The next Monday, Luke and I walked into school together like we had a few times before. But it was a little different this time. Things weren't completely changed, but there was definitely some new feelings built up between us that I couldn't exactly explain. I could tell that we were both trying to act as normally as possible, but there was no denying that we both wanted to do a little more.

Luke loosely held onto my hand as we walked, telling me a story about how before he became a vegetarian he would eat hot dogs like it was his job. I liked when Luke decided to tell me stories about when he was younger. It seemed like a lot of times he just focused on what was going on now, instead of the memories he had made previously.

"That's probably why I don't like meat now." Luke laughed softly. He looked behind him every few seconds, and without having to ask I knew he was looking for Ashton. I still needed to break up with him, since I hadn't seen him since the night of the party.

"There's more to meat than just hot dogs." I said, also looking around the hallway for Ashton. I wanted to speak with him as soon as possible.

"Whatever. I'm fine with popcorn." Luke shrugged.

We made it to my locker, where I quickly grabbed my stuff and then leaned against it. We still had a few minutes before the first bell rang, so we decided to talk for a while, since I had no reason to go find Ashton.

"I always forget that I'm supposed to be helping you with math." Luke chuckled, letting his fingers slowly run over the edge of my math book that was sitting in my hands.

"You're not a very good tutor then." I sighed, blowing a piece of hair out of my face.

It was true, lately Luke and I had seemed to almost forget about math all together. I was doing much better in the class, thanks to Luke. With his help, there's no doubt that I'll pass out of geometry this year. Whenever we were together and supposed to be doing homework, though, we seemed to get a little sidetracked. It was just strange to think that we hardly ever focused on the one thing that brought us together in the first place.

"I just get so distracted sometimes." Luke mumbled.

I looked up at him as he continued to play with the side of my book, absolutely captivated by him in general. I had noticed it before, but Luke was really one of the most beautiful people I'd ever seen. Sure, he had a few flaws, but that was exactly what I found so appealing about him. That's when I realized that I didn't hate a single thing about him.

His bright blue eyes, the way the corners of his mouth tugged up in a small smile. His perfectly straight teeth that had been making more of an appearance when he smiled lately, the way he licked his lips before he wanted to say something that he was nervous about. How his nose seemed to arch up in just the right way, and how he was constantly trying to fix his hair even though it would always look messy. I loved it, all of it.

"I get a little distracted too." I said, and let out a big breath that I had been holding.

"Distractions are good, sometimes." Luke said quickly, snapping his head up and looking at me.

Of course I knew that Luke and I weren't just talking about math now, but I didn't bother to say anything. Luke and if were each other's distractions. Luke was there for me when Ashton and Michael - who I had thought were my best friends - weren't, he was always able to distract me from how uneasy I felt about Ashton. And I was there to distract Luke from all of his problems at home, when he had no where else to go. No, we weren't talking about math, but sometimes it was better not to say exactly what you mean.

"I like distractions." I nodded, speaking very quietly even though it was already hard to hear in the crowded hallway.

"You're good at them." Luke muttered, again taking a piece of my hair and tucking it off to the side.

"Am I?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Very." Luke gave me a quick nod.

"Thanks, I guess?" I questioned, not sure if being called a distraction was a good thing or not.

"It's a compliment, Stel." Luke laughed. He bit his lip, taking his new lip ring between his teeth.

"You and your compliments." I laughed with him, gently hitting Luke on the arm.

"I give good compliments." Luke furrowed his eyebrows together, his lips forming into a small smile. He rubbed the place on his arm where I had just hit him.

"Talking about my boobs isn't a compliment!" I argued, though I wasn't angry at Luke for that at all. I actually liked when he made little jokes like that, it was cute.

"Jesus, Stel. It's hard not to compliment them." Luke rolled his eyes, again looking down at the floor. I felt like he was doing that just so he wouldn't upset me by staring at my chest.

