"You're crazy." Ashley laughed, gently bumping her shoulder against Luke's.

"I am not." Luke protested, folding his arms across his chest as they walked. School had just gotten out and Luke was walking with Ashley to her car like he normally did.

"You're really crazy." Ashley continued laughing, shaking her head at him.

"I am not!" Luke repeated.

"You can't do that, Luke." Ashley sighed, shaking her head. "Ashton's going to kill you for sure."

"That's the thing, though. He won't find out." Luke chuckled. He had just told Ashley his master plan for winning Charlie over and he could tell that she didn't think it would work.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that'll work out just wonderfully." Ashley scoffed.

"They're going to break up soon, I can feel it." Luke insisted. He knew that Ashton and Charlie were unhappy most of the time and he knew that Charlie now had the idea in her head that it would be better if her and Ashton broke up. It was going to happen one way or another.

"Two days ago you were complaining to me about how in love they were with each other." Ashley sighed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"They say they're in love with each other." Luke argued, trying to further prove her point.

"Oh my God, you really need to make up your mind." Ashley groaned. "One second you're totally fine with Ashton and Charlie and the next you're obsessing over them."

"I'm not obsessing over them." Luke pouted, his eyes shifting down to the ground.

"You just told me about your big plan to get Ashton and Charlie to break up so you can majestically sweep her off her feet and you can go to college together or whatever." Ashley said, rolling her eyes again. "Also, I don't know why you used the word majestically. You can't do anything majestically. You're a dork."

"Her and Ashton are unhappy together and I know that she would be happier with me." Luke said, but he was trying to convince himself of this more than anything.

"I just don't get it." Ashley shrugged.

"What don't you get?" Luke questioned, not sure what Ashley meant.

"You barely know her!" Ashley exclaimed. They reached her car and she leaned up against the side of it, staring up at Luke. "I mean, it's totally acceptable for you to think she's cute or whatever, don't get me wrong. I just - I honestly think it's a bit weird for you to be in love with her when all you talk about is college."

"College is a very important subject." Luke frowned, a little upset at the fact that Ashley was saying this. Deep down he knew that she was right, Ashley was always right, but Luke didn't want to believe that.

"I don't know, Luke." Ashley sighed. "I just don't agree with you wanting to break Ashton and Charlie up for your own selfish benefits."

"It's not a selfish benefit." Luke said, pouting a little. "Ashton is an asshole and Charlie deserves better."

"Yeah, but are you really any better?" Ashley asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Did you just call me an asshole?" Luke scoffed, confused at what Ashley meant.

"You're kind of acting like one right now." Ashley shrugged. "Ashton and Charlie's relationship has nothing to do with you and I don't see why you would even think of trying to break them up for no reason."

"Well, fine." Luke said stubbornly, stepping away from Ashley. "I just won't talk to you about this any more."

"Luke, come on..." Ashley trailed off. "That's not what I meant."

"I mean, you clearly don't care." Luke said bitterly, looking down at the ground again.

"It's not that I don't care, I just don't agree with what you're planning to do." Ashley sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I don't understand why you're chasing after Charlie, there are so many other girls out there that you'd probably have a lot more in common with."

Luke stayed silent instead of answering Ashley, because he didn't agree with what she'd said. He and Charlie had plenty of things in common. For one, they were both good at math. They also had the same favorite flavor of ice cream and don't like eggs. They were both interested in similar colleges for similar reasons and Luke knew that if they got a chance to talk again they'd find even more things in common.

"You don't get it." Luke grumbled, still upset with her. "I love her, alright? Fucking deal with it. This shouldn't concern you, anyway."

"Luke..." Ashley sighed, reaching out to try and grab him.

Before either of them could say anything else a car honked it's horn and pulled up next to them, startling them both. Luke groaned and turned around, already having an idea of who it was.

"Luke, get in the car!" Ashton yelled from the front seat, rolling down the window.

"Why?" Luke yelled back. He saw that Michael was there in the passenger seat and Calum was in the back, staring down at his phone like always.

"Monday night pizza party." Ashton shrugged, as if that was enough to get Luke to agree to coming over. "Charlie will be there!"

Luke turned towards Ashley again, who was now leaning against the car with a bored expression on her face.

"Is it alright if I go with them tonight?" He asked, wanting to make sure that Ashley was okay with him hanging out with his friends tonight instead of her.

"Oh, did we have plans?" Ashley asked sarcastically.

"I don't know." Luke shrugged.

"I don't think you should go." Ashley sighed after a minute, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Alright, fine. Why?" Luke questioned.

"I just have a bad feeling about it, that's all." Ashley shrugged. Luke just rolled his eyes, he hated the way that Ashley claimed to have "bad feelings" about things all the time. She was always right, but Luke still hated it.

"Oh..." Luke trailed off, looking at Ashton and the rest of his friends, who were waiting in the car.

"I mean, it's fine if you want to." Ashley nodded towards the car, her lips set in a straight line. "I have to do something later tonight anyway."

"Oh, okay." Luke nodded, slowly turning back to Ashton's car. "What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm meeting up with someone." Ashley shrugged.

"Who?" Luke questioned. Ashley never made plans with anyone for after school unless they were with him. He didn't know who she could possibly be meeting up with.

"It shouldn't concern you." Ashley smirked at him before turning around and getting into her car without saying another word to him.

Luke let out a loud groan and walked around to the other side of Ashton's car, getting in the back seat next to Calum. He ignored the look that he got from Michael as he sat down.

