"We could watch a movie."
"I'm tired of movies." Ashton groaned, grabbing my waist and pulling back down on the couch, on top of him.
"We could go get frozen yogurt." I suggested.
"I'm not in the mood for yogurt." Ashton chuckled, his lips moving up my neck. Flashes of my previous conversation with Luke went flew through my mind, I knew what Ashton really wanted.
"Pizza?" I questioned.
"We can get pizza later." Ashton mumbled, hips lips still latched on to the skin under my ear.
As much as I liked Ashton, I knew that I really didn't want to do this. Ashton was probably very used to getting his way with girls, especially since he had been through a lot of girlfriends. I wanted to have sex with Ashton at some point, but definitely not now. I was just scared, that's it. I wasn't ready and hopefully Ashton would understand.
"Can we please do something?" I begged, sitting up and pulling Ashton with me.
"We have the whole house to ourselves all weekend, what are we supposed to? Throw a party?" Ashton smiled at me like I was a little kid that didn't know what they were talking about.
"Okay!" I jumped up from the couch, hoping that Ashton was serious. At this point I was willing to do anything to get out of this.
"Are you serious?" Ashton asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Why not? I've never really been to a party before. And like you said, we have the whole house to ourselves all weekend." I shrugged. I was telling the truth, part of me really wanted to throw a party, since I hadn't ever experienced one before.
"You really want to throw a party?" Ashton questioned. He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, tousling it about his head.
"Well, I said why not." I rolled my eyes. I don't understand why Ashton was acting so hesitant about this, I knew he had a history for throwing great parties. He was probably just upset that I had ruined his real plans for tonight.
"Okay, fine. Let's throw a party." Ashton said. He dug around in his pockets until he pulled out his phone, where he then began to type furiously away on it.
"Okay." I sighed, relieved that I had created some form of a distraction. "What now?"
"I have a couple friends that can go get the drinks, now we just need to let everyone know." Ashton explained, and I suddenly felt dumb for being so clueless about this. Leave it to me, someone who's never even been to a party like this before, to plan one.
"That's it?" I asked.
"Yeah, we don't really need food because it just creates more of a mess, and no one eats at these things anyway." Ashton shrugged, still typing on his phone. "We just need to take anything breakable and hide it in the basement, but we don't need to do that for a while."
"Oh. This is easier than I thought." I laughed.
"I'm a pro, Stella." Ashton smirked at me. He slid his phone back into his pocket and made his was over to me.
He put his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him and pressing me against his body. I rested my hands on his toned chest and looked up at him, silently waiting for him to make the next move. And he did, by dipping his head slightly and pressing his lips to mine.
It felt like a much more sincere kiss than others we had shared, maybe because all other times we were having steamy make out sessions, and now this was much calmer. I ran my hands through his hair, something that I loved doing no matter who I was kissing. Ashton's soft lips moved just a little, but not too much or too fast, like he normally did. This was new, and whatever it was, I liked it.
Ashton's phone began to buzz in his pocket, forcing us to both pull away. He fished the phone out of his pocket again, and looked at the caller ID. Ashton pulled a strange face, a mix of surprise and worry, then looked back at me.
"I have to take this, it's my dad. Can you call Michael and let him know about tonight?" Ashton asked as he quickly began to exit the room.
"Sure." I nodded, searching for my own phone in the pocket of my sweatpants.
I watched as Ashton left the room, already holding the phone up to his ear. He looked over his shoulder and called back to me, "You should invite your buddy Luke, too!"
I called Michael first, but later regretted it. Apparently he was in the middle of dying his hair, and I had interrupted him. I didn't see why he didn't just have someone help him out, then I realized that if I hadn't been with Ashton I would have been able to help Michael. Eventually I was able to get Michael to come to the party, after assuring him that he would be able to sleep at Ashton's house tonight.
I decided to call Luke next, even though I doubted that he would want I come tonight. Luke did not seem like the partying type.
"Stel?" Luke answered the phone quietly, sounding like he was unsure if I was actually calling.
