this story is slowly flopping oh no.
just an fyi i had no idea what to do with this chapter bc i had two ideas for it and couldn't choose so if it's a lil messy i am sorry.
also, very important!!! this chapter switches povs a lot so yeah, !!
luv u.
chapter six: the double date
Ava sat alone at a table for two in a fancy yet laid back restaurant, with her head stuffed into a book and her knee bouncing. Soft music played, originally to calm the guests, but it just made her more fidgety. She bit her lip and glanced at her friends that were seated not too far from her, slightly jealous.
Becca and Calum seemed to be having fun, chatting away and laughing. The pair sat a table away, talking about things that best friends usually talked about, except they couldn't stop flirting. It was so cute that it was gross (even if their signs, according to Becca, weren't very compatible). They were obviously so into each other, lost in their own reality, unintentionally making Ava feel left out.
She regretted showing up in the first place, she knew her therapist was talking bullshit when he recommended going out more and trying to be social. She normally didn't jump right into things and always hid her nervousness, and she was beginning to realize why.
Ava Morrison was the queen of overthinking and emotional unstableness, so going on a date mixed with the feeling of knowing that she possibly got stood up, certainly did not rest easy in her system. She placed her hand over where a box of cigarettes laid in her pocket, instinctively, outlining it with the pads of her fingers which made her slightly relax. She felt her heart slow down.
"Is he, uh, held up or something?" Ava asked suddenly, causing Calum's head to turn up and away from the girl across from him and on her.
She could see slight pity in his eyes and her stomach sunk. She might've not known the boy all that well, but he was as easy to read as a book's cover.
The tan boy pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking his notifications. He then smiled warmly at her, "Yeah, don't worry, Ashton is late to everything. He's very excited to meet you, Bec has told him lots."
There was a weird look of sympathy on his face and although it was a sweet gesture, Ava didn't like it. She began to wonder how many things Becca has told how many people about her. She faked a smile back, and continued to stare out the window. Just then, Calum's phone rang, blasting a loud song by State Champs, making her chuckle. The boy's got good music taste, she couldn't deny that. She watched him scramble to answer his phone. She heard him agree a couple times before he eventually stared at the door until a boy with curly, dirty blonde hair entered.
His face flashed with recognition when he saw the trio and approached them, out of breath.
"So, so, so sorry that I'm late, I got lost and the parking and then you know the kid back home was talking about some girl and wouldn't stop asking me where I was going - I'm rambling aren't I?" He then caught a glimpse of Ava and waved shyly, "You must be the girl who wants to kill me for being so late."
He was cute, that was plain as day. He seemed nice, which was good; he had nice taste in clothing too. Perhaps this may actually lead to something that didn't end up badly. Of course, Ava didn't have high hopes, but she was trying to.
"It's fine," she said, nodding her head at him, inviting him to sit down, "Better late than never. Oh, God. That was lame, I'm sorry. Should I be apologizing? I'm so awkward, I'm sorry."
He giggled at her, but it wasn't demeaningly. It was like he thought she adorable, and truthfully, to anyone she would often resemble a lost puppy on a daily basis (both out of constant confusion and just natural features such as her pout).
He took a seat, "I'm Ashton, you're Ava right?"
She shook her head up and down timidly once more, grabbing the menu and trying to loosen up.
•••
Luke was bored.
Beyond it, actually.
He had absolutely nothing to do.
He sat at home, in his apartment room, watching reruns of Friends and chewing on a Granny Smith apple with disgust. His roommates hadn't gone shopping so he had to eat healthy, and they were both out of the house doing something that Luke didn't know about and to say the least, he was upset. He chewed on what was left of the apple core in his hands and sighed, placing it on the small coffee table, swearing that he'd throw it out later when he had enough energy to get up from his comfortable spot on the sofa.
He stayed sprawled across the black couch, legs spread as he grew more and more comfortable in just his boxers and some mismatched socks (one with a puppy and one that was plain black), when his phone began buzzing. He practically leaped towards it, tearing his gaze away from the television and grabbing his cell roughly. He eyed the notifications displayed on the screen and upon not seeing any from Ava :-), he let out a huff of discouragement.