"Trouble in paradise, Luke?" Ashton chuckled from the front seat as Luke slammed the door shut.

"There's no trouble." Luke said simply, shaking his head. "There's no paradise, either."

"Luke and Ashley are just friends." Michael said, clearly trying to anger Luke as he spoke. "Isn't that right, Luke?"

"Why are you speaking to me?" Luke asked harshly, not in the mood for his friends to mess around with him today. He was pissed off about more than one thing at the moment, but mostly from what Ashley had just said to him.

"Alright kids, calm down." Ashton laughed, starting up the car again and pulling out of the parking lot. "We have to go pick up Charlie."

"Great, I can't wait to watch Luke drool over her." Michael laughed obnoxiously.

"Shut up!" Luke yelled. He leaned forward and slapped Michael on the back of the head. Michael turned around and tried to slap Luke back, but he couldn't reach so Luke just took this as a chance to slap Michael again.

"Holy shit, Luke, calm down!" Ashton groaned. He turned up the volume on the radio, trying to drown out the sounds of Michael and Luke arguing.

"I'm perfectly calm." Luke pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just don't see why you had to bring him with us."

"Uh, why wouldn't we bring Michael with us?" Calum finally spoke, looking up from his phone.

"Because he's an asshole that doesn't know how to treat a woman." Luke snapped.

"You're still upset about that? Get over it, it happened, like, a week ago." Michael scoffed from the front seat, barely glancing over his shoulder at Luke.

"Of course I'm still upset about this! You got my best friend drunk just so I could have sex with her without her trying to stop me! That's rape!" Luke yelled, suddenly more upset about this than he was a few seconds before.

The thought of what Michael tried to do to Ashley just made Luke mad and he was still finding it hard to believe that Michael, one of his best friend's, would do something like that.

"Wait, wait. What did you do?" Calum questioned Michael, leaning forward.

"I got Ashley drunk at my party the other day and I figured that maybe she'd give in to fucking Luke." Michael explained briefly. "It's not a big deal, Luke just blew up about it."

"Dude, that's kind of a big deal." Ashton said, trying to laugh a little to relieve the tension. "That is rape, isn't it? Like, because if Luke had sex with Ashley while she was drunk he wouldn't know if she would actually want to have sex with him or not. You gotta have consent, dude."

"See, even Ashton knows that it's a big deal." Luke said bitterly.

"Luke, just calm down." Calum sighed. "It's over now, nothing happened, everything's fine."

"Well, something could have happened and I'm not very happy about it." Luke snapped. It really scared him to think that something bad could have happened to Ashley while Luke was trying to shamelessly flirt with Charlie. He'd dragged Ashley there in the first place and if she got hurt Luke would feel as if he was the one responsible.

"Dude, just shut up or I'll kick you out of my car." Ashton yelled, turning the volume up even more. "It's over now, just calm down."

Luke sighed and decided not to speak any more, not really in the mood to be kicked out of a moving car while they drove down the highway. Shortly after they arrived at Charlie's school, where she was sitting on the steps and waiting for Ashton.

"Michael, get in the back." Ashton ordered. "And don't sit next to Luke, he'll kill you."

Michael let out a loud groan and got out of the passenger seat, walking around the other side of the car while Calum slid into the middle seat, so he could separate Michael and Luke. Michael stared at Luke, who was trying to do his best to not pay attention.

"Don't look at me." Luke snapped, keeping his eyes focused on Charlie, who was walking towards the car.

"You're fucking crazy." Michael mumbled, shaking his head.

"Hey." Ashton said as Charlie got into the car, slamming the door shut behind her. He leaned in for a kiss, but Charlie just shook her head and pushed Ashton away.

"You're twenty minutes late." Charlie sighed.

"I'm so sorry, baby, I had to wait for Luke to get out of school." Ashton said apologetically. Charlie turned around and looked at Luke, giving him a small but sad smile.

"Alright, it's fine." Charlie mumbled softly.

"So how are you?" Ashton asked quietly, almost like he was trying to ignore the fact that there were three other people in the car.

"I'm fine." Charlie answered, quickly buckling her seatbelt and folding her arms across her chest.

"You don't seem fine." Ashton sighed. He leaned over and placed a hand on her thigh. "You seem upset."

"Ash, I'm fine." Charlie said, leaning back in her seat.

"How did that math test go?" Ashton questioned. "You were studying for it last night, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I think I did alright on it." Charlie nodded.

Luke turned towards Calum and Michael to see if they were even paying attention to Ashton and Charlie's conversation, but they weren't. Michael was staring out the window and Calum was texting his girlfriend again. Luke was doing his best to hear what Charlie and Ashton were saying.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Ashton asked softly, leaning in closer to her.

"Nothing's wrong." Charlie assured him, sniffing once. Luke could tell that she was upset about something, and she sounded like she was going to cry. "I'm fine, can we just go home?"

"You can tell me if there's something - "

"Ashton." Charlie cut him off

"Baby, tell me what's wrong." Ashton said quietly, reaching over with his other hand and brushing some hair out of Charlie's eyes.

"Can we just talk when we get home, please?" Charlie begged, pushing Ashton away from her again.

"Yeah, that's fine." Ashton swallowed hard and nodded. He started the car again and pulled out of his parking place, deciding not to bother Charlie any more.

"I love you." Charlie whispered. Luke knew that no one else was meant to hear that, she'd said it so quietly and the only reason why Luke did hear it was because he was paying extra attention and straining to hear.

