Fall.

Chapter 14.

LUKE'S POV

-

The hallway was nearly empty now, only a few extra kids scrambling to get to their classes before it was too late in it. The warning bell for this period had already sounded, but I was just going to lunch so I didn't need to worry about being tardy.

There were too many thoughts rushing through my mind at the same time. Between my feelings for Stella and her feelings for me and the things that I knew about Ashton that she didn't, there was just too much. It was almost too much for me to handle. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell Stella what was going on with Ashton so badly, but I knew that would only hurt her. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

I kicked my feet against the ground as I walked, amused by the squeaking sound my shoes made every once and a while. I stopped walking when I saw Ashton, who was still digging around for something in his locker.

"We need to talk." I said, slamming Ashton's locker shut, not caring if he was done or not.

"About what? Do you need advice on how to make your next move on my girlfriend?" Ashton stood up. Even though he was a year older than me, I still had a good few inches on him. I stared down at him as he spoke.

"Actually, I'm just curious as to why you're still cheating on her. You told me you were going to stop." I added, "But if you want to give me some tips them that would be nice too."

"I was going to stop, before you decided to hook up with her three times." Ashton smirked. He leaned up against his locker and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It didn't mean anything, we were drunk." I lied.

"Bullshit." Ashton laughed.

"Stop cheating on Stel." I ordered.

"Aw, you have a crush on her, don't you?" Ashton asked, pretending to pout.

"No." I lied. I had more than just a crush on Stella. I had fallen for her, and hard. Usually I didn't even take an interest in girls but Stella was so different, I couldn't help myself. I thought about her all the time and I wanted her so, so, bad. And I hated it.

"I can see right through you, Hemmings. Don't lie to me." Ashton squinted at me, getting closer.

"She likes you a lot, just stop cheating on her." I sighed. I was trying to reason with him, but he didn't seem like he wanted to listen.

"And if I don't?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just stop! Jesus!" I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.

"You really think that you yelling at me is going to stop me? I'm going to break up with her within the next month anyway." Ashton fixed up his hair and smiled, but not the innocent smile he always did when he was around Stella, this was an evil smile.

"If you hurt her at all, I swear to God I'll-" I took a step forward, but Ashton was too fast for me. He pinned me against a locker, holding me by my shoulders so I could barely move.

"You'll what? You'll kill me?" Ashton scoffed, right as he punched me in the stomach.

"Ow." I said blankly. His punch hurt, but I had felt worse pain, it almost didn't phase me.

Ashton raised his fist, ready to punch me again, this time in the face. His grip on my shoulders loosened, so I was able to sidestep a little. I spoke up in an attempt to get him not to hit me there.

"Can you not hit me in the face, please? Your girlfriend's kind of into me and I don't really want to mess anything up with her because you gave me a black eye." I smirked.

Ashton obviously didn't care, because he punched me in the face anyway. This time it actually did hurt. Pain rushed all through my face, and I could tell that I would definitely have some swelling near my eye.

"Ow." I repeated. I wiggled my arm free and threw a punch to Ashton's nose. It started bleeding right away, and I reminded myself to pay myself on the back for that later. I wasn't used to getting into fights, so the fact that I was able to throw a good punch like that made me feel very accomplished.

Ashton didn't say anything, instead he swung his arm back and hit me in the mouth, breaking my bottom lip open. I wiped the blood off with the back of my hand and raised my hand up, as if to say time out.

"Are we done yet? Michael and Stel are going to start to wonder where we are." I asked, already exhausted.

"Don't call her Stel." Ashton snapped, wiping under his nose to try and stop the bleeding.

"Are we done?" I repeated, a lot harsher this time. My eye hurt really bad, and even though it made me feel like kind of a whimp, I didn't want Ashton to punch me again.

"Fine. For now." Ashton said, still holding his nose."

"Just wait until Stel finds out about you-"

"You really want to tell her? You really want to break her heart even more?" Ashton laughed.

I couldn't, I couldn't tell Stella about Ashton. She's liked this guy for forever, I can't imagine how she'll feel if she finds out he's cheating on her right after the start dating. I can't hurt her like that.

"You're such a dick." I glared at Ashton. He just out me in the worst position. I was torn. If I didn't tell Stella what was going on, I could really hurt someone I care about. But if I did tell her, I could hurt her even more.

