Fall.

Chapter 19.

Ashton's phone began to buzz in his pocket, forcing us to both pull away. He fished the phone out of his pocket again, and looked at the caller ID. Ashton pulled a strange face, a mix of surprise and worry, then looked back at me.

"I have to take this, it's my dad. Can you call Michael and let him know about tonight?" Ashton asked as he quickly began to exit the room.

"Sure." I nodded, searching for my own phone in the pocket of my sweatpants.

I watched as Ashton left the room, already holding the phone up to his ear. He looked over his shoulder and called back to me, "You should invite your buddy Luke, too!"

I called Michael first, but later regretted it. Apparently he was in the middle of dying his hair, and I had interrupted him. I didn't see why he didn't just have someone help him out, then I realized that if I hadn't been with Ashton I would have been able to help Michael. Eventually I was able to get Michael to come to the party, after assuring him that he would be able to sleep at Ashton's house tonight.

I decided to call Luke next, even though I doubted that he would want I come tonight. Luke did not seem like the partying type.

"Stel?" Luke answered the phone quietly, sounding like he was unsure if I was actually calling.

"Yeah, hi." I lowered my voice as well even though I had no reason too.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"Nothing's wrong. I just-" I stopped talking when I heard a voice in the background call Luke's name.

"Keep going, it's fine." Luke assured me, ignoring the yelling in the behind him.

"There's a party at Ashton's house tonight and I wanted to see if you would come." I said, hoping that he would be up for it. I already knew that Ashton and/or Michael may ditch me tonight, and it would be nice to have Luke there.

"A party?" Luke mumbled.

"Yeah, a party. You should really come, it'll be fun." I said, taking a small strand of my hair between my fingers and twirling it.

"I don't know - Mom, I'm on the phone." Luke's voice became muffled, probably covering the phone with his hand. "Just a friend," I heard him say.

"So, can you come?" I asked once I was sure Luke was finished talking to his mom.

"I don't know, parties aren't really my thing." Luke sighed, though I knew Luke would usually take any chance he got to get drunk.

"Please, it'll be fun." I begged.

"You'll just be with Ashton the whole time, I don't really know anyone else. I don't want to sit there all by myself all night." Luke whined. I could almost see him pouting through the phone.

"I'll hang out with you, I promise. Just come, please." I gave once last attempt at trying to convince him to come.

"- I'm trying to have a conversation here!" Luke yelled, obviously talking to someone else again. I heard a muffled voice on the other end before Luke came back. "Stel, I can't talk anymore, I need to go."

"Are you alright?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"I'll be fine." Luke coughed, the sound getting slightly quieter as Luke switched the phone from one ear to the other.

"Will you please try and come tonight?" I said as Ashton entered the room again, throwing his phone up in the air and catching it over and over again.

"I'll try, I don't know, Stel. Bye." Luke hung up without letting me say anything else.

"What's wrong?" Ashton asked, obviously seeing the concern on my face. He approached me, grabbing my hand and pulling me back down on the couch.