"I love you too, baby." Ashton smiled back at her, his hand still running up and down her thigh.

The car ride back to Ashton's house was relatively silent. Every few minutes Michael would lean over and whisper something to Calum or Ashton would try to talk to Charlie. Luke was quiet, though, because no one wanted to talk to him and he didn't want to talk to them either.

When they arrived at Ashton's house Charlie got out of the car and walked inside without waiting for anyone else.

"What's up with her?" Michael asked, slamming the back door of the car shut.

"She's got a lot going on." Ashton shrugged, shaking his head. They all followed him inside and headed down to the basement, where they normally hung out. Luke was surprised to see that Charlie wasn't down there, she must have gone upstairs to Ashton's room right away.

"Dude, where'd she go?" Calum asked, taking a seat on the couch.

"Dude, she's probably in my room or something." Ashton scoffed. He took off his shoes and set his jacket down on one of the chairs. "She's just having a bad day."

"Dude, this is why I hate relationships. If your girlfriend gets moody then you have to deal with her and all that shit." Michael laughed and sat down next to Calum, who was texting his girlfriend again and keeping her updated on everything.

"Dude, that's totally the point of a relationship." Luke added, rolling his eyes. He sat down on the chair next to the couch, trying to keep as far away from Michael as possible.

"Dude, Luke's kind of right." Ashton said. He looked towards the stairs again, like he was hoping that Charlie would come down.

"Yeah." Calum nodded, agreeing with him. "You should always care about someone and learn to love everything about them before all the physical stuff comes in."

"Uh huh." Ashton agreed. "You have to know what makes them happy and what makes them sad, and then you have to know how to make things better again if you do something wrong."

"Nah, relationships are basically just friends with benefits." Michael shrugged.

"Not exactly - " Luke protested. He shouldn't be talking, though, because he'd never been in a relationship of his own before.

"You don't know shit, Hemmings, shut up." Michael scoffed, interrupting Luke again. Luke just sighed and looked down at his feet, regretting that he'd even come here in the first place.

"But Luke's right - " Ashton spoke up, trying to defend Luke.

"Whatever. I'm never going to be in a relationship again and I'm sure as hell never going to get married. I'd kill myself if I had to stay with one person for the rest of my life." Michael chuckled softly. "Who wants to play video games?"

Again. Luke had no idea that Michael had ever been in a relationship before. He thought that Michael just hopped around from girl to girl, Luke didn't think that Michael had ever settled down with just one person. Obviously he didn't settle officially, but that wasn't the point.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and figure out what's up with Charlie." Ashton sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Can someone order the pizzas?"

"I'll do it." Calum volunteered, already dialing the number for the pizza place.

Calum ordered two pizzas, one of them with half cheese just for Luke. The three boys sat in the basement for the next half hour, playing videos games and talking occasionally. Luke sat there the whole time wondering what was going on with Ashton and Charlie upstairs.

"I bet they're fucking." Michael shrugged, pausing his video game again.

"She seemed upset. They're not going to have sex, Ashton's just making sure that she's okay." Calum said softly, coming up with a more logical response, like he normally did.

"If they want to hide in Ashton's room and have sex all night then that's fine. I just don't think he should have invited us over just so he could stay upstairs and make us sit down here the whole time." Michael grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"They're not having sex." Luke said blankly.

"Why else would they take forever to get back downstairs?" Michael questioned. "I mean, like I said, it's fine, I just don't know why Ashton invited us over if he's not even going to hang out with us."

"Well Charlie's kind of his priority at the moment, so Ashton's just trying to make sure that she's alright." Luke rolled his eyes at Michael again, not believing that he was being so ridiculous about this whole thing.

Luke didn't care that Ashton was upstairs talking to Charlie, he just cared about whether Charlie was okay or not. He didn't mind that Ashton and Charlie took forever to get back downstairs, as long as Charlie was alright.

"Ashton's so whipped now, he'll never be the same." Michael sighed, shaking his head.

"Just leave them alone." Luke snapped, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Michael.

"Dude, chill out." Michael laughed, rolling his eyes. "I was kidding."

"You're such a fucking - " Luke almost said something more, but the doorbell rang upstairs and cut him off.

"That's probably the pizza." Calum said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, probably." Michael nodded, slowly sitting up. "Luke, go get it."

"Michael." Calum scolded, also seeming annoyed with how Michael was treating Luke. Luke assumed that Michael was just acting this way because of what happened at his party the weekend before and he was still bitter about it, because usually Michael didn't act this mean. "I'll get the pizza."

Calum stood up from the couch and walked upstairs, leaving Michael and Luke alone.

"Are you mad at me?" Michael asked once Calum was gone.

"I was mad at you 20 minutes ago and I'm still mad now." Luke scoffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Dude, I don't even know why you're so upset." Michael said, letting out a groan. "Nothing happened to your little friend, I just got her drunk. That's all."

"Yeah, but I'm upset about why you got her drunk. That wasn't cool, dude." Luke said. Talking about Ashley suddenly made Luke feel guilty about what happened earlier that day, and he should go apologize to her.

"I was trying to help you out." Michael snapped.

"Yeah, she said the same thing." Luke sighed. "I just didn't like it, okay? I thought you were better than that, and that's why I'm mad at you."

"Luke, come on - "

"Ashton and Charlie are upstairs talking in the kitchen. I didn't want to bother them so I just came straight down." Calum said as he walked in to the basement, carrying the two pizzas.

