I've Got This Friend ( c.h )

Chapter 37

"Morning Ash!" She was happy this morning, which was weird but I wasn't going to complain. Hell, maybe this was how she had been the last few days. We hadn't talked much. I heard about her more from Luke than I did from her.

"What are you going to do today?" I made it sound casual, like I wasn't trying to but into her life, even though it was pretty obvious I was.

"I"m going to go on a run with Luke and then I don't know." She opened a water bottle and took a quick swig.

"Maybe we can go out today?" Luke butted in. Peyton glanced at Luke and then at me before staring back at Luke.

"Sure, what did you have in mind Luke?"

"We can go see a movie?" He didn't sound too convincing, but Peyton wasn't going to fight with him.

"Let's see how you feel after the run today Luke," Peyton warned before dragging the tall, awkward boy out of the house and beginning their run for the day.

I made myself a quick snack before walking out of the house barefoot and towards the studio to  see who was already in there. I was hoping that it was Alex and not Calum, but at the same time I was hoping that it was Calum and not Alex. Calum and I hadn't had a real interaction reaction in a white and today would be our first in a few weeks I guess.

When I walked in, it was only Alex and John. I had met Alex a few days ago when I had written with Michael and he was a pretty cool guy. I mean, I did idolize him already so the fact that I was getting to work with him made me want to scream.

"Good morning John, Alex." I sat down on my drum stool and stared at the two of them.

"Yo little bro," Alex greeted me back and John just said his typical good morning in his typical John voice. "Is your little sister still home?"

Alex had run into Peyton one morning while she was getting ready to go on a jog with Luke and he was trying to find something to drink. She probably freaked out because she loves All TIme Low, and I can only imagine her making a fool out of herself in our kitchen. I guess he talked to her a bit though and they hit it off and let me tell you, Alex loved Peyton. This was the third day in a row he had been here and he made she to say hello and goodbye to Peyton every time or at least say something to her while he was here. I think the two of them exchanged numbers and texted, but I'm not really sure because like I've mentioned before, Peyton hadn't really talked to me much.

"Nah, she just left to go on a run with Luke."

"How is she always running?"

"She's stressed and when she's stressed she runs. It helps clear her head. She usually runs alone but Luke figured out how to tag along with her." Her running this was something that originated when she still lived with her step dad. She was always afraid he would get too violent and would try and hurt her, so she joined the track team and took up running because she wanted to make sure that she could outrun him if the time came. Plus, being on the track team gave her a reason to stay at school longer, avoid being home, and helped her with soccer stamina.

You didn't hear that from me though.

"It's good that she takes Luke running. He's going to be in the best shape out of all of you." John joked.

"Yeah, I know." I couldn't really say anything else about it.

"I'll see her when she gets back." Alex told me, like I had to say something about it.

"Where's Calum?" I asked, irritated that he was running late to songwriting.

"No idea." John shrugged as Calum opened the door and walked in with a mountain of papers held tightly in his hand.