Luke thought that he was going to be able to move on. He thought that it was going to be easy. He thought that he would be able to forget about Ashley within a week or so.

But 3 weeks later Luke was still in the same place as before, feeling sad and empty about not being with Ashley anymore. Luke saw her in the halls or in their English class and he felt like his heart had a big hole in it, he could barely look at her without wanting to cry.

He should have hated her, he should have wanted to never talk to her again. She did such a mean thing to Luke after he trusted her with so much and Luke knew that he was not supposed to forgive her for that. He wanted her back though, and there was no denying it anymore.

Luke hadn't talked to any of his friends for weeks. He was too scared to talk to Calum and Luke wouldn't dare go to Ashton or Charlie again. He didn't talk to Michael and he didn't talk to Ashley, because it was obvious that they were too busy with each other.

He didn't even try and talk to Mr. Walker, because Luke feared that he was just a big bother and someone like Mr. Walker had more important things to worry about than some idiotic 17 year old boy.

He practically walked around like a zombie, just going about a very boring and very normal routine of going to school and coming home and then going to school again. On weekends he would stay in his room or the bathroom to avoid his mom, because he wasn't speaking to her either.

Luke missed Ashley, but instead of running to her house and begging her to come back to him, Luke sat in his bathroom and got as drunk as possible in attempt to forget about all of his problems. He knew it was dangerous, he knew that it was wrong, but at this point Luke didn't care anymore.

"Luke?" His mom knocked on the bathroom door, startling him. "Are you in there?"

"Uh, yeah." Luke said, clearing his throat. He quickly sat up and tried to hide the wine bottle that was sitting next to him.

"Are you alright?"

No, he wasn't.

"Yeah!" Luke called back.

"I'm going to go run a few errands, but I really want to talk to you when I get back." Liz said through the door, suddenly sounding like she was concerned.

Luke hopped up quickly went over to the door. Just hearing that his mom wanted to talk to him made Luke happy, because he felt like he hadn't had any real human interaction in so long. Just having Liz talk to him, even if she ended up yelling, would make Luke feel better.

"We can talk now!" Luke said and pulled the door open, actually looking at his mother for the first time in what felt like forever to him.

"Oh, alright." Liz looked slightly taken aback, staring up at Luke.

"Let's talk, Mom, right now." Luke nodded quickly. He was thankful that he hadn't been drinking for long, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to form full sentences.

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened a few weeks ago with your dad - "

"Don't call him that." Luke said, cutting her off. "Father, Mom, he's just my father."

"Right." Liz nodded. "Well, I'm sorry. I should have known that you would react that way if I just invited him over without warning you first. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking very clearly."

"It's alright, Mom." Luke said quickly. He didn't want to give his mom the silent treatment anymore. She'd made the mistake of letting Luke's father into the house, but so what? Luke had done worse.

"No, Luke, it's really not alright." Liz said, letting out a sigh. "What he did to you was not okay and I don't know why I thought you would just accept his apology just like that."

"It's okay, Mom." Luke repeated. This was over now, his father wasn't coming back again and Luke's mom didn't need to beat herself up about how upset he got a few weeks ago.

"Really? I know that you were really upset about this, you've barely spoken to me for the last few weeks..." Liz trailed off, clearly confused with the way Luke was acting.

"I'm not upset about it anymore, Mom, I just needed some time to think." Luke explained. He felt a huge lump beginning to form in his throat, and even though Luke was trying very hard not to cry, he knew that he was going to end up doing so.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Liz questioned.

Luke paused for a second until he finally decided that he couldn't just keep everything bottled up inside him. He needed help. He needed his mom.

"No, Mom." Luke shook his head, already able to feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "I'm really not okay."

"Aw, sweetie." Liz sighed and pulled Luke forward in a hug. She gently rubbed Luke's back, letting him cry onto her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Everything." Luke cried. he cried for a while and Liz silently rubbed his back and tried her best to comfort him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Liz asked and he just shook his head, too scared to tell his mom the truth. He didn't want to get in trouble.

"I've just been going through a lot lately." Luke sniffed, pulling away from Liz and wiping his eyes. "Ashley and I broke up and I'm not talking to any of my friends at the moment and it's just such a mess."

"What? You and Ashley broke up?" Liz questioned, surprised. "Why?"

