"I don't know, I feel kind of bad." Luke sighed, looking out the window of Ashley's bedroom.

It was Saturday night and Luke was at Ashley's house, trying to get their English project done, while Michael's birthday party went on next door. Luke had insisted multiple times that he was fine with not going, but now he was starting to think differently. He and Michael had been best friends for years and even though they fought more than they probably should, Luke felt strange about not attending his best friend's 18th birthday party.

"Why?" Ashley asked, her eyes trained on her laptop. She was supposed to be typing up the first few lines of the scene that Luke had translated, but he knew that Ashley was just online shopping. They were never going to get this project done.

"He's my best friend and I'm intentionally not going to his birthday party." Luke explained. He finally tore himself away from the window and walked over to Ashley's bed, sitting down next to her.

"Hey, I asked if you wanted to go." Ashley shrugged. That was true, she had asked Luke if he was sure that he didn't want to go to Michael's party, but he could tell she thought that he shouldn't so Luke just said that he'd be fine with not going.

"I just don't want him to get upset with me for not stopping by." Luke said, sighing again.

"Honestly I don't think he'll really noticed whether or not you show up, but if you want to go that's fine with me." Ashley spoke quickly, still not looking directly at Luke.

"Well, I don't want to just leave you alone." Luke mumbled, playing around with the hem of his t-shirt.

"You don't need to worry about me." Ashley scoffed, tucking some hair behind her ear. She shut her laptop and turned to face Luke. "You can go, I'll just hang out here."

"We should go together." Luke said. He didn't want to leave Ashley alone and he didn't want to show up to the party by himself either, so he figured that Ashley tagging along would just make everything better.

"Seriously?" Ashley asked, giving Luke a blank look.

"Yeah, seriously." Luke huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "Just come with me for, like, fifteen minutes."

"I don't know..." Ashley trailed off, looking in the direction of Michael's house again. The vibrations from the music playing was practically making Ashley's own house shake, and they could hear kids running around and screaming outside.

"We can walk in, say hi to Michael and maybe Calum and Ashton if they're there, and then leave." Luke assured her.

"Do you promise?" Ashley asked, turning back towards Luke. She pouted and looked up at him with wide eyes, a look that she knew he could never say no to.

"Yes, Ash, I promise." Luke giggled, trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"Alright, fine." Ashley sighed. "We'll only stay for a little while, okay?"

"Yeah, of course. I don't want to stay for long, anyway, I just want to drop in and say hi to everyone." Luke explained. He knew that Michael would somehow find out if Luke didn't show up, and he didn't want to risk that. Luke was just going to say hi to Michael and his other friends and talk for a few minutes, then they could hear straight back to Ashley's house.

"Okay, we can leave in a few minutes. I just need to change my clothes." Ashley said, gesturing down to the sweatpants and t-shirt she was wearing.

"Got it." Luke said, standing up from Ashley's bed. He turned around and looked out the window again, waiting for Ashley to get changed.

"You don't have to do that." Ashley laughed. This was the second time that day that she'd changed clothes with Luke right there in the room, and both times he'd turned away from her. Luke just didn't feel comfortable staring, and he felt that Ashley would be uncomfortable by it as well.

"I'm just giving you your privacy." Luke chuckled, keeping his eyes trained on what was going on outside.

"I'm done now." Ashley said after a couple minutes, and Luke finally turned around.

"Fuck." Luke let out a loud gasp, taking in Ashley's appearance. She looked good, Luke couldn't understand why she didn't normally dress like that.

"What?" Ashley asked, looking down at herself. She was just wearing a tight black crop top and jeans, but wow. She seemed to look so different than how she looked every day at school and Luke was suddenly feeling very flustered.

"You look really hot." Luke said bluntly, not even trying to play this off.

"Thanks." Ashley smiled, turning around and heading out of her room. "Let's go."

"Holy fucking shit, Ashley, your butt looks so good." Luke said as he followed her down the stairs, concentrating on only Ashley's hips as they swung back and forth in front of him.

"Thanks." Ashley said slowly again, glancing over her shoulder and making a funny face back at Luke.

