"Just hold on a minute, El, I'm kind of busy." Luke said, balancing his cell phone in between his ear and his shoulder. He ran past his now 10 year old cousin Ellie, who was sitting at the table and finishing up her math homework.

After his second year of college, Luke finally moved out of his mom's house and got an apartment that was in the same neighborhood that his aunt and uncle lived in. When Ellie found out she was just ecstatic and insisted that Luke spent as much time with her as he could.

Luke entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching for something to feed Ellie and also himself.

"Do you want me to just call back?" Ashley asked through the phone, laughing softly.

"No, no, we haven't talked in weeks." Luke shook his head quickly. "I'm just trying to make dinner and help Ellie with her homework. Things are just kind of crazy."

"You seem really busy." Ashley said. "I can call back, Luke, it's not a big deal."

Yeah, he was busy. Luke was 22 years old now and between finishing up his last semester of college and babysitting his cousin all the time and trying to have some kind of a social life, things were kind of hectic. But he dealt with it and he was okay, Luke's life was pretty crazy but he loved it.

"It's fine, Ashley." Luke chuckled. "I can multitask, you of all people should know that."

For the most part he did a good job of keeping things under control. Luke was able to go to class every day and then pick up Ellie from school, then come back to his apartment and make something to eat for her. They'd work on her homework together and maybe watch a movie or a few TV episodes before Luke's aunt came to pick Ellie up on her way home from work.

"Alright, fine." Ashley said, laughing again. "So how are you? How's Ellie?"

"I'm good. She's good, just doing her homework now." Luke said. He quickly popped his head into the dining area again, just to check on Ellie. "You okay, Ellie-Bean?"

"Yeah!" Ellie yelled back, giving Luke a thumbs up from where she was sitting at the table. Luke walked back into the kitchen, hoping that he had a frozen pizza or something that he could heat up for dinner.

"I saw the picture that you posted of you and her on Instagram, it was really cute." Ashley said. "Michael also thought it was cute, he said he misses Ellie."

"I'm sure Ellie misses Michael too." Luke chuckled softly, leaning up against the counter. "How is Michael? Are you keeping him out of trouble?"

Ashley and Michael had been dating for the last few years, which was a huge surprise to pretty much everyone. They had a nice apartment together and was close enough to both of their colleges.

For a while Luke was upset about Michael and Ashley being together. He still hadn't agreed with Ashley going back to Michael after all he did to her. They really did like each other, though, and Luke had to accept it. Eventually he was able to move on and be happy for Michael and Ashley, and now Luke didn't mind their relationship.

Luke and Ashley were still best friends, even though they lived thousands of miles away from one another and only saw each other a few times a year. They'd never tried to be in a relationship again, because honestly they were just better off as friends. They loved each other, just not in a romantic way, and Luke was very happy with that.

"Oh, definitely." Ashley said sarcastically. "He hasn't gotten arrested again, don't worry."

"That's still one of my favorite stories." Luke laughed, remembering when Ashley had called him complaining about having to bail Michael out of jail one night.

"Mine too." Ashley said and laughed along with him for a minute.

Luke sighed, realizing that if he didn't start dinner now Ellie was probably going to come into the kitchen herself and eat all of the food that Luke liked to keep for himself as midnight snacks.

"Can you hold on for a second, Ashley?" Luke asked. He didn't wait for Ashley to respond before he set down his phone on the counter and hurried over to the freezer, pulling out a frozen pizza and putting it in the oven.

Luke grabbed his phone again and ran over to the table that Ellie was sitting at, taking a seat next to her. He put the phone to his ear again, hoping that Ashley was still there.

"Sorry, I just had to put the pizza in the oven." Luke said, returning to his conversation with Ashley.

"That's fine." Ashley said. "Really, Luke, if you're busy I can call back."

"I'm telling you, Ashley, I'm okay." Luke insisted. Both of them were used to Luke running around and trying to do other things while on the phone, like cooking dinner or cleaning the apartment. Luke always answered the phone whenever Ashley called him, no matter what he was in the middle of.

