dear teacher, :: lashton au

chapter fifty-one

Ashton left the doorbell untouched. Instead, the teenager opened the front door and decided to let himself in. The familiar scent of pine and maple stained the air, creating a unique smell.

He was hardly surprised that the door was open. What had initially caught his attention was Luke's absence.

"Luke?"

Nothing greeted him except for the soft sound of television coming from the other end of the house. And so he walked. Ashton ventured down the halls, following the sound of a rapidly clicking pen. It was not a surprise that he found Luke quickly.

His teacher was sat at one of his many office desks, clicking his pen obnoxiously. He alternated between biting the tip and spinning it within a finger's reach. Anxiety wafted off of him, clinging onto Ashton and spreading like wildfire.

Luke kept grading grammar tests, turning them over afterwards and sliding them to his left. Click, check, score, slide. Click, check, check, score, slide. It calmed him.

"Here I am again. 'M ready for the lecture of a lifetime." Ashton stated monotonously. But it was as if he were talking to a brick wall.

Click, score, slide.

"There is no lecture. All there is ahead of us is civil conversation." Luke replied, biting his lip and removing the reading glasses he had perched on his nose.

"You said you did not want to forget."

Ashton jumped right into the ice water. Hell, the boy dived in head first. The shock that came after was foretold.

"Giving in to temptation is frowned upon. In my eyes, the things I want are not manageable." Luke rose, pushing his chair in and stepping around his desk. "The Bible is important to me, and you must understand that. But I like you, Ashton."

Ashton froze, eyes wide.

"I like you, and even though I know it's wrong, I don't really care." Sighing, the teacher avoided eye contact. "I have trouble understanding you, Ashton. You are full of remarks, jokes, immaturity, impurities, and angst. The list goes on. You are more complex than any book I have read."

Ashton could have sworn he stopped breathing for a second.

"But I like it."

"You like it?" The teen repeated a while after.

"I don't know how to go about this, Ashton," Luke continued. Confusion vibed within the room. "I don't know how this works. I am someone who waits until marriage, wears a purity ring, and so on. I am not used to this type of thing."

"I can be your teacher." Ashton offered eagerly. "I just need to know what you want to learn."

Luke allowed himself to smile for that moment, but then he resumed his composed posture.