Just A Friend?

[31]: Unhappy Birthday

**Picture of Lyd's second swim suit design**

After Ash left on Wednesday, Christina came into my room. She heard him leave so knew something bad must have happened and found me bawling my eyes out on the floor before sitting on the floor with me, hugging me whilst I cried. When I told Fin last night what had happened he understood where I was coming from but was livid, he wanted to go round and shake Ash silly until he realised what he was doing but I stopped him. I said if he wanted Tina then he could have her but he'd probably lose me in the process, and that was up to him to decide. I didn't tell my parents what was going on but they knew something was up as Ayla was the one taking me to college not Ash. Even if Ash did drop me off yesterday, he didn't come inside like he usually did, he drove off giving me the space I asked for.

So it's now Friday lunchtime, and these past two days have been the most awkward of my life. In the car with Ash last night I didn't know what to say to him. We briefly talked about our day in college but other than that we didn't talk, we didn't laugh, we didn't tease each other and we didn't argue. I hated it; it was like we'd gone from best friends to strangers in under twenty four hours. I honestly felt like I didn't know him anymore.

Everyone in college seemed to know about mine and Ash's argument because every time I walked past anyone there would be whispers of our names. Plus it was obvious something was wrong as we were sitting at separate tables for lunch which was something we never did.

Things were extremely strained between us and I hated it. I know I asked for this but I was hoping he'd ignore me and come sit next to me at lunch like always. Continue to tease and joke with me but no, he sat somewhere else with his friends and a gloating Tina cuddled up next to him.

I even saw Rachel and her little crew of minions grinning at me like they'd 'won' something over me. I was waiting for her to pipe up and say something but she never did, she just sat there with this smug grin on her face.

Then in class Tina kept looking over to where I was sat with Ayla and grinning at us; I wanted to go over and scratch her eyes out but Ayla just kept repeating one word to me over and over stopping me. 'Karma'. Tina was a bitch, she was using this argument between me and Ash to gloat and push me out even more. She was loving that she got to spend all her evenings with him and her weekends now, well apart from Fridays. I wasn't giving the bitch those.

Lunch was almost over when the room fell silent. Glancing round the room to see what was going on I saw everyone looking at my table. All the girls, even Marcus and Elliot were looking at me or behind me. I know curiosity killed the cat but it got the better of me so I turned around to see what everyone was looking at, only to see Ash stood there with Tina beside him.

"Lou can we talk for a second?" he asks quietly and I nod before standing up.

"Everyone get back to your own boring lives, there's nothing to see here that should interest you." Lois shouts out to everyone who automatically started talking again, creating a buzz around us.

I smile at her over my shoulder and she winks at me before turning back to talk to the girls.

"What's up?" I ask

As soon as I say that, Tina links her fingers with Ash's and wraps her other arm around his, pushing her body right up to his side.

"Well it's my birthday tomorrow..." Ash says and I nod and smile back.

"I do know that Ash, I haven't forgotten." I smile up at him and see his face crack one back, but it wasn't my favourite smile of his. This one didn't fill his whole face.

"Well I know we have our tradition for breakfast ect..." and I nod again allowing him to continue.

"And well Tina wanted to do something with me but I said tomorrow was off limits so she...we, were wondering if you'd mind if we went out for an early dinner tonight. We'd still hang out like we usually do but just later on, you can come round to mine once we're done." he asks and I honestly thought my heart stopped.