yo quick update because i really wanted to

a s h t o n

I yawned as I walked down the long hallway, nodding to some of my teammates as they passed by. I ran a hand through my hair and tiredly let my legs move me slowly to Sean and Philip's room.

I knocked on the door and opened it only a second later. My eyes met Philip's who was digging through his bag on the floor while Sam and Felix sat on each bed and threw, what looked like, a filled water balloon back and forth. The slight frown on Philip's face made it obvious that he didn't like it.

"Hey, is Sean here?" I asked and Philip shook his head.

"No, I think he's talking to coach about his knee," he said and sighed when not finding what he was looking for, "Why?"

"He borrowed my Acu-Tape and I need it back" I mumbled and watched when Felix almost dropped the balloon to the floor.

"Oh yeah, it's in the bathroom," Philip said and walked into the bathroom to soon come out, carrying the roll of red tape, "Here you go"

"Thanks," I said and sent him a small smile, "I'm gonna go, but yeah, thanks"

Philip nodded at me before going back to searching for whatever it was he was trying to find as Felix looked up at me and grinned.

"Hey Ash, catch!" he said and threw the balloon at me. I quickly closed the door to their room and heard the balloon splash against the door and floor while I stood outside in the hallway.

"Fuck you Felix! You have to clean that shit up" I heard Philip say from inside the room and I breathed out a chuckle before walking off again.

I twirled the roll of tape between my fingers while looking down at my feet while walking. My sock-clad feet glided against the polished wooden floor, making me only drag my feet over it instead.

A door opened further away and I heard Calum's laugh before he came out and pushed the door closed, a gap still there as he didn't close the door fully.

"Oh, Ash!" he said as he had started walking and had lifted his head to look at me. I raised my eyebrows up in question.

"We're playing a tournament on Fifa and we need more players, you in?" he asked.

"Um, maybe later, I have to fix my shoulder first" I said and held up the tape. Calum looked at it and frowned.

"What's happened to your shoulder? You better not be injured" he said and I chuckled lightly.

"No it's fine, it's just a bit stiff and so on" I spoke and Calum nodded his head before standing quiet for a while. I was almost about to walk away but he stopped me when talking again.

"We're cool, right?" he asked and I furrowed my eyebrows. "I mean, things are cool between us? Since that day I just walked up to you and insulted you without knowing fully what was going on between you and Luke, things has been weird. I guess I just want to apologize for that" he said.

"I think I should be the one to apologize for lashing out on every single thing" I mumbled and Calum chuckled.

"Apology accepted. So, we cool?"

"Yeah," I said and nodded my head, giving him a small smile, "Yeah, we cool"

Calum grinned and nodded his head, looking happy with the outcome. "Okay well, I'm gonna go look for some more people joining the tournament, but come by later when you're shoulder is done and taped"

I nodded my head and he grinned again before turning around to walk off to other rooms. I started walking down to Michael's room again when I stopped as I heard Luke's voice inside the Fifa room.

Thanks to the door still being slightly opened, I could hear the voices from inside, so I leaned against the wall beside the door and listened as the boys spoke.

"No, never" Luke spoke and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"What, I thought you and Irwin were friends now?" a random voice said.

"So what? Doesn't mean I have to like the dude" Luke muttered. I frowned.

"I like him. He's talented and he's cool. He's gonna go far for sure. Like, I know everyone here is really good, but I'm sure he will make it"

"Wouldn't surprise me, he's doing anything for that fucking contract" Luke mumbled again and I tightly held on to the roll of tape in my hand, anxious to what Luke would say about me.

"What does that mean?"

"That he's just acting so he'll get that contract. He'll do anything for it, he's just kissing ass. I would know since I'm living with him" Luke said. I pursed my lips.

"Then why did you become friends with him?"

"Because two can play that fucking game" Luke mumbled and I ran a hand over my face before leaning my head against the wall, sighing loudly.

I didn't even mean it like that when I talked to Luke a few days ago. I didn't mean that I didn't want to be friends with him or that I only did it to get the right attention. I just did it because I thought the deal was getting in the way. I was only being rational, but it seems like I just fucked up.

I pushed myself away from the wall and kept a blank look on my face as I made my way to Michael's room and stepped inside without knocking.

The room was empty, causing me to silently make my way to Michael's messy bed and threw myself on it, facing the wall with the same blank face as before.

