"That chilli dog was okay but I probably shouldn't have gone the nachos as well..." Michael trailed off slowly, his gaze slipping behind me.
Michael noticed someone sitting on the stairs leading to his house before I did. It wasn't until I shut the door and turned around did I understand why Michael had stopped midsentence.
Oh, I took a sharp breath when I finally noticed the hooded figure.
"Luke..." There was an underlying warning in Michael's tone. I carefully walked up the stairs, my eyes pinned on the leather jacket clad boy in front of me.
"I thought maybe you dropped her home. I didn't know she'd be here." Luke sounded perfectly calm as he stood up from the steps. "I just wanted to see my best friend." He swallowed and looked down at me as I finally fell into step with Michael. "I'll leave now."
"Wait!" I stumbled over my shoes as I reached out and grabbed Luke's wrist. Both boys seemed surprised to see me address him, let alone touch him. I carefully pulled my hand back and tried to ignore Luke's curious eyes. "I... you can stay."
"What?" Luke scrunched up his nose. "Ari, I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
I knew Luke was sorry, and I knew he felt bad for hurting my feelings but I did overreact. I realised something back at the fish shop and the restaurant – Luke and I hadn't been dating. He hadn't broken up with me.
"When was the last time you had sex with Katherine?" I managed to spit out before I lost my courage. This probably sounded random and stupid but it was pivotal to what I was going to do next.
Luke looked just as confused as Michael. I could tell he was trying to pick his next words carefully. "About... about a week before I approached you in English. She told me that we had to end whatever fling we had because I was just too much of a dick for her."
"I figured as much." I nodded slowly, secretly relieved. Luke hadn't been sleeping with Katherine when he talked, flirted or kissed me. He hadn't been truthful with me but he hadn't done something unforgivable.
"I'm going to go inside." Michael shifted his weight. "Come in when you're done." I'm not sure who he was talking to – I think he hoped he was addressing both of us. I watched as Michael shut the door behind him. Luke shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at me shyly.
"Ari," Luke seemed unsure if he could talk freely around me so I just gave him a small nod and he
continued. "Katherine was telling the truth about why I asked you to help me. I thought maybe if her best friend could give me a few tips then she'd want me back... but the more I got to know you the less I cared about Katherine. I found myself wanting to do good things for you. I liked when your eyes lit up when I said something you approved of, or when you smiled like you were proud of my actions."
"Luke..." I didn't know what to say but he kept talking anyway.
"I found myself addicted to your blush. I wanted to see it so bad that I said provocative things but eventually I found myself wanting more." He met my eyes. "I didn't think about Katherine when I was you. I didn't care if she liked the way I was because eventually I realised... you seemed to like me just the way I was. You saw through all that bullshit exterior and you... you cared." Luke ran his hands through his hair. I hadn't noticed how fucking wrecked he looked but I noticed that he seemed hopeful.
"I did care." I didn't bother to rebut that fact. I had kissed him more than once. Clearly I cared. "I'm not the one who stopped caring."
"I don't want her." Luke stepped towards me. "The second I met you I forgot all about Katherine. I didn't care about her. All I wanted was this slightly sarcastic, hesitant, adorable, brave girl."
"I want to hate you." My lips quivered. "I really wanted to hate you for what you did, just so I could hate someone. So I could blame someone for loosing my best friend but I have no one but myself to blame for that."
"She's to blame for what she did." Luke shook his head carefully. "And so am I."
"I don't hate you." I sighed quietly. "I mean; it would be easier if I did but I just can't. It's too exhausting to act like you don't exist... and truthfully, I don't want to."
I had been thinking about this on the car ride home. Acting civil around Luke at the restaurant seemed stiff and awkward. I wanted nothing more than to be friends with him again. I couldn't do the whole awkward encounter – not with him.
Luke shut his eyes briefly. "I messed up by not telling you this sooner. I let you believe that I actually cared what Katherine thought – but I don't. I told her to fuck off the second she came up to me that night. I wanted you. I still do." He paused. "Want you, that is."
"I'm going to forgive you Luke." I said quietly, but when he opened his mouth I just shook my head. "I'm not about to kiss you or do anything of that sort. You royally fucked with my trust... but I miss you." I admitted. My shoulders slumped as I looked up at him.
"I miss you too." Luke looked relieved. "And I don't want to force you into anything you're not ready for, so I can be your friend or even a stranger if you need."
"I miss you, but not just in romantic way." I said carefully, although I did crave that. "I miss talking to you. I never felt judged when I talked to you. I could always go to you when I couldn't go to my friends because I knew you wouldn't bullshit me. You would tell me the truth; you'd tell me exactly what you were thinking. You'd always be on my side, even if it didn't seem like it. You'd always have my best interest in mind. God, I miss you."
"I felt the same." Luke murmured.
I smiled at that. "How about we start at friends again?" I stepped forward and let my hand squeeze his. "We can go from there."
"I will wait as long as I need." Luke leant down about to kiss my forehead but then stopped and smiled instead. "Lesson eighteen; time can heal all wounds."
I rolled my eyes and reached up to press a light kiss on his cheek. "We'll see."
Luke didn't say anything in return, instead he opened the door to Michael's place. I walked through the door, feeling a bit relieved that Luke and I had sorted things out. I had seriously missed how easy our friendship used to be before the drama of Katherine.
Michael didn't seem surprised to see us both walk into the lounge room, no he seemed rather pleased. It must've been hard to split his time between his best friend and I. I appreciated everything he did.
