Luke really should have listened to Ashley. He should not have made up with his friends when he knew that they would just disappoint him again, he should not have allowed them to pressure him into doing something stupid again, and he should not have gone to Gracie Harrison's Halloween party.

But Luke was an idiot, and he did all of those things.

He let Michael and Calum talk him into going over to Michael's house on Friday afternoon, where Ashton was waiting with a bottle of vodka. They waited until Luke was a little tipsy and then started to ask him why he was ignoring them. Luke responded with "well, you're all assholes", and they laughed.

"Luke, we're not really mean to you." Michael laughed.

"Yeah." Ashton nodded. "It's like we're your older brothers, all of this is out of love."

"We just like making fun of you, we don't really mean it." Calum added.

So Luke just nodded and figured that they were right, that they didn't really mean to be such jerks to Luke and everything was going to be okay now. His friends liked him, they were just being boys, boys did stuff like that.

After a while Ashton left, saying that he was going to spend the night at Charlie's house. Luke whined and groaned about how much he liked Charlie for a good twenty minutes before Calum and Michael got sick of it and suggested that they do something else.

"Gracie's party should be starting soon." Calum said, leaning back on the couch and scrolling through his phone.

"Luke doesn't want to go." Michael teased, rolling his eyes in Luke's direction.

"I want to go." Luke lied. He really didn't, he wasn't in the mood for a party or to embarrass himself anymore, but they didn't have anything else to do. Luke could handle going for a few hours and just hanging out.

"Really?" Michael questioned, seeming surprised. Calum didn't say anything, he just continued to stare down at his phone.

"Yeah, really." Luke nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, yesterday Ashley made it seem like you two had plans already." Michael shrugged, "I thought you were going to get your dick sucked or something."

"Oh, she was just kidding." Luke laughed nervously, shaking his head. "She's always doing things like that, but she doesn't ever mean it. We're just friends."

"Are you sure?" Calum chuckled, finally looking up from his phone.

"Yeah, I'm totally sure. She's my friend, she's super nice to me." Luke nodded again. He took out his phone and checked for some new messages from Ashley, but there weren't any.

"You've been spending a lot of time with her." Michael said, getting up from the chair he was sitting in and walking over to the couch, taking a seat in between Luke and Calum.

"Yeah, because you were - " Luke stopped himself. He didn't want to call his friends assholes again, because he knew now that they didn't really mean it. He felt bad being so rude to them about this. "We weren't talking, so I talked to her instead."

"She seems nice." Calum mumbled, still not focusing completely on Luke or Michael.

"She's so nice." Luke nodded. Even though Calum, Michael, and Ashton were Luke's best friends, Ashley was definitely nicer than all of them. Luke didn't care that his friends really didn't mean it when they called him a loser, he still knew that Ashley was a lot nicer than they would ever be.

"She's really hot but she's such a bitch." Michael grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

"Hey, no she's not." Luke pouted. He wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to act about this, he'd never been in a position where he had to choose between his friends and a girl.

"Well, she's a bitch to me." Michael shrugged. "Didn't you hear how she was talking to me yesterday in class? She's crazy."

"I think she's cool." Luke stated firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're just saying that because you like her." Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes. Calum locked his phone, finally done with whatever he was doing, and set it down on the coffee table. He leaned forward to get a better view of Luke and Michael while they talked.

"I don't like her!" Luke argued. He did not like Ashley, he'd just gotten done complaining about how much he loved Charlie. Why would he complain about Charlie so much if he really loved Ashley?

"You're probably the only person in the world that doesn't see how much you care about her." Michael chuckled. "But I doubt that she likes you back. She's, like, anti-boy."

"She's a lesbian?" Calum questioned.

"No, you idiot!" Michael yelled, reaching over and slapping Calum on the back of the head. "She had this insane boyfriend a couple years ago and I swear she didn't talk to boys until Luke came along."

"Was he actually insane?" Luke asked. He'd only heard a little about Ashley's ex-boyfriend, and that was that he not-so-adorably said things without thinking them through first.

"No, you idiot!" Michael repeated, this time hitting Luke's head. "He was just a major asshole, they fought all the time."

"Oh." Luke nodded slowly. He wondered why Ashley hadn't told him more about this, it seemed pretty important.

