Fall.

Chapter 19.

"Nothing." I shook my head, not wanting to tell Ashton what I was afraid was happening with Luke.

"Is Michael coming?" He asked. He set my hand down on his lap and played with each of my fingers individually.

"Yes. He's going to crash here afterwards." I nodded, feeling like I was an employee reporting back to my boss.

"And what about Luke?"

I swallowed hard, realizing that I had really been looking forward to Luke coming tonight and now I wasn't sure if he was going to. "He said he'll try to come."

"Even if he doesn't, it'll be a fun time." Ashton smirked. He leaned in closer to me, pressing his lips to my neck.

"Right." I sighed.

-

A few hours later there was a full on party happening in Ashton's house, and I was standing right in the middle of it. There was music playing and some people dancing, but mostly everyone was standing around talking, drinks in hand - with the exception of the few couples sitting on couches or chairs and making out.

I was a bit lost, to say the least. I don't think it was a very good idea to suggest to throw a party when I had never even attended one. It was a little scary, I definitely should not be standing all by myself. Who knows what could happen, especially when my boyfriend was no where to be seen.

"Hey!" A voice yelled in my ear. I turned to see Luke, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and the black jeans with the hole in them. I couldn't even begin to explain how relieved I was to see Luke.

"Hi, you made it!" I yelled over the music, pulling Luke in for a quick hug.

"Yeah, I told my mom I was working tonight." Luke laughed as he awkwardly stepped back from me. He played with his hands, locking and unlocking his fingers.

"Do you think she'll buy it?" I asked.

"Sorry, what was that?" Luke asked, this time taking a step forward. I realized that it was a little hard to hear in here with all the music and talking.

"Are you going to get away with coming here instead of going to work?" I repeated, louder this time.

"Oh, sure. She'll be asleep before we - I get home." Luke said, looking down at the floor.

"I just don't want you to get in trouble." I replied, ignoring the "we" that had slipped out of Luke's mouth.

"She'll probably try and kill me tomorrow morning, but it's alright. I'll be okay." Luke shrugged and bit his lip. Then I noticed for the first time that something was different about him.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to Luke's mouth. He glanced up at me, then ran his tongue over the small ring on the corner of his bottom lip.

"I got my lip pierced." Luke chuckled.

"Why?" I asked. The lip piercing definitely suited Luke well. He was already attractive as it is, but this made him seem even more...appealing.

"I thought it would look cool." Luke shrugged.

"Does your mom hate it?" I laughed, already knowing how she would feel about it.

"That's what I was being yelled at for this morning." Luke smiled, again playing around with the lip ring.

"It's cool, I like it." The sight of Luke playing with his own lip made me subconsciously play around with my own.

"Where's Ashton?" Luke asked. He glanced around the room, dodging a random boy as he ran past us.