"I don't know, Mom, things just happened." Luke mumbled, looking down at his feet. "It was just a silly-a silly thing, it's not like we were serious..."

"Luke." Liz said, already knowing that Luke was lying.

"I loved her, Mom." Luke choked out, feeling tears well up in his eyes again.

"Oh I know, honey, I know." Liz said and pulled Luke in for another hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"I just don't know what to do." Luke said, still crying softly.

"I'm so sorry, Luke, I had no idea you were going through this." Liz said softly, continuing to rub Luke's back. "You've been ignoring me for the last few weeks, I feel awful about the fact that I didn't realize you were so upset."

"I know, it's not your fault, Mom, I was just so pissed about what happened that I didn't want to talk to you. I didn't think I needed you. I'm sorry." Luke spilled out, not sure if Liz could even understand him because he was crying so hard.

"It's alright, Luke, we both made mistakes." Liz said and looked up at Luke, wiping away the tears under his eyes.

"I love you, Mom." Luke said, feeling much better now that he'd had a chance to really talk to her.

"I love you too, Luke." Liz said and stepped away from him again, seeing that Luke wasn't so upset anymore. "Do you want to come with me to the store?"

"No." Luke sighed, even though he was feeling a little better he still wasn't in the mood to go out shopping with his mom. "I think I might go take a walk."

"A walk? Where?" Liz questioned. She was worried about Luke, which was understandable, but he wished she wouldn't be. Sure, Luke loved that his mother cared about him, but he was still capeable of being on his own.

"I don't know, just around." Luke said, shrugging. "I haven't been out of the house in a while."

"Oh, well, okay. Are you sure? Do you want me to get you anything from the store?" Liz asked, still seeming concerned as she slowly backed away from Luke.

"No, Mom, I'll be fine." Luke assured her. He walked out of the bathroom and past Liz, going down the hallway and to his room so he could go grab his coat.

"Alright..." Liz said hesitantly, watching Luke as he walked away. He came out of his room a few seconds later with is coat and shoes on, wanting to just get some fresh air for a while.

"I'll be back later." Luke said as he walked out of the back door, leaving his mom standing in the hallway and looking very confused.

Luke's walk wasn't very exciting. He went around the block a few times and then walked around other parts of his neighborhood, just trying to think. He needed to clear his head, he needed to stop stressing out about everything. He didn't even listen to Taylor Swift while walking, that's how focused Luke was.

After a while of walking Luke realized that he wasn't going to have any grand epiphany's about what he was supposed to do with his life and decided to just head home. For some reason Luke had thought that he was going to figure everything out on this walk of his, but he didn't.

"Luke!" Someone yelled and Luke didn't bother turning around, he didn't really want to talk to anyone. "Luke, wait up!"

By the time whoever it was caught up with him and slung an arm over his shoulder Luke knew who it was. "Michael, I really don't want to talk to you." Luke said, keeping his eyes focused on the ground as he walked.

"Good. Because I want to talk to you." Michael chuckled, falling into step next to Luke.

"I don't want you to talk to me either." Luke grumbled, regretting his whole decision to go on this spiritually-life changing walk. "Pleae leave me alone."

"Luke, I wanted to apologize." Michael said, letting out a deep sigh.

"Please leave me alone." Luke repeated. Michael was the worst person Luke had met in his entire life. He tried to pay a girl to take away Luke's virginity, and Luke didn't think it could get any worse than that. He hated Michael so much, he never wanted to speak to him again.

"Luke, I'm serious, I'm really sorry." Michael said. He nudged Luke in the side, trying to get him to look up at him.

"Why the fuck should I accept your apology?" Luke snapped, finally looking up at Michael. He stopped walking for a moment and turned around to face is ex-best friend. "You're such a fucking asshole, I hate you!"

"I'm sorry! I really am, Luke, why don't you believe that I am?" Michael questioned and let out a groan.

Luke turned around again and started walking towards his own house, wanting to get as far away from Michael as fast and as soon as possible. Michael continued to follow Luke, though, and he knew that he wasn't going to get away so easily.

"Stop fucking following me!" Luke screamed.

"I want to fucking apologize to you!" Michael screamed back, following closely behind Luke. Luke continued to stomp his way down the sidewalk, knowing that he was almost back home and he could go lock himself inside and leave Michael out there in the cold.