"He hasn't been around for a while, though." Michael shrugged.

"Why?" Calum asked.

"Well I'm assuming they broke up." Michael said, rolling his eyes. "He was a lot older than her, too, maybe he went off to college or something."

"She's never said anything about him." Luke said quietly.

"She probably didn't think it was important enough to tell you." Michael shrugged.

"Or she just doesn't want to talk about it." Calum added. "It seems like things didn't go very well, she probably doesn't like to bring it up all the time."

"Uh huh." Luke said, nodding again.

"So Luke, what do you say? Will you come to the party with us?" Michael asked after Luke took a moment to process all of this.

"Yes." Luke nodded quickly, standing up from the couch. He staggered over a little, already tipsy from the alcohol that his friends had given him. "We just have to pick up Ashley."

"No!" Michael and Calum both groaned at the same time.

"Why not?" Luke questioned. He didn't want to attend the party without her, because he knew that 10 minutes in Calum would go off with his girlfriend and Michael would start working on finding a new girl to fuck for the night. "I want her to come with us. Please, Michael? Please please please?"

"It's not like she's going to do anything, Luke. She's just going to sit there, she doesn't even drink." Michael pouted, folding his arms across his chest. "The only reason why she came to Calum's party a few weeks ago was because I paid her to."

"You paid her to show up at my party?" Calum asked.

"No, I paid her to show up at the party and hook up with Luke. Obviously she changed her mind last minute, though, because he's still a God damn virgin." Michael said, rolling his eyes.

Luke didn't know why Michael had to say all of that while he was still in the room, it just made him feel worse about himself. He realized that the only reason why Luke even came close to having sex with Ashley that night was because she was paid to go upstairs with him.

"Anyway, Ashley's just going to sit there the whole time." Michael insisted, folding his arms over his chest.

"Then I'll sit with her." Luke shrugged. He didn't think it was a big deal, he knew plenty of people that would go to parties and just sit there.

"No, you'll find a girl and try to get laid." Michael ordered. "This is getting bad, Luke, you've got to lose your virginity before you graduate or I don't think I can be friends with you anymore."

"Michael..." Calum trailed off, obviously not agreeing with what his friend was saying.

"It's pathetic!" Michael argued. "Just pick a girl and do it, Luke, come on!"

"What if I - "

"No. You're gonna get laid tonight, end of story. Don't argue with me about this anymore." Michael snapped.

"Can we bring Ashley with us?" Luke asked again. He wiped his nose with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, trying to hide the fact that he was about to cry.

"Yes, Luke, fine." Michael groaned and stood up as well, his hands on his hips.

"Okay." Luke nodded. He turned and left the room, running upstairs so he could go grab his shoes. He suddenly wanted to be as far away as possible from his friends again, and Luke was lucky that Ashley only lived next door.

Luke walked out the front door of Michael's house and across the lawn to Ashley's house, ringing the doorbell a few times. He knew that Ashley was home, she's told him that she wasn't doing anything tonight, and he hoped that she would answer the door. Luke stared down at his feet while he waited, wondering if he was really doing the right thing.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ashley finally pulled the door open after a minute, startling Luke.

"Will you come to Gracie's party with me?" Luke asked, getting straight to the point.

"No." Ashley also got straight to the point and shook her head.

"Please." Luke begged. "I really want to go and I want you to come with."

"I don't like parties. Or Gracie." Ashley sighed, taking a step back from Luke. "And isn't it a Halloween thing? I don't have a costume."

"You don't need a costume. I don't have one. I'm going as myself." Luke smiled at her, trying to convince Ashley to go with them. It probably wouldn't be as fun as Luke was making it seem, but he didn't want to go without her.

"I don't know, Luke." Ashley said, sighing again.

"Please. My friends are coming, it'll be fun." Luke assured her. He rocked back and forth on his heels, smiling innocently back at Ashley.

"Your friends are coming?" She questioned and looked over Luke's shoulder at Calum and Michael, who were standing in Michael's driveway appeared to be fighting over who got to drive.

"Yep." Luke nodded, a big smile still on his face.

"Are you drunk already?" Ashley asked. Luke knew that she wasn't going to like his answer, but he decided to be honest anyway.

