A Certain Romance (Reimagined)

Halloween

"You honestly don't expect me to show up to the party wearing that, do you?" I questioned Ashton as I lied on my bed, scrolling through Facebook on my phone to catch up with the latest bullshit going on at Lakewood. "You don't expect me to show up to Calum's party at all, right?"

Football Friday's were one thing when it came to showing up to Calum's house, but willingly having to go on a Saturday - 1 of 2 days that I had without Calum's existence - pained me to a certain degree. I was fine watching horror movies, eating junk food, and possibly going trick or treating in Luke's neighborhood (his disgustingly rich neighborhood had the best candy).

Ashton was still day dreaming about us being the power couple of Lakewood, that he might have in fact forgotten that we were nowhere close to being in a relationship. I wasn't sure if I wanted anything more with him right now. Sure, he was easy to hang out with, and even easier to annoy, but the thought of being more than just friends was something I couldn't wrap my mind around. He was the first guy in some time to actually pay attention to me and I always said I didn't want to fall for the first guy that paid attention to me, but here I found myself with feelings and uncertainty about them.

Sometimes I felt as if Ashton was only obsessed with the idea of me - or us - and didn't fully put thought behind what he was truly obsessing over. There were times I believed he was obsessed with a fabricated version of myself that he made up in his head to make himself happy.

Did he even know me?

Or did he just know the Sage that would put him higher on the high school food chain?

"Come on, it's our last Halloween of high school. You can't just decide not to celebrate." Ashton whined from my desk as he searched Google for potential couples costumes.

Nothing seemed more cringe-worthy than showing up in couples costumes with someone I wasn't with. I didn't hate being in love, but I definitely hated couples who rubbed it into everyone that they were in love and that they were super happy. Funny thing about those kinds of couples was that they weren't happy and that there was a lot more going on behind the scenes.

"I'm okay with celebrating in front of Michael's television, watching random shows and eating all the candy." I shrugged, slumping down on my bed until I lied flat on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling.

I couldn't deny the absolute comfort and ease of being in Ashton's presence, it was something I enjoyed and it brought a few happy thoughts to my head. Things weren't forced when it was only us together, that was rare to find with anyone these days. It was lovely to sit in a room with someone and have absolute silence while either of you do your homework or sift through your phones and just feel at peace.

On occasion, I felt as if something could spark right then and there in our moments of solitude, but I worried too much about what those close to me would think about me if they knew my true feelings for Ashton and what would happen to Ashton and I as friends if something didn't work out. I was stubborn when it came to letting new people into my life and developing friendships with people I knew I wouldn't see often, but something about Ashton made it easy to let him in and continue to want him to be your friend. Maybe it was because he was my neighbor or the fact that he was always right there putting in some effort with me, even if it meant that he was buying take out for us and talking to me about deeper things that weren't arguments.

The amount of comfort and ease between us, also meant that there was a high chance of us annoying each other. It was like having Michael and Luke permanently living next door to ruin my life forever. Our arguments never ended with I'm sorry's, but always with laughter and ignited a new topic to discuss with so much ease.

"Sage." Ashton turned around from my desk, gliding the chair to the side of my bed.

I didn't respond to him right away, therefore earning a poke to the ribs and a lip pout that I could never admit out loud I found cute and it almost made me want to agree to any costume he wanted. But, fortunately, I was not that girl and Ashton would find too much thrill from that and he'd tell all of the football team that I found his pout cute and I wouldn't be able to live it down.