"You're such a boy!" I laughed, slapping Luke again.

"Stop slapping me," Luke snapped, "And be thankful I'm not trying to touch them."

"You're crazy, Lucas." I said, shaking my head at him. He rolled his eyes again at the fact that I called him Lucas, but didn't say anything. By now he had gotten used to me teasing him about that, just like I had gotten used to him calling me Stel instead of Stella.

Luke opened his mouth, then closed it again. "I was going to say something cute but you would probably just call me cheesy again."

"Aw, tell me." I whined.

"I'll tell you another time, when we're in a better place." Luke sighed, making us both fall into yet another comfortable silence.

I still found it funny how Luke and I seemed to change so quickly around each other. One moment we were arguing about what seems to be nothing and the next we were flirting with each other like we've been dating for years. We weren't even dating, I don't think we would be any time soon.

"Can I ask you something?" Luke asked, breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah, go for it." I said, waving my hand in the air and encouraging Luke to continue talking.

"Are you, um, you're going to break up with Ashton, right?" Luke asked. He stared down at the floor, like he was almost scared to hear my answer.

"Yes." I nodded, my voice raising a little at the end of the word like I was asking a question. "Do you think I would have let the past few days happen if I wasn't going to do anything about him?"

"What do you mean?" Luke looked up, mentally recalling the events from this past weekend.

"Everything that's happened? You know, with us?" I rolled my eyes.

"Right." Luke laughed, "We kissed a lot, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did." I smiled, feeling some heat rise to my cheeks. There was no hiding that Luke and I had definitely gotten closer in the last couple days, once I admitted my own feelings to myself and finally accepted Luke's.

"We can kiss more, if you want. I mean, maybe not right now...but another time, yeah." Luke laughed at himself. He played with his hands and shifted his gaze down to the ground.

"I'll keep that in mind, then." I laughed softly, amused at how awkward Luke could he.

"Stella!" A voice called from down the hallway and it seemed as if everyone in the hall stopped talking. The crowd of kids parted down the middle, giving Ashton a straight path to Luke and I.

As Ashton approached us, the first thing that I noticed was that he had a big band aid across his nose. Luke had definitely broken his nose. Ashton didn't look angry, but more concerned, or confused. I felt a little bad, but I knew that breaking up with him was something that I needed to do.

Luke turned around and leaned up against the locker next to me, crossing his arms over his chest. He stared down at the floor, like he was scared of making eye contact with Ashton.

"Stella, hey, what's going on? You haven't returned any of my calls..." Ashton looked between Luke and I, already knowing what was about to happen.

"Ashton, I-"

"Stel, I'm gonna go to class. I'll see you later." Luke interrupted. He rested his hand on my shoulder for a moment before rushing away quickly. He seemed to be nervous around Ashton, even though he didn't seem very nervous when he was punching him in the face.

"His little crush on you is adorable." Ashton chuckled, staring at Luke as he walked away.

"Ashton, I think we should break up." I said, cutting right to the chase. I decided not to even bothering talking about anything else before that.

"What? Why? Stella, is it because of what happened at the party? I'm so sorry, really, I don't know what came over me-" Ashton kept rambling, though nothing he had to say was going to make me change my mind.

"Ashton, please." I sighed. "It just isn't working anymore."

"But, Stella, can't we give it another try?" Ashton begged. He ran his hands through his hair, clearly frustrated. "Is it because of Luke?"

"No, it's not. I'm really sorry, but I just don't feel right about this anymore. I liked it better when we were just friends." I explained, choosing not to mention the fact that I now had feelings for Luke.

Ashton pursed his lips. He stayed silent for a few minutes before talking again, which made me fear that he was going to get mad. "Fine, whatever. As long as you're happy."

"Really?" I asked, hesitantly. I couldn't quite tell if Ashton was being genuine or not.

"Of course, yeah. We're better off as friends." Ashton nodded, giving me a small smile.

