leave him // a.i {au}

20

flashback

"Guess what?" Stevie asked Ashton. It was Friday and she was whispering in his ear in biology class. 

"What? You're going to get us in trouble," he answered, having become a better student since dating Stevie. 

"No, we won't," she giggled. "Class hasn't even started. So, are you going to guess?" 

"I'm horrible at guessing," he said, knowing that Stevie knew this fact. "Please tell me?" 

"My parents are gone for the weekend, so I have the house to myself."

"Won't your brother and sister be home?"

"Nope. Mom and dad are making them stay at friend's houses, but they're trusting me for the weekend. I was thinking we could have a party."

"Oh," Ashton said, thinking that she was suggesting something different.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Stevie blushed when she realized what he thought she meant. "But that doesn't mean we can't..."

"Alright, class," the teacher began and then rattled off the day's lesson. 

"We'll discuss after class," Stevie finished, pecking his cheek. 

***

"She wants to have sex," Ashton told Luke as they were walking home after school that day. 

Luke covered both his ears. "I don't want to hear or talk about this," he shook his head. 

"Mate, I can't have sex with her. I don't know what to do," he complained. The farthest Stevie and him had ever gone was making out, occasionally with no shirts on. 

"It's called google," Luke rolled his eyes. 

"Maybe it won't happen," Ashton tried to convince himself. It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep with her, it was more that he didn't want to make a fool of himself and do something wrong. "Hey, you should come to the party she's throwing tomorrow."

"You know I hate parties and I sit home and play xbox on Saturday nights."

"Stop being such a loner," Ashton complained again.

"If I go to the party, will you stop talking about sex with your girlfriend?"

"Deal," Ashton agreed, though it would most likely come up in conversation again. 

***

The next night, Ashton had helped Stevie put away anything of great value so it didn't get ruined in preparation for the party. 

"How many people are coming?" Ashton asked, hoping it wasn't too many.

"Well, I invited the girls on the gymnastics team and Leila and Calum invited some people," she shrugged.

"Then it probably spread some more," Ashton deduced, knowing that Calum couldn't keep quiet about anything.

"Calm down," Stevie said, setting down a vase and going over toward Ashton. She place her hands on his upper arm, squeezing slightly. "If the party gets to be too much, we can go hide in my room," she winked. She stood on her tip toes and kissed him quickly before going to put the vase away.

"That's what I'm scared of," he muttered under his breath. The previous night he had stayed up late googling "how to pleasure a girl." He felt like he was more informed, but he was still nervous as hell. 

An hour later, people started piling into Stevie's unchaperoned house. Soon, the large house was so crowded that it was getting hard to walk. Luke showed up around nine p.m., looking bored out of his mind. Ashton noticed him standing off by himself, with a red solo cup in his hand. Calum had gotten some of his upper class friends to supply the alcohol. 

"Hey, mate," Ashton said, filling up a cup for himself from the keg. 

"I don't know why I agreed to this. It's just horny teenagers getting sloppy drunk."

"Oh, come on. You've got to be having at least a little bit of fun," Ashton said, hoping this was true. 

"Actually, I'm not Ashton!" Luke raised his voice. "Why can't you just let it go and realize that you've changed? I miss us being loners together and playing xbox all weekend. Now, all you care about is your stupid girlfriend!"

"Whoa, calm down," he said, feeling attacked. "I just wanted to spend time with you and Stevie," he tried to explain. 

"Whatever, I'm out of here," he said, setting his drink on the counter and storming out of Stevie's house. 

Ashton didn't want to leave, but he felt like he needed to resolve this with Luke. He chased after his best friend, catching up to him two streets over. "Luke," he said, stopping his friend and bending over to catch his breath. 

"What do you want?" Luke crossed his arms over his broad chest. 

"What am I doing wrong? I spend half of my lunches with you and we hang out." Ashton couldn't see the problem. 

"All you talk about is her. Stevie this, Stevie that. I'm sick of it!" 

Ashton thought for a moment and realized this was true. "Ok. How about from now on, when we're hanging out there's no talk of her?" he suggested. 

"Yeah, try keeping that promise," Luke scoffed. 

"I'm gonna try my best. I want to. I don't want to lose you, mate. You're my best friend," Ashton's voice was low, but Luke heard him. 

"Ok. I don't want to lose you either." 

The two hugged quickly and agreed that they would spend the next day playing xbox at Luke's. Ashton headed back to the party and Luke to his house. 

"Where were you?" Stevie asked upon Ashton's return.

"Oh, Luke and I had a bit of an argument, but it's all better now," he smiled, leaning down to kiss her. 

Stevie placed her pointer finger against his lips, stopping him. "Not yet, but we can do plenty of that later."

"Why not? Plenty of people are kissing," he pouted, gesturing to the couples kissing in various places around the house. 

She shrugged. "I want to save it for tonight," she said suggestively. 

Ashton forced a smile as she separated from him and went off in the kitchen to do something. His anxiety was eating at him and he hoped when the moment came he would be ready or have the nerve to tell her wasn't ready. 

hi. please vote and comment because it truly means a lot to me. xx zoe

I feel like the picture represents luke and ashton's relationship in this story.