He had been waiting nearly all day for her to text him ever since they had that encounter in the comic book shop (which, by the way, Luke was adding to his daily route, not to be a stalker or a creep, just to browse through comics and maybe, just maybe, get more time to talk to Ava), but she hadn't texted much of anything.
Then again, neither had Luke.
He did, however, have many texts, but they seemed unimportant now that he had Ava on his mind.
He placed his phone down again once more, slumping deeper into where he was on the soft cushion, thinking about Ava's double date. She must be having fun, with another guy, that isn't me. Everyone of his friends, or at least acquaintances, were gone and it would take at least another half hour until one of them was available to hang out and do something. He was bitter, more than usual, and he didn't know what to do about it.
He tried his hardest to push thoughts like that out of his head due to the fact that he had no idea why he was so jealous and needy all of a sudden, but to no avail.
It didn't make sense to him how someone could be so affected by someone so easily in only a matter of days. That doesn't happen to someone like him, he's called a charmer and a no-strings-attached guy for a reason. And, it wouldn't even mattered how he felt about her if he even had romantic feelings for her because it was quite obvious that she was set on being friends.
Just friends.
•••
The group of four exited the restaurant, going about the city streets and night sky.
It reminded Ava of last night, which only added to the things on the list of things that reminded her of last night. She began to think of it too much and she knew it wasn't good. She saw a mime pass by the window half way through the date and that reminded her of Luke; there was a dessert on the menu that contained kitkats and that also reminded her of Luke. Everything seemed to freaking remind her of the stupid boy. She even had to refrain from talking about him.
Even she knew she was one to dwell on things often, but this was just sad.
Throughout the small date, she'd learned about Ashton and she figured out that he was a great guy. He was kind, sweet, very funny, and they had a lot in common. He laughed at her puns no matter how horrible and he made sure to compliment her repeatedly. He was also interesting and not at all boring, amusing her with his stories. He was like every girl's dream guy.
Except for hers.
It was evident that they'd be great friends, but nothing more. If anything, he represented a brotherly figure more than he did a future boyfriend. Luckily for her, he felt the same way therefore there wouldn't be any letdowns or offense taken. Ashton had explained that he was still getting over an ex-girlfriend of his ("A gorgeous girl with a heart of gold.") and Ava couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Admittedly, there was no spark in the first place, so she was more than accepting of listening to him talk about another girl.
She continued talking to him as they neared a cab, "So we are going back to your guys' place?"
Ashton nodded, "Yeah, Calum didn't want to spend the rest of the night in the restaurant so I guess we are going back to the apartment. Becca is there all the time, so if it's messy, it's probably her fault."
Ava laughed and Becca shot them a look upon hearing what Ashton had said. They all entered the taxi when they had gotten one, Calum cutely rushing to the other side to open the door for everyone, flustered. He had been trying his best all night, trying to impress Becca who was thankful for everything he did. Ava was for sure envious of the relationship they had and wanted a guy who would do the things that Calum were doing, for her.
Once they were all seated comfortably, the chatter erupted again.
"Do you guys just live by yourselves?" It was a cringey sentence but Ava didn't know what else to say. Her social ineptness was carefully wrapping itself around her once more.
"We are actually living with another guy at the moment, he's the one who owns the apartment-" Ashton started, only to get cut off.
"But we are the ones who pay the bills," Calum finished dryly, jaw clenching. He wasn't a hundred percent seething with hate, there was definitely some softness to his tone, but he was tense and anyone in the cab could sense the hint of annoyance in his voice.
"He's our best friend," Ashton whispered referring to their roommate, eyeing Calum cautiously, "But lately, we've all been a little rocky, I guess."
"Oh, I see."
"Speaking of which, he's probably at bar about now, picking up chicks or something," He joked, Ava shaking her head.
"He sounds like somebody I know."
•••
Luke had decided to text a couple people in his phone, but none of them replied.