He and Ashley had been in a long-distance-friendship for the last five years, they were used to random phone calls and video chats at odd hours of the night. They texted all the time, of course, but sometimes it was just better for them to hear each other's voices and between both of their busy schedules it was hard for them to get more than a just few minutes to talk.

"Alright, if you say so." Ashley laughed again. "Just don't ignore Ellie for me, help her with her homework." Ashley added, already knowing that Luke was probably sitting there next to Ellie and not even paying attention to her.

"Do you need any help, Ellie-Bean?" Luke asked his cousin, ruffling her hair a little.

"No, I think I'm good." Ellie shrugged. She rarely ever needed Luke's help on her homework, Ellie was pretty smart and grown up now, and most of the time she could do these things on her own. Luke liked being there with her just in case.

"You're so smart." Luke smiled at her again. "Just let me know if you need anything."

"Okay." Ellie nodded. "Who are you on the phone with?"

"Ashley." Luke answered quickly, moving the phone away from his mouth a little so Ashley didn't hear his entire separate conversation in her ear. "You remember her, right? I think she saw you last Christmas."

"Oh yeah, you're in love with her." Ellie said nonchalantly and Luke blushed, glad that Ashley couldn't see him through the phone.

"No I'm not." Luke whispered, now making a big point not to let Ashley hear his conversation with Ellie.

"Yes you are." Ellie whispered back, a teasing smile on her face. Luke talked to Ellie about everything, especially now that she was older, so of course she knew about the feelings that Luke still had for his ex-girlfriend. She just wasn't supposed to talk about them.

"No I'm not." Luke repeated.

"Yes you are." Ellie insisted.

"Okay, you need to finish your math homework." Luke said loudly and stood up from the table, walking back into the kitchen and trying to get as far away from Ellie as possible.

"Everything okay?" Ashley asked, and Luke had a feeling that she'd heard that entire thing.

"Yeah, Ellie's just being ANNOYING like she ALWAYS IS." Luke said, raising his voice so Ellie was able to hear him. Because of the position he was standing at in the kitchen, Luke could still see Ellie at the table when she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Be nice to her!" Ashley scolded.

"I am nice to her!" Luke pouted, leaning up against the kitchen counter so he could wait for the pizza to be done.

"No you're not!" Ellie yelled back, obviously having heard what Luke said.

"Shut up!" Luke yelled and stuck his tongue out at her this time.

"So really, Luke, how are you?" Ashley asked after Luke had stopped yelling at his cousin.

"I'm good, I really am." Luke nodded, and he meant it.

"How's school?" Ashley questioned. Luke could hear the front door of Ashley's apartment slamming and he knew that Michael was probably getting home. "Last time we talked you were freaking out."

"Oh, right." Luke chuckled nervously. The last time he'd called Ashley was because Luke was practically having a panic attack over one of his assignments and Ashley, of course, was able to talk him through it. "It's going really good now, actually, I have one more big paper to write and then I'm done."

"That's great, Luke, then what? Are you going to try and find a job right away?" Ashley asked. Now Luke could hear Michael saying something in the background, and he knew that it was just a matter of time before Ashley said that she had to go.

"Well, yeah, the school that I student taught at has a position open for next year, so I'll be able to start in September." Luke explained happily.

He got really excited when he started to talk about college or his new job. Luke was so happy that his life was actually coming together and he was going to be able to do something that he really enjoyed for a living.

"I'm really happy for you, Luke, that's amazing." Ashley said.

"Thanks." Luke said, unable to stop himself from blushing. The oven beeped and Luke held the phone in between his ear and shoulder again to open it up and get the pizza out.

"Are you talking to Luke?" He could hear Michael say in the background, his voice getting louder as if he was moving closer to where Ashley was.

"Yeah." Ashley responded. "He said he got a teaching job for next year."

"Oh my God, that's great! Tell him I say congratulations." Michael said enthusiastically.

"Michael says congratulations." Ashley said, even though Luke wasn't having a hard time hearing Michael at all. He talked loud enough for Luke to be able understand what his friend was saying.

"Yeah, I heard, thanks." Luke said, walking out of the kitchen and back over to the table where Ellie was sitting. "All done with your homework, Ellie-Bean?"

