purity ring / lashton

05 / holy regret

the air was thick around his head.

or maybe that was the sudden pressure luke felt throbbing in his skull, as he regained consciousness. his eyes didn't open, though, as they were somewhat crusted shut from how heavily he slept. once he finally got them open, he immediately shut them again.

whatever he was resting his head on was terribly rough, it must have been the scratchy material of the couch. he felt his toes slammed against the opposite arm. a soft groan rumbled from his chest, and he tried to turn onto his side. it felt strange, though. the surface under his head wasn't very squishy like sofa cushions should be.

opening his eyes finally, he worked extra hard to escape the blur of the morning daylight. focusing on what was in front of him, he froze.

he was directly facing dark, faded black denim. he saw a button and zipper flap, belt loops, and right above those, a line of hair on a toned abdomen. his eyes followed the happy trail up to a relatively bare chest, and then finally a face.

luke gasped, ripping his head off of ashton's lap and scrambling to the other side of the couch without shaking his brain too much. ashton was fast asleep, his head fallen onto the back of the couch, his mouth agape with soft snores passing his lips every so often.

there was no way he fell asleep on ashton's lap!

how could that be? all he remembered was puking and then passing out. did ashton carry him here and put his head there on purpose?

suddenly michael's living room began spinning and a twisted feeling filled luke's chest. he closed his eyes and brought his knees to his chest, burying his face into them. he felt dizzy and nauseous at the same time, making him sure he'd never drink again. he was in the middle of a morning prayer when he heard a voice that made him jump.

"luke? you okay?"

he moaned in reply, hearing michael's harmonic words from somewhere. he got closer and started rubbing luke's back.

"i'm never drinking again," luke cried, actual tears beginning to fill his eyes by how terrible he felt. then he remembered what information he learned about michael's sexuality and his head shot up, looking straight into the latter's eyes. "i'm mad at you."

michael pinched his eyebrows together. "what?" he asked.

"you didn't tell me —" luke paused to look at ashton, making sure he wasn't listening. he was still fast asleep. still, though, luke dropped his voice to a whisper. "you and calum hood . . ."

"we're friends," michael said quickly. too quickly.

luke rolled his eyes, but it hurt the back of his eye sockets. "ashton told me what you two were doing," he said, and his upper lip curled in somewhat disgust. "i can't believe you're gay. you dated olivia for, like, three months."

"i'm not gay, luke. i like girls, too."

a sharp gasped snore woke ashton up and he jumped a little, opening his eyes when he heard speaking. his eyes immediately went to luke, and the youngest wondered how he managed to look so good after just waking up. then he remembered how angry he was that he made him sleep with his head so close to his . . . nether regions.

luke scowled. "i want to go home," he muttered. he licked his lips and grimaced. "my mouth is so dry."

he stood up, steadying himself. he wasn't sure if it was the nausea or if he was still a little drunk, but walking felt like a new experience. and then he felt the air on his thighs and realized.

he was in his underwear!

luke immediately looked back at ashton, who was pretending like he wasn't just looking at his little ass through the grey briefs he had on and tapping on his phone. what had even happened last night? in the corner of his eye, he swore he saw ashton bite down hard on his lip.