"Oh, okay. Great, then-"

"No hard feelings?" Ashton asked, finally breaking into a full smile. He was taking the surprisingly well, even though a few seconds ago he was begging for another chance. It all felt a little weird, but I chose not to worry about it now.

"No hard feelings." I agreed. Ashton turned away from me and began walking away from me without saying anything else.

"Oh, Stella?" Ashton called over his shoulder. By now we had caught a few people's attention and they were watching our whole conversation unfold. I pushed myself off of the locker and walked over to him, actually interested in what he had to say.

"Luke really likes you, and if you want to be with him then that's okay." Ashton sighed, before disappearing down the hallway.

-

"Luke, how do I solve this?" I asked, impatiently tapping my pencil against my notebook. We were sitting on the couch in my living room like we had a million times before, but this time we actually decided to get some homework done.

Luke was sitting close to me, with one arm wrapped around my body from behind and his head just barely resting on my shoulder. Even though he was sitting this close and pretending to be involved, he was very distant. He kept spacing out and hadn't said a word since we had sat down and started working on homework. I don't know what was up, he had been acting strange since earlier this morning but I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong.

"Hmm?" Luke hummed softly, this being the first response he had given me all night.

"I asked how to solve this problem." I repeated, getting slightly annoyed with how spacey Luke was acting.

"I'm not sure." Luke shrugged, separating himself from me completely and leaning back into the couch.

"That's bullshit, Luke. There isn't a math problem that you can't solve." I groaned, letting myself fall back against the couch as well.

"I don't know, Stel." Luke whispered. He shook his head and stared straight ahead of him, like I wasn't even there anymore.

"You didn't even look at it." I sighed. Right now I was more frustrated with Luke than anything, since he was acting like I wasn't even in the room anymore. It was him who suggested we work on math in the first place, and now he wasn't even trying to help me.

"I can't right now." Luke said quietly. He ran his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes, something that he did a lot when he got into moods like this.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I scooted closer to Luke, suddenly worried that something bigger than I thought was going on.

"I don't feel good." Luke said, his voice still low. I knew what was happening now, Luke was in one of those moods again. He still thought that there was something wrong with him, even though there really wasn't.

"Like, you feel sick?" I asked, hoping that this may be the case. I'd take Luke feeling sick over Luke feeling bad about himself any day.

"No, Stel." Luke whispered, "I usually feel okay, I don't feel okay."

"Why? What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know. This just seems to happen more and more lately. I don't know what to do anymore, I feel completely empty inside." Luke ran his hands though his hair, pulling it slightly.

"You were fine this morning." I stammered, just a little frightened at the way Luke was acting right now.

"That's what happens. One second I'm okay one second I'm not." Luke muttered. "I hate this."

"Are you - are you, you're taking the-" Luke stopped me, like he already knew that I was going to ask about the pills he was supposed to take.

"I'm trying to, Stel. I really am." Luke swallowed hard, sitting up straight and turning to me. His bottom lip moved up and down and I could tell that he was trying really hard not to cry in front of me again.

"What do you mean you're trying, Luke? It's not that hard to take a couple of pills a day." I said, not quite understanding. I reached out for Luke's hand, but he pulled back.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Luke shook his head and looked down at his lap. He laced his own fingers together, twisting and untwisting them with each other.

"Luke, I'm trying to help." I whispered, bending down so Luke was forced to look at me.

"I'm afraid that I'll accidentally take too much one day. I'm scared." Luke blurted out. He shut his mouth quickly, like he was ashamed that he had told me that.

Whether Luke had just confessed that he had considered or attempted suicide or not, it sounded like a cry for help to me. At first I didn't think that there was any reason for like to be feeling this way but the more I thought about it I realized why he might.