"Well, more pizza for me." Michael laughed, grabbing the pizza from Calum and taking a few slices for himself.

"You don't have to act like such a jerk about this." Luke glared at Michael. He didn't bother taking any pizza, because he didn't think that he'd be sticking around here much longer.

"I'm not trying to act like a jerk." Michael shrugged. "I already said, if they want to hang out upstairs and talk all night then that's fine with me."

"Cut them some slack, Michael, honestly. There's probably something going on with them, they're just trying to talk things out." Calum sighed, sitting cross-legged on the couch as he ate his pizza.

"Yeah, right." Michael rolled his eyes.

"You have to do that in relationships. You have to actually talk to the person you're in a relationship with." Luke said harshly. He didn't know why Michael was acting so bitter about Ashton and Charlie, they've never done anything to him.

"You think I don't know that?" Michael said, scoffing again. "I've been in a relationship before, I know how they work."

"Well it clearly didn't turn out very well, so I thought I'd just remind you." Luke said, surprising himself with the amount of confidence he had. Normally he wouldn't even think about talking to Michael like that.

"Oh, if didn't turn out well? How do you know that?" Michael said, standing up and taking a few steps towards Luke.

"I just assumed," Luke said bitterly, standing up in front of Michael, "considering the fact that you're an inconsiderate asshole who only cares about himself."

"Fuck off - "

"I don't think you'd do very well in a relationship." Luke cut Michael off, reaching out and shoving him backwards.

"That's funny, Luke, because you know so much about relationships in the first place." Michael said and pushed Luke again.

"I know enough to be able to tell that you'd do a shitty job as a boyfriend." Luke smirked and shoved Michael again, almost liking the way that he was getting him so worked up about this.

"Shut up!" Michael yelled and grabbed Luke, pushing him down to the ground. "You think you know everything, don't you?"

"Michael, knock it off." Calum stood up as well, trying to get Michael off of Luke.

"M-Michael, get off of me." Luke stammered. He'd totally meant to make Michael a little upset about this, but he didn't mean for it to go this far.

"I can't believe you were seriously trying to give me tips on how to be in a relationship!" Michael let out a mean laugh, placing his hands on Luke's chest to hold him down.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Michael, please - "

"Shut up! I'm so sick of you acting like you know everything! It's annoying, I hate it!" Michael yelled. His hands were pressed down on Luke's chest so hard that he was having trouble breathing, and he couldn't get up and stop Michael.

"Dude, this isn't funny. Get off of him." Calum said, trying again to get Michael off of him.

"I'm so fucking done with you." Michael snapped. Before Luke even had another second to think Michael punched him in right in the nose.

"Ow!" Luke said, finally wiggling out of Michael's grasp and clutching his nose, which was now gushing blood.

"Come on, Luke." Michael taunted him. "Fight back. Throw a couple punches."

"Michael, get off of him!" Calum said, but he didn't seem to be trying very hard to help Luke out.

"Fight back!" Michael shouted and let out another laugh, pushing Luke down to the floor again.

"Michael, seriously!" Calum yelled. He finally got ahold of Michael's shirt and pulling him back by his collar. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Luke sat up slowly, almost in shock from what just happened. He knew that Michael was upset about this but he didn't know that he was upset enough to actually punch him in the face. Michael had never done anything like that to Luke, not even when they were little kids.

"Fuck you." Luke scowled at Michael, shaking his head. He felt like crying but he didn't want to show weakness, so Luke held it all in for now.

"Luke, I - " Michael started, but Luke didn't want to hear anything that Michael had to say.

"I'm still mad at you." Luke mumbled, holding his nose to try and stop the bleeding. He got up from the floor and pushed passed Michael, who also seem shocked about the whole situation.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I was just messing around - " Michael chuckled lightly, trying to make a joke out of this.

"I really don't want to hear it." Luke said, shaking his head. He was honestly having a hard time reacting to this, he'd never been punched in the face before.

"Luke, come on." Calum said, reaching out for Luke, but he was already on his way up the stairs.

"I'll see you guys later." Luke mumbled.

He made his way upstairs and headed straight for the front door, no longer wanting to stick around Ashton's house. Luke just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and maybe cry a little. Coming here was a bad idea, he should have just gone home with Ashley. He should have listened to Ashley.

Luke stopped as he walked past the kitchen, hearing Charlie and Ashton's voices.

"Ashton stop, you don't get it." Charlie sighed.

"I do get it, baby, I do." Ashton whispered. Luke stayed still and pressed himself up against the wall of the hallway, not wanting Ashton and Charlie to see him and get upset about him eavesdropping.

"I just - I don't understand why everyone has to fight with me about this." Charlie sniffed, sounding like she was going to cry again.

"Char, please don't cry again." Ashton said softly. "I can talk to you parents for you, we can try to fix this."

Luke honestly had no idea what they were talking about, and he knew that it was no use for him to stand there and listen in on Ashton and Charlie's conversation, especially while his nose was bleeding uncontrollably, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. He was too interested now.

"This isn't about my parents, Ashton, it's about you. You always try to start fights with me about shit like this and I'm done with it. I can't do this with you anymore." Charlie said, beginning to cry harder.

"Whoa, whoa, you're done with it? You not done with us, are you? Baby, you don't mean that." Ashton whispered, trying his best to comfort her.

"I don't want to, but maybe if would be better if the two of us just - " Charlie cut herself off, crying too hard now to speak.

"Charlie, baby, it's okay." Ashton shushed her.