"I mean it." Luke continued. "I feel so lucky, I get to show up to a party with a hot girl like you."

"It's only because the jeans I'm wearing are so tight." Ashley shrugged, not seeming at all phased by Luke's string of compliments.

"You should wear those jeans every day." Luke mumbled, grabbing his coat from where he left it on their way out of the house.

They walked outside and across Ashley's front lawn, ending up at Michael's house. They let themselves inside, seeing that the party was already in full swing and there was no point in ringing the doorbell.

"We're just staying for a few minutes, right?" Ashley asked, having to yell to be heard over the loud music.

"Yeah, let's just go say hi to Michael." Luke nodded. His own hand found Ashley's, wanting to keep her close, and Luke led her towards the back of the house, where he assumed Michael might be.

Sure enough, Michael was there. He was sitting on a couch with a girl on either side of him and a ton of guys standing around them. The whole situation make Luke feel almost sick to his stomach, but he didn't bother saying anything about it.

"Hey, Michael." Luke said, pushing past a big, muscular guy. "Happy birthday."

"Hey, Luke!" Michael yelled, at standing up from the couch with his arms open wide, pulling Luke in for a hug. Michael noticed Ashley standing right there and pulled her in to. "I knew you guys would end up coming."

"Yeah, we're only gonna stay for a few minutes." Luke shrugged, suddenly conscious of the fact that everyone in the room was watching them.

"No, no, you have to stay for longer!" Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's my birthday, you've got to stay for at least a little while!"

"We-We have an English project to work on." Luke stammered, giving Ashley's hand a small squeeze just to make sure that she was still there.

"Oh, whatever. You can finish that later." Michael groaned. Everyone around them laughed, even though Luke didn't think that what Michael said had been very funny. "It's my birthday party, you have to stay."

"I guess we can stay for a little while longer." Luke shrugged, glancing back to Ashley. She just shook her head, but Luke didn't take much notice in it.

"Just a little while, I promise." Michael nodded, grabbing Luke's forearm and dragging him over to the couch. He looked down at the two girls that were sitting next to him earlier. "Ladies."

The girls got up and walked away, leaving the couch open for Ashley, Luke, and Michael to sit down. Ashley sat down almost on top of Luke, her hand tightly clutching on to his.

"You okay?" Luke leaned over and mumbled in her ear, noticing how silent she'd been since they'd gotten here.

"Uh huh." Ashley nodded, gently squeezing his hand again.

"So, Luke." Michael placed a hand on his shoulder, making Luke turn and face him. "Have you lost the V-Card yet?"

"No." Luke said nervously, shaking his head.

"I can hook you up, you know." Michael said, giving him a simple shrug. "There are plenty of desperate girls in here tonight, we can definitely find you someone.

Luke looked back at Ashley, who would normally have an opinion on something like this, but she remained silent and stared ahead of her. Luke didn't understand why she was acting this way, but he didn't want to make a big deal about it. He pulled Ashley closer so she was sitting fully on Luke's lap now and he used her back as a pillow, resting his head against it.

"I think I'm alright for tonight, actually." Luke insisted. He didn't want Michael to find him some random girl to fuck, that's not how Luke planned on losing his virginity.

"Oh, I get it." Michael laughed, nodding to himself. "You and Ashley..."

"No." Luke shook his head.

They ended up staying at the party much longer than Luke had said they would. He was too scared to get up and leave because he knew that Michael would just beg him to stay longer and Luke had a problem saying no. Ashley wasn't very happy about this, and she asked Luke if he was ready to leave every couple minutes.

"How about now?" Ashley asked while Luke tried to listen to some story Michael was telling. She was sitting on the couch now instead of his lap, having crawled off a few minutes before.

"Five more minutes." Luke assured her.

"You said that five minutes ago." Ashley mumbled, looking down at her lap.

"I know, I'm sorry." Luke apologized for the fourth time, taking Ashley's hand in his again and running his thumb over the top of it.

"Hey, Luke, have you even had anything to drink yet?" Michael asked, realizing that Luke had sat there empty handed the entire time.

