Sweaters [Lashton AU]

Chapter 2

It was a hobby of Luke's. Music was where he got lost in. It's what made him forget his problems and made him happy. Or sad. Depending on how you look at it. It matters on the mood and what type of song he was playing. How he felt in that moment, and so on.

The only problem is that Luke had a terrible guitar and if he wanted to actually get a good song out of himself, he needed to use the one at the store Michael works out. This leads to him and Michael talking a lot and sometimes Luke is afraid he might get Michael fired one day.

Michael always said it would be a pleasure to be fired because of him. Him saying that made Luke worry about the guy's obsession. He still loves Michael, though. Michael was a great friend and always made his confidence grow. It was like, whenever Luke was sad, he could call Michael and Michael would ask to have sex and Luke would chuckle, feeling better automatically.

Sometimes it doesn't work, though. Luke was in a slump again. He was laying in bed, wondering why life was even a thing and what his purpose was. He felt so lost, most of time. He never really understood life. He never thought of what he could do to make the world better. He had an idea, but it was still just -- he didn't know anymore. Life just sucked.

Calum and Michael knew Luke was confused with all of this. But, they never knew what to say or how to help. It was like they wanted to do something for their friend, however they stuck with hugs and sexual jokes to brighten his mood and help him forget about his confusion with the world.

Luke likes simple things. Like he told Ashton, he likes to keep things the same. But, sometimes he knew things were going to change. His age, his height, his looks -- everything was going to change at some point.He doesn't like when things become different, but he also can't control everything.

He couldn't control if his dad was going to die. And, when it happened, he was shattered. That's another reason why he hates when things are different. He gets frustrated and annoyed and sad. He just didn't know how to handle different and it made him sad.

Knowing that life was going to be a complete u-turn at one point, like when he gets out of school, he didn't know how to handle that. He didn't want to handle that and yet, he knew he would need to. He was afraid to get out of school and he tried to hide it.

How dumb is it that a seventeen year old pierced and tattooed boy was scared to leave school? Don't get him wrong, he hates school. But, he hated change more than anything. So, he was even desperate enough to fail himself if it meant staying in school. However, he knew that would be a dumb choice.

Luke sighed as he rubbed his face in frustration from where he laid in his bed. He didn't know what to do. He was scattered with books and papers for school and didn't know what to do. He had a test tomorrow, yet he couldn't bring himself to remember what the test was even on.

His phone vibrated and he saw Michael texted,asking if he was coming down to the shop today. He hesitated and didn't reply at first. He knew he should study, but he was dumb and would never understand the material anyways. Maybe he can use the small break.

Before he could make his decision, his bedroom door opened and his mum walked in. She smiled timidly and asked,"What do you want for dinner tonight? I'm gonna pick something up at the store. I could use your input."

"Um," Luke hesitated. "Alfredo?" She nodded and went to leave. But, Luke called out,"Mum? I -- I was wondering if it would be okay to go to the shop with Mikey? I know I should be studying, but I'm getting stressed and I promise I won't stay there all night."

At first, she didn't look pleased. However, her eyes softened when she noticed all the notebooks sprawled out and how he truly did look overwhelmed. His mum nodded and said sternly,"Be back at eight, okay? I don't want you failing that test tomorrow. You need to get your grades up this year."