"Yep." Luke repeated.

"Okay, fine, I'll come with." Ashley groaned. She shut the door and came back seconds later with her shoes and a jacket. "But I'm driving."

"Oh, okay." Luke nodded quickly. He turned around and ran across the lawn to Calum and Michael, ignoring Ashley's laughter behind him.

"Is she coming?" Michael glared at Ashley as she walked towards her own car in her own driveway.

"Yes, she's driving us." Luke said, a lot happier now that Ashley had agreed to come with them.

"Oh, she doesn't have to do that." Calum sighed, acting like Calum typically did and trying to make himself seem like a gentleman. "I can drive us."

"No, Calum." Luke said loudly, putting his hands on his friend's shoulders. "She'll only come with if she drives."

"I bet she has some secret plan to drive us all off a bridge." Michael grumbled, kicking at the ground as they walked towards Ashley.

"Hey, no she doesn't!" Luke whined. He ran the rest of the way over to Ashley's car and smiled at her again, getting in to the passenger seat. Calum and Michael filed into the backseat, both of them seeming unhappy about this.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked, rolling his eyes as he waited for Ashley to start the car and actually leave the driveway.

Ashley sighed and sent a quick glare at Luke, probably upset at him for making her do this. "Yeah, let's just get this over with."

*•*•*

It was like any other house party. There was loud music, half naked teenagers, and lots and lots of alcohol. Calum disappeared within their first few minutes of being there and Michael went off in a different direction as well, saying that he'd be back soon.

Luke wasn't in need of another drink yet and he didn't have anyone else to go and talk to, so he sat down on an empty couch in the living room, pulling the sleeves of his sweatshirt down over his hands. Ashley sat next to him, not saying a word.

"Hi." Luke turned and looked at her, nudging her shoulder with his own.

"Hey." Ashley nodded to him, barely glancing his way.

"Are you having fun?" Luke questioned.

"No, we're sitting on a couch." Ashley said, letting out a very small laugh.

"Oh, okay." Luke nodded. "I'm not having fun either."

"Then why are we here?" Ashley scoffed, folding her arms across her chest.

"Because my friends wanted to come. I was afraid that they'd start being mean to me again if I didn't come with." Luke explained. "Ashton didn't want to come, though, I think he's having sex with Charlie."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised." Ashley shrugged.

"Are you mad at me?" Luke asked, noticing for the first time that Ashley really wasn't acting like herself. She was usually a lot more talkative, right now she was acting like she'd rather be anywhere else but here.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Ashley questioned.

"You're just acting like you are." Luke pouted, looking down at his lap.

"I'm not mad, I just don't understand." Ashley sighed. "Your friends treat you like shit, I don't know why you're still acting like they're such good people."

"They are good people." Luke argued, his head snapping up so he could look at Ashley again. "They just tease me sometimes."

"Okay, fine." Ashley said and leaned back into the couch. She still had her jacket on, like she was ready to get up and leave at any second.

"You are mad at me." Luke whined. He stood up again, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Luke, I'm not - "

"I'm getting a drink." Luke cut her off, turning away from the couch and leaving Ashley alone.

Luke made his way through the house, trying to find the kitchen. As he was walking he saw Michael out of the corner of his eye, is colorful hair catching Luke's attention. He was in the corner of the room talking to Hadley Anderson, of course, who was only wearing a crop top and a short skirt despite how cold it was outside.

"Luke!" Hadley called, saying bye to Michael and skipping over to where Luke was.

"H-Hi Hadley." Luke said, running his fingers through his hair to try and fix it.

"What are you doing?" Hadley giggled, twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger.

"Oh, I was just - just going to get a drink." Luke said nervously, shuffling his feet back and forth.

"Haven't you already had enough to drink tonight, Lukey?" Hadley laughed, knowing a little about Luke's history with alcohol.

"No." Luke giggled, his cheeks heating up.

"Are you here all alone?" Hadley asked sweetly. She took Luke's hand in hers and intertwined their fingers, leading Luke back into the kitchen.

"No, I'm here with my friends." Luke smiled. He awkwardly glanced around the kitchen, noticing that they were now in the only part of the house that wasn't occupied by other people. Luke and Hadley were completely alone.