"Uh, no, I'm good for right now - " Luke shrugged. He, for once, just wasn't in the mood to drink. He knew that when him and Ashley left the party they were going to go back to her house and work on their English project, and Luke really didn't need to be drunk for that.

"Seriously? You don't want a drink?" Michael scoffed, everyone around them laughing. Luke not wanting alcohol was practically unheard of, and they all knew that.

"I mean, maybe I can have one..." Luke trailed off and looked at Ashley again, who just shook her head. "I really shouldn't."

"Alright, Luke, fine." Michael held his hands up in surrender, a big smirk on his lips. He nodded towards Ashley. "Listen to your mommy."

"She's - She's not my - "

"She sure acts like it." Michael laughed, along with the crowd of people that had gathered around them. Luke still didn't get it, what Michael was saying wasn't even funny, why were they laughing?

"I'll have one drink." Luke decided, standing up from the couch. He let go of Ashley's hand and looked down at her. "One drink, then we'll go back home."

"Okay, whatever." Ashley rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, scooting as far away from Michael on the couch as she could.

"I'll be back in a second." Luke mumbled, pushing through the people crowding around Michael and making his way to the kitchen.

When Luke arrived in the kitchen he forgot why he even came there in the first place. Because standing against the counter, a drink in one hand and her phone in the other, was Charlie.

"Hey." Luke smiled, approaching Charlie and standing in front of her.

"Hi." Charlie looked up at her, her whole expression changing as she saw Luke.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. He didn't think that Ashton and Charlie would be here tonight, they usually didn't come to these parties and if they did they'd sit on the couch the whole time and talk or make out.

"I'm here with Ashton." Charlie shrugged. She slid her phone into her back pocket. "Have you seen him anywhere?"

"No, I haven't. I didn't even know you guys were here." Luke said. "I would have tried to find you earlier."

"Oh, really?" Charlie asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I'm here with Ashley, but I think she's pretty bored." Luke rambled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "We can go find her, if you want. She'd probably want to talk to you. She's cool, right? You liked talking to her last time."

"Oh yeah, she's great." Charlie nodded, biting her lip. "I just kind of want to stay here. It's a lot... quieter."

"Yeah, it is." Luke nodded.

"So how are you, Luke?" Charlie asked, making the first move. "Have you done any streaking lately?"

"Sadly, no." Luke laughed. "My streaking days are over... For now."

"Damn." Charlie laughed, pretending to be upset about it.

"I mean, I could do some streaking right now if you want." Luke said jokingly, his fingers moving to the buttons on his jeans.

"Oh, really?" Charlie asked, looking back at Luke with an impressed expression on her face.

"Well I could, but I'm not going to." Luke shrugged. He stopped playing around with the button on his jeans, holding his hands up in the air. "This is Michael's big birthday party, I don't want to take any attention away from him."

"Right." Charlie nodded, letting out another small laugh.

Luke knew that he had to do something to keep the conversation alive so Charlie would stay interested. He didn't want her to get bored and go off to find Ashton. "So... How have you been?"

"I'm pretty good." Charlie shrugged. She set her drink down on the counter behind her, no longer wanting it.

"That's good." Luke smiled, running his hands through his hair. "Did you finish applying for colleges and everything?"

"Yeah, I did." Charlie nodded. "I applied to a lot of schools that are pretty far away, but that's kind of my whole point. I want to go somewhere new."

"Really?" Luke asked. "Why is that?"

"Oh, I don't know. I've lived in the same town for my whole entire life, I think I'm ready to go somewhere else and start over." Charlie explained, her whole face lighting up as she spoke. Luke could tell that this was something she was really passionate about, and he felt bad knowing that Ashton didn't support Charlie with this. He wanted her to stay right here.

"Have you talked to Ashton any more about this? I know that he was pretty upset the last time this was brought up." Luke asked, once again nervous, because he wasn't sure how Charlie was going to react.

"I told him where I applied, but we haven't talked much about it." Charlie shrugged. "I know that he wants me to stay here but I'm not going to let him control me. If I decide to leave then I'll do it, and Ashton will just have to put up with the long distance."

