Strip Tease (Lashton)

four

Luke

I woke up the next morning with my hair tousled in knots and the sun shining directly into my eyes. I stretched out my arms, feeling my back muscles releasing tension and threw the covers off of my body. I yawned and got up, taking a few steps before knocking over the bottles of beer i left from the night before. I mumbled incoherently and picked them up along with the pizza box and trudged to the kitchen. I placed them on the counter and opened up the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"You know you should really get dressed if youre going to walk around your apartment."

I jumped, hitting my head on the shelf in the fridge and looked up to see natalie sitting on my couch, filing her nails.

"You should know its polite to knock on someones door before entering."

"Awh but lucas, its more fun scaring you.. And you gave me a house key two weeks ago so i figured it was open for me to drop by anytime."

I took a sip from my bottle of water before shutting the refrigerator door and walking past her and back into my room. I slipped on my jeans from the previous night and walked back out to sit with her on the couch.

"So what brings you over here?" i motioned for her to turn around and she sat with her back towards me and i started to mess with her hair. Natalie has been my best friend since high school, she and i just clicked when we sat together at an empty lunch table. She liked my red hot chili peppers shirt and i liked her purple hair and her semicolon tattoo on her wrist. So weve been friends ever since.

"Well my dear boy, i found out that the shop has a new shipment of guitars coming in and there is one there with your name on it."

I sat there and braided her hair, trying to figure out what i was supposed to respond.

"You know i dont have the money for it yet nat."

"I get a discount, and im sure youve got enough to cover it after i put the discount on there, cmon luke, youve been saving up for months and we wont get another shipment in until next month. And that guitar is a big seller, once theyre gone, thats it."

I continued to finish her braid and she turned around and faced me.

"You never do anything for yourself luke. Nows the time to do it."

"I understand that nat i really do.. I just want to make sure that i have everything else taken care of first before i just start spending my money stupidly on something that wont benefit me in the near future." I scooted back off the couch and started to walk down the hallway. I heard natalies petite footsteps behind me.

"Well were still going to hang out the shop, i kinda picked up an extra shift today today so i could get the weekend off with sam." Sam was natalies girlfriend and she was great. I fixed up my bed while natalie threw me a sublime shirt and i pulled it over my head. I found my converse and shoved my feet into them, lacing them up and looked at her.

"Cmon babe, lets get to work." i grabbed my keys and locked up the apartment, following natalie down to the main floor and she unlocked her car. I slid into the passenger seat and she in the driver seat before starting the car and connecting her phone to the bluetooth speakers.

"Play Dont Let Me Down by the Chainsmokers." She hands me her phone and i unlock it, scrolling down her long list of artists before finding the right one and pressed the play button.

The ride through the city was quiet, just enjoying the music for a while and hearing nat sing along. We finally got to the shop parking lot and she turned the engine out and got out of the car and walked over to my side, while i hopped out and shut the door.

Natalie had a reputation to always dress like a badass. Today she wore a plain white shirt under a black leather jacket, black ripped up skinny jeans, and a pair of overly used combat boots. Her sunglasses were placed on top of her hair and she never took her hair out of the braid that i did this morning. It was just a simple fishtail braid. She wrapped her arm around my waist and walked into the store, and hopped over the counter and behind the register.

"Go look around lucas. Enjoy." she started counting the money in the drawer and i walked over towards the guitars. They had alot of good brands, fender, gibson, squier, pioneer, taylor, and probably alot more than that. I picked up one of the acoustic guitars and strummed a little bit of it, listening to the quality of sound. I placed it back on its stand and walked farther back into the store, browsing over their record collections. I heard the chimes above the door open and i looked up from looking over an old beatles album when i saw ashton walk into the store and up to the counter where natalie was counting out change.

"Oh hello ashton. Your drumsticks came in." Natalie tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and walks off towards the back of the store. I quietly placed the album back on the rack and headed towards the door.

"Not so fast hemmings."

Busted.

"Yeah didnt think i saw you back there did you?"

"Hello ashton." i scratched at the back of my neck before ashton turned to face me.

"What are you doing here?"

"The question is what are YOU doing here? The last time i checked youve never been in this music store, actually i figured you hadnt been into any music store for that matter."

"Oh luke, there are just some things you never know about me. So dont judge me, and i wont judge you." he turned back around to face the counter and natalie walked back out with a bundle pack of drumsticks, ringing up the total.

"That will be 27.50." Ashton reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, pulling out a twenty and a ten dollar bill and laid them on the counter. In the see through slip of his wallet, was a picture of him with two smaller children. It puzzled me. I dont think anyone even knew ashton had family, let alone siblings.

"Keep the change." he grabbed his drumsticks, placed his wallet back into his pocket.

"Bye luke."

"Bye ashton."

He nodded his head at me and walked out of the shop.

"You know sometimes you are such a jackass."

"What?" I faced natalie and she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

"I heard everything you said to him. You had no right to even make that comment to ashton. If its really any of your business he comes in here once a month to get the same order of drumsticks. Hes a regular, has been for about two years. But that was really a dick move."

I swallowed the small lump in my throat that had formed and sighed.

"I didnt realize how much of a jerk i sounded to him."

"You think? Look maybe he was right. Maybe you shouldnt judge him because you dont know what he may have gone through and he will do the same for you. You need to apologize."

"I cant even talk to the guy normally. He gives me all of these crazy feelings and its like i completely act stupid when im around him."

"Then maybe you should try to fix it."

And as always.. She was right.