"Yeah." Ellie nodded, tilting her head back to look up at Luke. "I just have to read for 30 minutes, but I can do that at home."

"Okay. The pizza's ready, go wash your hands." Luke told her before turning around again and heading into the kitchen once more. Ellie hopped up from the table and ran down the hallway, into the bathroom.

"Hey, babe, ask Luke if he ever asked that girl out." Michael's voice was heard on the other end of the phone again and Luke rolled his eyes before Ashley even had the chance to ask what Michael wanted.

"Michael wants to know if you asked that girl out." Ashley said, laughing softly.

"No, not yet." Luke said, letting out a sigh as he searched for the pizza cutter. He finally found it and then cut the pizza into triangle slices, leaving it to cool for another few minutes. "She makes me really nervous, I've never really spoken to her."

There was a girl in one of Luke's classes named Mari and he'd had a crush on her for the last couple months, but he'd never made a move. All of Luke's friends knew about her and were always encouraging him to ask her out, because Luke really did like her a lot. He was too shy, though, and never did.

"I honestly think you should go for it." Ashley said casually. "You've liked her for months."

"Yeah, I mean, she might feel the same way about you. You'll never know unless you try." Michael added, now sounding like his mouth was full.

"Yeah, I know." Luke nodded, sighing again. "I think I'm going to a party tonight and she'll be there, so maybe I'll talk to her."

"Yay, good for you Luke!" Michael cheered.

"But I might just chicken out, so don't hate me if I don't go through with it." Luke reminded them, because sometimes he made these promises only to get scared and not do it.

Ellie skipped into the kitchen and walked over to Luke, patiently waiting for him to fix up a plate for her. He grabbed a plate from a cabinet and put a few pieces of pizza on it. He pointed to the fridge and Ellie walked over to it, pulling out a little bag of baby carrots that Luke kept for when she was over there.

"Dude, you can't just chicken out. You're The Streaker, you ran naked across the football field at the fucking Homecoming game, if you can do that then I'm pretty sure you can do anything." Michael said, trying to be motivational. It wasn't really working, whenever the streaking was brought up Luke just felt embarrassed, not confident.

"Michael, do you have to bring up the streaking incident every single time we talk to Luke?" Ashley sighed, unamused with Michael's attempt to encourage Luke.

"Yeah, it was awesome." Michael scoffed.

"Anyway, I promise I'll try to talk to Mari tonight, okay?" Luke finally said, knowing that Ashley and Michael would both be satisfied after he said that. "Milk or water?" He asked Ellie, who was still standing in the kitchen and waiting for Luke.

"Milk." Ellie answered, and Luke got a glass down before going over to the fridge and getting some milk for her.

After giving Ellie her milk and fixing himself his own plate (all while keeping up a conversation with Ashley and now Michael) Luke walked back over to the table and sat down next to Ellie, who was already digging in to her pizza.

"Alright, Luke, when's the next time we're going to see you?" Michael asked. Ashley must have put the phone on speaker or something, because now Michael was much more involved in the conversation than he normally was.

"Well I don't know, when are you guys coming back?" Luke asked and let out a small chuckle.

"Spring break, probably. Right?" Ashley asked Michael.

"It depends on if we get the car fixed." Michael said quickly, keeping his voice down, like he didn't want Luke to hear.

"Well maybe if you didn't have to go and wreck it - " Ashley began, but Michael cut her off.

"Ashley." Michael snapped, clearly not wanting them to start an argument while Luke was still on the phone.

"Spring break." Ashley answered, trying not to sound upset. Luke had a feeling that this happened often with Michael and Ashley, but he knew that it wasn't a good idea to try and talk about it with Ashley right now.

"Oh, yeah, we should totally meet up and hang out. I think Calum and Amy are going to be in town for a while too." Luke said. "I'm going to be staying with my dad for a few days, but after that we can do something."

"Yeah, for sure." Michael said, and for once Luke actually felt excited about seeing his friends soon.

"Do you know if Ashton and Charlie will be coming to visit?" Ashley asked. She'd become pretty close with Charlie and Ashton both in the last few years, and even though they lived out of the country and had their own very busy lives now, they all tried to stay in contact with each other.