"Yeah, hi." I lowered my voice as well even though I had no reason too.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked.
"Nothing's wrong. I just-" I stopped talking when I heard a voice in the background call Luke's name.
"Keep going, it's fine." Luke assured me, ignoring the yelling in the behind him.
"There's a party at Ashton's house tonight and I wanted to see if you would come." I said, hoping that he would be up for it. I already knew that Ashton and/or Michael may ditch me tonight, and it would be nice to have Luke there.
"A party?" Luke mumbled.
"Yeah, a party. You should really come, it'll be fun." I said, taking a small strand of my hair between my fingers and twirling it.
"I don't know - Mom, I'm on the phone." Luke's voice became muffled, probably covering the phone with his hand. "Just a friend," I heard him say.
"So, can you come?" I asked once I was sure Luke was finished talking to his mom.
"I don't know, parties aren't really my thing." Luke sighed, though I knew Luke would usually take any chance he got to get drunk.
"Please, it'll be fun." I begged.
"You'll just be with Ashton the whole time, I don't really know anyone else. I don't want to sit there all by myself all night." Luke whined. I could almost see him pouting through the phone.
"I'll hang out with you, I promise. Just come, please." I gave once last attempt at trying to convince him to come.
"- I'm trying to have a conversation here!" Luke yelled, obviously talking to someone else again. I heard a muffled voice on the other end before Luke came back. "Stel, I can't talk anymore, I need to go."
"Are you alright?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"I'll be fine." Luke coughed, the sound getting slightly quieter as Luke switched the phone from one ear to the other.
"Will you please try and come tonight?" I said as Ashton entered the room again, throwing his phone up in the air and catching it over and over again.
"I'll try, I don't know, Stel. Bye." Luke hung up without letting me say anything else.
"What's wrong?" Ashton asked, obviously seeing the concern on my face. He approached me, grabbing my hand and pulling me back down on the couch.
"Nothing." I shook my head, not wanting to tell Ashton what I was afraid was happening with Luke.
"Is Michael coming?" He asked. He set my hand down on his lap and played with each of my fingers individually.
"Yes. He's going to crash here afterwards." I nodded, feeling like I was an employee reporting back to my boss.
"And what about Luke?"
I swallowed hard, realizing that I had really been looking forward to Luke coming tonight and now I wasn't sure if he was going to. "He said he'll try to come."
"Even if he doesn't, it'll be a fun time." Ashton smirked. He leaned in closer to me, pressing his lips to my neck.
"Right." I sighed.
-
A few hours later there was a full on party happening in Ashton's house, and I was standing right in the middle of it. There was music playing and some people dancing, but mostly everyone was standing around talking, drinks in hand - with the exception of the few couples sitting on couches or chairs and making out.
I was a bit lost, to say the least. I don't think it was a very good idea to suggest to throw a party when I had never even attended one. It was a little scary, I definitely should not be standing all by myself. Who knows what could happen, especially when my boyfriend was no where to be seen.
"Hey!" A voice yelled in my ear. I turned to see Luke, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and the black jeans with the hole in them. I couldn't even begin to explain how relieved I was to see Luke.
"Hi, you made it!" I yelled over the music, pulling Luke in for a quick hug.
"Yeah, I told my mom I was working tonight." Luke laughed as he awkwardly stepped back from me. He played with his hands, locking and unlocking his fingers.
"Do you think she'll buy it?" I asked.
"Sorry, what was that?" Luke asked, this time taking a step forward. I realized that it was a little hard to hear in here with all the music and talking.
"Are you going to get away with coming here instead of going to work?" I repeated, louder this time.
"Oh, sure. She'll be asleep before we - I get home." Luke said, looking down at the floor.
"I just don't want you to get in trouble." I replied, ignoring the "we" that had slipped out of Luke's mouth.
"She'll probably try and kill me tomorrow morning, but it's alright. I'll be okay." Luke shrugged and bit his lip. Then I noticed for the first time that something was different about him.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing to Luke's mouth. He glanced up at me, then ran his tongue over the small ring on the corner of his bottom lip.