I clenched and unclenched my fists that held the roll of tape, using that as some kind of way to keep myself calm. When it didn't work, I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek.

The door to the room was opened and Michael and Emil entered while chuckling about something and I didn't even bother to move.

"Ash?" Michael asked and I only raised my hand in acknowledgement as I kept my eyes closed and my head still on the pillow.

"You okay?" Michael asked and I just waved my hand in dismissal, making Michael speak again, "Could you leave us for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, yeah sure" I heard Emil speak softly before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Michael sighed before I heard him walking over to me. I felt the bed dip down and soon his arm and leg was thrown over me as his chest was pressed against my back, him holding me close. I groaned, making Michael laugh.

"What's wrong, pretty boy?" Michael said and pushed my hair away from my face.

"Don't call me that," I mumbled and pushed his hand away from my face, "And nothing, other than Luke hating me again"

"What did you do?" Michael asked.

"Nothing," I said frustrated, "It's not always me who start shit. I just told him that us being friends made me look better on papers, him too, and he just took it as me acting like I was being nice to him to get my contract"

"Did you act?" Michael asked softly.

"No! Why would I when everything got better when I actually started to be nice to people" I said and turned around to look at Michael, "And now Luke is spreading this lie around to everyone, trying to make me look bad"

"Sounds to me like you didn't do anything wrong" Michael said and shrugged.

"Because I didn't! I haven't done anything wrong towards Luke, he just twisted everything up and now he's making everyone hate me again" I said and sighed loudly.

"God, you two keep acting like teenage girls" Michael mumbled and chuckled, "Just talk to him and clear everything up, simple as that"

"It annoys me that you always act so wise" I mumbled, making Michael laugh.

"I don't 'act' wise, I fucking am wise." Michael said and grinned. He looked down at my hands and saw the tape, "You need help with that?"

"Yeah" I mumbled and sat up in the bed.

"Is it the shoulder still?" he asked and I nodded again.

"Sit down on the floor then" he told me and I did as told, taking off my t-shirt and tilted my head to the side while giving Michael the red tape.

"What's this?" Michael asked and ran his fingertips over my shoulder blade and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion before widening my eyes when realizing what he was talking about.

"What is what?" I asked, acting oblivious.

"You have a bruise on your shoulder blade," Michael said and pressed his thumb down on the mark before mumbling, "Or rather a hickey"

"A hickey?" I scoffed, "When the fuck would I have gotten a hickey?"

"I don't know, but it looks like one"

"Well, it must be a bruise," I said simply, "Not weird my shoulder is hurting"

Michael stayed quiet and I could feel how he was not really believing what I said, but I acted like I didn't know about it. I heard Michael chuckle lowly before he started to tape my shoulder with the elastic heat tape.

After a few minutes of Michael taping in line with the muscles of my shoulder and us talking back and forth, Emil came walking in to to room, grinning at us.

"World Cup, groups of two, everyone gives £5 and the winning group get's it all" Emil said and nodded his head enthusiastically.

"I guess you want us to join?" Michael asked and Emil nodded his head again.

"Yeah everyone's in," Emil said before looking at me, "Can you play in the goal or is your shoulder too bad?"

Before I could answer the question, Michael spoke up for me, "No, that's too risky now. He'll play out, with me"

"So you're in?" Emil asked and both me and Michael nodded our heads, "Pay up then"

Michael scoffed before climbing over to his bag to bring out his wallet and took out £10. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and Michael only waved his hands in dismissal.

Emil took the money and gave us thumbs up before turning to the door and walked out.

"Come on," Michael said and stretched his body out as he got off the bed, "I wanna win my money back"

**

"No!" Sean yelled loudly as the ball Philip kicked hit the net of the goal. Emil ran up to Philip and tackled him down on the ground in happiness as they had won. Sean fell to the ground in defeat and Sam did the same.

The game that started as friendly, soon turned into a game based on life or death. Everyone wanted those prize money, and it showed.

I wanted to win too, but Michael had forced me to stop playing after I'd landed weirdly on my shoulder and I had mumbled about how it hurt.

I sat on the side of the pitch, my legs stretched out in front of me and looked down at my hands in my lap, frowning slightly in pain as I rolled my shoulder.

Luke hadn't talked nor tried to talk to me during these nearly two hours of playing. He hadn't even been close to me during this whole time, and I was starting to lose my patience.

