Pill By Pill {Muke}

22 - Never Vanishing

Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves. ~William Hazlitt

Michael's POV

I had sat with the two on the couch for the longest time. Lynn actually seemed genuinely nice although I never did remember if I had seen her anywhere before.

"Funny, we're in the same grade and yet I've never seen you." I said.

"Well now you'll recognize me and be able to say hi in the hallways." Lynn smiled.

"You might know her because she's Kody's girlfriend or whatever." Ashton shrugged as he stuffed his mouth full of chips.

"No I am most certainly not." Lynn scoffed and pushed on Ashton's shoulder. "Kody is way below me."

"You could say that again." I chuckled. I agreed that Kody was not the kind of person that anyone should ever be with. He was awful.

"Although we are friends." Lynn smiled, there was a look about her that almost made me weary. But I still did not respond to it.

"I don't see why, he's crazy." Ashton said, his eyes closed as he stretched out. I had to agree. Everything about this sounded mysterious. Although I could not put my finger on it.

"But you're with Luke now, aren't you?" Lynn asked.

"No." Ashton groaned. He seemed just as annoyed with it as I had.

"Luke doesn't like me in that way." I replied. Lynn pursed her lips together, as if she was thinking. I had to sit and wait for her response.

"I do wonder," She said, tapping her fingers against her lips. "If that is actually true."

"I'm pretty sure it is." I shrugged.

"Hm, I beg to differ and I think that I will be able to help you in realizing that." She had a smug look on her face. She almost appeared as if she was plotting for the damned. I said nothing, what do you say to her?

Lynn glanced down at her phone and stood up. "Well, I better be on my way now. Thank you for having me."

"No problem." Ashton chuckled. Lynn grabbed her bag and walked out of the room. Leaving Ashton and I together. "You really don't remember her?"

"No, I-I really don't." I shook my head. "Why? Do you think you may know where I recognize her from?"

"I was just thinking you had probably seen her with Luke, they're probably friends if she knows Kody." Ashton shrugged. "Maybe you should ask."

"I have never seen her with Skarlet or Barbie though." I shook my head. "I mean, maybe I recognize her from her being around Luke. I might not have noticed it."

"Well just ask, I'm sure they are." Ashton shrugged.

"How did you become friends with a smoker?" I asked. I was genuinely curious of why Ashton would ever become friends with someone who did drugs, I understood that he liked Luke enough to pass it by. But willing becoming friends with someone who was into it? Well that was another story. "Do you do drugs?"

"Oh hell no," Ashton shook his head furiously. "Why, do you?"

"Ashton, no." I sighed. "If anything, I'm doing everything I can to stop Luke from doing them. It would make no sense for me to start."

"Why don't you ever give up on Luke?" Ashton asked. "What's so great about him?"

"I'm just hoping I'll find out." I spoke under my breath. I could never answer that question, Luke and I did not really get along. But he fascinated me in a sense. I wanted to see him happy. Deep down I believed he was another person. Was it because he was so malleable? I had a hard time believing deep down I wanted control, but maybe I did since I was trying so desperately to tie down Luke.

"Don't think about it too much." Ashton said as he stood up. "Come with me, I want food."

I nodded my head and followed Ashton as we walked to a nearby convenience store. We walked mostly with hilarious conversation to guide us, but otherwise there was a comforting silence. Until in our laughter we almost did not hear a choking-noise someone was making from the dirt off the road.

I turned and went wide eyed as Ashton spoke. "No way.."

"S-Sammy?" I asked as I crouched near the boy on the ground. He was bloody and beaten. Shaking on the ground and coughing dry.

"What happened to you?" Ashton asked as we got Sammy off the ground.

"K-Kody.." Sammy groaned as he put a hand to his head. "Bastard is blaming me for Luke being gone."

"What?" Ashton went wide eyed as he helped walk Sammy back towards our house.

"What did you tell him?" I asked Sammy.

"I told him to go bite himself. It was his fault." Sammy replied. "Makes sense why he would lose his chill. I'm just kind of surprised that so many people would walk by without saying anything."

I looked Sammy up and down. The dirt in his hair and the blood on his face. The bruises on his arm and the limp in his walk. "Does this make you not like Luke anymore?" I asked.

"Course not." Sammy sighed. "I wasn't even going to say anything."

"Sammy, you look like hell," Ashton spoke firmly. "There's no way you can't just not say anything; everyone will notice."

Sammy had a look in his eyes as if he already knew this. It was selfless of him not to want to concern anyone, however it was selfish of him to try and not let anyone know.

"What if he does it to someone else?" I asked. "You could have saved everyone a lot of trouble by just saying it."

Sammy thought about it for a moment, I barely knew him. Every time I was around him, he never said a word. Which is why I was now so shocked that he was speaking without flaw.

In a moment though he changed from a seemingly cocky figure to something far below that.

Without any warning, he started sobbing hysterically. Ashton and I exchanged wide eyed glances. Neither of us really knew what to do.

"Come on, it'll be alright.." I said quietly. I had no idea how to react to it and neither did the people we walked by. They looked at us with pity, sorrow. I heard a couple of 'oh, poor boy's.

"At times like this I wish I was more into drinking." Sammy sniffled.

"Wait..You're not?" Ashton asked.

"No, I don't even like smoking." Sammy shook his head. "I mean..I do it, but hold little interest in it."

Ashton and I exchanged glances. Maybe getting Luke to not smoke was not as hard as we thought it would be.

AUTHOR'S NOTIFICATION; Ariana

Guys. Guys. Guys. I know I just released a story but I have another idea! And I thought it was kinda a cute concept. But I won't start it until I finish something else so there's not an overload of books. But I wrote a little bit of it to start so yay!

Hugs, Kisses, Cuddles and Serenades xX