"I don't want you to - " Luke froze when they reached his house, noticing that there was someone standing at the front door.

And it wasn't just any someone. It was Luke's father, Andy, and Luke had no idea why he was back.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Luke yelled at him, not even bothering to try and be polite in any way. His father didn't deserve that.

"Luke, hey!" Andy said and walked over to Luke and Michael, who just seemed confused.

"Luke, who's this?" Michael asked softly, not understanding what was going on. Michael had never met or even heard about Luke's dad before, it was obviously something that he kept very private.

"Shut up, Michael." Luke snapped.

"Sorry..." Michael said quietly, trailing off.

"I wanted to talk to you, Luke, is this a bad time?" Andy questioned. Luke just rolled his eyes, every time was a bad time for him. "If you want to hang out with your friend then I can maybe come back another time."

"How about you don't come back at all?" Luke said harshly, folding his arms across his chest. He was really pissed off now, he just wanted to go inside and be alone for a while, Luke didn't want to stand out here with these idiots.

"Luke, all I'm asking is for you to just let me talk to you and apologize." Andy explained, his voice stern.

"I don't want you to apologize to me at all. I don't want you to ever talk to me again, actually." Luke snapped at his father, glaring at him. "Get the fuck away from me."

"Luke, please don't use that tone with me - "

"Don't you dare try to parent me! You're not my parent, just shut the fuck up!" Luke screamed, throwing his hands up in the air. He was in such a bad mood, he didn't have the tolerance to act like his normal wimpy self this time.

"Parent? Luke, is this your - ?" Michael said under his breath, finally putting all of the pieces together.

"You shut the fuck up too! Just shut the fuck up!" Luke turned around and yelled at Michael, not wanting to deal with him at the moment.

"I just want to talk." Andy said, his voice now calm. He took a few steps forward but Luke held up his hands, like he was ready to push his father back if he needed to.

"Well I don't want to talk!" Luke said quickly, shaking his head. "I don't want you here, you have no reason to be here right now!"

"Luke, really - "

"Honestly, man, he doesn't want you here." Michael spoke up from behind Luke, startling everyone. "Now get the fuck off of his property before I get really mad."

Luke was in complete shock. He never thought he'd see the day when Michael actually tried to help Luke this way. He'd known Michael since elementary school and in all of their years of friendship he'd never once stood up for Luke like that. Luke was beginning to think that Michael actually cared.

Andy was silent for a moment as he looked back and forth between Luke and Micheal, probably still wondering who Michael even was and why he was there.

"I'm going to call your mother about this." Andy said, beginning to walk past Luke and back towards his car.

"Yeah, have fun with that." Luke scoffed, watching Andy as he slowly walked away from the two boys. He got into his car and drove away, leaving Michael and Luke alone.

Luke just stood there in front of Michael with his arms crossed over his chest, trying to decide what he was supposed to say.

"You've never told me about your dad before." Michael was the one that finally broke the silence, his voice in almost a whisper.

"Don't call him that." Luke repeated for the second time that day, still refusing to look directly at Michael.

"Listen, Luke, I'm really - "

"I hate you." Luke said, not wanting to hear what else Michael had to say. He took a frw steps forward and then did something that he never expected himself to do: he punched Michael in the face.

"Jesus Christ, Luke, you didn't have to punch me!" Michael yelled, clearly in shock, while holding his now bloody nose.

"You punched me and I never got back at you for it!" Luke said, and before he knew it Michael had punched him, making Luke stumble backwards and fall on the ground.

"I said I was sorry!" Michael groaned, getting down on the ground and trying to hit Luke again. Luke grabbed Michael by the shoulders and threw him down on the ground, crawling over him and hitting him again.

"I don't want your fucking apology!" Luke screamed as he punched Michael over and over again, feeling too good about himself for finally standing up for Michael to stop.

"Stop punching me!" Michael yelled and worked up enough strength to flip them over, hitting Luke once more.

"No!" Luke yelled. He tried to fight back some more, but his nose was bleeding and his jaw hurt and he was getting to be too tired for this.

"I'm sorry!" Michael whined, wiping some blood off of his face with the sleeve of his jacket before punching Luke again.

"You're such a dick!" Luke screamed. He pushed Michael back again and they rolled over in the grass, mindlessly punching and hitting at each other for almost no reason.

