notice • lashton

nineteen.

"Everybody's reaction was to die for." Luke finally spoke.

"How did you do it?" Ashton asked, ignoring the other boy's last statement.

"Sierra went running like a mad dog, I hope she will learn her lesson."

"How did you do it?" He repeated.

The youngest raised an eyebrow, silently staring at the man in front of him. He proceeded to sigh in annoyance, now face to face with the mirror standing behind him.

"I asked you a question." Irwin insisted as the gamer adjusted his brown blazer. "How did you do it? How did you find the notebook, Luke?"

He was starting to get frustrated, and not because of the fiasco that happened a few minutes ago...

But because he couldn't read Luke.

He was emotionless, dark, cold...

He wasn't the man that Ashton fell for, at all.

The blond took yet another deep breath. "Remember when I came to visit you at work?" He asked, turning around and laying his back on the thin glass. "I went to your house first, and saw it laying on the kitchen table."

"So what? How did you figure out it was about you? Plus, Calum was with you the whole time, wasn't he? There is no way you had the time to open it, read it, and take pictures."

"I just knew it was about me."

"How?"

Luke gave Ashton a playful look, making it easy for hazel eyes to figure it out.

"You already knew who I was, huh?"

The one with the brown pants crossed his arms together, taking his time to finally answer by a nod.

"So..." Ashton pinched his forehead, trying to calm the headache that was about to hit him. "Us meeting wasn't a coincidence."

"No, it wasn't."

Luke watched the man in front of him move his shoulders in a circular motion, attempting to make his body less tense.

Truth is, Ash was hurt.

Deeply hurt.

He didn't know if it was his ego or his heart, though.

Probably both.

"I would always hear your name whenever Michael would be streaming with Calum. He didn't say much... just that you have some kind of witch powers. That's when I started my researches."

"You stalked me?"

"For awhile." Luke admitted. "I noticed your love for writing about anything and everything. Taking notes is a hobby of yours, I saw that from the amount of notebooks you carry around all the time."

"Well, I like to be prepared, just in case."

"And that is everything I needed from you."

"So, what?" Ashton faced him again. "You said all these things and acted that way in front of me on purpose? Just that I could write about your relationship?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Grow up, Ash. Of course I did. I was very careful of everything I did and said when you were around. If I acted like that everyday in front of every single person I encounter, do you really think people would have believed I was in a real relationship all these years?"

"But why-"

"Four years ago, I did something stupid." He cut Irwin off. "I met Sierra, she was already pretty popular. She wasn't a gamer, but she had a bunch of followers. I was broke, desperate. She gave me a hand, she said she will help me make all of my dreams come true. And she did..." He paused. "On the expense of my happiness."