"I don't know, it depends on how Baby Irwin is doing." Luke shrugged, running the back of his neck.

After only 2 years of them being in Europe, Ashton and Charlie broke the news to everyone else that Charlie was pregnant. They now had a 3 year old daughter named Melanie - Lanie for short, who had a great time traveling around the country with her parents.

"She's not even a baby anymore." Michael scoffed.

"Whatever." Luke scoffed back, rolling his eyes even though he knew that Michael couldn't see him.

"I'll call Ashton tonight and see what their plans are." Michael said, chuckling to himself. "You know, since Charlie dropped out they can technically come visit you whenever, they don't have to wait for spring break."

"Yeah, but it would be really nice if they could come see us while we're all together." Luke countered, a wave of nostalgia coming over him as he thought about how easy it used to be to get all of his friends together to hang out. Now they had to schedule things around school and jobs and babies.

"It would." Ashley agreed.

"I miss you guys a lot." Luke finally sighed.

"I miss you too, dude." Michael said, catching Luke off guard. Michael usually didn't get very sentimental, he liked to pretend that he loved being away from their hometown, but Luke could tell that he secretly missed it.

"Yeah, Luke, I miss you a lot." Ashley said softly. "I can't wait to see you again."

"Me too." Luke nodded.

"Lukey." Ellie began poking Luke's arm, which let him know that she wanted all of his attention again. Luke understood completely, he'd been trying to talk on the phone with Ashley for most of the afternoon and hadn't spent much time with his cousin.

"Yeah, what's up?" Luke said quietly, looking down at Ellie.

Ellie just stared up at Luke and frowned, folding her arms over her chest.

"Finish up your pizza, okay? I'll be done in a minute." Luke whispered before returning to his phone conversation. Ashley and Michael were arguing with each other again about who knows what. "Hey, guys?"

"What?" Michael and Ashley both spoke at the same time, ending their argument.

"Uh, I think I should get going now." Luke said, even though he didn't really want to hang up. "I'm here with Ellie and she's getting mad at me for ignoring her."

"I told you not to ignore her!" Ashley said, letting out a laugh. "That's fine, Luke, you can call back in a few hours, I'll still be here."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later." Luke mumbled, looking at Ellie again. She was smiling up at him this time, happy that her older cousin was finally getting off the phone. "I love you."

"We love you too, Luke." Ashley said. They always said that they loved each other, even if they just meant it in a friendly way. Luke genuinely cared about Ashley and always would, nothing was going to change that.

"Yeah, I love you man!" Michael yelled, sounding like maybe he'd left the room now.

"I'l talk to you later." Luke said and then he hung up, setting his phone down on the table.

"Finally." Ellie groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, shut up." Luke chuckled, elbowing Ellie in the side.

*•*•*

"Okay, Luke, you just need to go for it." Nick said.

It was later that night, Ellie had been picked up hours ago and now Luke was at a party with a now 29 year old Nick Walker, who was now married and had a child, but had somehow become one of Luke's best friends. And even though Nick was definitely not in college anymore, he always accompanied Luke when he went to parties. He claimed that he just needed a break sometimes.

(In Nick's defense, Luke went to very sophisticated parties. He didn't go to Frat Houses where kids got drunk off their asses, he preferred to get together with a more mature group of students that kind of just wandered around and talked with each other all night, and occasionally there would be some drunk karaoke. Nick Walker fit in pretty well).

"No, I don't think it's a good idea." Luke said quickly, turning around. Mari, that girl that Luke had a huge crush on, was standing across the room and Luke couldn't muster up enough courage to go talk to her.

"It's a really good idea!" Nick assured him.

"No, I don't know." Luke said, shaking his head. "I don't think I should."

"Luke, seriously, what's stopping you?" Nick asked, furrowing his eyebrows together.

"I just don't think I'm ready for another girlfriend. The last time I was in a relationship it didn't end very well." Luke said nervously, twisting his fingers together.

"That was 5 years ago, Luke!" Nick laughed. He stared across the room for a moment, watching Mari. "I think you're ready."

"I don't know..." Luke trailed off, also staring at Mari. He sighed, "I talked to Ashley and Michael today."

