For another two weeks I drove my car to and from school every day. It was boring, like, extremely boring, but I did it anyway. It was better than awkwardly sitting on the bus with Ashton and Michael while Ashton ignored everyone and Michael cried.

After the awkward friend-date with Ashton, I had a little hope for us. It was a good night, to say the least, and at the end of it I honestly thought that Ashton was going to say something about having made a mistake and wanting to get back together. I don't know, that's how I felt, but not Ashton. After our dinner was over we both got rides home from Luke and walked down the block together, making very short and boring conversation. We just parted out separate ways and went back to our own houses, and then didn't speak to each other again for two weeks.

I guess that this is just how things are going to be now.

"Ashton's going to sit with us at lunch today." Luke snuck up behind me while I was at my locker, grabbing my things for my afternoon classes so I could head down to the lunchroom.

"No," I whined. I don't think Luke understood that I really didn't want to spend any extra time with Ashton than I had too. "Why do you keep doing this to me?"

"Because I feel bad." Luke shrugged, as if it was self explanatory. I kept telling Luke not to feel bad about this, but it had already been a month and he was convinced that Ashton and I breaking up was all his fault.

"You have no reason to." I sighed, slamming my locker shut. I followed Luke as we walked down the hallway, heading over to the lunchroom, something I was not looking forward to.

"I'm trying to help." Luke said softly, kicking at the ground with his shoes.

"Well, it's annoying." I snapped. I didn't mean to be so rude to Luke, but I was in a pretty bad mood today anyway and Luke was just making things worse. I've told him repeatedly that I didn't want him to take the blame for my breakup with Ashton and that he shouldn't be trying so hard to get us back together, but he doesn't listen. I was sick of it, and I felt that being a bit rude and snappy to Luke would somehow get the point across.

"You know, Dani, I'm kind of all you have left."

"What?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Well, Ashton left you and Michael ditched you for whatever reason, and Brooke kind of did, too. Your parents are dicks - sorry, it's true - so Calum and I are really the only people you have left to turn to. And Calum really doesn't give a shit half the time." Luke said bluntly, continuing to walk ahead of me.

"What?" I repeated, only because I had no idea how else I was supposed to answer that. I mean, Luke was right, he was all I had left, but I didn't want to admit to that.

"I'm just asking you to stop being such a bitch about this," Luke said softly, "I want to help you and you aren't letting me."

"You're not listening to me, though. I don't want help." I sighed. Luke just couldn't get it through his head that I was doing okay without dating Ashton, and he was only going to make it worse by trying to force things upon us. I loved Luke for caring so much about me, I really did, but I wished that he would just tone it down.

"You need it." Luke said, turning around to face me. He stopped walking, and we stood in the hallway against some lockers while everyone else walked past us.

"You make it seem like I need a boyfriend to be happy." I pouted, looking down at the ground. Luke put a hand on my shoulder and let out a big sigh.

"Dani, are you happy right now? Without a boyfriend?" He asked. I wanted to punch him in the stomach. Suddenly this had seemed to turn into this whole sexist argument about how Luke thought that girls needed boyfriends to make themselves happy, and I honestly wasn't in the mood to try and fight him about this.

"Not necessarily, but that wasn't even my original point." I groaned. "Luke, I just want you to stop trying so hard to get Ashton and I back together. It wasn't your fault at all, you didn't ruin our relationship, we did."

"But you guys are my friends, I want you to be happy." Luke said, almost harshly, like he was going to force me to be happy. I didn't think that was going to work very well.

"I think that Ashton and I would both be happier if you just left us alone about this." I suggested, because it was true. I knew that Luke had been talking to Ashton about the same things he talks with me about, and I can only imagine how annoyed Ashton probably is with him.

"Fine." Luke glared at me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry - "

"I'm trying to help you but if you won't accept it then that's fine." Luke snapped. He slowly ran his fingers through his hair before turning around and walking the rest of the way to the lunchroom, and I followed after him because I didn't have anywhere else to go.

We silently walked over to our usual table, where Calum and Ashton were already waiting for us. I took a seat next to Luke, instead of by Ashton where I would have gone if we were still together. He and Calum seemed to be in a pretty deep conversation, anyway, and I don't think either of them noticed Luke and I walking in until Luke started to speak.

"Hey, Calum. Where's Kayla?" Luke asked. I had almost forgotten about Kayla, Calum's girlfriend, because I hadn't seen her around in the last couple weeks. I didn't even know if her and Calum were dating anymore.

"Oh, she left school early." Calum said, a big smile on his face. "She had a doctor appointment."

"Okay." Luke nodded slowly, not entirely convinced. Ashton had gone silent next to Calum once he noticed me, and was now staring down at his lap and avoiding eye contact.

"She'll be back tomorrow, though." Calum assured us, before looking down at his food again and continuing to eat it.

"Good." Luke nodded. This was even worse than I thought it would be, because now I felt like I had absolutely no one to talk to. Calum and I didn't know each other well enough to actually hold a conversation, Luke was annoyed with me (and vise versa), and Ashton was ignoring me. Again.

Or, at least that's what I thought.

"I'm going to go get a water bottle." Ashton said, standing up from the table. He turned and looked directly at me. "Murph, do you want anything?"

I stared back at him for a good 20 seconds before Luke finally elbowed me in the side and I snapped out of the shock that I was sent into when Ashton spoke to me. It seemed so weird that he was talking to me like that, so normal. It was something that he would have said if we were still dating, and I know that I'm kind of over analyzing everything right now, but I can't help it. I went from Ashton totally pretending that I didn't even exist to having him offer to buy me something to eat in seconds.