Luke decided that he couldn't listen to this any longer, so he pushed himself off of the wall and walked into the kitchen, clearly startling both Ashton and Charlie.

"Hi, guys... Is everything okay?" Luke asked, trying not to give away the fact that he'd just sat and listened to them talk for the last 5 minutes.

"Oh yeah, we're fine." Ashton nodded. Charlie slowly pulled away from him and wiped under her eyes, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Shit, what happened to you?"

"Oh, Michael punched me." Luke shrugged.

"What? He punched you?" Charlie gasped, suddenly seeming okay again.

"Yeah, we got into a little argument." Luke said, wincing a little at the pain in his nose.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, grabbing Luke and pulling him towards an empty chair, making him sit down.

"Why the hell would he punch you? That's fucked up." Ashton muttered to himself, beginning to pace around the kitchen.

"I just said some stuff, I don't know." Luke said, shaking his head. "I did it on purpose, I wanted him to get upset with me."

"That's still no reason for him to punch you." Ashton scoffed. "Man, you're bleeding so much. Do you need a doctor or something?"

"I don't think so..." Luke trailed off. He was surprised that Ashton was even acting this way, usually he didn't care about Luke like this.

"Here, Luke," Charlie said, handing Luke a few paper towels to try and stop his nose from bleeding. "Do you think your nose is broken?"

"I don't think he hit me that hard." Luke sighed, holding the paper towels to his nose. "I'll probably be fine, there's just a lot of blood."

"Do you want me to give you a ride home, Luke? You don't have to hang out here any longer, it's fine." Ashton offered, but Luke just shook his head.

"I'll just walk. I have to go somewhere, anyway." Luke said, standing up.

He wanted to go by Ashley's house and try to apologize, he felt bad for earlier that afternoon and for some reason it took Michael punching Luke in the face for him to realize how much of a jerk he'd been.

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked. "It's dark out, Ashton can just drive you."

"No, I'm fine." Luke insisted, beginning to walk out of the kitchen. Ashton was still pacing back and forth, totally beating himself up about this. "Thanks for the...paper towels."

"Bye, Luke. Call us if you need anything." Ashton called, giving Luke a small smile. Then he turned to Charlie, his whole expression changing. "I'm gonna go beat Michael up."

Luke nodded and quickly made his way out of the house, on his way to find Ashley. She only lived a few blocks away from Ashton, so Luke didn't think that it'd take long for him to get there. His nose finally stopped bleeding after a while, and Luke was beginning to feel better about all of this. He called and texted Ashley more than once as he walked, but she never answered.

"Hey, it's me again. I'm coming to your house and I just got punched in the face. I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier. I'll see you soon." Luke said, leaving a second message on Ashley's phone. He didn't know why she wasn't answering him. She was either really busy or really mad at him.

Luke made it to Ashley's house and rang the doorbell, nervously rocking back and forth on his feet. He expected Ashley to answer the door, she was always the one to get the door when Luke came over, but he was surprised when Helen opened the door, not Ashley.

"Oh, um, hello." Luke stammered, not knowing what he was supposed to say. "Mrs. Miller? I'm Luke, I'm-I'm Ashley's friend."

Helen was one of those hot step moms, the kind that guys usually drool over and fantasize about. The kind that they wrote the song Stacy's Mom about. Luke could swear that his heart rate sped up as he stared at Helen in front of him, struggling to put together a proper sentence.

"Oh, hello Luke." Helen smiled, opening the door wider so Luke could come inside. "We met once before, didn't we?"

"Yes, for only a few seconds." Luke nodded. "Is - "

"Are you alright?" Helen asked quickly, cutting Luke off. She pointed to his face, and Luke realized that it was probably noticeable that he'd just been punched in the face. "I'm sorry for interrupting, I was just curios."

"Oh, I'm fine. I've just - just had a bit of a rough night." Luke said, faking a smile. "Is Ashley home? I-I tried calling her cell phone and she didn't answer."

"She's not, actually, I'm sorry. She went out with a boy a few hours ago, I think she'll be home soon. You're welcome to wait here for her." Helen explained.

Luke tried to ignore the feeling of his stomach churning at the mention of Ashley going out with another boy. He should have seen it coming, anyway.

"Oh, I don't know." Luke said slowly, glancing around the living room. He wasn't sure how he felt about waiting in Ashley's house while her step mom was there with him. "I don't want to intrude."

"You won't be a bother, really. You can wait up in Ashley's room, if you want. I'm sure she won't mind. She should be home in about an hour." Helen said, giving Luke another warm smile.

"I-I don't want her to get mad at me." Luke said nervously, biting down on his bottom lip.

"I don't see why she would." Helen shrugged innocently, staring up at Luke. "You two are very close, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Luke nodded.

"Then it's all settled. Come on, Luke, let's get you cleaned up." Helen smiled, taking Luke's hand and pulling him into the kitchen.

He sat down on a stool and Helen helped him clean up all of the dried blood on his face and hands. (Luke was just sitting there and soaking up the fact that he had a hot girl touching him). Helen got Luke an ice pack to put on his nose and help with the swelling, then she offered him some food and Luke, being a growing and hungry teenage boy, graciously accepted it.

"So you know Ashley from school?" Helen asked, taking a bite of her lasagna.

"Yes ma'am." Luke nodded, his mouth full. "We've gone to school together since kindergarten but we only started talking just recently."

"That's what I thought, she's never really mentioned you before." Helen chuckled.

