Pretend

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| Chapter 11 - Cancelled Lunch ; Addison Shepherd's point of view |

The professor was halfway through his 'short' lecture on the development of the Kodak camera when Ashton walked through the door, Luke following sheepishly behind.

He gave the latecomers a disapproving glare before continuing his lecture, not that they were paying any attention. Ashton slid in next to me, Luke resuming his seat in the row below us. We'd permanently adopted the seats we'd first sat in during the first lecture of the semester.

I focused my attention back to the professor and his pointless rambling on all the crap I already knew from high school, but my 'listening' was interrupted as Ashton nudged my arm.

I kept my eyes trained towards the front of my room. "What?"

"How was your date with Louis?"

His question, while clearly light hearted, made me want to snap. We kept our voices to a whisper, despite me wanting to yell.

"It wasn't a date, Fletcher!" I hissed. "The guy simply took me to grab a coffee."

"Sounds like a date to me."

I turned to face Ashton from where he sat beside me, an humorous expression on his face. "You told Louis in the elevator that we were going to get coffee. So what, does that mean you wanted to take me on a date?"

His expression faltered, becoming unreadable. He opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't his voice that I heard.

"Miss Shepherd!" My head snapped back to the front of the room, where the professor stood, his eyes trained on me. "It seems as though you're finding this topic quite interesting. Who invented the first Kodak camera?"

My high school memory failed me under pressure. "Fox Talbot?" I blurted out, although it came across as more of a question.

"It's good you recognise the name, Miss Shephard, but you have the wrong topic. If you had been listening, you would know this."

"Why aren't you asking Luke this? The idiot's probably asleep!" I challenged.

Luke shifted slightly at the mention of his name, but his sleeping head remained low.

"Mr Hemmings." He didn't respond. "MR HEMMINGS."

Luke jumped in his sleep, stuttering a quick 'yeah' and obviously coming out of a glorious sleep.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"All else aside," the professor continued, "it's time to revisit the world of chemical development."

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The subway station was over crowded, typical for this time of day. People wove themselves through the crowd, polished shoes slapping pavement and briefcases bumping legs. The lunch hour crowd.

The three toned chime that signified the arrival of a train rang out through the underground station, bringing everyone to attention. I watched as the crowd grew nearer the edge of the platform, and as the oncoming train screeched to a halt and flung its doors open, the crowd diminished.

I groaned as I watched the vacant seats through the windows become scarce, fumbling backwards and sitting beside Niall on the small bench he shared with Ashton and Luke.

"Next train?"

"Unless you plan on sitting on some old guy's lap, then sure."

Niall grinned at my remark, shaking his head. "Next train it is."

"Why don't we just take a bus?" We all turned to look at Ashton, who had one eyebrow raised. "What? It'd be much easier than waiting around down here for another packed train to come and go. Besides, I hate confined spaces." He gestured to the walls surrounding us in the underground station.

"As long as we don't have to walk, I'm happy." Typical Luke.

"I'll text Louis and tell him we'll be a bit late getting to the restaurant." I felt around my jeans for my phone, sliding it out of my back pocket.

"You know, I'm actually not really hungry at the moment," Ashton said suddenly. Lies. Ever since I'd fired back at him during the professor's lecture about my outing with Louis, he'd been acting off. His voice was casual, but I could sense the - annoyance? - threatening to spill into his tone.

"This is like the only day this week we all have our lunch break scheduled at the same time!" said Niall, oblivious. Of course Ashton was hungry, he just didn't want to be hungry with Louis nearby. He didn't want to do anything with Louis nearby.

"The four of us could meet up for dinner or something? I don't like sushi anyway."

More lies. I thought back to the first time we all went out for lunch - sushi. And the way he addressed us as the 'four of us'. Four, excluding Louis.

I felt a pang of guilt in my chest as anger grew with in me, bubbling to my surface. A pang of guilt because Ashton, my best friend, was always the one in the wrong place at the wrong time when I snapped.

I tried to swallow the frustration, but despite my efforts, I snapped.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He opened his mouth, perhaps to bring my attention to the bystanders who were exchanging uneasy looks with each other over my raised voice. I was already aware of them. "No, Ashton! You don't get to speak! You get to listen. What do you have against Louis anyway? Please, tell me, because I don't have a single fucking idea what he's done to make you this cold toward him!" I let out a deep breath, trying to calm myself, but failed. "You don't like sushi? Please, Ashton! I know you better than that. You're so pathetic, and these stupid excuses are even more so! If you really care about me, you'd put your hate aside and put up with him for my sake. But whatever. I'm sure my mother wouldn't mind a surprise lunch visit."

I stood up and turned to walk off, my shoulders both lighter and heavier. Lighter to finally have that off of my chest, and heavier because I couldn't count how many times I'd directed my anger at Ashton in the few weeks I'd known him.

"Must be that time of the month." I heard Luke's voice mumbling, followed by a slapping sound, and a groan.

I turned back toward the three boys one last time, and instead of shooting a snide remark toward Luke, I suppressed my anger.

"Oh, and by the way? Sure, we'll meet up for dinner. All five of us."

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HOLA MY BEAUTIFUL READERS. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I AM SO SORRY that you've waited 73 years for an update *guilty face* but hey HERE YA GOOO. Are you team Laddison or Ashison?

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-Erin&Chloé