"And where are your friends now?" Hadley smirked. She leaned up against the counter, pulling Luke closer to her so their chests were practically touching.

"Uh, I don't know..." Luke trailed off. He felt his heart start to race at how close he suddenly was to Hadley and he could already tell that he was going to hyperventilate if she didn't stop this. "Michael's somewhere around here, Calum might be with his girlfriend or something... Ashley's sitting on a couch."

"Oh, you're here with Ashley?" Hadley questioned, crinkling her nose at the mention of her.

"Yep." Luke giggled. Hadley looked cute when she did that.

"She seems kind of boring." Hadley said, her lips forming into a pout. She ran her hands up Luke's chest and wrapped them around his neck, bringing herself even closer to him.

"She's not." Luke insisted. He swallowed hard, too scared to even move. "She's really cool."

"But she's just sitting on the couch. That doesn't seem like any fun, does it?" Hadley asked innocently, raising she eyebrows.

"Oh, no." Luke agreed with her, shaking his head. Ashley was a little boring at times, but only because she was cautious. She just wanted to make sure that everyone else was okay before she worried about herself having a good time.

"I'm sure you'd have a lot more fun with me, right?" Hadley asked, her big blue eyes blinking up at Luke.

"Yes." Luke nodded quickly. He finally reached out an put a hand on Hadley's waist, mostly to steady himself so he didn't fall over. He felt really dizzy all of a sudden.

"Alright." Hadley giggled, leaning in closer to Luke and bringing her lips to his neck. "Then let's have some fun."

"Okay." Luke breathed out, waiting as Hadley left lots of sloppy kisses along his neck. She nipped and sucked at his skin, leaving Luke breathless.

After a few more seconds of Hadley teasing Luke she finally stood up on her toes and brought her lips to his, closing the gap in between them. Luke's other hand found it's way to Hadley's waist, his fingers tracing circles in her skin.

They kissed like that for a while until Hadley started to work her way down, her hands finding their way to the growing bulge in Luke's jeans. He let out a moan when she touched him, trying to move even closer to her.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Hadley whispered sweetly in Luke's ear, her fingers already fiddling with the button of his jeans.

"What are we gonna do upstairs?" Luke asked slowly, his brain completely freezing. He was surprised that he was still standing up, much less speaking.

"Well what do you think we should do?" Hadley giggled. She quickly kissed Luke again and tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth, making Luke let out another low moan.

"I don't know." Luke whispered, giggling quietly. "We can just hang out or something."

"What?" Hadley asked, suddenly pulling away from Luke. "Are you serious?"

"A-A little, maybe." Luke stammered.

Hadley bit down on her bottom lip, a small smile creeping onto her face. She giggled, "Oh, Lukey, you're so funny."

"I-I meant it." Luke said, taking a step back from Hadley.

He suddenly didn't care that she was really hot and a really easy fuck; he didn't want to do this with her. He wasn't interested in having sex with her and he wasn't going to pretend to be just so he could lose his virginity. He'd save himself for someone special. Like Charlie.

"Yeah, sure." Hadley rolled her eyes, reaching out for Luke again.

"M-Maybe if you want to go out sometime we can, and - and then we can get to know each other and make sure that we're ready - "

"Okay, you've got to be kidding me." Hadley scoffed, folding her arms across her chest and causing her to step away from Luke completely.

"I don't think I am." Luke said, a little confused. Usually if a girl threw themselves at him like this he'd be all for it, but for some reason something was holding him back. It was probably the fact that Ashley was only one room over and Luke knew that she'd say the exact same thing.

"But you're a virgin, Luke, I thought that you'd want to do this." Hadley said, also confused. "I thought that you'd want to get this whole thing out of the way."

"I think I want to do it with someone else." Luke shrugged. "I really like this girl, you know, I might even love her."

"Who? Do I know her?" Hadley interrogated, stepping closer to Luke and getting up in his face. "Does she go to our school?"

"No, she has a boyfriend." Luke answered softly.

"Why would you go after a girl with a boyfriend?" Hadley scoffed.

"I don't know, I just love her." Luke shrugged. "I can't control these things."