"Oh, long distance?" Luke asked, slightly surprised. "You're gonna - you're gonna do that?"

"Well, yeah. Why not?" Charlie asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I don't know, it's fine. I just know that some couples decided to break up in situations like this. They stay friends, of course, but it just puts less pressure on both of them if they're not officially 'dating'." Luke explained, using air quotes. "It allows them both to explore their options, kind of. Like, if someone new happens to come along..."

Luke was hinting at himself, of course he was hinting at himself, but he didn't think that Charlie was getting it.

"Oh." Charlie said, still looking at little confused. "That's actually so smart. I've never thought about that."

"Really? Not at all?" Luke questioned.

"No." Charlie said, shaking her head. She seemed to be getting more excited now, and Luke realized that he had just done something terribly wrong. "I mean, I love Ashton more than anything, but maybe that's what we need. Maybe if I do end up moving away for college we should just break up; it'll make things a lot less complicated."

Ashton was going to kill him.

"Well, I mean, every couple is different." Luke said, trying to fix this mess he'd created. "If you and Ashton truly think you should break up then go right ahead, but I'm sure that you can deal with the long distance, too."

Before Charlie could say anything else Ashton appeared beside her and Luke almost screamed, scared that Ashton had overheard that entire thing.

"Hi baby." Ashton smiled, already pretty tipsy, and wrapped his arms around Charlie.

"Hi." Charlie smiled, standing up on her tip toes and giving Ashton a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Luke." Ashton giggled, obviously too drunk to act like his normal asshole self around Luke.

"Hey Ashton." Luke nodded, giving him a small wave.

"Whatcha' guys talking about?" Ashton asked, actually interested in hearing Luke speak for once.

"Nothing." Charlie answered quickly, sharing a glance with Luke and silently telling him not to say anything.

"Oh my God, you're so cute." Ashton giggled, leaning in and kissing Charlie's neck, making her squirm around in his arms.

"No, you're cute." Charlie laughed, turning around and kissing Ashton again.

Luke could already tell that this was going to turn into a big "no, I love you more" thing so he decided that it was his cue to leave.

"I'll see you guys later." Luke called to them, not sure if they could hear him or not. "Use a condom."

"Bye, Luke!" Charlie said, giggling as Ashton kissed down her neck again.

Luke made his way through the house and back to where he'd left Ashley. He was ready to leave now, since there was no other reason for them to stick around any longer. It was still pretty early in the night, so Ashley and Luke could still go work on their English project when they got back if they were up for it.

When Luke got back to where they'd been before he didn't see Ashley on the couch, and he immediately began to worry. He knew that if she just left and went back to the house he'd easily be able to go find her again, but if she was somewhere else in the house then he was out of luck.

There was a chorus of cheers and shouts from the big crowd in the center of the room and Luke pushed past a few people, trying to figure out what was going on. Ashley and some random guy were in the middle of the circle, doing shots.

"Ashley!" Luke yelled, pushing everyone else out of the way and running up to her, grabbing her wrist to pull her towards him. "Ashley, what are you doing?"

"Hi Luke!" Ashley giggled, waving to him even though he was right there in front of her.

"What is this?" Luke interrogated. "I leave you alone for five minutes and you start doing shots with some random guy!"

"I think it was longer than five minutes." Ashley hiccuped, giggling again.

"Yeah, it was." Michael spoke up. He was standing off to the side, watching all of this go down.

"What did you do?" Luke turned around and asked Michael, who was most likely who influenced all of this. Luke knew that Ashley didn't like to drink at all and he knew that she was probably going to kill him once she was sober again for leaving her alone like this.

Between Ashton and Ashley, Luke was a dead man.

"I offered the girl a shot, is that a crime?" Michael asked.

"How many did she have?" Luke questioned, just wanting to get Ashley out of there.

He didn't know where to go, though, because if they went back to Ashley's house her parents would definitely get mad at her for being so drunk. They could probably go to Luke's house, his mom wouldn't care, but they had no ride.

"Forty-two." Ashley answered, laughing again.

