"Why isn't he eating?" Brooke questioned, staring at Ashton off in the distance.

"He doesn't like the food here. He usually gets something to eat on his way home from school." I answered, proud that I had learned this small fact about him.

"He eats out every night?" Calum asked. I loved talking about Ashton around Calum, because he got so excited. He was so fascinated with Ashton, sometimes it was easier to talk to him about my little crush than Brooke.

"Well, yeah. Just fast food or something." I shrugged. "Or sometimes if his dad's home he cooks, we had leftover lasagna last Saturday."

"Last Saturday?" Brooke leaned forward.

"Uh, yeah? What, did we have plans?" I rolled my eyes again, tired of Brooke informing that we had plans after they occurred.

"I thought we were going to the mall." Brooke said coldly, scooting away from Luke.

"You never called me or anything, I didn't know. Sorry." I said, shrugging again.

"We talked about it on Friday, I thought you were going to call me." Brooke scowled at me.

"Didn't you go to the mall two weekends ago?" I asked.

"Brooke needed new shoes." Luke said quietly.

"Shut up." She said, smacking Luke on the chest. "I needed new shoes."

"Well, I'm sorry. Call me next time." I said, giving Luke a sympathetic look. He didn't deserve to have Brooke be so mean to him.

"Dani, I just don't understand why you keep blowing us off." Brooke frowned.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to blow you off. I didn't think we had definite plans." I apologized for the third time.

"Brooke, it's not a big deal." Luke sighed. He tried to calm his girlfriend down by rubbing her shoulder with his hand, but she shook him off. They've been fighting a lot lately, but obviously I hadn't been around enough to know what about.

"I barely see you anymore, Dani, you only spend time with Ashton now!" Brooke yelled.

"He's my friend." I shrugged.

"Well you're my best friend!" Brooke groaned. "What about me?"

"Brooke, Ashton really doesn't have many friends, Dani's just being nice." Calum added, and this was the one time that I was actually thankful for one of Calum's inputs.

"Your little crush on him has gotten kind of out of hand, don't you think?" Brooke asked, crossing her arms.

"No, actually I think it's working." I said, leaning back in my chair. I was angry with Brooke, she was blaming me for doing exactly what she had told me to do in the first place. I was slowly fixing Ashton.

"He likes her back." Calum said quietly, and Luke nodded.

"He likes me back?" I questioned.

"He told me he liked you." Calum said, turning around quickly to glance at Ashton, who was sitting alone on the other side of the lunch room.

"I didn't even know the two of you talked that much." I furrowed my eyebrows at Calum. I knew that they had spoken a few times, but I didn't think Ashton was going to blab about his personal life to Calum.

"I've started walking with him in gym. He gave me a cigarette the other day." Calum beamed, obviously proud that Ashton liked him enough to share cigarettes with him.

"Oh, great!" Brooke exclaimed. "He's slowly turning you all into drug addicts!"

"Brooke, it's fine." Luke said, reaching out for her again. She swatted his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" She shouted.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, looking concerned. I felt bad for him, he loved Brooke more than anything and she was treating him so poorly.

"I thought you were only pretending to like him until you found out more about the accident, anyway." Brooke turned to me, ignoring Luke.

"No, not at all. I really do like him." I shook my head, questioning why Brooke even thought that.

"Did you ever find out what really happened? How did he kill his girlfriend?" Brooke asked. I was fuming now, it was honestly none of Brooke's business what happened with Ashton and Kenzie. He told me because he trusted me, and I wasn't about to tell Brooke just for her amusement.

"It doesn't matter, it was an accident." I said through gritted teeth.

"Seriously? Now you aren't going to tell me?" Brooke groaned.

"It's really none if your business." Luke shook his head, not understanding what had gotten into Brooke either.

"You're not going to tell me either? What's the big deal, why are you hiding this from me?" Brooke said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"He probably doesn't want anyone to know. He told Dani because he likes her and trusts her, you should just respect that." Calum interjected again.

"I can't believe you people! So what if he killed a girl? He doesn't have to be so secretive, we all know it happened!" Brooke shouted.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked. This wasn't the Brooke I used to know, something was up with her.

