"Why haven't you been hanging out with Luke recently?" I sat in the kitchen on my laptop while my mom did her weekly floor to ceiling scrubbing to maintain the materials used to make the kitchen. Plus, she had nothing better to do today and said she wasn't in the mood to watch Judge Judy reruns until dinner time.
I didn't mind spending time with her like this. As she cleaned, I secured my classes for the fall and chimed in and out of conversation with her.
I shrugged my shoulders behind the screen. "He's busy, you know?" I couldn't explain to my mom what Luke was actually going through. As much as I thought I didn't understand being famous, I knew my mom would look at me like I was speaking Turkish to her and walk away from me. No point wasting my breath. On the other hand, I didn't want to spread Luke's business as if it was my own. If Luke wanted my family to know about Arina and his whole deal, then he would tell them. The fact that he hadn't come around in awhile spoke volumes on that.
"Ah, yes." She shook her head playfully, probably thinking of all the wonderful things Luke was accomplishing with his music.
I let the conversation dull out. Luke was grown enough to make his own choices. If he wanted to be dumb, then cool, I hoped he would learn from his bad choices. I didn't want to sit and dwell on someone I thought was my best friend. In reality, if he was my best friend he wouldn't be acting as weird as he was with all of this. Whatever it was, I still wished him the best. Maybe it hurt a little to have toss me to the side so quickly, but he needed his space as much as I needed my own.
"Guess who charmed management into giving me information on Arina?!" Ashton abruptly entered the kitchen, shouting with pride. His arms raised over his head like he just won first place in the Olympics for doing absolutely nothing. Though, when he noticed my mom, he went back to a serious and calm demeanor. Silently apologizing for being loud in her house. "Oh, hi Mrs. Kozma."
"Ashton," She chuckled, dipping her head as she looked over her shoulder. "How are you?"
"I'm well, thank you." Ashton nervously gripped his phone.
It was hard to ever catch Ashton in such a nervous moment. He was typically thriving off moments that caused him the most adrenaline. Performing, answering tough interview questions, etc, but something about my parents made Ashton lose his cool completely.
"I'll leave." Mom offered and left before I could decline and tell her we could go out to the living room or my bedroom.
"Hello to you too." I said with an amused look, as my eyes scanned him up and down. He wore his usual black jean and band tee attire. Today, a bandanna rested on his forehead, keeping his hair out of his face.
"Hi," He pressed a kiss to the top of my forehead. "I missed you."
I rolled my eyes at him, seeing as it had only been a day since we had seen each other.
"How did you manage to get info on Arina?" I asked him as I closed my laptop. He took a seat at the island next to me.
"I may or may not be managements favorite 5SOS member and I told them I was a little worried about Luke's recent moods since a certain someone entered his life and they let me see the legal documents." He boasted, unlocking his phone to show me pictures in his camera roll that were all too long for me to read at the rate he was swiping.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda scared, but I'm kinda curious."
"Honey, it's all shocking." Ashton pointed.
I nodded for him to go on.
"They have her pretending to be 18, when she's really 21, or 22. So it looks less weird on Luke's behalf. They get paid $5,000 for every appearance they make together. That's nothing to Luke, but that's what Arina is in this for. The money, the attention. She has no job, she claims to be a model, but she just posts horrible iPhone 4 camera quality pictures." He swiped through screenshots of her Instagram. I was rather impressed to see one hundred thousand likes on some of the photos he was showing me. "I also found old videos of her on the internet...and just as we suspected we have a coke head on our hands!"
"Who's a coke head?" Xander queried, entering the kitchen unannounced.
I sighed. "Xander, this conversation has nothing to do with you."
I grabbed my laptop from the counter and grabbed Ashton's hand, leading him to my room. The only place where this conversation could be held without anyone listening in.
"If you guys are going to have sex, make sure you do it quietly!" My brother shouted.
"Can't make any promises to you, Xander!" Ashton retorted before the door to my bedroom shut.
I chuckled lightly at their interaction as I placed my laptop on my vanity. Ashton made himself comfortable on the bed.
"So, what do we do with all this information?" I opened my balcony doors to let in some fresh air. "I'm sure Luke won't listen to us."
"We wait?" Ashton offered. "In the mean time, we can expose her."
"So, you're kinda dedicated to ruining this girl's life?"
"Look...She's changed Luke in the matter of a month. There's no telling what she'll do to him in six months, a year. If people know the truth about her maybe Luke will open his eyes." Ashton was never vengeful, never willing to do something petty or negative in response to something negative. He didn't think two negatives made a positive. He thought two negatives created a shit show and ruined lives. So what was making him decide to do all of this now? Was it even worth it?
