Chapter 17.

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"Ashton knock it off, that tickles!" I laughed, the feeling of Ashton's fingers trailing along my skin giving me goosebumps.

Ashton laughed quietly as well, continuing to touch me. "You like it."

"Keep telling yourself that." I whispered. I looked up at Ashton and smiled.

We had been curled up in my bed like this for hours, I didn't even know what time I was anymore. Ashton had finally cleared out a weekend to hang out with me, and after watching as many movies as possible in my bed on his laptop, we decided that he may as well spend the night over here.

It was nice, spending time with Ashton like this. Things didn't seem as awkward between us anymore, and I was happy that I had been able to spend a whole day with him and just talk, nothing else.

"Are we ever going to go to sleep?" Ashton asked, his arm tightening around me.

"Why? Are you tired?" I said, pretending to pout.

"No, but I bet you are." Ashton smirked. He shook his head quickly, causing his long hair to fall slightly in front of his eyes.

"I'm never tired." I said as I bit back a smile.

"Sure you are. You fall asleep while we're on the phone all the time." Ashton teased.

"Because you bore me." I said, teasing right back.

"Oh, do I?" Ashton raised an eyebrow. He laughed slightly, then shifted his weight so we were both in a more comfortable position. I ended up with my head resting on the inside of one if Ashton's arms, the other slung lazily across me.

"You talk about video games a lot. You might as well call Michael." I joked. Michael and Ashton had a bad habit of talking to me about things that they would probably much rather talk about with each other.

"Michael's not my girlfriend." Ashton laughed, as he leaned down and kissed the top of my forehead.

"Oh, shut up." I rolled my eyes, playfully slapping Ashton on the arm.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Ashton asked. He sat up and looked around the room.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, sitting up as well.

"It sounded like there was someone at the door." Ashton said.

"I don't-" Ashton put a finger to my lips, stopping me from saying any more.

"Someone's knocking." He whispered, and sure enough I was able to hear a quiet knocking at the front door.

"I bet you're just trying to scare me." I sighed, clearly not amused. It was too late for Ashton to be doing this.

"I'm not! I heard something!" Ashton argued. "Go answer the door!"

"No, I'm not answering the door. It's like 2 in the morning." I shook my head.

"Stella, go get the door. It's probably Michael. I bet he could hear us talking about him all the way downstairs." Ashton laughed, untangling his arms from me so I could get up.

I gave Ashton a big sigh and climbed off my bed, annoyed with him for making me get up. I knew he wouldn't leave me alone, though, and the knocking hadn't seemed to stop at all in the short time that it took Ashton and I to argue about that.

I made my way to the front door, part of me nervous about what could be on the other side and part of me extremely annoyed with it. I opened the door only to reveal Luke, the one person that I should have expected to come over at the hour.

Luke stood leaned up against the doorway, a huge grin spreading across his face at the sight of me. Seconds later, his face dropped, like he had remembered what'd brought him here in the first place. He didn't carry anything with him, only the jacket that he always wore with his usual hoodie and a pair of sweatpants underneath. His hair was matted down against his head, making it obvious that he had been sleeping before he came over. His normally blue eyes were red and puffy, with the clear remains of tears staining his cheeks. Whatever brought him here, it wasn't good.

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