7| "what's so bad about penguins?"
Ashton is sitting on a exercise bike, flipping halfheartedly through a magazine, and eating a bag of Skittles when I finally make it to the brightly lit department store. I stand off to the side for a bit and watch him, trying not to smile as he pours some of the colored candy into his palm; picking them up one by one and tossing them back into his mouth.
He misses, one hitting him in the eye and he smiles to himself before his eyes look up and right at me. Ashton squints, closes his magazine and jumps down before skipping towards me.
"What took so long? I've been waiting for you all day!" He surprises me by pulling me into a hug, and I laugh as he dramatically smashes my head against his chest.
His uniform shirt is cottony and warm against my cheek and I look up at him, "Sorry, I kind of got into a argument with," I pause.
What exactly is Luke to me? I mean, he's not my stepbrother yet and he's definitely not my friend. I frown, "Um, some guy."
Ashton takes a step back, and runs a hand through his hair. Bracelets slide down his arm and he coolly says, "Some guy, huh?"
"Yeah," I mumble.
"Boyfriend?"
Glancing up at Ashton, I notice the wary look on his face and the way he's picking through his Skittles again. He peeks up at me, hazel eyes large and curious, and sight makes me want to smile but I force myself to remain indifferent.
"Nah, just some idiot."
I'm not lying when I say Ashton's aura turns a thousand times brighter, "Cool." Then he motions for me to open my mouth, and with a small laugh I lean my head back and close my eyes, waiting for him to toss Skittles into my mouth.
Out of the handful that he throws, I only actually get like three, "What a waste of good candy."
Ashton playfully rolls his eyes, "Ssh, come on. Follow me."
"I thought I was gonna find out how cool the treadmills were?" I quirk my eyebrow, and point my thumb in the direction of the machines.
He shrugs, "Well, they're not as fun as I thought they'd be."
We end up in the video games section and I don't know whether to laugh or not when Ashton passes me a Wii controller. He grins, and points to the TV, "Know how to play Mario Karts?"
"Who doesn't?"
He flashes me that wide, dimpled grin and then we're playing.
--
Sometime later, when I've beaten Ashton three times and he's cheated more times than I can count, his friend from yesterday, Mike, walks up to us and tugs on Ashton's red shirt.
"Michael, wanna play?" Ashton grins, and holds the Wii remote out to him, "Annie here is a great player, so I can't guarantee you'll win, but it's worth a shot."
So his name is Michael? He doesn't look like a Michael at all. Something meaner.
"You're supposed to be working," He rolls his dark, emerald green eyes, and reaches up to smooth his hair over his forehead.
He has some kind of colored feathers weaved into it today, and I start to tell him I like them, but then when I notice the glare he's sending me, I shut my mouth.
Completely ignoring Ashton's invitation, he says, "We need you on register six, that idiot girl, Jen, she got sick or something."
Ashton nods, and then turns to me, "One more game?"
"Now, lets go." Michael mutters. He crosses his arms like he has no intentions on leaving unless it's with Ashton, and I shake my head at the golden haired boy.
"You've got work to do," I smile, nodding towards Michael. "I shouldn't keep you from that."
He frowns and sets our remotes down, "This sucks, we barely even hung out."
"Well, there's always tomorrow?"
"I have to work the register, we won't have time." He shakes his head, and then glances up at me before a slow grin spreads across his face, "I just had the greatest idea, Annie. How about if we just hang out on Tuesday? I'm off then, and we could have more time to spend together."
He looks so hopeful and happy that I'd be a fool to turn him down, "Of course." I quickly give him a hug and then for the hell of it, I wave at his friend, "Nice seeing you, Michael. Maybe you'll hang out with us, too?"
He ignores me, gripping Ashton's shirt again and pulling him down the aisle and away from me.
--
It's getting dark by the time I finally get home. After leaving Target, I had realized that I was probably going to get in trouble, since I was no longer with Luke. So, like a smart person, I took my time in the plaza.
I got a new shirt, and some sandals, and a bottle of perfume that had seemed like a steal in the store for only $35, but now that I thought about it, it didn't seem worth it.
Oh well.
Plucking a french fry from my McDonald's bag, I shove it in my mouth and sigh as I slowly head up the stairs. The longer I can prolong my lecture from my mom, the better.