Luke felt that he had no one. No one at home cares for him, since his dad and brother both left and don't even bother to keep contact, and his mom hurts him for every little mistake he makes. He doesn't think love exists because of all the heartbreak he's experienced in his life, and he doesn't realize that there are people out there that love and care about him. He didn't think he was good enough for me either, because I lead him on and dated Ashton instead when I knew that Luke had feelings for me. It broke my heart, coming to this realization. But I knew that I could only use this to try and help him.

I didn't respond to Luke, I felt like I was at a complete loss for words. I had so many things that I wanted to tell like, but I couldn't put the right words together. Instead I pulled him into me and wrapped my arms around him letting him bury his face into the crook of my neck and cry, despite how hard he had been trying to hold his tears back.

"I'm so sorry." Luke sniffed, after finally pulling away from me. He wiped under his eyes, as if he was clearing all the evidence.

"Luke, you know I care about you, right? I care about you a lot." I said, those being the only words I could manage to get out. Tears were threatening to spill out of my own eyes now, and I was doing my best to hold it all in.

Luke nodded, still looking very small and vulnerable. He pulled at the sleeves of his sweatshirt, bringing them down to cover his hands even more.

"I don't want you to feel this way about yourself." I shook my head, still using everything I had not to start crying myself.

Luke suddenly spoke, like something inside him clicked. "Don't cry, you don't need to cry for me." Luke licked his lips. He cupped my cheeks in his hands, rubbing his thumbs under my eyes, where a few tears had fallen.

"There's no reason to feel like there's something wrong with you, Luke. There's nothing wrong with you." I shook my head, grabbing onto Luke's hands. He had gotten me all worked up now, I was so scared by the thought of possibly losing Luke.

Luke leaned in, leaving lots of short, quick kisses all over my face. It confused me at first, I didn't understand why Luke was suddenly kissing me when a few seconds ago he was crying. Then it hit me. If I was one of the only things that Luke really seemed to care about, it probably hurt him to see me cry just like it hurt me to see him like this. And Luke would do anything to stop bad things from happening to me.

"I'll get better, I promise." Luke nodded. "I'll do it for you, like I said."

Luke nodded, wiping his under his eyes again. He stood up. "I'm sorry, for everything."

"What are you doing?" I asked, standing up and walking after him. He went by the front door and grabbed his jacket off a hook.

"I'm going home, Stel. I just want to go home." Luke said quickly. He zipped up his jacket and opened up the door.

"No, Luke." I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him back inside. "Please stay, please."

"I want to be alone for a while. I'm sorry." Luke shook his head, trying to get me to let go of him.

"No, Luke. Not now. Please stay here." I begged.

"I want to be alone, Stel." Luke said one last time before prying my hand off of him and slipping through the door.

I paced back and forth in front of the door for exactly 167 seconds before I decided that I needed to go after Luke. I can't believe I had just let him leave like that, especially at a time like this. I couldn't just leave Luke alone. He didn't need to be alone, he needed to be with me, someone that cares about him. I made a huge mistake by letting him go.

I grabbed my own jacket off the hook and reached for the doorknob, figuring that I would just put it on while I was going down the elevator. I pulled the door open, only to reveal Luke standing there with his hand raised, like he was about to knock.

"It took me 167 seconds to realize that I didn't really want to be alone." Luke swallowed hard again. He rushed forward, pulling me into a big hug before I had a chance to yell at him for scaring me like that.

"Don't ever do that again." I scolded him, my voice coming out muffled from my face being buried into Luke's chest.

"I'm sorry." Luke barely chuckled, almost too soft for me to hear. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I couldn't just leave."

WOW IDK HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS. BASICALLY IF YOU DIDNT CATCH IT LUKE IS HEAD OVER HEALS IN LOVE WITH STELLA. SORRY IF I MADE YOU CRY OMG I DEFINITELY DID. I TRIED TO MAKE THIS CHAPTER AS LONG AS POSSIBLE BUT IT WAS A BIT OF A FILLER BECAUSE THERES GOOD STUFF COMING. I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT :-)