"Well, I don't see why she would." Luke shrugged, blushing a little as he looked down at his plate of food.

"You're a very nice boy, if I had a friend like you I'd definitely brag about you to all of my friends." Helen laughed.

"Oh." Luke giggled nervously, blushing even more.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what's so important that you need to come here and talk to Ashley tonight?" Helen asked. "I mean, it's pretty late, I'm just wondering why you felt the need to come see her in person."

"I kind of, um, I-I kind of have to apologize for something." Luke stuttered. "I'd rather do it in person, not over the phone."

"Oh, I see." Helen nodded. She must have noticed the scared expression on Luke's face. "Don't worry, I won't ask what you did that you need to apologize for."

"It's not exactly a big deal, I just acted like a jerk." Luke said, laughing nervously again. "That happens a lot, actually. I'll do something stupid and Ashley will get mad, but then I'll realize what I did wrong and Ashley will come back to me."

Helen let out a small laugh and Luke looked up at her questioningly, not understanding what was so funny about the situation.

"Are you sure there isn't anything going on between you two?" Helen asked.

"There isn't, I swear." Luke assured her.

"You know, you're much nicer than the other boys Ashley's had over. She always seems to pick the bad guys, but I think you're good for her." Helen said, focusing on her food once again.

"I'm not - There's really nothing going on with Ashley and I, Mrs. Miller." Luke chuckled nervously. "She's obviously not interested in me, anyway. She's out with that other guy right now, isn't she?"

"Sometimes it takes a while for people to realize that they're wasting their time on the wrong person." Helen said, a small smile etched across her lips.

Luke felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach again and suddenly didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted to be home, in bed, under his blankets and far away from all of his problems.

"I should get going." Luke said quickly, getting tired of waiting for Ashley. It had been almost an hour and she still wasn't back. Luke pushed his plate away from him and stood up. "Thanks so much for everything. Mrs. Miller."

"Luke, I told you to just call me Helen." She chuckled, taking Luke's now empty plate and carrying it over to the sink.

"Alright, Mrs. Miller. Can you please tell Ashley that I stopped by?" Luke said, already making his way to the front door.

"I will, Luke." Helen nodded, watching Luke as he left. "I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later, Mrs. Miller." Luke nodded, smiling at her over his shoulder. "Thanks again."

Luke quickly walked to the front door and opened it, wanting to just run away again. But when he pulled the door open he saw Ashley standing there, her hand reached out as if she was about to open it herself.

"Luke?" She questioned, looking up at him. Luke stepped out of the house and shut the door behind him, standing with Ashley on the front step. "What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for you." Luke said, folding his arms across his chest. He didn't know why, but he was upset with Ashley. Maybe it was because he knew that she'd just been out with another guy. Yeah, that was probably it.

"Oh, why? Weren't you supposed to be at Ashton's house all night? What happened?" Ashley asked, already sensing that something went wrong while Luke was with his friends.

"I got punched in the face. Didn't you get any of my calls? Or my texts?" Luke asked, irritated that Ashley hadn't even checked her phone. Apparently that guy Brandon or whatever his name is was too important for Ashley to care about Luke.

"Who punched you?" Ashley gasped, finally noticing Luke's nose, which was just a little bruised and swollen now.

"Michael punched me." Luke said softly, looking down at the ground. "We got in a fight and then he punched me but I didn't do anything back, I was too scared to throw a punch."

"Oh, Luke." Ashley sighed. "Are you alright now? Did Michael at least apologize to you?"

"He kind of apologized, but not really." Luke shrugged. "Your mo- Your step mom helped me get cleaned up. She's pretty nice."

"Yeah, that's what everyone tells me." Ashley mumbled.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier today." Luke said, actually nervous that Ashley wouldn't accept his apology.

"Luke, it's fine." Ashley sighed. "I didn't mean to act like that, I was just...frustrated."

"I was frustrated too, and I kind of took it out on you. I'm sorry." Luke repeated, feeling much better about himself now that he'd gotten all of this out. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

"It's alright, Luke, you didn't have to come all the way to my house to tell me." Ashley chuckled, brushing some hair out of her eyes like she always did.

"I felt like I needed to." Luke shrugged.

"Well, I would have been perfectly fine if you just called me." Ashley laughed, a small smile spreading across her lips.

"So where were you, anyway? You didn't tell me you were going out with that guy." Luke said, crinkling his nose. "Brandon."

"He took me bowling." Ashley shrugged, folding her arms across her chest to shield herself from the cold. She was only wearing a dress underneath her coat and it probably wasn't the wisest decision for them to be standing out there talking, but Luke didn't care.

"I heard that bowling makes a bad first date." Luke said, trying to discourage Ashley from seeing this guy again.

"Well it wasn't our first date." Ashley responded quickly, looking back up at Luke.

"I thought you said this guy was annoying." Luke scoffed. Luke had been telling himself that this was okay, that Ashley was only going out with this Brandon guy because she felt bad for him. But between the texts that he saw and what Ashley was saying now, Luke wasn't so sure.

"Well I thought he was at first..." Ashley giggled, biting down on her bottom lip. "But I started to talk to him more and he's actually really cool. We went out once over Thanksgiving break. I kinda like him."

"Oh, alright." Luke nodded, swallowing down the lump that was forming in his throat. "Well, that's great."

"Yeah." Ashley nodded slowly.

"Did he kiss you?" Luke questioned. He felt that it was important that he knew these things. As Ashley's best friend Luke felt the need to approve of the guys she dated. It was a standard best friend rule.

