Streaker.

17

"Ashley's mad at me, she won't want a gift." Luke mumbled, knowing exactly what his mom was hinting at.

"I wasn't talking specifically about Ashley..." Liz trailed off.

"I'd rather stay home today, Mom, if that's alright." Luke sighed, suddenly wishing that he hadn't stayed up so late and wasted so much time on Ashley.

"That's perfectly alright, Luke, I just wanted to ask and make sure." Liz nodded. She reached over and cupped one of Luke's tear stained cheeks, running her thumb under his eye. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I promise." Luke nodded. He sat up and rubbed his eyes again.

"Okay, I'm going to get going now." Liz said, at standing up from her place on Luke's bed. "There's leftovers in the fridge of you get hungry and I should be back in a few hours. Call me if you need anything."

"Alright." Luke nodded, watching his mom as she left the room. "I love you."

"I love you too." Liz said over her shoulder, walking down the hall and away from Luke.

He stayed in bed for the next hour, scrolling through his phone and rereading the desperate texts he'd sent to Ashley the night before. She hadn't texted him anything else and she hadn't called yet, either, so Luke was beginning to think that she'd only said what she did just so he'd leave her alone.

Just when Luke was really staring to doubt himself, his phone started to ring. Ashley's name and contact picture popped up and Luke answered the call as fast as he could, scared that if he didn't Ashley would get annoyed and hang up.

"Hello?" He asked, sitting up straight.

"I'm coming over." Ashley's voice rang out through the speaker, giving Luke goosebumps. He felt like it had been so long since he'd heard her talk. "Scratch that, I'm actually here. Come open the door."

Ashley hung up the phone and Luke scrambled out of bed, not even bothering to put on a pair of pants. He ran to the front door and quickly unlocked it, revealing a much happier looking Ashley standing there.

"Oh, those are cute." Ashley giggled, pointing down to Luke's boxers. They weren't nearly as bad as some of the other pairs he had, but they were still covered in tiny cartoon gummy bears and that was pretty embarrassing.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked, his heart pounding against his chest.

"I came to make sure you were okay." Ashley said, folding her arms across her chest. Luke stepped aside and let Ashley enter the house, closing the door behind her.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Luke asked, even though he knew that it was a stupid question.

"I was just worried, that's all." Ashley shrugged. She took off her shoes by the front door but left her coat on, and that worried Luke. He was afraid that she was just going to get up and leave. "It was kind of scary waking up in the middle of the night to see those texts."

"Oh, yeah." Luke nodded. "I'm sorry about that."

"Are you alright now?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, I think." Luke shrugged. Him being alright or not depended on if Ashley was still mad at him. "Are you still upset with me?"

"I was, but I'm not anymore." Ashley explained slowly. She walked passed Luke and headed into his bedroom, which was their usual hangout even when no one else was home.

"Alright." Luke nodded. He sat down on one side of the bed and Ashley sat on the other, both of them sitting with their legs crossed.

"I was more upset with you for lying to me than anything. I would have completely understood if you had just come out and told me what was really going on." Ashley shrugged. "When I found out that you'd lied it just made me really upset, I felt like I wasn't important to you at all, and I needed my space for a few days."