Chapter 13.

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"Babe, are you okay?" Ashton asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. It was the end of the school day now, but I had been like this all day. Constantly zoning out, constantly forgetting simple things.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I nodded. Truthfully, I wasn't. Luke hadn't come to school today, and after what he told me at the library, about those pills he takes, I was worried. Obviously I was thinking about the worst possible scenario, it didn't hurt anyone. I cared about Luke, despite how I've treated him in the past.

"Do you want to come over? My parents won't be home until after dinner." Ashton asked. He wrapped an arm around my waist as we exited the school.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Ashton a lot, but I guess this wasn't exactly what I had expected when he asked me to be his girlfriend. He seemed so boring, the only times we actually had interesting conversations was when Michael was around. Any other time we ended up making out because of our lack of things to do and talk about. I liked Ashton, but this wasn't what I wanted.

"I think I'm just gonna go home, Ash. I'm sorry, I don't really feel good." I said quietly. As unhappy as I was with this relationship I still didn't want to end it right away, this could very well be that awkward stage at the beginning of thing, before we start to really get to know each other.

"Again? You never feel good." Ashton pouted. He stopped walking and took my hand in his, ignoring the fact that there were swarms of people around us.

"It's just a headache. I don't know, I just want to go home and sleep." I said, which was true, all I wanted to do was go back to my apartment and do nothing for the rest of the day. But I didn't have a headache and I tell Ashton that I also wanted to go home and call Luke, just to make sure he's okay.

"Stella, are you sure you don't just want to come over?" Ashton asked again.

"No, I'm just going to go home and rest for a while. I have a math test to study for-"

"Oh, so you're just going to call Luke and have him come over? Is that why you want to get home so bad?" Ashton groaned.

"No, Luke wasn't even at school today. I seriously don't feel good." I said, defending myself.

Ashton bit his lip. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm sorry." I sighed.

"It's fine." Ashton smiled weakly. He pulled me forward and left a gentle kiss on my lips before parting from me and walking off his own way, towards his house.

As soon as I got home I pulled my phone out from my bag and called Luke. My stomach felt as if it was doing flips as the phone rang, even though I knew I should have no reason to be worried.

"Stel?" Luke picked up on the fourth ring. He sounded tired, like he had been sleeping all day.

"Luke! Are you alright? Where were you today?" I spoke quickly, sounding almost too enthusiastic.

"I'm fine, I've been at home." Luke sighed deeply.

"Why?" I asked.

"I-" Luke paused. "I got really drunk last night and I was kind of hungover so I decided to stay home."

"Won't your mom get mad?" I remembered the last time Luke stayed home sick, and how his mother blew up at him for it.

"She won't be home until later tonight, I made sure to check this time." Luke answered shortly. Like he already had the answer all planned out.

"Why would you get drunk on a Wednesday night anyway?" I questioned. I knew that Luke had a tendency to get drunk by himself on weekends, but doing it in the middle of the week seemed kind of odd. Luke was smart, too smart, to get wasted on a school night.

"I have too many feelings and not enough ways to handle them." Luke said simply. I heard him switch the phone between his ears.

"What does that mean?" I asked. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"It means that I'm really fucked up, Stel." Luke's voice cracked slightly, but I didn't mention anything.

"You are not." I disagreed.

"I'm sorry if I - if I scare you or worry you sometimes, with the things I say." Luke sighed again.

"It's fine." I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply.

"You're the only person I can tell this stuff to, Stel." Luke said, his voice getting quieter.

"Luke." I spoke loud, the word coming out of my mouth suddenly, startling me.

"Yeah?" Luke asked, sounding puzzled.

"Can you come over?" I asked, before I even had time to think about what I was asking. I just wanted to be with Luke right now. I don't know how to describe the feeling exactly, but it felt like I needed him, like something was pulling me towards him. And I knew he felt the same way.

"Sure." Luke chuckled softly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it." I nodded, even though Luke couldn't see me.

"Can I crash on your couch again?" He laughed, and so did I. I should have expected this.

"Sure."

Luke showed up about 30 minutes later with his backpack slung over his shoulder like always. Despite him still being a little hungover, he looked great. He wore a simple black hoodie, as he always did, with that pair of skinny jeans that he had torn a hole in. His hair was styled in a perfect way, a mix between up and down. His eyes, even though they had slight bags under them, were still shining the bright blue color they always did. You never would have been able to guess that he was drinking all night.

He walked through the front door, immediately dropping his bag and pulling me into a hug. His arms wrapped tightly around my shoulders as I wrapped mine around his waist and let my face bury itself into Luke's chest.

I pulled away after a few seconds. "What was that for?"

"You looked like you've had a shit day." Luke smiled, nervously looking down at his feet.

"I guess you could say that." I shrugged. I hadn't realized that you could tell by my appearance how I was feeling inside.

Luke pulled his hoodie over his head, leaving him in a plain white t-shirt. I nodded slowly as I silently checked Luke out again, not even noticing that I was doing so.

"What are you staring at, Stel?" Luke asked. Putting the emphasis on 'Stel' like he always did.

"White." I answered, then laughed at myself. Something about that shirt was just so captivating to me that I couldn't bring myself away from it.

"What?" Luke laughed.

"Your shirt, it's white. You normally wear black, or blue." I said, letting myself trail off. I should have just stopped talking there, I had already made a fool of myself. "I like white."