"Oh my God, shut up." Michael scoffed, glaring at her. "She had three, maybe four."

"What's wrong with you? You know she doesn't drink, she has a low tolerance to this stuff!" Luke yelled, blaming Michael for what was ultimately his own fault.

When it all came down to it, Luke was the one that made them come to the party and Luke was the one that left Ashley alone with Michael when he tried to go flirt, so Luke was the reason why this was happening.

"I didn't know that she didn't drink! Michael yelled back, probably confused as to why this was such a big deal to Luke.

"I need to get her out of here." Luke sighed, trying to think of who he could ask for a ride back to his house.

"No, Lukey, I want to stay." Ashley whined, tugging on Luke's hand to try and pull him to where everyone else was still standing, watching all of this unfold before them.

"No, we're going home." Luke said sternly, shaking his head.

"Please?" Ashley begged.

"No, it's time to go." Luke insisted, grabbing their coats from the couch.

"I want to stay, Lukey, the party's just getting fun now!" Ashley pouted, trailing after Luke as he walked over to Michael again. Luke just ignored Ashley, figuring that he could deal with her being upset with him for making them leave another time.

"Michael, can you give us a ride back to my house?" Luke asked. He knew that Michael wasn't drunk and had a car, so he seemed like the only option at the moment. Sure, this was Michael's party, but driving them back to Luke's house wouldn't take long.

"Ashley's house is right next door, just go there." Michael scoffed, leaning up against the wall again.

"I can't take her back there, I don't know if her parents will get upset or not." Luke pleaded with him. "Please, Michael?"

"Dude, this is my birthday party." Michael said, shaking his head. "You really think I'm going to leave just so I can drive you two home?"

"It'll only take five minutes, I swear!" Luke yelled. Ashley tried to walk away again but Luke kept a tight grip on her hand, pulling her back.

"You fucking owe me." Michael said after a minute, pushing himself away from his place on the wall and leading Luke and Ashley through the house.

"I don't want to leave." Ashley whined, trying to stop Luke from walking.

"We have to." Luke said simply, already annoyed with Ashley. He had no idea how she dealt with him when he was so drunk, he knew that he was usually 10 times worse than her. Luke didn't give Ashley enough credit for what she did.

"You know, you could just stay here and fuck her." Michael said over his shoulder, glancing back at Luke. "That's why I got her drunk, so you'd have an easier time getting into her pants. She'd have a hard time saying no."

That comment sent Luke off the edge, and before he knew it he'd grabbed Michael by the shoulders and slammed him up against the nearest wall. Luke couldn't believe that Michael thought for even a second that he would take advantage of a girl who was as drunk as Ashley. Luke had done some pretty stupid things, but he wasn't dumb enough to think that something like what Michael had just suggested was okay.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Luke yelled, pinning Michael up against the wall. "That's why you got her drunk? So I could take advantage of her when she's in such a vulnerable state?"

"I-I mean, I knew she wouldn't have sex with you while she was sober." Michael stammered, seeming a little nervous by Luke's sudden actions. Luke never acted out this boldly, he was even surprised with himself.

"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard you say, Michael." Luke snapped, still upset. "That's fucking sick. You seriously think that I would do something like that to her? Or to anyone?"

"Dude, it's not really that big of a deal." Michael gulped nervously.

"It is a big deal. I can't believe that you would think that getting a girl drunk just so someone can easily have sex with her is okay. Getting a girl drunk because you know she won't say no to you is not okay!" Luke continued, his grip on Michael's shoulders tightening. "Consent is fucking important and I wouldn't have sex with Ashley or anyone else unless I had their consent first."

"Okay, fine." Michael said quickly, shaking his head. Luke could tell now that Michael was scared, so he let go of him and stepped away. "I'm sorry."

Luke swallowed hard, not even wanting to speak to Michael anymore. He turned and grabbed Ashley's hand again, surprised that she'd actually stayed there the whole time. "Just drive us home."

The ride back to Luke's house was almost completely silent, Ashley occasionally spoke and when she did it was something that Luke couldn't even understand. He was still mad from what Michael had said and wasn't in the mood to talk, even to Ashley.

