vanilla // lrh

thirty two

"Oh my fucking god! Where the fuck have you fucking idiots been?"

I look up to Luke, and all I could do was smile.

Here he was, beside me, still.

"Road trip. Basically a honeymoon," Luke said. "Lots of hot, heavy, wet, sweaty-"

"We went to see my family!" I laughed, dismissing his lies.

"Your family? I thought that wasn't a thing." Michael said, grabbing his beer bottle from the counter, and bringing it up to his lips.

"It isn't really," I shrugged. "I only saw my Nana, we just crashed there."

"And you couldn't shoot your good friend Mike a quick text? To say you were alive?"

"There was so much fucking and sucking we-"

"We did not do any of that!" I stopped him again, unable to hide the giggle from escaping my lips.

"It's cool. I'm glad you guys are alright. How's a welcome back banger?"

"You ever get tired of having those?" I asked. "We stopped at the gym and Sawyer said you had, and I quote, an "absolutely-insane-life-changing-experience" of one.

"You saw Sawyer before me! Eloise! I thought we were bros!"

"We are! I missed you so much!" I swung my body around the counter, wrapping my arms around Michael's neck, as he was on the counter, and embracing him.

"Yeah, man," Luke said, walking over to the opposite side of the counter as Michael and I, slouching over it. "When we first met, you told me you weren't much of a partier."

"I wasn't." Michael disagreed, and that was true. In the entire time I had known him, he only threw a couple kick-backs, that was until he started hanging out with-

"Hey, guys!"

I turned my head to see a mess of what looked to be the ghost of Ashton.

Ashton was bearing in solely black boxer shorts, hugging at his lower hips as if they were about to fall. His tanned chest was bare, if you didn't pay attention to the melon-sized bruise beneath his rib cage that echoed deep shades of purple. His hair fell sporadically from his head like vines in the tropics, the curls were lacking their usual tightness, they just, as with the rest of him looked a mess.

That was, aside from his smile. Ashton's grin, as always, was headlight white, and ranged from right to left ear with perfection.

"What is that shit on your chest?" Luke yelled, eliminating the elephant before it even entered the room.

Ashton ignored Luke's question, and took a seat next to Michael and I.

"Man, I could really use a beer. I had a rough night." He sighed, but the smile on his face remained.

"Have you ever considered that the reason that you continue to have rough nights is because of all the beer you continue to fucking drink?" Luke retorted, and I knew what was brewing.

"Luke, mate, I really don't want to get into this right now. I'm just going to go back to bed, maybe I'll feel better." Ashton said solemnly, shaking his hair out of his face and walking back into the room he came from.

"He's been staying with me ever since you left, his dad cut him off," Michael said. "I feel bad for the guy."

"Feel bad for him? What the fuck is there to feel bad for? His daddy cut him off because he doesnt go to college, a college which is 100% paid for? All he does is drink and cry about the same shit night after night, he needs to grow the fuck up." Luke huffed, as if he had let a weight off of his chest.

"I know, I just- I don't know. I think he's going through a lot of shit that we might not be able to quite understand, and I just don't want things to get any worse for him." Michael said, tapping his fingers against the countertop rapidly. He wanted a cigarette.

"He needs some tough love. How the fuck is going to pay our bills, Michael? I can't pay for our fucking apartment all on my own, I don't want to live all on my own, if I did I wouldn't have signed up for a fucking roommate that doesnt let me do my fucking work because he is too busy sobbing with a bottle of fucking jack."

Michael decided against arguing with Luke, and just nodded with a sigh. That didn't help like I knew he wanted it to.

"I'm about to go in there and kick his sorry-"

"We have plans, remember?" I told him.

We did have plans, but they weren't very important. Only important enough to save Michael and I from having to break up another fight between the two of them.

Luke looked at me as his face relaxed, his took a breath, and nodded.

"Ellie's right. We've got to go, Mike. I'll see you later, hopefully Ashton doesnt have to see my fist alongside that."

"Of course, thank you guys for coming. I'm really glad you're both okay. See you later?"

Luke and I nodded, hugged Michael, and headed out of his apartment.

The door shut behind us, and swiftly, Luke grabbed my hand and brought it up to his lips with a quick kiss.

"Now where were we?"

hey wtf thank u for sticking around if u did i fuckin love u and im gonna try so hard for u to make this the best it can be