About two hours had passed and Michael had us watching prison documentaries. After the sixth documentary, we had an in-depth discussion about who would survive in prison. Michael and Ashton threw me under the bus rather quickly, with Luke even aptly saying "you'd be someone's bitch".
Then Michael mumbled something about having to do domestic chores and that one of us should help him. When neither of us moved to help out he flipped us off, called us a bunch of "fucking twats" and grabbed the trash can.
Luke and I settled into an awkward conversation, that thankfully didn't last long as the doorbell went off. Michael was still outside so Luke and I decided to answer the door for him because we were top friends.
We decided to tell whoever was at the door that Michael was currently at the doctors getting his STI treated. We thought it'd be a good laugh, but when the opened door revealed Ashton our prank went out the door.
"ARIZE!" Ashton yelled gleefully, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "My lover."
"Where exactly did you go after dinner?" I asked wearily before grabbing ahold of Ashton's shoulders and stabilizing him the best I could. By the looks of his swaying body, he was more than 10 Tequila shots down. What the hell happened to him?
"Paradise Punch." A silly smile crossed over Ashton's lips. "They have really inexpensive cocktails."
"How inexpensive?" Luke leant forward curiously but I elbowed him. "Hey!"
"It doesn't matter." I shot Luke a look. "Come inside, Ash."
"How do inexpensive cocktails not matter?" Luke threw his arms up in the air but followed me into the living room after closing the door.
"They're, like, eighty-five cents or something." Ashton's eyes were glazed over as he smiled happily at Luke.
"There you have it. Is your curiosity satisfied, Luke?" I raised my eyebrow mockingly.
"Never is." Luke shrugged. "Nice to know about the cocktails though."
I ignored Luke and focused on getting Ashton safely onto Michael's couch. Is this what every felt like when I had been drunk? I guess communicating with drunk people was only fun when you were drinking too.
I got Ashton settled in before walking into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass of water and reemerged to the living room. Once I placed the water on the table I looked at Ashton. "How many cocktails did you have?"
Ashton looked thoughtful as he finally held up eight fingers. "I had eleven."
"Someone needs to take him back to kindergarten." Michael mumbled, entering the room with hesitancy. I couldn't exactly blame him. He had gone outside to take out the trash and when he came back there was a very intoxicated Ashton on his living room couch.
"Why did you have so much?" I whined, torn between looking after Ashton and hitting him on the back of his head. I figured I should look after him considering no one hit me when I was being a stupid drunk.
"Why not? They were cheap!" Ashton grinned, nodding to himself as if he were proud of all the drinking he did.
"Ashton." I groaned.
"Hugh wasn't there." Ashton made a strange sound at the back of his throat. "He's, like, 95% of my impulse control."
"Why wasn't Hugh there?" I asked softly, tilting my head in confusion. At dinner Ashton
Ashton started laughing as he splayed his limbs across the couch. "Oh, this is why I started to drinking." Ashton's laughter got on a whole different level. It was like a hysterical laugh/sob.
I shared a concerned look with Luke who shrugged helplessly. Even Michael stayed silent, unsure what to say. They both stared at me like I was supposed to help Ashton. I was the worst person when it came to comforting.
I would pat someone on the shoulder with a broom from a meter away before I'd talk about my feelings. But this was Ashton, and he had been there for me when Katherine wasn't so I awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.
"Did something happen with Hugh?" I asked carefully.
"Did something happen with Hugh?" Ashton laughed hysterically. "Did something fucking happen with Hugh?!"
"I'm going to assume something happened with Hugh." Michael mumbled to Luke, slipping onto the couch next to him. Luke nodded in return.
"Ashton..." I wasn't sure what to say. "What happened?"
"Katherine McSlutty decided it would be appropriate to fuck my boyfriend!" Ashton yelled, standing up in anger. "That girl has no fucking morals! No fucking restraint! She's a friendless skank!"
I was completely shocked and maybe I shouldn't have been. Katherine had been fucking around with Luke, but I hadn't been dating Luke. As far as I knew, Ashton and Hugh were still together when this happened considering he said 'boyfriend'.
"She... she slept with Hugh?" Luke raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure? I mean... I know she's a bitch." He cleared his throat and his eyes darted to mine. "But this doesn't sound like something she'd do."
"I'm pretty fucking sure." Ashton smiled but there was no happiness behind it. "It's a bit hard to forget with the image burned into my brain and all."
"Wait, you saw them?" Michael's eyes popped.
"Naked and everything. Katherine looked pretty fucked and so did he... but that doesn't excuse it." Ashton sighed quietly. "He's meant to be with me. Me, a guy. Not her. Not a girl. Not my friend. Can I crash on the couch?" Ashton snuggled into the pillow. "I'm just exhausted."
"Yeah, sure, absolutely." Michael jumped up and grabbed a blanket. He draped it over Ashton, who was already well on his way to Dreamville. "Holy shit." He breathed, falling back onto the other couch.
"Katherine is out of control." Luke frowned. "Someone needs to talk to her." Michael and Luke both stared at me again.
"Nah, fuck off." I looked down at Ashton. "She's your fuck buddy, Luke."
"Hey." Luke rolled his eyes. "No. Just no."
"I can't believe she'd do this to Ashton." I breathed. "Hugh and Ash seemed to happy whenever I saw them together. She must've seen it too." I shook my head in awe. "It's like she's trying to burn down all the bridges."
"You need to talk to her." Michael clicked his tongue. "Something's going on with her and you've got to find out what."
"Oh, that won't be awkward at all." I grumbled, realizing he was right. "I'd love to talk to my ex-bestfriend about the guy she just fucked, who happens to be my best friends' boyfriend."