Three weeks and five days later, Ashton was sitting across his mother in an expensive restaurant as they waited patiently for his father to arrive.

He tapped mindlessly on the champagne glass his mother was drinking from only for her to slap his hand away.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" he asked, no longer feeling patient.

"Who knows, he's probably off with that new assistant of his," his mum replied, typing something on her phone.

Ashton rolled his eyes. It was no surprise that Ashton's parents weren't exactly the normal mother and father figure he wished to have. Both constantly sleeping around with other people definitely had rubbed off on him in the past but now he had settled. Well sort of.

His feelings for Luca hadn't faded in the time they had decided not to talk to each other. If only, they'd gotten stronger as the urge to pull Luca aside in the hallways at school became increasingly tempting.

Ashton's mind was fixated on Luca and Luca only. There was the odd girl who would fling herself at Ashton when she got the chance, but the whole time his eyes would be searching for Luca's.

And Luca was always staring at him. Always. Ashton just hoped soon Luca would finally talk to him again, but he understood he needed time to figure things out.

Because he told Luca he would be waiting but maybe he wouldn't show just like his father was still not present at the dinner that he planned.

"This is useless," Ashton mumbled, his mum eyeing him from her phone.

"What do you expect from your father? He's a piece of trash."

Ashton rolled his eyes at his mother's comment, "Then why don't you divorce him huh?"

"Because it's kind of nice. We share a big house, have a kid, are loaded with money and we just have this mutual agreement going on you know? We can fuck whoever the hell we want because how we see it is that we're just a free couple who likes to break the traditional rules set forth on marriage. Maybe we love each other, maybe we don't but either way we don't care," his mum explained, taking a sip from her champagne, her deep red lipstick leaving a mark.

"Do you guys even talk though?" Ashton questioned, because he had never seen his parents involve themselves in a conversation in his whole life.

His mum shrugged, "Yeah every now and then. We're busy people but we make time for each other."

Ashton nodded but found it all extremely confusing and baffling to him. He didn't think he could ever be in a relationship like theirs.

"Oh he's here!" Ashton's mum exclaimed, and he turned around to see his father enter through the glass doors.

He was fitted in a tight black suit as he made his way over to his family, smiling only just a little.

Ashton didn't see his dad as often as he saw his mum. The man was cool enough, though he and Ashton didn't really have a father-son bond. He was more of that uncle you really liked who would show up every now and then and shower you with attention.

"Hi honey," he leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek before moving his gaze to his son, "Ashton."

"Hi dad," he replied, smiling sheepishly.

The rest of the night went smoothly. The conversations consisted of Ashton's school and study as well as his parents dwelling on how exhausting their work has been recently.

They were just about to leave when Ashton received a text. He fished his phone out from his pocket and widened his eyes when he saw who it was from.

Luca: hey.

Hey? That's all he got?

Ashton: hi

A minute passed and Ashton and his family were now standing from the table and picking up their belongings.

His phone buzzed again as they all

made their way out the door.

Luca: look up

Ashton knotted his eyebrows but did as told and lifted his gaze. His eyes fell on a familiar brunet whom he was only just texting.

Luca had a shy smile on his face as he stood there at the front of the restaurant and Ashton halted his steps.

"Luca?" he asked, not fully comprehending that he was seeing correctly, "What are you doing here?"

At this point, his parents stopped too, falling behind to look over at the boy Ashton was talking to.

"Um," he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, letting out a nervous laugh, "I was just passing by and I saw you through the window."

Ashton nodded and suddenly wished his parents weren't standing right beside him so he could have some alone time with the boy he'd been longing to talk to for so long.

"Where were you heading?" Ashton asked, eyeing the school bag thrown over his shoulder.

"Oh, I was just on my way home from the library," he explained, pointing a thumb down the street.

Ashton nodded, "Let me come with," he said.

"What?" Luca coughed out.

Ashton's mum and dad sent the two boys raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, I want to show you something," Ashton smiled, jumping at the opportunity to spend time with Luca.

Luca returned the smile slightly, "Okay, sure."

"Cool!" Ashton exclaimed, turning back to his parents.

His mum only shrugged before throwing him her set of keys, "Take my car. Your father and I did come in separate cars plus we're in the near city. Your friend would most likely be walking for just under an hour to arrive home so be a gentleman and drive him."

Ashton caught the keys and looked up at his mum in astonishment, but didn't get time to speak as she and her husband turned and walked off.

He turned back to Luca who seemed more timid then ever.

"Take the lead," Luca said, motioning a hand forward.

Ashton laughed, and did so, making his way over to his mother's car with Luca in tow.

And he smiled because Luca was actually agreeing to this. It felt magical already.