"Ash?" Michael said, pulling me out of my thoughts, "You coming?"

"Where?" I asked and looked around, seeing all guys walking away from the pitch.

"Back inside, it's nearly 11" Michael spoke and reached one hand out for me to take. I gladly took it and he pulled me up from the grass. We started walking and I turned my head to the right, watching Luke walk slowly in the back with his hands in his pockets. I stopped in my step, causing Michael to look at me confused.

"I'm just gonna talk some senses into Barbie" I mumbled and Michael chuckled before walking away again. I turned and made my way to Luke, making him look up when I was close enough.

"I need to talk to you" I said and grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie to tug him back. He looked at me with tired eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. The other guys were already half way back to the school, so the sounds around us grew quieter and quieter.

As the sounds of other voices were completely gone, I turned to look at Luke again. "I heard you today. When you were playing Fifa in Adam's room, you talked about me and you've twisted my words so fucking much"

Luke only looked at me, making me frown before talking again, "I don't just act to be your friend Luke, because I do want to be friends with you. It makes everything so much easier and I like it easier"

"Okay" Luke spoke before he started walking again. I sighed in frustration and gripped his hoodie, pulling him back harshly so he stumbled back. As quickly as I could, I put out my leg so he stumbled over it and fell down on the grass.

"What the fuck?" he asked and glared up at me. I looked down at him before bursting out in laughter, making Luke furrow his eyebrows.

"What is it?" he said harshly but I kept laughing, enjoying the way I could see Luke desperately fighting the corners of his lips from lifting.

"You're smiling" I said in a teasing voice, smirking down at him widely. Luke shook his head and pursed his lips, trying to fight the smile.

"No, no I'm not. You're annoying, leave me alone" he said and turned his head away.

I laughed and bent down to grip his face, steering it up again so I could grin down at him. "I just want to be your friend Luke" I said in a jokingly whiny voice while pouting.

Luke rolled his eyes and tensed his face to keep the smile away but he couldn't as he soon started smiling widely.

"You're a fucking dork, and you are annoying as hell" he mumbled and I chuckled.

Before I could think, Luke gripped my arm and pulled me down on the grass as well. As I landed on the ground I let out a hiss and brought my hand to my shoulder.

"Nice try asshole, I know that's the wrong shoulder" Luke said and I sighed as I dropped the act, because he was right, and he laughed.

"Yeah you would know, you marked the right one" I mumbled and Luke rolled his eyes playfully.

"Are you still hung up on that? Is it still getting too 'personal'?" Luke said in a mocking tone and I chuckled.

"No, it doesn't bother me," I said and before turning to my side to look at Luke who was already looking at me, "Michael saw it though"

"What did he say?" Luke said and frowned slightly.

"Nothing, really. But he's suspicious"

"Of us?" Luke asked.

"No," I said and chuckled lightly, "I don't think anyone in the whole team would ever imagine us together like that"

"Well, they don't have to since that thing is over" Luke said, but it was light, as a joke.

"Yeah, sorry for a few days ago," I said and pursed my lips, "I just- It wasn't really fair since it was just a one man choice and I made everything sound so bad. It sounded better in my head"

"No it's cool, I fucking overreacted" Luke said and chuckled.

"I don't blame you" I said and smiled at him before turning to look at the pitch black sky.

"So, we're friends?" Luke asked and I breathed out a chuckle.

"Yeah," I said and nodded my head, "We're friends"

"Okay" Luke said and nodded his head before looking up at the sky as well.

We laid like that for a few minutes in silence and it was comfortable. I shivered at the slight chilly air though and bit the inside of my cheek before smirking and rolling on top of Luke, my back against his chest so I was still looking up at the sky, my head on his shoulder as it worked as a pillow.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked, his voice slightly amused.

"Lying on top of you" I answered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm cold"

"But do 'friends' do this?" Luke asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck off, Luke" I mumbled and he chuckled.

"Well I would, but you lying on top of me prevents me from moving-"

"You're annoying" I said.

"I know" He answered and I could almost feel the smirk on his face.

I shook my head and sighed with a slight smile on my face before speaking, "Share your warmth. Just hold me"

And so, Luke did.

-

get ready for the next chapter, it will be a huge bomb y'all

read my new lashton story 'tangled', i'm posting chapter 2 right now !¡!

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