even if he falls :: lashton

seven

seven

"therapy?"

luke had a bad day. some things happened and he was just feeling like dirt at the bottom of life's shoes, wanting nothing more than to cry for hours. but then his mom decided to drop the shrink bomb on the way home from school, making him almost lose the grip he had on the lollipop he was currently going at. his last teacher of the day always gave out candy on fridays almost as a reward for lasting the entire week and incentive to last the rest of them. luke appreciated it either way. 

liz nodded, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. "i think it'll be good for you. i already signed you up and your first session will be, i believe, on sunday morning," she said, and luke gaped at her. he wanted to tuck and roll from the mini van, and run away.

"i don't want to go to therapy! i'm not crazy!" he said exasperatedly, and felt his nerves begin to buzz. sunday was two days away. "mom, please. i don't want to go. i'm gonna' puke." liz frowned, glancing at her son before keeping her eyes on the road. she knew this would be good for her son because a psychiatrist can do things that she couldn't.

"luke, you're not like other kids," she said softly. "i know you're not crazy, honey. you don't have to be crazy to see a therapist. i know you don't wanna' talk to us about it anymore, and since you and calum are fighting, you need someone to talk to."

luke sighed, feeling his insides turn as they pulled into their driveway. "okay," he swallowed.

as soon as the car stopped, luke wasted no time and threw the door open, collecting his bag, slamming it shut, and then running to his room. he didn't want to go to therapy. he didn't want to be different than all the other kids. he wanted to fit in and be able to participate in the pep rallies without tearing up when he loses calum in the crowds and he wanted to play in sports without stressing himself to death before the big game. he wanted to breathe easy at night and not get scared of a fucking bad dream.

he jumped out of his skin when his phone chimed, signalling a text. it was from calum, reading come over and nothing else.

luke didn't even hesitate. as mad as he was that calum had decided to drop him for literally a week and a half plus what happened earlier that day, calum was still his best friend. best friends didn't bail because of some petty fight they went through. however, luke should have faltered a bit more than jumping into his shoes as soon as he locked his phone after the day he had.

he walked into school like normal, expecting the day to go as normally as it had been going since the first day, minus calum and more homework. luke didn't notice the way more people were paying attention to him, or the way that there was almost a guaranteed path for him to walk due to people moving away.

his eyes were trained forward, so it wasn't like all of his attention was on the surrounding people. in high school, you were bound to bump into somebody if not everybody.

unfortunately for luke, he just so happened to bump arms with the dark haired boy from the football game who'd subsequently ruined his entire weekend. well, he would have, if it weren't for ashton making the days slightly more bearable. speaking of which, the older boy hadn't talked to luke since the night of the football game. he wondered if it was because of whatever his mom said, but he tried not to let his mind linger. 

the dark haired boy had gasped, ripping himself away from luke as if he was a dog with mange. luke sucked air sharply through his teeth and tried to walk away, but the boy grabbed his book bag and shoved it downwards as hard as he could, making gravity take its course and take luke down to the floor with it. "i said watch what happens, faggot," the boy said, and people stopped to see what was happening. "don't touch me, i don't want to catch it."