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The way Ashton picked Courtney up by the waist and spun her around in the air, kissing her with shining eyes, full of smiles and laughs, I knew he was in love with her.

With every small peck to her face and every laugh and compliment passed, a little piece of my heart broke. He was in love with her. This wasn't just some game to see how jealous he could make me. He clearly chose her over me.

I watched as Ashton's bright eyes lit up when she smiled and how his fingers danced around her waist. It looked as if they hadn't seen eachother in weeks, not a day. When Ashton didn't see me in weeks all he did was glare at me and get us stuck in detention.

I turned away from the couple, my eyes meeting the metal spoon Ashton used to stir the food a moment before. I tried to focus on that to get my mind off of was was going on in the other room, but it was nearly impossible.

"Leah!" I heard my name being called and I jumped, turning over to meet eyes with Ashton and Courtney, "Come here." Ashton said, a smile still plastered on his face.

I walked into the room quietly, forcing a smile onto my face as I approached Courtney. "This is Leah, my photography partner. Shes dating Luke Hemmings. Leah, this is Courtney, my girlfriend." Ashton introduced.

Courtney flashed me a kind smile, "Hey, Leah, you're in my math class right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

"Well it's nice to see you again!" She beamed, grabbing Ashton's hand, "I didn't know you're dating Luke Hemmings, how has he been?" Courtney and Luke were pretty close, since Courtney was Michael's childhood crush. Eventually, they all became friends but I never got in on that boat.

"He's doing well." I replied shortly. In all honesty, I had no clue how Luke had been. We have barely been talking lately, in fact, I had barely been talking to anyone.

"That's good to hear!" The amount of happiness Courtney spoke with was beginning to annoy me, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom as Courtney started making a conversation about how photography was going.

I quickly rushed into the hallway, when it dawned on me that I had no clue where the bathroom was. Wait, maybe I did. I walked over to the only door I knew where it led to, and began walking down the flight of stairs.

The lights were already on, and the place was a complete mess, but it made me smile knowing it was Ashton's mess. I walked over to his bed, seeing a familiar picture laying on the side table. It was the photo strip from the last good night of my life.

I picked it up, smiling to myself.

"Whoops, I meant to put that somewhere else." I heard a chuckle from across the room and didn't even have to look up. "You don't like Courtney, do you?"

"She's nice." I mumbled, setting down the photo strip, still not meeting eyes wish Ashton. With a sigh, I sat on his bed.

"I know you like me, Leah." I felt Ashton sit down next to me, "And you know I like you too. But I really really like Courtney, and being with her just feels so right, you know?"

I sighed, shaking my head, "I don't know if you're trying to make me feel better, but that's a horrible way to go out about it."

"I'm just telling you the truth. Sometimes the truth just isn't what you want to hear."

I continued sitting in silence, looking at my feet, "Do you want me to just give up on you?"

It was Ashton's turn to be at a loss of words. It was a hard question to answer anyway. I wasn't sympathetic for him, though, he knew how much it bothered me to see him with another girl and he put me in this situation.

"I suppose that's your choice."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Ashton fell to a silence again. He never got to reply, though, because a moment later the bell chimed out through the basement. He stood and began climbing the stairs, stopping just before he reached the middle.

"I offered for us to be just friends because I thought you liked Luke more than me. You had at one point, and now I have Courtney. You can't just expect me to be there whenever you're lonely, Leah, that's not what love is. And that's how I realized that we weren't really in love. Maybe you'll find love someday, but not with me." With that, Ashton turned and quickly finished his decent up the stairs, slamming the door behind him.

I felt tears prick my eyes, the words Ashton spoke to be hitting me like a bullet in the chest. I tried to stop myself from full on breaking down, but it was no use. This was all too much. My whole life was a mess and it was all because of photography. Maybe if I had chosen a different hobby I would have been a different person, maybe someone like Courtney who had an actual chance with guys she liked.

It was strange how one boy managed to completely change my one goal in life, in two months of knowing him. I sprawled out on his bed, letting out a sigh. Suddenly, my hand hit something soft, a different material from the bed.

I sat up, looking and finding my white sweater laying in the middle of his bed. It was the one that I had on the night he came to my house and we went back to the boardwalk. I must have left it there that morning. But why was it laying on Ashton's bed?

I realized tears had been streaming down my face in memory of that night. Everything was easier then, I wish I could go back.

"Leah?" I heard a voice from the stairs. I recognized the voice and my head automatically perked up and I stood, running over to my best friend standing at the base of the stairs. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, and we stayed that way for a few moments.

Luke pried my face away from his shoulder, his bright blue eyes softening at the sight of my face, "Lee-bear, don't cry," he hummed, softly wiping the tears off my face with his thumb, "Was it Ashton?"

I nodded my lips turned down into a frown. I hadn't realized how much I missed Luke until now, his arms around me, those blue eyes that made you smile just looking at them. "Can we go home?"

Luke frowned, scrunching his eyebrows together, "We can't let Ashton win this, though." I nodded again.

"You're right. He hurt me, but I'm done crushing on him, Luke. He told me that he'll never fall in love with me, and I don't want to chase after something that doesn't care about me." I bit my lip, my face still in between Luke's large hands.

He stayed silent for a moment before giving me a quick kiss on the lips, "I guess we have nothing to lose then. Let's go out there and get through dinner, then I'll take you out to your favorite ice cream shop, deal?"

"Deal." I replied, and with Luke's hand intertwined with mine, we made our way up the stairs to the dreaded couple on the other side of the door.