"I got my lip pierced." Luke chuckled.
"Why?" I asked. The lip piercing definitely suited Luke well. He was already attractive as it is, but this made him seem even more...appealing.
"I thought it would look cool." Luke shrugged.
"Does your mom hate it?" I laughed, already knowing how she would feel about it.
"That's what I was being yelled at for this morning." Luke smiled, again playing around with the lip ring.
"It's cool, I like it." The sight of Luke playing with his own lip made me subconsciously play around with my own.
"Where's Ashton?" Luke asked. He glanced around the room, dodging a random boy as he ran past us.
"Somewhere around here." I said, looking around as well. It hadn't taken me long to lose Ashton in this crowd.
"What about Michael?" Luke asked, his eyebrows raised. He had to yell so I could hear him over the booming music.
"I feel like he's upstairs somewhere." I laughed, looking at Luke and hoping that he would understand what I meant. I had seen Michael being dragged up the stairs by a girl that I knew from our English class not long before.
"Good for him." Luke chuckled. "As long as he doesn't get anyone pregnant."
"Right." I agreed. I think the last thing that all of us needed was for Michael to become a father when he was barely passing through high school.
Luke mumbled something that I didn't quite catch, so I asked him to repeat it once again. I had a feeling that we would be searching for a quieter place to talk very soon.
"You look really great tonight, by the way." Luke blurted out, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
"Thanks." I said, looking down at myself. I really didn't look that special, I had on a tight black tank top that I had been wearing under my shirt early and some jeans. I honestly felt kind of exposed tonight, even though I was wearing much more than a lot of the girls here. "You look great, too."
"No I don't, I wear this every day." Luke laughed. He was telling the truth, but I still thought he looked great, he always did.
"That doesn't matter." I returned a laugh, playfully hitting Luke on the arm.
"Do you guys want a drink?" Some guy came up beside us, holding two cups in his hands. I watched as Luke took both cups from him, not even bothering to give me one.
"Are you thirsty?" I asked, laughing as Luke downed the contents of the cup.
"A little, do you want some?" Luke finally asked, holding out the other cup to me.
Reluctantly, I took the cup from him. I took a small sip, wincing at the bitter taste of alcohol hitting my tongue for the first time.
"You don't like it, do you?" Luke smirked at me.
"I never said that." I said, taking another big sip to prove my point.
"Slow down, Stel, you're going to hurt yourself." Luke laughed at me.
"No I'm not," I shook my head, still hating the taste in my mouth. "Since when are you the expert?"
"I've probably consumed my body weight in alcohol, I think I can call myself an expert, at least on these things." Luke took my hand, leading me away from the crowded living room.
"Consuming your whole body weight in alcohol doesn't sound very healthy." I giggled. Luke turned around and rolled his eyes at me.
"I didn't mean all at once." Luke sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus, Stel. I can already tell that you're going to be a really annoying drunk."
"Who said I wanted to get drunk?" I asked, finishing the last of the beer in my cup.
"Why else are you at a high school party holding a cup of beer in your hand?" Luke raised at eyebrow. He took his lip ring between his teeth and fiddled around with it.
I stared back at Luke, not sure what to say. I was contemplating if I actually wanted to get myself really drunk or not. I wasn't even sure how much it would take for me to get drunk, or what would happen if I did. I really didn't want to throw up all over Luke.
Luke laughed, turning around and grabbing two more cups from the same guy that passed by us the first time. "Well, if you want to get drunk then it's a good thing that I'm here to help."
-
"Tell me a secret." Luke muttered, his hand pressed up against my own, like he was comparing the size.
Luke had tried hard for the past hour and a half to get me as drunk as possible, but neither of us were anything but tipsy. Luke obviously had a higher tolerance for alcohol than I did, and apparently it was going to take a lot to get me the way he wanted.