"I like..." Luke paused and looked me up and down, like I had done to him a few seconds before. "Your hair. I like your hair, I always have. It's really pretty, the color, the way you do it, everything."

I stayed silent, slightly taken aback by Luke's statement. I didn't know that he was that observant, he didn't seem like the type to pay very much attention to something as little as a girls hair.

"I'm sorry, that was really weird." Luke chuckled. He looked around the room, as if he was searching for something to start a conversation about, anything to change the subject.

"No, it was..." I stopped when I couldn't think of a word to use. "It wasn't weird, I promise." I smiled.

"You have a math test tomorrow, don't you?" Luke asked, finally finding something else to talk about. I turned around and began walking towards the couch, Luke following me.

"Yes," I groaned.

"Would you like me to help you study?" Luke sat down on the opposite side of the couch from me. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it was before.

"Are you still hungover?" I joked, "I don't want you tutoring me if you're hungover"

Luke blinked a few times, a small smirk forming on his lips. "No."

"Then okay." I shrugged.

"Let's get started."


-


"I thought you'd had my figured out by now, Stel!" Luke laughed as we entered the school. "I'd pick a Disney movie over Star Wars any day!"

"Really? I just thought you'd like Star Wars more, since you're such a nerd." I teased him, jabbing him in the shoulder with my finger. We stopped walking as we reached the door to my first class of the day and leaned up against the wall next to it.

"I'm a cool nerd though, right?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Keep telling yourself that." I said. I playfully pat Luke on the shoulder.

I was surprised with how well we had been getting on today, especially since I wasn't normally a morning person. I guess waking up to find Luke in my living room again was kind of different, it changed my mood.

"Admit it, I'm a pretty cool guy." Luke smirked. He folded his arms over his chest and nodded his head, which just caused me to laugh at how ridiculous he looked.

"You like Disney movies and popcorn." I said, staring blankly back at him.

"A perfect combination!" Luke shouted, earning a few stares from students passing by us.

"You're right," I sighed. "You just can't watch a Disney movie without popcorn now a days." I watched as Luke's eyes caught on to something behind me. He looked confused, and I was sure that he hadn't heard any word that I'd just said.

"Is that.." Luke muttered, still staring off behind me.

"What?" I asked. I tried to turn around but Luke grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"Nothing." Luke shook his head, his stare still focusing at something off in the distance. "I'm gonna go to class now, I'll see you at lunch."


-


I sat down at the lunch table, where Michael was already waiting for me. Somehow he always got down to lunch before all of us.

"Hey." I said, pulling out a seat for myself and sitting down.

"Hey." Michael nodded. His feet were on the table again, but this time I didn't bother him about it, it was clearly no use.

"Where's Ashton?" Michael asked, at the same time I asked where Luke was.

"You ask about Luke before you ask about your own boyfriend." Michael scoffed.

"I knew that you were going to ask about Ashton." I lied. It wasn't my fault that Luke popped into my head first. I hadn't even seen Ashton today. Usually he met me by my locker before lunch, but he wasn't even there this time.

"What's the story with you and Luke?" Michael asked. "Haven't you guys hooked up or something?"

"How did you know about that?" I snapped. I thought that Luke and I had agreed not to tell anyone about the time - or times - we kissed.

"Oooh, so it is true. It's been kind of going around the school, just as a rumor though." Michael shrugged.

"It only happened once." I said, and Michael raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay, twice...three times. Just don't tell Ashton, please."

"Oh, I would never." Michael smiled.

Just then I felt a person walk up next to me, and I looked up to find Luke standing over me. But instead of him holding his usual bag of chips and can of Coke he had a swollen eye and a busted lip.

"Luke!" I yelled, standing up. I grabbed his face in my hands and let my thumb rub over the already growing scab on his lip.

"Hi." Luke tried his best to smile with my fingers on his lips.

"What happened?" I asked. I removed my hands from his face, realizing that there were people watching us. Luke and I both sat down.

"You should check out your boyfriend." Luke nodded, looking behind me.

I turned around just in time to see Ashton sit down on the chair on the other side of me. He looked about the same as Luke, with a swollen eye and bloodied knuckles. He held a tissue up to his nose, probably to stop any bleeding.

"Hey, babe." Ashton smiled, resting his free hand on my knee.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked, looking between both of them.

"Did you get mugged?" Michael asked from across the table. I shot him a glance as if I say "shut up", then looked back at Luke.

"Some guy was messing with me in the hall and I sort of overreacted and threw a couple punches. He was a lot bigger than me..so..." Luke smiled again, like he was amused by the fact that he was hurt.

"What about you?" I turned to Ashton, fearing that it was Ashton who had been messing with Luke.

"I stepped in and broke them up, but I kind of got in the middle of the whole thing." Ashton laughed. He drew small circles on my knee with his thumb.

"You guys seem so calm." Michael noticed, leaning back in his chair again.

"It was no big deal, right Luke?" Ashton stared at Luke with wide eyes. Like he was depending on him to give the right answer.

Luke sent a harsh look towards Ashton before answering. "Yeah. No big deal."

As much as I trusted these two boys, something here didn't seem right.



TO THE GIRL WHOS BIRTHDAY IS TODAY AND WANTED AN UPDATE: I REALLY HOPE IM NOT TOO LATE :)

I'm sorry this was a little short, I whipped it up pretty fast so I didn't have time to write out a ton.

I hope you all like it!!

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