"Well, that's pretty pathetic." Hadley said, rolling her eyes. "Why would you do that? Her boyfriend's going to get mad, you know. Boys don't like when other boys hit in their girlfriends."

"He already is mad at me, it's okay." Luke sighed.

"Alrighty then." Hadley said, stepping away from Luke again. She fixed up her hair (and boobs) again, not seeming very interested in Luke anymore. "Do you know where Michael is?"

"W-What? No, I don't know." Luke said nervously, shaking his head. He was suddenly regretting this, it would have been so easy to get Hadley to fuck him, he should have just gone along with it. Now she was going to go off with Michael and leave Luke alone like always.

"I'm gonna go find him." Hadley said, flipping some hair over her shoulder. She turned away from Luke without even saying goodbye.

"Hadley, we can - " He called after her, trying to fix this. Maybe he could make things right again and Hadley would lead him upstairs and Luke would finally get laid.

"Maybe another time, Luke." Hadley smirked, looking over her shoulder at him as she walked out of the kitchen.

Luke stood alone in the kitchen, completely confused. He didn't even know why he'd just done that. If this had happened to him a month ago he would have gladly gone upstairs with Hadley and let her do whatever she wanted to him. But something inside of Luke changed. He wasn't thinking like a horny 17 year old boy anymore, and he didn't like it.

Luke sulked his way into the living room again, pushing past people until he made his way to where he left Ashley. Michael was no where to be found and neither was Hadley, and Luke already knew what was going on with them. Calum was gone too, he'd probably left the party with his girlfriend shortly after they all arrived. Luckily Ashley was still there, sitting at the end of the couch with her phone in her hands, aimlessly playing around with it.

"Hi." Luke said, gently kicking Ashley's foot with his own to get her attention.

"Hi." She smiled, looking up at him. "Where's your drink?"

"I don't have one." Luke snapped, shaking his head. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to get it off of his forehead. He suddenly felt really warm, even though he had no reason to be, and it was hard for him to breathe.

"I'm sorry." Ashley sighed, putting her phone away. Her full attention was now on Luke, just how he liked it. "What happened?"

"I just - " Luke paused and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands, not even sure where to start.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me..." Ashley trailed off, seeing that Luke was obviously upset about this.

"No, I want to tell you. I just - Can we go outside for a few minutes?" Luke asked, trying to catch his breath. "I can't breathe."

"Yeah, of course." Ashley nodded, standing up from the couch. She grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him behind her, making her way to the front door and then outside.

"Oh God." Luke sighed sitting down on the front stoop. He rested his head in his hands, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

"Are you alright?" Ashley asked softly. Luke felt her sit down next to him but he didn't look up at her.

"No." Luke shook his head slowly. "I feel awful."

"What happened?" Ashley asked. She scooted closer to Luke and rested her hand on his back, rubbing it slowly.

"Hadley Anderson wanted to have sex with me." Luke mumbled.

"And...?"

"I turned her down." Luke sighed.

"Good boy." Ashley chuckled, continuing to rub his back. He felt awful, like he was just a huge failure. This was literally a perfect chance for Luke to lose his virginity, to get what he wanted, and he fucked it all up.

"I don't think I want to lose my virginity to someone like her." Luke finally sighed, shaking his head.

"Right. You should do it with someone that you really care about and when you know that you're 100 percent ready." Ashley repeated what she always said to Luke. He didn't want to admit that he thought that she was right, that deep down he knew that sex really wasn't everything and that it was okay to still be a virgin.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Luke choked back a sob, unable to control his emotions now.

"Luke, don't cry." Ashley tried to shush him, rubbing his back again. "It's okay."

"You're just so nice, I don't get it." Luke sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. He was shivering like crazy because he didn't have a coat, but that was the least of his worries at the moment.

"I'm just being friendly." Ashley laughed. She leaned her head on Luke's shoulder, waiting patiently for him to be done acting like a baby.

"I'm gonna throw up." Luke said after a few minutes, leaning over in the opposite direction and throwing up into some bushes. He didn't think that Gracie would mind, Luke was probably the first of many people to throw up somewhere in her house that night.

"Luke..." Ashley sighed, because this was probably getting annoying to her.