After trying to have numerous different conversations down in the living room where the actual party was occurring, we decided to go upstairs to Ashton's room where we could have some peace. I didn't think that Ashton would mind, I'm sure he wasn't going to even find out we were up here anyway. Even if he did fine us together in here, he would be too hung over tomorrow to even remember.
"A secret?" I hiccuped, something that I had given up on trying to stop.
"Tell me something that no one else knows about you." Luke whispered. He took another sip from one of the bottles of beer we had taken from downstairs and then passed it to me.
"There's noting interesting for me to tell!" I laughed.
"I'll tell you a secret," Luke sat up on the bed, crossing his legs over each other. I sat up as well, mirroring his position.
"Go ahead." I nodded, urging him to continue.
Luke took my hand in his again, this time moving each of my fingers a little at a time, almost as if he was a doctor doing a check up. "I painted my room green because it reminded me of you."
"Did you really?" I asked. I took a big swig from the bottle and handed it back to Luke.
"I just saw the color, and it reminded me of you, of your eyes. You have beautiful eyes." Luke smiled, his words becoming slurred just a little.
"You have beautiful eyes." I countered.
"You really think so?" Luke cocked his head to the side. I nodded again. "Now tell me a secret."
"When I was 8 I had a pet goldfish and I threw it out my apartment window." I laughed, that being the only secret coming to mind. Everything was becoming a little hazy now.
"That wasn't good enough." Luke laid back down on the bed, pulling me with him.
"I told you I had nothing interesting to say." I swallowed, my throat feeling thick.
"Have I mentioned that you're beautiful?" Luke asked. He took a piece of my hair and twirled it with one of his long fingers.
"More than once." I recalled.
Luke let out a loud laugh, then covered his mouth. Like he was actually making too much noise even though there was a party going on downstairs. I could never get over how many personalities Luke had, I noticed it even when I was drunk. Luke was constantly changing, like he was never satisfied with who he was. One second he was angry, the next he was giggling away at some silly comment he made. He could go from seeming absolutely annoyed to holding on to me and not wanting to let go. Luke was different than anyone I had ever met.
"I'm not even drunk yet." Luke giggled.
"Right, right." I agreed.
"We need more." Luke nodded. He sat up again, like he was going to get up and go downstairs.
Instead Luke rolled over and let his face bury itself into my neck, where he then began to leave slow, sloppy kisses along it. It felt so good, and I don't think that was just the alcohol making me think that. Luke's lips on me always felt good, much better than Ashton's did. Luke gave me that spark that Ashton didn't.
"What are you doing?" I whispered.
"I want to kiss you so bad." Luke whispered, glancing up at me.
"Then do it." I replied, knowing even with alcohol affecting my brain that it was the wrong thing to do.
Luke smirked as he climbed on top of me, taking no time at all to connect his lips with mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sat up slightly, putting us in a better position and enabling Luke to deepen the kiss. Luke groaned, flipping us over so I was now on top without separating our lips for even a second. I liked this position better anyway.
Luke's tongue entered my mouth, the taste of alcohol still on his lips. I used my own tongue to play with Luke's new piercing, earning a small moan from him as he pushed my tank top further up my body, exposing even more skin. I tangled my fingers in his hair, knowing that he would give me shit later for messing it up.
For a second I didn't even feel very drunk anymore; I felt exactly like I had ever other time I had kissed Luke: simply amazing. Luke was able to give me something that no one else had been able to before, whatever this feeling was. The feeling of Luke's lips sloppily moving against mine, the feeling of his lip piercing gently running against my bottom lip. The feeling of his hands carefully massaging the skin on my hips, how his tongue felt when it danced with mine.
"Stel," Luke muttered, his lips still slowly moving with mine, "someone's coming."
And Luke was right, because a second later there were a few harsh knocks on the door. Luke threw me off of him, sending me to the other edge of the bed. He smoothed out his hair and licked his lips, trying to make what had happened seconds before a little less obvious.
The door opened without the person on the other side to wait for us to answer. "What's going - Stella? What are you doing in here?"
