Streaker.

27

Luke had promised Ashley that he was going to stop drinking, but he didn't. The next weekend he spent almost all of his time with a bottle in his hand, hiding in the bathroom so his mom didn't question him.

It just felt better when he drank, if Luke was ever upset he could make all of his problems go away with just a little alcohol. He'd always had trouble sharing his feelings with others, but drinking made it easy for Luke to forget all about whatever was wrong.

By Sunday morning he was tired, hungover, sad, and mad at himself, but Luke was still going out to see a movie with Ashley and Ellie, his little cousin.

"Lukey, will you get us some candy please?" Ellie begged, tugging on the sleeve of Luke's jacket while they waited in the concessions line at the movie theater.

"Yeah, what kind do you want?" Luke asked tiredly. Ashley was standing in the other side, and even though she hadn't said anything about it yet he knew that she was pissed at him.

"You pick, I got to pick last time." Ellie smiled, grabbing Luke's hand and holding onto it tightly.

"Okay." Luke nodded and took another step forward. There was still one person in line in front of them and he was getting anxious. He turned and looked at Ashley, who was standing silently with her arms crossed over her chest. "Do you want any popcorn or candy?"

"No thanks, I'm good." Ashley said, still not looking directly at Luke.

"I think I'm going to get a popcorn, you can share it with me if you want." Luke offered. He felt guilty about breaking his promise to Ashley, but it was something that he couldn't control. She shouldn't have gotten so upset about this, all Luke was doing was getting a little drunk. And it's not like he was hurting anyone.

"I don't like popcorn." Ashley answered in a bored tone, looking down at the ground.

"Popcorn is my favorite, Lukey always buys me popcorn and candy." Ellie said and smiled up at Ashley. Ellie had tried all day to get Ashley to talk to her, and Luke felt bad because she was really making an effort, but Ashley was just in a bad mood.

"Yeah." Luke nodded.

"I don't like when the kernels get stuck in my teeth." Ashley finally decided to stop being so hostile and gave Ellie a small smile.

"Oh, yeah. That's not fun." Ellie nodded quickly. She noticed that the person in front of her was done ordering their popcorn and pulled Luke forward to the counter.

He ordered popcorn for himself and then got some candy for Ellie and a root beer for Ashley, because he knew that it was her favorite and she'd just make Luke go back and get her one later if he didn't buy it now.

"Yay!" Ellie cheered as she ran up ahead of Luke and Ashley, already knowing which theater to go into. "Lukey, you got us Skittles and M&Ms!"

"Yeah, I went a little crazy." Luke chuckled. He turned to Ashley to see if she was laughing at all at what he'd said, but she wasn't.

Luke walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer quickly to kiss her on the forehead. Ashley looked up at him and smiled, and that's when Luke knew that things were going to be okay.

"How was your weekend?" Luke asked a they walked into the theater, trying to find where Ellie had run off too. She had already gone all the way up to the back of the theater and was trying hard to get three seats that were exactly in the middle of the row.

"It was good, I guess." Ashley shrugged. Luke hadn't seen her since Friday, after she dropped him off at home from school. He texted her a few times and they spoke over the phone once, but that was it. "I didn't do much."