"Why should I tell you?" Ashley asked playfully, biting down on her bottom lip.

"Because I'm your best friend and your supposed to tell me everything." Luke said, folding his arms across his chest to try and make this seem more official.

"Then yes, he kissed me once." Ashley finally answered, not seeming as happy about this as Luke would have expected her to be.

"What kind of kiss? Did he use tongue?" Luke interrogated, taking a few steps forward.

"Luke!" Ashley giggled, pushing him away from her

Luke felt sick just thinking about them kissing. Before Brandon, the last person that Ashley kissed was probably Luke when they almost hooked up at Calum's party at the beginning of the year. That was gross. That was like Luke kissing Brandon.

"You have to tell me." Luke insisted.

"He may or may not have used tongue." Ashley said slowly, shivering again from the cold.

"Alright." Luke nodded, figuring that Ashley meant that Brandon did use tongue. "Did you or did you not use tongue back?"

"I may have." Ashley shrugged, and then she had this cute little smile on her face that Luke couldn't really find cute at the moment because he was kind of mad at Ashley.

"Cool." Luke said, nodding again. He felt sick to his stomach, and he needed to get out of there before he blurted out something stupid.

"Luke - "

"I'm just going to get going, then." Luke said after a moment of silence, pushing passed Ashley.

He felt like he'd made a huge mistake, and Luke didn't want to stay here with Ashley any longer. He was beyond confused right now and felt that it would be better if he just had some time to himself, so he could think.

"You're walking home? Do you want me to drive you?" Ashley asked, taking a few steps down the front walkway and following him.

"Yeah, I'll walk. I need some fresh air, anyway it's fine." Luke shrugged. "I'll see you around!"

"Luke, wait - " Ashley called after him, but Luke just kept walking.

Luke walked for a few minutes before he started crying, and he really didn't know why he was this upset. He was just stressed out and confused about how feelings, and the fact that he got punched in the face for almost no reason made this whole situation worse.

Luke shuffled his feet as he walked and tried to wipe his tears away with the sleeve of his jacket, not even noticing the car pulling to a stop next to him.

"Luke!" Ashton called from the front seat, grabbing Luke's attention. He turned and face Ashton's car, his vision clouded by the tears on his eyes.

"Hi Ashton." Luke sniffed. He looked past Ashton and saw Charlie sitting there in the passenger seat, watching Luke with a concerned expression on her face. "Hi Charlie."

"Get in, I'll drive you home." Ashton said, waving Luke over to the car.

Luke hesitantly walked towards the car and got in the back seat, trying to calm himself down enough to the point where he wasn't a big sobbing mess in front of Ashton and Charlie.

"What happened?" Charlie asked, turning around in her seat as Ashton started up the car again and began driving.

"My life is so fucking shitty." Luke groaned, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"Don't say that, dude, you've got a great life." Ashton said. He turned off the radio for once, but Luke didn't bother making any comments about it.

"Everything seems to be going wrong." Luke sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"It's just like that for now." Ashton assured him. "It'll get better, Luke, I promise."

"With my luck it probably won't." Luke mumbled. He unzipped his jacket and tugged at the collar of his shirt, suddenly feeling unbearably warm.

"Why do you feel this way, Luke? What happened?" Charlie questioned.

"I don't really know, I've just had a bad night. I got punched in the face by someone I thought was my best friend and then my - my - " Luke said, struggling to speak. He could hardly breathe, his chest felt like it was tightening and Luke didn't know what to do.

"Your what?" Ashton asked.

"Ashley. She went out on a date with this guy and - and, I don't know, I feel so weird about it." Luke said, shaking his head.

"Do you -

"Do you have the heat on?" Luke cut Ashton off, still uncomfortable with how hot it was in the car.

"Barely." Ashton shrugged.

"Shit." Luke whispered to himself, still struggling to breathe properly.

"Are you okay, Luke?" Charlie asked softly, turning around and placing a hand on Luke's knee.

"I don't - I don't think so." Luke shook his head, swallowing hard. He still couldn't breathe. He was probably having a panic attack again, which wasn't unusual for Luke, but he was always unsure of how to handle these things. "I - I can't breathe."

"Ashton, pull over." Charlie said and Ashton nodded, quickly pulling over to the side of the street and parking the car.

"Fuck, this always happens to me!" Luke groaned, tugging at the ends of his hair in frustration.

Sometimes Luke just didn't understand why he couldn't be a normal 17 year old boy that didn't hyperventilate when things got tough and could just lose his God damn virginity like everyone else. It made him really upset that bad things always seemed to happen to Luke when he didn't necessarily deserve them.

"Why don't you step outside for a second, Luke?" Ashton asked. Luke just shook his head, he didn't want to seem weak. He didn't like to be known as that kid that always hyperventilated and had to go outside, that was embarrassing. "Come on, I'll go with you."

Ashton got out of the car and then opened Luke's door for him, practically forcing him to get out of the car. Luke walked around to the back of the car and leaned up against the truck, next to Ashton. He took a few deep breaths and exhaled slowly, which calmed him down a lot.

"Are you alright?" Ashton asked after a moment, when he was sure that Luke was okay again.

"I don't like this, I feel like I'm losing everyone." Luke blurted out, finally saying exactly what he felt.

"What do you mean?" Ashton questioned.

