FRIENDS

12

When I woke up in the morning, I was still unsure about my date with Alex. Lacey insisted that he was a great guy, that I'd love him, but I felt like there was too much going on to be adding more into the mix.

I needed to talk to someone, someone who would be able to lead me in the right direction. Michael and Ashton were out of the question, my confusion and hesitancy stemmed from things that involved them.

So I knocked on Luke's door, praying he'd be awake already.

He opened it a moment later, sleep in his eyes and a generally grumpy look on his face, but his expression changed when he saw me standing there.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing he asked. Luke and I were friends and always had been, but it wasn't very often I went to him with things. Ashton and Michael were my confidants and if I included Luke in things, Ashton was usually there. But this was different.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just really second guessing this whole 'date' thing." Luke sighed and pulled me into his room, closing the door behind him so that nobody could overhear our conversation.

"Why are you so unsure about this?" He asked, sitting down on his unmade bed. His room was an absolute disaster, which didn't really surprise me. Luke never cleaned up after himself. I sat down beside him and sighed.

"I don't know. I feel like it's going to hurt Ashton even more and I'm scared that if Michael has any idea how I feel about him, he'll think differently if I go on a date with another guy. Maybe I should just cancel and hang out in the studio with you guys." Luke shook his head.

"Have you ever thought that maybe you're scared of the idea of liking someone who isn't Michael?" He asked, glancing over at me.

I shrugged. The idea had crossed my mind.

"You've liked Michael since you were like six, right? That's fourteen years, Ivy. That's a long time to spend on one person. It's become comfortable for you and you don't want to break out of your comfort zone, but you've gotta. You might go on this date and think he's cute and funny and he might make you smile, or you could end up thinking he's a total jackass and you'll never see him again." I looked at the floor; Luke was right.

"What about Ashton?" I asked quietly. He ran his fingers through his hair and was quiet for a moment, contemplating his answer.

"I think that Ash will be okay. He's liked you for five years and he's done okay, right? I think it would be easier to see you with someone else than with Michael." My heart sank in my chest. Five years? How had I not known for the past five years?

"Five years?" I whispered hoarsely. My voice was barely audible. Luke blushed.

"Didn't he tell you that?" He questioned, thoroughly confused. I shook my head. Ashton hadn't said anything like that.

"All he said was that he didn't ever want to hook up with one of my friends because girls didn't date the boys who had fucked their best friends. He never even technically said that he loved me... He just insinuated it." I could tell that Luke felt bad for telling me about how long Ashton had liked me, and I could tell he thought I had heard a lot more than I had from Ash. "Is there other stuff that I should know?" I asked quietly. Luke shook his head and sighed.

"Ivy, Ashton has to tell you himself." I nodded my head in understanding.

I thanked Luke for talking to me and went back to my room. I still didn't really know if I wanted to go on this date, but Luke was right, I had to at least try something different. I didn't have to like the guy. I just had to give him a chance.

Mikey was waiting for me on my bed. He was shirtless and his hair was still damp from his shower and he looked so fucking adorable it was ridiculous.