"It's my specialty." Ashton flashed me a big smile. He picked up his bang off the floor and walked off into a nearby bathroom without saying another word to me.

I made my way to the lunchroom, careful not to catch any attention from teachers that may ask what happened to my face. I found Stella and Michael sitting at our usual table right away, arguing about something like they always did. I walked over to them and gently tapped on Stella's shoulder.

"Luke!" She looked up, immediately noticing the state I was in. She stood and grabbed onto the sides of my face, gently rubbing her thumb over the place where my lip had been bleeding from only minutes earlier.

"Hi." I did my best to try and smile, without giving away how I was feeling inside at the way she was touching me. I let one of my hands slowly reach out and touch her waist, feeling that if I didn't she'd simply disappear.

"What happened?" Stella asked. She let go of my face and took a very small step back, probably realizing that we had caused a bit of a scene.

I looked behind her, seeing that Ashton was only a few feet away from us now. He held a tissue up to his nose and I smiled slightly, still impressed with how I punched him so hard. He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and that's when I figured out that my little talk with him hadn't worked. He was going to continue to fuck with Stella until he was done with her, and I was forced to play along.

"You should check out your boyfriend."


-


"Hey." I said, approaching Stella at her locker. I bit at the inside of my cheek as I waited for her response. It was the end of the day now, and she was packing up to go home.

"Hey." She turned around and smiled. "Are you okay?"

I stared blankly at her for a second before realizing that she was referring to the fight I got in earlier. "Oh, yeah. It was no big deal."

"Your eye looks like it hurts." Stella said, chewing on her bottom lip.

"It doesn't really." I shook my head. "I'm fine."

"That's good. Are you walking home?" Stella asked as she put on her jacket. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder as she zipped it up.

"Yeah." I nodded, turning away from her slightly.

"Do you mind if I walk with you for a little while? Ashton went home after lunch, he thinks his nose may be broken." Stella explained.

I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. "Shit, that sucks. He got punched pretty hard."

"Yeah." Stella smiled, then winked at me. "Nice punch."

"What? You know?" I stopped walking, and grabbed her arm so Stella would stop too.

"Uh-huh. I figured it out." Stella nodded, a huge grin on her face.

"Stel, we were-" I was ready to tell her exactly what happened, why I was fighting with Ashton in the first place. I couldn't wait until Stella found out who Ashton really was. But she cut me off.

"I don't want to know what you were fighting about." Stella shook her head.

"Why not?" I asked. I started walking again, still holding onto Stella's arm and dragging her behind me.

"I just don't." Stella sighed.

"Do you want to come over?" I asked, suddenly changing the subject. I loved spending time with Stella, even if we were just sitting on the couch watching a movie, not talking at all. That was one of my favorite things to do, sit in a comfortable silence. And being with Stella made it even better.

"You're not busy?" She questioned.

"I'm planning on eating my body weight in popcorn and watching TV all night." I shrugged, telling the truth.

"You mean Disney movies?" Stella corrected me. She nudged my with her shoulder and I winced slightly because I had another bruise forming there. I didn't let her see it, though.

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?" I questioned, looking down at her.

"Never." Stella shook her head.


-


"Hang on a minute, let me change my shirt then I'll get you something." I laughed as Stella and I stumbled up the stairs.

We had just been in the kitchen getting something to eat when we decided to have a little water fight. Stella started it, by pouring a whole cup of water over my head. In the past I would have gotten upset at this, because I wasn't used to doing spontaneous things like dousing other people with water. But this little water war was actually very fun, which surprised me. Anyway, the fight left both of us soaked from the waist up. I found it very amusing because Stella looked extremely uncomfortable and kept complaining about wanting a new shirt.

I walked over to my dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out a fresh shirt and throwing it over to Stella.

"Nirvana?" Stella asked, unfolding the shirt and holding it in front of her body, which looked small compared to my big shirt.

"What?" I gave her a confused look. I turned back around, beginning my search for my own shirt to wear.

"I thought you only listened to the soundtracks for Disney movies." Stella laughed.

"Shut up." I turned back to her, only to find her standing in front of me in nothing but a bra and a pair of jeans.