"Everyone's getting into relationships and having sex and I'm still a virgin. I've never had a girlfriend and I feel like that's why people treat me the way I do." Luke spilled, more tears slipping from his eyes. "You all treat me like shit so I'm scared that if I don't do something about this soon you'll all leave."

"Dude, you know we just tease you for being a virgin to have a little fun. We don't actually mean it." Ashton said softly, placing a hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Well it feels like you do." Luke snapped, wiping his eyes. "And I don't know if I want to lose my virginity anyway. People change when they have sex."

"No they don't." Ashton argued.

"Yes they do. Michael started to be an asshole when he started having sex, and then was when he was, like, 15!" Luke explained. "Calum became a freak about love and sex and stuff after he started dating Amy."

"Luke, that doesn't mean - "

"And you changed when you met Charlie, too! I mean, you've always been kind of stupid and annoying, but it was a good stupid and annoying. Now you're just mean to me and I hate it, Ash, I miss the old you." Luke sniffed, crying even harder now.

"I don't understand, Luke." Ashton said slowly, shaking his head.

"I'm scared that it's going to happen to Ashley, too. She's started to see this guy and I'm afraid that she'll start dating him and forget about me. That's what happens to all of my friends." Luke rambled on. He cried into his hands, unable to hold it back any longer.

"But none of us have forgotten about you, Luke, I don't understand what you mean." Ashton sighed, gently reaching out and rubbing Luke's back.

"We used to be such close friends, all of us, and then life happened and we're not anyone. Everyone got either a girlfriend or a fuck buddy except me. No one cares about the virgin, they just like to make fun of him." Luke said through his tears, making it a little hard for Ashton to understand.

"I didn't know you felt this way." Ashton said after another minute, letting Luke cry everything out. "I'm sorry, Luke."

"Once you all started having sex you turned into a bunch of assholes. It's not that important, is it? Bros before hoes, right?" Luke sniffed.

"I guess you're right. We shouldn't treat you the way we do. I didn't realize how upset you were about it. You're like my little brother, man, I thought it was okay for me to pick on you like this." Ashton sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"It's not okay." Luke shook his head and started to cry all over again. Ashton responded by pulling Luke forward into a hug, letting Luke cry onto his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Ashton said once Luke was all done crying. "I won't treat you this way anymore, and I'll try to talk to Michael and Calum about it, too."

"No, don't talk to them." Luke said quickly, looking up at Ashton.

"What? Why not? I can talk to them and tell them to stop being such jerks." Ashton said, a surprised look on his face.

"I want to do that part myself." Luke said quietly. He felt that if he could stand up to Ashton like this he could also do it to Michael and Calum, and then most of his problems would be solved.

"Okay, you can do that. I'll back you up, alright? Don't worry." Ashton said, smiling as he pat Luke on the back. "But about your whole situation with your friend Ashley, I don't really know what to tell you."

"Yeah, I guess that's my own problem." Luke nodded, sniffing once more. He felt like he was done crying for the rest of the night. It felt good for him to get all of his emotions out, though, and he was glad that he'd finally stood up to Ashton.

"You just have to tell her how you feel, dude, straight up." Ashton instructed, and Luke nodded.

"I don't know how I feel, that's the problem." Luke said quietly.

"Well, I know that you're pretty hung up on Charlie..." Ashton trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. "But I honestly think that you have some feelings for Ashley."

"She's just my best friend." Luke whispered, shaking his head.

"Sometimes best friends turn into something more." Ashton suggested, giving Luke a small shrug.

"She's going out with that guy." Luke huffed, wiping at his eyes again. "Even if I decide that I do like her she won't be in to me. She likes that other guy. They kissed and...stuff."

"You have to fight for her, dude." Ashton laughed and pat Luke on the back again, shaking his head. "You can just sit here and wait for something to happen, you have to make it happen."

"Is that what you've done?" Luke sniffed, innocently blinking up at Ashton again.

"Well, yeah." Ashton nodded. "Charlie wasn't that in to me at first, but I fought for it and now look at us."

She was trying to break up with you earlier... Luke thought to himself, not even daring to say that out loud.

"Alright." Luke nodded.

"So are you gonna do it?" Ashton asked after another few minutes of silence.

"Do what?" Luke questioned.

"Fight for Ashley." Ashton said, laughing quietly.

"I mean, I guess." Luke shrugged. "I don't know if I like her that much..."

"Just do whatever you want, dude." Ashton shrugged as well, "Make sure that you're happy, that's the most important part."

Luke smiled again, feeling relieved and overall warm and fuzzy about the fact that it was actually Ashton who helped him through this. Ashton, the one that Luke had hated for the last few months. Ashton, the one that Luke practically wanted to kill just a few days before. Ashton, the one that actually turned out to be a good friend.

"Thank you." Luke said softly, still surprised that it was Ashton that he was having this conversation with and not someone else.

"Don't mention it." Ashton shrugged, a big smile on his face.

"Really, though, thank you." Luke repeated, wanting Ashton to know how grateful he was for him.

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's get you home." Ashton said, patting Luke on the back once more before leading him back around to the other side of the car.

"Hey." Charlie said, turning towards both of them as they got into the car. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah." Luke nodded, looking up ahead at Ashton and smiling. "We're okay."

-

so basically Luke had bottled up a lot of feelings and then when he started talking to Ashton they all came out

lol I know that I say that I'm unhappy with every chapter but I'm genuinely unhappy with this one I'm sorry idk what happened but I feel like this story is going too slow now

bye thanks for reading and all that shit blah blah blah