Ashton stood in the doorway, a look of hurt and confusing spread across his face.
"Ashton, I can explain!" I stood up, rushing over to him.
"Explain what? I think it's pretty clear what was going on in here!" Ashton shouted. He didn't seem drunk at all, even though I could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Ashton, we just came up here to talk. Nothing happened, I swear." Luke stood up, walking over to Ashton and I.
"I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth, Hemmings." Ashton snapped at Luke.
"Ash, please." I begged, looking between the two boys.
"Shut up, Stella." Ashton shouted at me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him, probably not realizing how hard his grip was.
"Ashton, you're hurting her." Luke said, his voice surprisingly calm.
"Ashton, I promise, there's nothing going on." I tried to reason with him, but I feared that it was too late. This had happened too many times for Luke and I to get away with it again.
"I said shut up!" Ashton yelled, and before I knew it his hand was coming in contact with my cheek. It hardly even hurt, it was just the shock from my own boyfriend slapping me that made me feel like crying.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Luke screamed.
I looked up at Ashton through my tear-brimmed eyes. He was wearing a confused look on his face, like he was trying to get us to believe that he didn't even know what he had done.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Luke repeated, his voice louder this time.
"Stel, I didn't - I - oh my god, I'm so-" Ashton stammered, he let go of my wrist, like that would somehow help.
"If you ever touch her like that again, I'll kill you." Luke stepped towards Ashton and swung his arm back, punching Ashton right in the nose. "And don't call her Stel."
Ashton hardly even reacted. He staggered backwards, obviously stunned a little from being punched that hard. His nose probably was broken this time, because I was able to hear how hard Luke had punched him.
Luke gently grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house. We only stopped once to pick up his sweatshirt that he left by the door, which Luke had me put on. I was crying by now, clearly overwhelmed by all that happened in only a few minutes. Luke kept walking down the street, not really bothering to check and see if I was with him or not.
"Stel?" I heard Luke's voice from up ahead, but it was hard for me to see with all the tears falling from my eyes. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around my body, bringing me into Luke's chest. He smoothed my hair down with his hands, kissing my forehead multiple times.
"He's never going to do that again, I promise." Luke whispered, he lifted my head up and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears on my cheeks. "I'm so, so, sorry."
"You don't have to apologize." I sniffed, and that only made Luke pull me close again.
"Come on, let's go home." Luke sighed, letting go of me finally and intertwining his hand with mine.
We made it back to Luke's house without saying a word to each other, neither of us seeming nearly as drunk as we were back at Ashton's house. Now I was sat on a stool in Luke's kitchen, waiting for him to get me something to put on my hurt cheek.
"Does it hurt?" Luke whispered, handing me a bag of ice to place on my cheek. We had to be quiet because Luke's mom was asleep just upstairs.
"No." I shook my head. I had just stopped crying, but I was now experiencing that feeling where I knew I was going to begin crying again very soon.
"Don't cry again, Stel. You're too pretty to cry." Luke whispered. He took a step forward and tucked my hair behind my ear, giving me a small smile.
"I don't even know why I'm crying." I sighed, wiping my eyes. "I should have seen that coming."
"I sure didn't see that coming." Luke shrugged.
I just barely smiled, before removing the bag of ice from my cheek and setting it down on the counter. Luke licked his lips, stepping even closer to me.
"Stel." He whispered.
"Yeah?" I looked up at him, peering into his light blue eyes.
"I'm going to kiss you now, okay?" Luke said quietly, but didn't wait for m consent to place his lips on mine.
But I felt completely numb inside. I don't think it was because my own boyfriend had just hit me over a stupid little fight, or that I was freezing from being outside and hardly wearing any clothes. And it wasn't the fact that I had realized that the boy I was convinced that I had been obsessed with for the past three years had turned out to be a complete dick. It was the fact that I had fallen for one of the most unlikely people to fall for; Luke Hemmings himself.
WOW. THATS ALL I CAN SAY. WOW.