It was already getting late and he was getting worried, for no reason. A surge of irrational ideas swarmed his brain: What if Ava was hurt? What if she got lost? What if her date sucked and she never wanted to go out with boys ever again? The thoughts were pointless, but so was Luke's addiction to Oreos, so in end, he still had them.
His mind traveled to how pretty she was; surely they had always met when she had lots of makeup on, but if she looked that beautiful and was that skilled with makeup, he imagined just how much more gorgeous she'd be without it. He also liked how she had a really great sense of humor that was compatible with his own and she could make him laugh in such short time. He let a grin spread across his features without realizing it, then tried to bite it back. How was it that she could make him so giddy when she wasn't even present?
Knocks came from the door, Luke's head snapping towards it. It wasn't until then that he became of aware of how little he did today. He hadn't gone to the club or the bar or did anything other than go out earlier for work and then come back home and eat what he could find in the fridge and watch what he found interesting on HBO. Glancing at the digital clock on a side table and got up to open the door and end the incessant knocking that had gotten louder.
"About time," he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes, "What'd they do, forget their keys?"
He swung the door open, preparing to be faced with Calum or Ashton, but he wasn't. Now he knew why the knocking was so persistent and annoying. A tall, dark-haired girl with red lipstick on stood at the door, staring up at him. He lifted an eyebrow. She definitely looked familiar. Was she another one-night-stand that left something at the house? He hoped not.
"Don't worry, Hercules." She scoffed, tone rough, "I'm not here for you." She then pushed past him and proceeded to open and go through the fridge.
"Oh. You must be Becca." Luke had seen her rarely around the house at times since he was usually out, and he usually only saw her back since her head was always looking for food in the kitchen. He didn't know what Calum saw in her, but he had no place to say anything.
Racket came from outside in the hall and was followed by feverish laughter. Ashton and Calum stumbled in, Ashton holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand. Calum went towards his date, but Ashton stayed by the doorway.
"What's up, Luke? Meet any girls tonight?" Ashton questioned his friend, wiggling his eyebrows. "And, dude, come on! Couldn't you be a little more decent?"
Luke's eyes were glued to the box of Marlboros that appeared awfully familiar and he pointed to them, words straight to the point, "It's my apartment I can be half naked. And no, I didn't meet anyone. Didn't know you smoked either."
"Oh I don't," Ashton corrected, a faint sound of disapproval laced with what he said, not liking Luke just walking around the way he was. "These aren't mine -"
"Ashton, do you have my cigs? Sorry about making you wait, didn't know your landlord was a stiff. Who's he think he is? Makin' me wait outside to finish my half-smoked cigarette out in the cold, he should really put up a sign," A loud voice called out, the girl who was on Luke's mind coming into the room, not noticing Luke and too preoccupied with taming her addiction.
Luke didn't say anything. He just stood by the kitchen's island and gulped a few times. He didn't know what would be appropriate to say. He gawked at her shamelessly, partially because she looked sexy and because his logic was that maybe if he eyed her long enough, he'd know what to talk to her about.
"It's fine," Ashton replied, handing her back her cigarettes and he put his hand up towards Luke. "This is my roommate by the way, his name is -"
"Luke." Ava said and then stopped. Face contorted into utter astonishment, she couldn't find other sentences to continue on with. Her eyes raked over his exposed torso and black underwear with no expression across her face, just bewilderment. She then stared at his feet and bit back a smirk, "Nice socks."
Luke faced everyone looking fixedly at him, waiting for an explanation. Even Becca stopped rummaging through a compartment in the refrigerator to listen. He felt self conscious under their gaze, crossing his arms to cover his shirtless chest. He gave them a sheepish shrug.
"We've met before."
•••
unedited sorry
this sucks so bad im sorry and it's so long but this is so all the information gets across. there is A LOT of extra information but that's for character development and such.
basically chapter one thru six are chapters that are to introduce and get certain points across and then everything starts happening. so chapter seven is gonna be a lil informational and then it's gonna include more development between relationship :) please vote and comment !! also thank u for 200 reads.
update: 5sos released girls talk boys and performed at madison square garden im sad and proud rip me and jesus luke is 20 wtf wasn't he just 18 a couple months ago