Duplicity (Luke Hemmings AU)

Nine

I couldn't wipe the sleep from my eyes, even with the music Ashton was blasting on. My parents had suspended me from my car for a week, so I was having Ashton drive me to and from school some days, Katherine on others. The joy of having friends with cars. My coffee had been slapped together by me at the last minute, which unfortunately meant it sucked. No special brew for me today, this was strong, bland, Raelynn coffee. I hated subjecting myself to the things I made. Ashton and I were currently twenty minutes early for school, for what reason, I had no idea.

"Hey, Ash?" I asked.

"What." He mumbled sleepily. He had been in a daze this entire time. Probably dreaming about Katherine or being a pro drummer. There was no in between.

"Do you think you can do me a favor?" I chose my words wisely. Even with him driving me to and from school this week, he still owed me plenty of them.

"What do you want." He groaned, leaning his head back against the seat.

"Coffee." I grinned sheepishly.

"Isn't that coffee?" He pointed to my creation.

"It tastes so bad it shouldn't be counted as espresso." I whined.

"Fine, I'll take you to Starbucks." He sighed, running his fingers through his wavy hair. He seemed to be playing with his hair a lot more recently, and I noticed a decrease in the amount of eye-rolling. It was funny how habits changed.

"Thank you!" I chirped, giving him a tender shoulder hug. "You're the best."

"I am." He agreed, chuckling to himself. "Can I ask you something?" He put the car in drive, speeding out of the school parking lot. Thank goodness Starbucks was less than five minutes away.

"Yeah."

"Have you completely forgiven Katherine?" He asked.

"Did she put you up to this?" I sighed, running my own fingers through my hair. It had always been an occasional habit of mine, and I guess Ashton was rubbing off on me.

"No, I'm asking for myself."

"For keeping your semi-relationship away from me? Yes. To be honest, I probably flipped out more than I should have. She and I have been hitting a sour patch recently though, and our relationship is a little rough around the edges." I explained, picking at the skin around my nails. I really needed to stop with the bad habits.

"It's kind of funny, you know, how you're headstrong around me, but around Katherine, you back down a lot. Why is that?" He didn't take his eyes off of the road.

"Because, Katherine is even more headstrong and stubborn than I am, and I think it would be best if I let her have at it, because lord knows she won't back down." I laughed nervously. I was always sort of intimidated by her. She was like me on steroids, only better looking and more popular. Her intellectual level was lower, but I never really kept that in mind.

"You know, you don't have to be submissive to her. You slap me and boss me around, you're careful around Katherine."

"I don't know. I only ever talk to you and her, and now Luke, but I guess se is the only one I'm really intimidated by." I looked out the window as we pulled into the Starbucks. I turned back to unbuckle my seatbelt, noticing Ashton smirking at me.

"What?" I asked as we got out of the car.

"You sass Luke, don't you?"

"What?" I laughed nervously. "No."

"Yes. She does." Someone said from behind me, making me jump. It was Luke, of course. "Hey Raelynn, Ashton." Luke nodded toward us.

"Hi." Ashton replied wearily. "What are you doing here?"