"Can you stop hitting me, please?" Michael begged, pushing Luke off of him one final time. They both stopped and laid down on the ground, breathing heavily.

"You might have broken my nose this time." Luke whined, rubbing the side of his face.

"Well, good. You might have broken mind too." Michael pouted. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, you didn't need to fucking punch me in the face...multiple times."

"I just really hate you right now." Luke said, slowly sitting up.

"I know, you have every right to hate me." Michael shrugged. He sat up as well, holding his nose to try and stop it from bleeding everywhere.

"I just can't believe you did something like this to me. Do you even know how much I loved Ashley?" Luke questioned, wanting to watch Michael suffer for a little while longer before he contemplated accepting his apology. "I loved her so much and then I found out that she was part of this mess."

"I know. I know, Luke, and I'm so sorry." Michael said, actually sounding sincere. "I just - for the last year and a half you've been whining about wanting to lose your virginity and I just-I wanted to help you, Luke."

"I didn't need your help." Luke mumbled, looking down at his lap.

"You seemed upset, I just wanted you to be happy." Michael said softly.

"Well, what you did was wrong. You shouldn't force other people to date someone." Luke said, scowling at Michael. He wasn't sure if he was angry or sad anymore, he was just confused and overwhelmed.

"I didn't force Ashley to date you, Luke." Michael sighed. "I asked her to fuck you at Calum's party and when she didn't do it I asked her to just find some way to have sex with you so you could get losing your virginity out of the way. I never forced her to date you or love you or anything."

"Yeah." Luke nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"Ashley loves you." Michael said and sighed again, trying to scoot a little closer to Luke.

"No she doesn't." Luke mumbled, scooting away from Michael. He still didn't want to talk to him, but he figured that he had no choice now, especially since they were both in too much pain to move very far.

"Yes she does." Michael insisted.

"No she doesn't." Luke shook his head.

"She does!" Michael yelled and shoved Luke hard, making him fall over again.

"If Ashley really loved me she wouldn't have done something so awful." Luke said stubbornly and pouted, folding his arms across his chest.

"She hated doing that to you, Luke, she told me all the time that she hated it." Michael sighed.

"But she still did it." Luke said softly, still trying to find a way to take all of this in.

"She made a mistake, alright? So what! You fucked Charlie right after you broke up with Ashley, so now you're even!" Michael said, waving his hands around in the air.

"How do you know about me and Charlie?" Luke asked quickly, not knowing how Michael could have found that out. He hadn't told anyone about what he did that night.

"Oh, come on, Luke, it was obvious." Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes. "And she told me."

"Oh." Luke nodded slowly, not sure what to think of Charlie telling Michael about what happened. He thought that it was supposed to stay a secret, not something that was advertised all around town.

"Luke, I think you should give Ashley another chance." Michael said after a long few minutes of silence.

"Maybe." Luke shrugged.

"She really does love you." Michael repeated, wiping his nose again.

"Yeah." Luke said, nodding again.

"I'm so sorry, Luke." Michael sighed. "I really, really am."

"I know." Luke continued nodding, trying to quickly decide if it was time to forgive Michael or not.

"I really care about you, okay? I care about you like a brother and that's the only reason why I did this." Michael explained, still sounding extremely sorry. Luke knew he was telling the truth. "I just thought I was helping, I'm sorry."

"I know." Luke said, and then stayed quiet for a long time.

"Do you think you can forgive me?" Michael asked softly, successfully moving a little closer to Luke without him scooting away.

After another long few minutes, Luke spoke again. "Yeah."

Michael had made a mistake. Luke had made a few mistakes in his life too, but eventually everyone learned to look past them. Luke knew that he couldn't possibly hate Michael forever, he was going to have to forgive him someday and he felt that Michael had proved himself enough to be forgiven now.

"Alright... What now?" Michael asked slowly, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"I don't know." Luke shrugged.

"Do you think I could maybe go inside and get some ice? My nose hurts." Michael asked, pulling himself up from the ground and then holding out a hand for Luke.

"Yeah. I need some ice too." Luke nodded, chuckling to himself as he got up off of the ground and led Michael towards his house.

"Everything's going to be okay, Luke." Michael said, gently patting Luke on the back as they walked. "Don't worry, it's all gonna be fine."

-

GUYS this story is over in like 4 chapters