When they pulled up to Luke's house he quickly got Ashley out of the car, not even thanking Michael for the ride home.

"Luke, I'm sorry - " Luke slammed the car door shut before Michael could finish his sentence.

"What are we doing?" Ashley asked, stumbling a little as Luke helped her walk up the driveway.

"We're going back to my house and you're going to go to sleep for a while." Luke said, unlocking the door with his key and holding a finger up to his lips, telling Ashley to be quiet.

"I don't want to sleep." Ashley whispered, letting out another giggle as Luke sat them down on the floor and helped get Ashley's shoes off.

"Well then we'll just hang out for a while." Luke shrugged. "You have to be quiet, though, because my mom is sleeping."

"Okay." Ashley said loudly, laughing again.

"No, Ashley, be quiet." Luke said again, covering her mouth with his hands. "Come on, let's go to my room."

"Okay." Ashley repeated, just as loud as she had been before.

Luke let out a sigh and grabbed Ashley by the shoulders, walking behind her and leading her down the hallway. They finally got to his room and Luke shut the door behind them, hoping that Ashley wouldn't make any more noise.

"Okay..." Luke said softly, trying to figure out what to do next. He thought back to all of the times Ashley had done this for him. Even though things were a little fuzzy, Luke could remember most of it. "Let's get you something to wear to bed..."

"I'm not going to bed." Ashley pouted. She sat down on the edge of Luke's bed and folded her arms across her chest.

"Put these on." Luke said, tossing Ashley a different one of his shirts (she still hadn't returned the one she borrowed a few weeks before). He knew that it was probably going to be way too much trouble to get her dressed in pants as well, so Luke picked a shirt that he knew would be long enough to cover everything.

"I don't want to." Ashley whined, shaking her head.

"Okay." Luke shrugged. He hesitantly walked over to Ashley and let his fingers slip underneath them hem of her shirt, slowly pulling it up over her head.

Ashley giggled and picked up the new shirt that Luke had set out on the bed, putting it on before standing up. She slowly shimmied out of her jeans, kicking them off to the side.

Luke took Ashley's hand in his again and led her out of the room and to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth and finish getting ready for bed. When they got back to Luke's room Ashley went straight to the bed and curled up under the covers, waiting for Luke to join her. He got undressed and then did the same.

"I don't think we should go to any parties for a while." Luke let out a big sigh, once again realizing how much work it was for Ashley to take care of him when he got drunk all the time.

"Parties are fun." Ashley shrugged.

"Not when stuff like this happens." Luke scoffed, shaking his head. Ashley rolled onto her side and Luke did too, so they were now facing each other.

"Michael said you want to have sex with me." Ashley said, finally dropping her voice down to a whisper.

"I-I mean - Maybe." Luke stammered, noticing how close his lips were to Ashley's. He stared down at them, his mind racing with different thoughts and possibilities of what might happen next.

"Do you?" Ashley asked softly.

"No, no. I don't want to have sex with anyone right now." Luke swallowed hard, still focused on Ashley's lips. "I think I'll wait a little while longer."

Now Luke was curious. He liked Charlie, he liked her a lot, but it had never occurred to Luke that maybe he liked Ashley too. They'd kissed before, but things were different at the time. Luke hadn't known Ashley at all and now that he did he felt this strange connection towards her, and he didn't understand why

"Oh, okay." Ashley nodded and began to turn away again, but Luke reached out and cupped the side of her cheek, stopping her. He slowly leaned in, his lips barely brushing against her own. His stomach began to do nervous flips and he could feel his heartbeat getting faster and faster.

"Ashley..." Luke whispered, his thumb tracing over Ashley's bottom lip.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"I - " Luke paused, suddenly rethinking everything. He pulled back, dropping his hand from her face and scooting farther away from Ashley on the bed. "Nothing."

"Okay." Ashley said again, gigging softly.

She was still drunk. Even if Luke had worked up enough courage to kiss her she probably wouldn't remember it in the morning. This was pointless, Ashley was never going to like Luke in that way so he shouldn't try and get his hopes up. The only reason why she was acting so clam about this was because she was probably too intoxicated to realize what Luke had almost done.

