A Certain Romance || Ashton Irwin

#teamSage

"Lets go," Sienna snapped her freshly manicured fingers at me, while she pranced around the living room searching for her cell phone. Her beige sheath dress was literally the same color of the carpet in the living room and the match looked ridiculous enough to laugh at. It was only 7:30 in the morning, who really needed to be wearing a dress and heels at such an hour if they weren't going to work? To top it off, her hair was neatly done, the ends flipped inward framing her jaw. And don't get me started on the bright red lipstick she was wearing. There was a time and a place for it, but not now and here. "I'm taking you to school." She blindly smoothed out the lipstick she wore.

"That's a shame because Michael's already here." On cue Michael honked the car's horn.

Arrie quietly entered the room, clutching his backpack and his school blazer. The blazer was a mandatory item for a good student standing during the colder months. I always opted for the black cardigan that had the school logo printed on the front left to remind us that our hearts were always with The Lord.

Since Sienna returned Arrie hadn't said much and rarely left Sam's room. It wasn't his fault that Sienna had a way of simply making people feel unwelcome and uncomfortable.

"Young lady, you will not be getting in that car with that boy." She warned between her teeth, trying to remove her heel from a snag in the carpet. She looked like a hysterical mess.

I linked arms with Arrie, making a quick escape from the house and hopping into the Buick; Luke and Arrie in the back, Michael and I up front. I watched in the mirror as Ashton helped Veronica into the passenger's seat, opening the door for her and holing her hand as if she couldn't get in by herself.

My heart stung just a little bit watching how happy he looked with her and how he looked at her.

"I'm guessing she still isn't a fan of me." Michael motioned to the window on my side where Sienna stood in the front lawn yelling, pretending to do her part of parenting.

"That's okay, Mikey. I'm a fan." Luke rested his chin on the driver's seat, smiling innocently to Michael even though he couldn't see. Michael and Luke had been on better and closer terms since Luke had come out to him. Michael was understanding, but he didn't want to get Luke's hopes up because Michael didn't love Luke in the same way.

"Thanks, Luke." Michael toggled the heat on when he saw me rubbing my hands together for warmth. The upside to wearing the cardigan and not the blazer was I could bring the extra fabric over my hands to warm them up. The blazer had little to no room in it.

"I kinda want to get your signature tattooed on my arm when I turn eighteen." Luke pulled out his mirror, doing his morning routine of checking his hair for the second time. It happened at least seven times before lunch time and then fifteen times after that.

"I would advise you not to do such a thing." Michael rolled his eyes at the blond with the mirror.

"Oh, okay." Luke's eyes flickered from left to right while he pondered after shutting his pocket mirror. "Well maybe I'll just create an altar for you in my house."

"That's better."

Satisfied with that answer, Luke sat back, clasping his hands and placing them in his lap. He began happily swaying to the music in his head because Michael refused to play anything so early in the morning. "So, Lydia's parents have this house on the lake and they're letting her invite ten people to stay in it for New Year's Eve. I think we should go."

"Will your mom let you go, Luke? That's the obvious question." It was a smart question for me to ask. Liz wasn't the most easily convinced woman when it came to letting Luke venture off on his own. Luke was still her innocent little baby that could get eaten alive by the outside world and she wasn't ready to let him loose.