"Oh? How are they?" Nick asked.

"They're fine. They're the same as they always are, they just fight all the time but I know that they always make up 2 seconds later." Luke grumbled, still not completely approving of Ashley and Michael's relationship. But they were happy, and that was what mattered.

"That's good." Nick nodded. "I mean, kind of. The fighting's not good, but it's good that they always make up right away."

"Yeah." Luke said, nodded as well.

"So what do Michael and Ashley have to do with anything?" Nick asked, seeming a little confused.

"They both were saying that I should just go for it and ask Mari out." Luke said, trying to keep his voice down in case any of her friends overheard. "I'm still a little hesitant, though."

"I don't see any reason why you should be." Nick shrugged. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, probably to text his wife and update her on when he'd be coming home.

"I just-I'm nervous, I don't know." Luke sighed. He really hadn't had any romantic interactions with a girl in almost 5 years, Luke felt like he wouldn't even be good at talking to Mari. She'd probably laugh in his face and then walk away.

"You're just asking her to go on a date with you, not for her hand in marriage." Nick joked, patting Luke on the back.

"No, I'm scared." Luke said, shaking his head quickly. He knew that he'd told Ashley and Michael that he was going to talk to Mari tonight, but he just couldn't. Luke wasn't ready, he couldn't do it.

"Okay, it's time for a pep talk." Nick said and grabbed Luke's wrist, dragging him across the room until they were in a corner and no one would be able to interrupt them.

"Yeah, it is." Luke nodded.

"Luke, in the 5 years that I've known you, you've grown into one of the most mature guys that I know. When I first met you, you were shy and awkward and now you're confident as hell and you're about to graduate college and kick ass in the real world." Nick said, sounding almost robotic as he told Luke what he was constantly having to remind him. "You're an amazing person and any girl would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend. Now go out there and get her."

"Do you really mean all of that?" Luke asked quietly, almost not believing him.

"Yes, Luke, why would I lie about that?" Nick chuckled. "Now go talk to her, she's been standing on her own for the last 15 minutes and is probably feeling just as awkward as you are."

"I'm just nervous, I've never even spoken to her before." Luke said, his eyes focusing in on Mari again. "What if she doesn't like me? What if she has a boyfriend? Or what if she has a girlfriend?"

"You'll never know unless you go talk to her." Nick shrugged. "Now please go make a move or something, I told Jackie that I'd leave in 20 minutes and I want to see you at least get her number before I go."

"Fine." Luke grumbled, stepping away from Nick and beginning to walk towards where Mari was standing.

He shuffled across the room, his stomach tying in more knots with every step he took. Luke tried to breath in and out slowly, that's what his therapist used to tell him to do when he got nervous, and before he even knew it he was standing in front of her.

"Hi." Luke said, letting out a big breath of air.

"Hi." Mari looked up at him, giving Luke a small smile.

"Uh, we've never talked before but you're in my creative writing class." Luke said nervously, shifting back and forth on his feet.

"I am?" Mari questioned, cocking her head to the side. She stared at Luke for a minute before finally recognizing him. "Oh, right! I am."

"Yeah, I just wanted to introduce myself." Luke said, unable to stop himself from smiling. He held out his hand for Mari to shake. "I'm Luke."

"I'm Mari." She said, shaking his hand.

"Would you want to maybe go out for coffee sometime?" Luke asked, still holding tightly onto Mari's hand. "I've had this secret yet really dorky crush on you all semester and I'd really like to get to know you more."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Mari nodded, letting out a small giggle. God, she was so cute, Luke felt like he was in love with her already.

"Awesome." Luke nodded, laughing a little to himself because he knew that he was going to be okay.

-

OKAY please don't hate me for this I know it's kind of an unconventional epilogue but I really like it because it just shows Luke's life 5 years later and how he's kind of adjusting to being alone and it gives just a short preview of his life and everyone else's

don't delete this book from your library yet because maybe I'll post a part 2 or some deleted scenes ((if you have any ideas/things that didn't make it into the story that you want to see please let me know)) or something

I really really loved writing this book and im so glad that so many of you loved it too, thanks for reading!!