*•*•*

The next morning Luke woke up with Ashley laying on his chest again, her hair spread out all over him and her arms wrapped tightly around his torso. He smiled and brushed some hair away from her eyes, tucking a few strands behind her ear.

It took Luke a few minutes to remember the events of the night before, and when he did he panicked. He'd almost kissed Ashley, and he wasn't sure if she would be able to remember it or not.

"Ashley." Luke whispered, gently shaking her awake.

"Huh?" Ashley said sleepily, her eyes slowly fluttering open.

"Hey." Luke smiled, nervously licking his lips. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, I guess." Ashley groaned, clutching the side of her head with her hand. "What happened last night?"

"A lot." Luke scoffed. He wasn't sure how to explain everything that happened or if he should. Maybe it would be better if Ashley didn't know every detail.

"Did I do anything stupid?" Ashley asked, sitting up. Luke sat as well, using his elbows to prop himself up.

"It depends on what your definition of stupid is." Luke shrugged.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Ashley asked, letting out another big groan.

"You got drunk." Luke said slowly, still not sure if he wanted Ashley to know everything.

"Yeah, I figured." Ashley said, rolling her eyes. "I remember you leaving to get a drink and then not coming back. What happened after that?"

"I guess Michael convinced you to take a few shots. You didn't have a lot, only three or four, but it was enough." Luke explained.

"Oh." Ashley nodded. "Did anything else happen?"

Luke paused, debating on telling the truth or not. "No, nothing happened. I had Michael drive us back here and we went straight to sleep."

"Alright, good." Ashley smiled, sitting up and crossing her legs over each other. "So what are we going to do today?"

"Uh, I don't know." Luke shrugged. "We can just hang out here and watch a movie or something."

"Okay." Ashley nodded. "So before I got drunk and you had to come save me did you have a good time last night?"

"Yeah, I guess. I talked to Charlie a little, that was cool." Luke said, blushing a little as he looked down at his lap.

"Oh, Charlie was there?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, she was there with Ashton but when I talked to her she was all alone." Luke nodded, nervously chewing at his bottom lip. "It was really cool, I usually don't get to talk to her alone, Ashton's always there."

"Well that's...great." Ashley said softly, looking down at playing with the hem of Luke's shirt.

"Yeah." Luke said, a big smile now on his face.

They were silent for a few minutes and when Luke finally thought of something else to say his phone started ringing. Luke scrambled out of bed and got his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, which were still laying out on the floor.

"Hello?" Luke asked, not looking at who was calling first.

"Hey, Luke." Ashton said, sounding much happier than he usually did when he called Luke.

"Hey." Luke said slowly. He glanced at Ashley, mouthing to her that it was Ashton calling.

"Are you doing anything today?" Ashton asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Luke shrugged. He got up off the floor and walked out of the room, signaling to Ashley that he would be back in a minute. "Why?"

"Charlie wants to go to this thing - Baby, what was it again?" Ashton paused and listened for Charlie's response. "It's this thing at the art museum downtown, and she wants to know if you'll come with us."

"Oh, she wants me to come with?" Luke asked, his whole mood suddenly changing. Of course he wanted to go with Charlie, even if Ashton was going to be there.

"Yeah, she said that you'd probably find whatever this thing is cool." Ashton chuckled. "She always wants me to go with her to stuff like that but I'm pretty boring. If you were there with us she'd probably enjoy herself more."

"Well then yeah, I'll come with you guys." Luke nodded, unable to stop a smile from spreading onto his face.

"Great." Ashton laughed. "We'll pick you up in about an hour."

"Alright, see you later." Luke said, hanging up the phone.

He walked back down the hall again and into his room, where Ashley was still sitting on Luke's bed.

"Hey." She said, looking up at Luke as he walked in the room. "What did Ashton want?"

"Nothing. He just had a question." Luke said quickly. He grabbed his jeans from the floor and slid them back on his legs, trying to get himself ready.

"So what movie are we going to watch?" Ashley asked, watching Luke as he got dressed.