All Luke did was complain and drink and make himself sick. Ashley was going to get tired of taking care of him all the time, he didn't even know why she'd stuck around so long in the first place.

"I didn't even drink that much tonight." Luke cried softly, still hunched over by the bushes in case he wasn't quiet finished yet.

"Aw, sweetie, I know." Ashley sighed. "Do you want me to drive you home?"

"Yes please." Luke waited for a good couple of minutes to reply, wanting to be 100 percent sure that he wasn't going to turn around and puke all over Ashley.

Slowly, Luke stood up again and wiped his mouth off with his hand, feeling much better. Ashley helped him to her car, which was parked down the block, and made him sit down in the passenger seat. She turned the heat on because Luke wouldn't stop complaining about how cold he was, even though just a few second before he felt like he was overheating.

"I should have listened to you." Luke whispered, leaning his head back against the seat and watching Ashley as she drove them back to his house.

"About what?" Ashley asked.

"I shouldn't have gone to the party. Bad things always happen when I go to parties." Luke groaned, closing his eyes. He knew that it wouldn't be long until they got back to his house, but Luke just felt so tired suddenly, he couldn't even keep his eyes open.

"Oh. Yeah, you're right." Ashley nodded. "But it's alright, I didn't expect you to listen to me in the first place."

"I'm sorry, Ashley." Luke sniffed, rubbing his eyes again. He opened them and stared back at her, lazily focusing on how her silhouette looked as she looked at the road ahead of her.

"You don't have to apologize, it's not a big deal." Ashley shook her head. Luke felt like she should have been upset, he kind of wanted her to be upset.

"My friends told me that the party would be fun." Luke said softly, staring down at his lap and playing with his fingers.

"Your friends are assholes." Ashley scoffed. She pulled into Luke's driveway and parked the car, but didn't make an effort to get out or help Luke, so he stayed put.

"They told me that they don't actually mean it when they're jerks to me." Luke explained, still convinced that his friends really did like him.

"Yeah, right." Ashley rolled her eyes.

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?" Luke sniffed again.

"No, Luke, I'm not mad." Ashley sighed. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. "Come on."

Luke nodded and got out of the car as well, following Ashley down the driveway and to the back door. She helped him inside, like they'd done many times before, and quietly went back to Luke's room.

"I feel gross." Luke mumbled, taking his sweatshirt off and throwing it across the room. His shirt came off next, and he tossed that on the floor too.

"I'm sorry." Ashley sighed.

"Can you stay here tonight?" Luke asked, blinking back at Ashley.

"Yeah." Ashley nodded, for once not trying to make up an excuse for why she couldn't stay. Luke cracked a small smile and went over to his dresser, pulling out some sweatpants for Ashley to change into.

"Do you want to wear these?" Luke asked, tossing them to her.

"Yeah." Ashley repeated, catching the sweatpants in her hands.

"I'm gonna brush my teeth." Luke said, shuffling off towards the bathroom. "My mouth tastes like... Hadley Anderson."

Luke returned to his room a few minutes later, finding Ashley sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing his sweatpants and the shirt she'd been wearing before.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked quietly, looking up at Luke as he entered the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess." Luke shrugged. He took off his pants and left them on the floor, crawling under the covers and wrapping the blankets around himself.

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked. She got under the covers with Luke but kept her distance this time instead of cuddling up next to him. Luke didn't say anything, because he didn't want Ashley to know that he wished she was closer.

"I'll be okay." Luke nodded. "I'm used to things like this happening. Maybe if I wasn't a virgin this wouldn't happen. I'm going to be a virgin for the rest of my life."

"Luke..."

"It's true! It's never going to happen because the only girl that I really want to have sex with has a boyfriend already. It's impossible." Luke whined, running his hands over his face again.

"Why do you do this?" Ashley asked, sitting up. Luke thought that they were just going to fall asleep, but apparently he was wrong.

"Do what?" Luke questioned.

"You act like your life is just awful when there's really nothing wrong with it." Ashley said, folding her arms over her chest.

"It is - "

"No, it's not, Luke, and I really wish you could see that. There are people out there with real problems and you sit around and cry all the time because you can't get a girl to have sex with you!" Ashley explained. Luke sat up as well, trying to understand why she was suddenly so upset about this.