Ashton looked shocked as well, like he hadn't meant to say that. Maybe that felt too normal for him, too, and he was startled just like I was. Either way, I think it made things 100 times worse for all of us.

"I'm good, thanks." I finally answered. Ashton just nodded, still seeming a bit confused with himself, before walking away from the table.

"Both of you give me headaches." Luke said, once Ashton was out of earshot.

"I'm sorry." I apologized quietly. I still felt weird about earlier, and how Luke had kind of blown up on me. I felt like he was going to do it again.

"Don't apologize," Luke said under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose like he really did have a headache.

"Luke, I really wish that you could see how uncomfortable Ashton and I both are when we're around each other." I sighed. Calum nodded, and I hoped that that was his way of saying that he agreed with me.

"I do see." Luke shrugged.

"Then why do you keep forcing us to be together?" I asked, raising my voice a little. I was just frustrated, and moody, and I was annoyed with Luke because he was trying to be like a damn love doctor and heal my relationship with Ashton, when we all knew that we couldn't just force it.

"Because I don't want either of you to give up."

"We...haven't." I said slowly, because I was trying to think up an argument to support what I'd said.

Ashton and I didn't give up, we agreed that we were just going to wait things out for a little bit and see what happens. If we were meant to be we'd find a way back to each other, and that wasn't considered giving up. I still loved Ashton and I hoped that he still felt the same about me, but if he didn't that was okay, too. I was just beyond done with all of this drama for now, and if everyone else in my life was happy, I would be happy.

"I'm confused." Calum finally spoke, making both Luke and I let out a chuckle.

"It's kind of hard to explain." Luke laughed.

"Yeah." I said, nodding in agreement. I turned back to Luke. "I still don't get it."

"I'm just trying to prove a point," Luke sighed, "to both of you."

"What's your point?" I asked, my eyes suddenly focusing back on Ashton, who was walking towards our table again, two water bottles in hand. Like he'd read my mind and knew that I really did want something to drink.

"You love each other, Dani, and I don't think either of you are going to stop any time soon."

-

I had totally forgotten about the concert tickets Michael bought for Ashton and I. That is, until I got in my car after school and found them sitting on the passenger seat, like they were waiting for me. I really didn't need any more of an explanation, I knew how the tickets had gotten there.

Michael was a creep, that was all.

I looked at the tickets, noticing that the date for the concert was actually Saturday, which was tomorrow. I didn't even want to go anymore. I mean, I had originally planned to go with Ashton, and I knew that that wasn't going to be happening now. At one point I thought about asking Michael to go with me, but that was before he decided that he hated me. So I had no one to go with, and I didn't want to go alone. It wouldn't be worth it, and it was something that I think Ashton would have enjoyed a lot more than me.

So that's why I considered it a sign when I saw Ashton walking past my house as I got out of my car that afternoon. I quickly grabbed the tickets and my bag from the front seat and ran over to Ashton, standing in front of him so he couldn't get past me.

"Hi..." He said slowly, looking down at the tickets in my hands.

"Hi." I smiled. Well, tried to smile.

"What's that?" Ashton asked, but I think he already knew. The Killers were his favorite band, I'm assuming that he'd know if they were in our town or not.

"These are for you." I said, handing both tickets to him. I wasn't going to use either, so there was really no use at all in keeping one for myself.

"What?" Ashton gasped, taking a closer look at the tickets. "Dani, oh my God."

"They were supposed to be a Christmas present, I was going to surprise you, but...yeah, shit happens." I shrugged. I chose not to tell him that it was actually Michael who bought the tickets for us, just to save the drama.

"You - You wanted to go together?" Ashton stammered, still trying to take all of this in. It really made me happy to see him so happy about this, and I guess that was what I was trying to do in the first place, so I felt like I had accomplished a very important mission. Ashton was happy, I was happy.

"Yeah, but it's cool. You can have both of them, I don't really want to go." I said, insisting that Ashton took them both.

Of course part of me wanted him to beg and plead for me to go with, but the rest of me was glad that he didn't. I wanted Ashton to have the tickets and that was final, I wanted to give him a second chance to go to this concert because I knew that he didn't enjoy himself the first time.

"I can't believe this." Ashton said quietly, still looking down at the tickets in his hands. "Are you sure you don't want to come with? It won't be weird, Dani, I prom- "

"No, it's okay. I'm busy tomorrow night, anyway." I lied. It actually wasn't a lie, because I had no idea if I was going to be busy tomorrow night, and Ashton didn't have to know that.

"Oh, really?" Ashton questioned, looking back up at me. He raised an eyebrow, like he wasn't sure if I was telling the truth or not.

"Yeah, I'm hanging out with...with, um.." I trailed off, trying to think of who's name I should just throw out there. Ashton started speaking again before I could think of something.

"Are you going on a date?" Ashton asked. Oh boy.

"Yeah, let's just call it that." I nodded. And now I felt obligated to go find a guy and go on a date with him just so it didn't seem like I was lying to Ashton.

"Oh." Ashton nodded slowly, his gaze returning to the ground. "Have fun."

"Thanks, you too." I said, giving him a big smile. I started to walk away, then, because I felt that if I stuck around any longer I would end up telling Ashton some huge lie about how I was actually going to Vegas and getting married tomorrow night, and that's why I couldn't make the concert.

"Thank you so much for these, Dani. Really. It means a lot." Ashton called over his shoulder as he walked away, and all I could do was turn around and give him a stupid thumbs up before I practically ran the rest of the way to my house.

-

the date is literally 7/15 so I was like hey I'll update 7:15

this chapter was short and sucked so bad oh my god I'm actually embarrassed by it but it's okay because I'm updating again later tonight so it's COOL