"Oh, uh, about that." Luke stammered, trying to think up an excuse. "I was talking to my mom a few minutes ago, after I ended the call with Ashton, and she wants me to clean the house."

"Oh, does she?" Ashley questioned, nervously playing with her hands again.

"Yeah." Luke lied. He knew that Ashley would be mad if she found out that Luke wanted to hang out with Ashton and Charlie more than her, so he didn't want to tell her. "So, uh, maybe you could just go home and then I'll call you later tonight. Then we can hang out."

"Yeah, that's fine." Ashley said. She got up off of the bed and walked over to where her clothes were from the night before, beginning to get dressed.

"Really? Are you sure?" Luke asked, feeling a little guilty for lying. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's totally fine." Ashley nodded. "I have this, um, this research paper for one of my classes anyway."

"I really am sorry." Luke sighed. "Do you want my mom to give you a ride home? I can ask her, she probably won't mind."

"No, it's alright." Ashley shook her head. She pulled Luke's shirt off of her body and threw it across the room, putting her own shirt on again. "I can walk, it's only a few blocks."

"I'll call you later tonight and you can come over again, if you want." Luke said, watching as Ashley put her jeans back on.

"Okay." Ashley nodded.

"Here, I'll walk you out." Luke said, following Ashley out of his room and down the hall.

"Thanks, Luke." Ashley said once she had her shoes and coat on, ready to leave.

"For what?" Luke asked. Ashley shouldn't be thanking him right now, Luke was being an asshole. He didn't deserve to be thanked.

"For last night..." Ashley said, giving him a small shrug. "For everything."

"Well you're welcome, Ashley." Luke said, a small smile on his face as he opened the door for her and let Ashley out of the house. "I'll see you later."

*•*•*

Luke felt awful.

He was at a restaurant with Ashton and Charlie sitting across from him after having been at the art museum for the last few hours, nervously tapping his fingers on the table. Luke didn't know why he ever thought that things would be different today than they normally were. He was still a third wheel on Ashton and Charlie's date and he was still a pathetic excuse for a friend.

He felt outrageously guilty for what he did to Ashley. He should have stayed home and hung out with her, he'd made plans to stay with her before Ashton called and Luke should have stuck to those plans.

"Luke, are you alright?" Charlie asked from across the table, suddenly concerned.

"I'm fine." Luke nodded. He took his phone out from his pocket, checking for any texts from Ashley.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" Ashton asked. Luke just shook his head as he stared down at his phone, typing a new message.

luke that gets drunk all the time: ashley

ashley my best friend: yeah

luke that gets drunk all the time: i have to tell you something

luke that gets drunk all the time: promise you'll try not to get upset

ashley my best friend: ok now I'm nervous

ashley my best friend: tell me

luke that gets drunk all the time: I kind of lied to you

luke that gets drunk all the time: my mom didn't need me to clean the house, my mom wasnt even awake when you left this morning. ashton called and asked if i could come on a date with him and charlie

ashley my best friend: oh

luke that gets drunk all the time: im so sorry

luke that gets drunk all the time: are you mad at me

ashley my best friend: yes of course im mad at you

ashley my best friend: you lied to me so you could go on a date with your friend and his girlfriend. if you had just told me that you wanted to hang out with them more than me i would have understood. but whatever. i guess they're more important.

luke that gets drunk all the time: im really sorry

luke that gets drunk all the time: can you call me or something can we talk about this

ashley my best friend: no. maybe later.

luke that gets drunk all the time: ashley

ashley my best friend: have fun third wheeling

luke that gets drunk all the time: ash please

luke that gets drunk all the time: ashley

"Luke, are you okay?" Charlie asked again, probably noticing the new expression on Luke's face.

He looked up at Ashton and Charlie, who appeared to be worried with the way Luke was acting.

"No." He sighed, feeling even worse than he had a few minutes before.

-

TOO MUCH HAPPENED IN THIS CHAPTER LIKE IT STARTED OUT OK AND THEN WENT DOWNHILL BUT WHATEVER MY FINGERS HURT FROM TYPING BYE