forever// 5SOS

12

Ashton

As if I wasn't busy at work, I'd come home with paperwork all week. My sister had written a reference, and so had Calum.

All I was waiting for was Luke's, who was coming over right now.

I'd cooked us both dinner and it waited on the side, steam wafting off it. I'd been trying to be more healthy, Cal and I agreeing to start to gym together once Ava was settled. Although she needed much more on her, it would be good for her too because she wasn't healthy.

It wasn't a dig at her, but she wasn't. The poor girl wouldn't be able to climb all the way to my apartment without stopping several times.

It was like a long checklist of things we had to do, all important, but that definitely needed prioritising. Getting her to eat, getting her to sleep, talk to someone, become healthy, go to school and understand that she can't help what the situation has done to her.

The door opened and Luke came in, a small smile on his face. He gave me the paperwork and grabbed his plate, the two of us sat at the table with a coffee.

Both of us were tired so we ate in silence, but I couldn't help notice how weirdly he was eating.

"Luke, are you okay?"

"Hm?"

"You're eating... interestingly,"

"Well, not really," he mumbled, "this kid freaked out today and hit me in the jaw with her fist,"

"The life we live," I chuckled, "let me look,"

"Now?"

"Yeah, because if it's cracked it could get infected,"

I got my phone flashlight out and he opened his mouth, revealing just a chipped tooth.

"You're lucky today, come by before work and I'll just build the tooth back up,"

"Thankyou,"

"And thankyou, for this," I said, picking up the reference, "you have no idea how much you've helped me,"

"You know you need to give her another appointment?" he sighed, "Michael needs to as well. She has shots, and I want to do an ultrasound in case there was any permanent damage... down there,"

"It'll take some convincing, let her get settled,"

"Yeah, don't worry," he said, "what are you doing while you're at work?"

"I'll figure something out. Preferably she'll stay at my mum's and Harry will keep her company afterschool, but my office is there too,"

"When all that stuff was happening to me, you made me feel happy and hopeful again. I know it's soppy, but you're gonna make her feel so much better Ash. She's so, so lucky to have someone like you,"

"Come here," I said quietly, hugging him, "you're still welcome here. In fact I could do with some help,"

He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed, holding onto me tighter.

"You can stay over if you want?"

He nodded and stood up, making me realise he was crying.

"What's wrong? Hey, hey, I'm sure I have some joggers you can change into, don't stress," I said, leading him to my bedroom and pulling out some clothes for him.

"Anything you wanna talk about? Or is it just everything?"

He started to get changed, and I could tell he was conscious, so I changed too. He laid down on my bed and curled into the covers, taking a deep breath and smiling.