"What's wrong with you? You're completely throwing your life away for some kid you barely know!" Brooke yelled, and I rose from my seat. I wasn't going to sit her and listen to Brooke yell at me for the rest of the lunch period.

"I'd rather throw my life away for someone like Ashton than waste it spending time with you!" I shouted. I grabbed my bag off the back of my seat and marched over to Ashton's table, feeling that I would be more welcome over there.

"Hey, Murphy." Ashton said quietly. He lifted his backpack off of the seat next to him, giving me a place to sit down.

"Hi, Irwin." I let out a big sigh. I rest my head in my hands, trying to recollect all of my thoughts.

"What's wrong?" He asked, leaning forward.

"Brooke is just driving me crazy. She won't stop yelling at everyone." I said, looking up at Ashton. He was already staring down at me, a small smile on his lips.

"Oh." Ashton nodded.

"She keeps bothering me because I didn't call her to go to the mall on Saturday, I went over to your house instead."

"She seemed to be in a pissy mood in government today, maybe she's just having a bad day. Or on her period." Ashton laughed softly at his last comment.

"I just needed to get away from her." I let out a small laugh.

"Well, that's cool, because I actually have to ask you something." Ashton said, sitting up straighter.

"Oh? What is it?" I asked.

"Well, a couple things actually." Ashton chuckled nervously.

"Go for it."

"Hypothetically speaking," Ashton started.

"Really, Irwin?" I cut him off. He smiled, a laugh escaping his lips.

"Do I really need to wear a suit to your parents party next Saturday?" Ashton asked.

"Yeah, sorry. They'll kinda freak out if you show up looking like you normally do." I said, biting back a laugh at the image of Ashton in a suit popping into my mind.

"Can I possibly bring Michael? If he's in a good mood?" Ashton asked again, making Michael seem more like a pet dog than a boy.

"Yeah, of course." I nodded. Hopefully Ashton and Michael would start fighting - or more like Ashton begging for Michael's attention - in the middle of the party. I didn't think it would be a big deal, Calum was going to come, he could keep Michael company.

"Okay, last question." Ashton laughed. He probably felt that he was annoying me with all the questions, but I kind of liked it.

"I'm all ears." I said, jokingly flipping my hair away from my ears to prove that I was listening.

"Do you want to grab some Mexican food on our way home from school?" He said, grinning widely.

"Is this a date?" I smirked.

"...Yes." Ashton giggled, giggled.

"Then yes, I would love to grab some Mexican food with you." I laughed more at the fact that Ashton had just giggled than anything else.

"I mean, hypothetically it's a date." Ashton said, leaning in closer.

"You need to stop." I said blankly, doing everything I could to hold back a laugh.

"Hypothetically or...?" Ashton questioned. I pushed him away from me, finally letting out another laugh.

"So since this is an official date is it going to be even better than our last one?" I asked.

"That wasn't a date." Ashton shook his head at me.

"Yeah it was, you kissed me. And you said it was!" I argued.

"I didn't kiss you." Ashton said, mocking confusion.

"I think you did." I laughed.

"Oh, did I really? Did it feel like this?" Ashton asked, and suddenly he leaned forward and placed his lips on mine. He pulled away less then a second later, again not giving me any time to react to him.

"That one was a little short." I pouted.

"To answer your question," Ashton continued, ignoring me, "I don't know if tonight will be much different. You can't really beat burgers and talking about music."

"You can buy me flowers." I suggested, as a joke of course.

"I can buy you flowers!" Ashton threw his hands up in the air, like he was surprised he hadn't thought of that before.

"Alright, it's all settled. I like tulips." I said, naming the first flower that came to mind.

"Tulips? Are you serious? Not even roses?" Ashton exclaimed.

"What's wrong with tulips?" I asked, faking hurt at him making fun of my flower choice.

"Okay, fine. Tulips are fine. I'm just going to ditch 8th period and buy you flowers." Ashton laughed, rolling his eyes.

Before we could say anything else the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Ashton and I both stood up, slinging out bags back over our shoulders.

"I'm serious about that date." Ashton smirked.

"I know." I nodded.

"Meet me outside right after school, don't be late, Murphy." Ashton chuckled before walking me off, leaving me with very obvious butterflies in my stomach.

-

I can't stand Brooke OMG and I feel so bad for Luke I want to cry goodnight friends I am gone