Hell, if I'm lucky she'll be so engrossed in those damn bridal books, she'll forget about it and just ground me.
"I hope you're sharing, because I'm starving."
I jump startled, and look over to where Luke is sprawled out on the porch swing, on his phone. He looks up at me and raises his eyebrows.
"You don't even know what I'm eating," I mutter, then walk over to him and knock his feet off the swing, before taking a seat and setting my bags down, "What are you doing out here?"
"Waiting for you, I couldn't actually go back inside without you after I told your mom we'd be out together." Blue eyes roll, and he reaches forward and grabs my soda from me, "I didn't know you'd actually take that long, though."
"Sorry," I say.
I watch as he shrugs and then takes a sip of my drink. Right from the straw. Gaping, I smack him on the leg, "Luke, I drank off of that."
"So what?" He takes another sip and then narrows his eyes, "What the hell is in this, anyway?"
I stare at him, is he serious? I could have like a disease or something. Which I don't, but I mean, that is still so unsanitary, "Um, I mixed it."
"Sounds disgusting, but it's actually not bad." He laughs, then he leans forward again and grabs my bag. He sifts around and then pulls out my french fries, "Can I have these?" He's eating them before I even get a chance to say, yes or no.
"I didn't even say yes," I mutter.
"Too late, now."
It's seriously quiet and I don't know what to say, or if I even should say something, and I kick my foot out and start the swing.
Luke's back on his phone, and I'm starting to regret giving him my food. Now, I have nothing to keep myself busy with. I decide to just go inside, and just as I'm getting up, Luke juts his phone out towards me and says, "Look."
The screen is so bright, and I have to squint my eyes at what he's showing me. It's a video on his Facebook, and I blush before pressing play.
"What is this?"
"Shut up and just watch."
I roll my eyes. Soon enough, a pair of penguins appear and out of nowhere they start to dance. To this really weird, upbeat, electronica sounding music.
It's not funny. Like, at all. It's really just weird.
Luke's cheeks blush red, and he holds his fist up over to his mouth to stop himself from laughing, which really doesn't make a difference because he ends up bursting into loud chuckles, anyway.
He slaps his knee and rocks back and forth, and I can't help but let out a small laugh.
I mean, the penguins are a bust. But, Luke's laugh could sell out a comedy club. His smile take up almost all his face, in a really cute, dorky kind of way and I marvel at his two little dimples.
When he realizes that I'm not even watching the video, his laughter dies down and he says, "It's not funny?"
"Um," I shrug, "They're penguins."
"What's so bad about penguins?" He grumbles. Luke takes back his phone, and softly smiles down at the screen before turning it off, and taking another sip of my soda. "Penguins are an endangered species, did you know that?"
"No, Luke, I didn't."
He rolls his eyes, "Shame." Then he stands up, gathering his garbage, "I can hear your mom having a seizure in there, we better get inside."
"Stop saying stuff like that," I huff. Grabbing my bag, I lead the way into the house. The kitchen and hallway lights are off, and Luke kicks off his sneakers by the door.
"Ten bucks that they're doing it right now," He whispers in the dark, clutching my shoulder, so he doesn't fall over.
"Doing what?" I follow him, and step out of my flip flops.
"It." He laughs, "Betcha by next year, we'll have a brother or sister."
"You're disgusting."
"I'm realistic," Shrugging, he turns on his phone flashlight and leads the way down the hall, "You're mom has a hell of a nice body, and my dad's not gay."
"I'd appreciate if you wouldn't check out my moms body," I snap.
Luke laughs, then turns around and smirks at me. His blue eyes, trail slowly up my body and he says, "Jealous, Annie?" He steps forward and flicks the collar of my shirt, letting it snap back against my skin, "Rather, I check you out instead?"
My cheeks are hot again, and I huff before pushing him out of the way, "Move."
Once we get in the living room, he turns on the light and looks back at me, "Ten bucks?"
"No thanks," I shake my head and grab my soda from his hand, "I'm not interested in my mothers sex life, that's gross. They're probably sleeping."
He starts up the stairs to his room, "You're such a prude."
"Whatever," I flip my straw, and go to take a sip. "Ugh, Luke! You drank all of my soda!"
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