I stared at her with my mouth wide open. I lost count of how many times I looked her up and down, taking in her exposed skin like it was the last time I'd ever see it, which it probably was. I blinked a few times, still not totally believing what was going on. Here I was, in my bedroom with a very pretty girl that I've liked for months now, and she was standing before me half naked. Of course I couldn't do anything about it. Because she had a boyfriend.

"Stop staring, Lucas." She smirked at me.

"I, uh - um." I shut my mouth after realizing that I sounded like an idiot. I turned around again and took out another shirt of the drawer, for me this time. I took a little extra time I find a plain white t-shirt, only because I knew Stella liked it.

I pulled my wet shirt over my head and threw it down on the floor next to me. I figured that if Stella was fine with changing in front of me then I should feel the same way.

"Luke, what's that?" Stella asked, her cold fingers touching the skin on my back. I looked over my shoulder, trying my best to see what she was talking about. I let my eyes travel to the black and blue mark on my lower back.

"That's a bruise." I said quickly, "From earlier today."

"You said you only got hit in the face." Stella frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together.

I shook my head, and turned around. Stella gasped. She looked down at the bruise that was just from today, right on my ribs. Her fingers lightly grazed over the skin, causing me to flinch and step back slightly. I'm surprised I didn't break any ribs, now that I was seeing exactly where Ashton hit. I guess I was just lucky.

"That's from today." I said, letting my eyes flick back up to Stella's.

"But that other one looks like it's been there for a while." She shook her head, still looking confused.

"No, I just got that one today. I got slammed against a locker, if must just be from that." I laughed nervously. Stella worried about me enough, I didn't need her to be even more concerned because of a dumb bruise.

"Luke, tell me the truth." Stella ordered.

"I am telling the truth!" I lied.

"No, you're-"

Then I did something that I knew I probably shouldn't have done. I dropped the shirt in my hands and let them find their way to Stella's hips, where I then pulled her forward and kissed her, hard.

She should have pulled away, she should have just ended it right there. But instead she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself closer into me. We couldn't keep doing this, she had a boyfriend, a boyfriend that could hurt me if he found out that this happened.

I could feel Stella smile, as she ran her tongue over the scab on my bottom lip. I started to walk forward, backing Stella up until we reached the edge of my bed. We fell back into it, not pulling apart for even a second. Stella wrapped her legs around my waist, in attempt to get me closer to her. I moved my hands up her shirt and felt her soft skin, the same skin I had been starting at a few minutes ago, but felt like hours now.

Stella moaned softly and dug her nails into my bare back, definitely leaving some marks there. It kind of hurt, but I liked this kind of pain. I cocked my head to the side, allowing us to deepen the kiss even more. Her tongue slipped inside of my mouth, tangling together and dancing with my own.

After a few more minutes I realized what I was doing.

I pulled away from Stella, leaving her laying on the bed alone. I rushed over to my dresser again and picked my shirt up off the floor, quickly pulling it over my head. Stella sat up and watched me.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I blurted out before she could speak.

"It's okay." Stella shook her head.

"No, Stel, it's not okay. We can't keep doing this, we can't keep kissing when you have a boyfriend! Your boyfriend can hurt me, did you see those bruises? We can't keep doing this, Stel." I rambled on, "You like Ashton, not me."

"It's fine, Luke, it's not all your fault. I played a big part in that too." Stella crawled off the bed and walked over to me. I took a step back, bumping into the dresser behind me.

"We can't, Stel." I practically whined.

Even though Ashton was cheating on Stella and fully deserved for her to do the same thing back, I didn't feel right. Stella has liked Ashton for three years, not me. She deserves to have him at least for a while before he breaks her heart. Besides, if Ashton figures out that this happened again he'll kill me.

"We won't. Not again." Stella nodded. I nodded back, suddenly realizing how heavily I was breathing. I stopped, letting my breaths return to their normal pace. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I swallowed hard. I looked down at the floor, still feeling ashamed at what just happened.

"You always say that." Stella sighed.

"I know."

I always said I was fine, but I was beginning to believe that I really wasn't.



THIS CHAPTER WAS INSANE WHAT THE HECK I DONT EVEN KNOW IF I LIKE IT BUT WHATEVER