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?" Luke whispered.

"Yes, I'm a little mad at you, because I don't know why you have to beat yourself up like this. You're a great person, Luke, and you act like your life is complete shit just because you're still a virgin." Ashley said, trying to keep her voice down.

"Stop yelling at me." Luke sniffed. He rolled over so he wasn't facing Ashley anymore, wanting to just go to sleep and forget that this night ever happened.

"I'm not trying to yell at you. I'm just frustrated." Ashley sighed. Luke felt her roll onto her side as well, but he didn't bother turning to look at Ashley.

"Then stop being frustrated with me." Luke mumbled.

"Stop acting like such a baby." Ashley groaned.

"If you're going to be so mean to me then you can just leave." Luke buried his face into a pillow. He suddenly didn't care if Ashley was there with him or not, he just wanted to go to sleep. He didn't want her there if all she was going to do was making him feel bad.

"Luke, I'm not trying to be mean to you." She sighed. "I was just trying to tell you how I feel, I'm sorry that I made you feel bad."

"If you feel that way about me then why are we even friends? Is Michael paying you to do this too?" Luke asked sarcastically, a big lump forming in his throat.

"Luke, look at me." Ashley said, poking him in the back. Luke didn't do anything, he just continued to stare off in the opposite direction. "Look at me."

Ashley grabbed Luke by the shoulders and flipped him over so he was laying flat on his back. She crawled on top of him so she was straddling him, forcing Luke to look up at her. He was too shocked to do anything else, so he just stayed still.

"Luke, listen to me. No one is paying me to be friends with you. I'm friends with you because you're sweet and adorable and nice and you make me laugh more than anyone I know." Ashley whispered, resting her hands on Luke's chest. "I don't care that you're a virgin and I wouldn't care if you've fucked 100 people. If those assholes were really your friends they wouldn't care about your sex life either."

"But - "

"Shh." Ashley said, putting a finger to Luke's lips, silencing him. "You're perfect the way you are and I hate the way you always put yourself down for stupid things like being a virgin or not having cool hair. That stuff doesn't matter in the real world and I wish that you would just get that through your head."

"But - "

"I'm sorry that I was upset with you but I just really want you to understand that you're only 17 now, okay? You're going to have so many opportunities to do so many things later in life and you shouldn't take what you have now for granted." Ashley cut Luke off again, and this time he decided to just not interrupt anymore. "You have a good life, alright? And it'll only get better."

"You should be a motivational speaker or something." Luke whispered after he was sure that Ashley was finished. He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind Ashley's ear, not knowing what else to say.

"That's all you got from that?" Ashley laughed.

"No." Luke said, shaking his head. "I guess I agree with you."

"You guess?" Ashley chuckled. She slowly climbed off of Luke and laid next to him again, this time both of them cuddled up closer to each other.

"Yeah, I guess." Luke shrugged jokingly, biting down on his bottom lip.

"Just remember what I said, okay?" Ashley said softly, resting her head on Luke's chest. "Losing your virginity isn't everything."

"Okay." Luke whispered, nodding slowly.

"Are you going to sleep now?" Ashley asked, bringing a blanket up to cover her and Luke.

"Yeah." Luke sighed, sleepily rubbing his eyes one more time. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Luke." Ashley whispered.

They were silent for a long time after that. Luke figured that Ashley had fallen asleep, but he was still wide awake. His mind was racing with thoughts, new thoughts that he'd never had before. He was confused and scared at what he was suddenly feeling, not sure where any of this was coming from.

"Ashley?" He whispered, wondering if she was still awake.

"Yeah?" Ashley mumbled, her face turned into Luke's chest so he could barely understand her.

"I think you're my best friend." Luke whispered. "Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me." Ashley said tiredly, still not opening her eyes.

"Yeah I do." Luke insisted, finally closing his eyes and trying to push all of his unsure feelings aside as he fell asleep.

-

THIS WAS REALLY BORING IK I SAID STUFF WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BUT STUFF REALLY DIDNT HAPPEN IM SORRY ILL TRY TO MAKE THIS MORE EXCITING SOON I JUST FEEL LIKE THIS STORY IS TAKING FOREVER TO REALLY PICK UP BYE