard on the ball that he didn't see the other person until it was too late. in fact, it seemed like they weren't even there until it was too late for ashton to not run into them. he tripped over their leg, his foot staying behind, and fell to the ground, twisting his ankle. he clutched it as pain surged through him. ashton looked up and saw calum looming above him and said, "what the fuck?"

"i saw the lineup for this weekend. i know what you're doing," calum spat. he gave ashton a look of disgust.

"what are you talking about?"

"coach replaced me as the one who takes kickoff with you."

"so go and talk to coach!" ashton snapped. he looked around wildly. why was it taking so long for everyone to get to them?

"oh, like you did? I would never rat out a teammate just because my feelings were hurt," calum said. "i take care of things myself."

coach avery reached them then. "what the hell happened?!"

"he tripped over me, coach. I thought he saw me coming but i guess not," calum said, adopting a tone of concern.

coach avery groaned. "ashton, are you okay?"

"my ankle hurts."

"are you okay to walk?" coach avery asked with a sigh and an eye roll.

"i don't know; maybe. if i want to play this weekend though, i think i should give it a rest," ashton said, partially because he didn't think he could stand and partially because he didn't want to be around calum anymore.

"alright. someone help him off the field."

calum watched as a few sophomores stepped up and helped ashton limp off the field.

(one week later)

"good practice guys," coach avery said before opening the door to the locker room. the rest of the team followed him inside. calum was just ahead of ashton, and they were both pushing to get to coach avery. they'd closed out practice with kickoff drills, and ashton and calum had both done very well. both were competing to take the kickoff in tomorrow's home game.

"was anyone keeping score? who was better?" calum asked impatiently.

"it was a tie, hood," the coach said, annoyance clear in his voice.

"so who takes the kickoff?" ashton asked.

"can't make that decision yet. maybe we'll do some drills or something before school. now leave me alone." coach avery went into his office and closed the door.

"guess we'll figure it out tomorrow, then," ashton said.

calum whirled around and looked ashton in the eyes. "you figure it out. i need to win." he stomped away from ashton and towards the showers.

(midnight that night)

buzz buzz.

ashton sat up and rubbed his eyes. he looked over at the table next to his bed and saw his phone lighting up. he checked the time on his screen. it was just after midnight; he'd fallen asleep a few hours ago. he looked at his screen again and found that his phone had vibrated due to him receiving a text. he squinted to read the name. it was from...calum. confused at why calum was texting him at 12:06 at night, he opened it immediately. read it. got out of bed. put on a shirt and raced downstairs. opened the door.

a soaking wet calum stood in front of ashton out on the porch. lightning flickered, illuminating the yard and showing calum's pushbike discarded on the grass. thunder rumbled and ashton looked back at calum, who was hugging himself. his hair was sopping wet and covering his forehead.

"calum? are you okay?"

"no," calum mumbled.

"what happened?" ashton asked, incredulous.

calum laughed humorlessly. "you have every reason to hate me," he said with a wry smile that soon disappeared. "i...i don't even know why i'm here."

ashton stepped out onto the porch, flicking on the lights. "i don't hate you," he said warily.

"i would. i do." calum's voice cracked.

"don't say that."

"i'm sorry, ashton." calum looked up at him, tears welling up. "i just wanted you to know that." calum turned away and ran off the porch. he grabbed his bike, ignoring ashton's call of "wait! calum!" and pedaled off into the night, lightning splitting the night behind him.

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