"Hey, what's up?" Michael asked, sitting down at his usual spot at our lunch table. It had seemed like forever since Michael and I actually had a real conversation with each other. The past few weeks he had been spending a lot of time with Ashton, like he was trying to choose between the two of us.
"Hey." I said quietly. "What's up with you?"
"You're supposed to answer me first." Michael laughed. He ran a hand through his hair, which he had dyed completely black a few weeks ago. It looked a lot better than the pink.
"I'm fine, I guess." I shrugged. Nothing about me was any different than it was on a normal day.
"You and Ashton broke up." Michael stated. He sounded like he was informing me, in case I didn't know Ashton and I were over.
"I know." I nodded.
"Was it because of Luke?" Michael asked, using his elbows to prop himself up on the table.
"I wouldn't say that." I lied.
"Whatever, I always liked you and Luke better than you and Ashton anyway." Michael chuckled.
"Are you serious?" I questioned. "You were the one who got Ashton to ask me out in the first place!"
"That's because he's my friend, I was just encouraging him a little. I thought he was kind of a shitty boyfriend." Michael shrugged.
"He was alright." I said, shrugging as well. I didn't want to completely diss Ashton, but I knew that there are a few things that he could have done better in our relationship.
"Anyway, if it was because you and Luke have a thing then that's cool. You two would make some hot kids." Michael smirked. He leaned back in his chair, looking impressed by the fact that he had just said that.
"Michael," I tried to just let out a deep sigh but ended up laughing.
"Hey, look who it is." Michael spoke, just as Luke set down a can of Coke in front of me.
"Is this for me?" I asked, looking up at him. He nodded silently then pulled up a chair and sat next to me, resting on of his hands on my upper thigh. He used his other hand to support his head, where he stared down at his own bag of chips and Coke that he had placed on the table.
We talked for a few minutes about random things, but Luke didn't move his hand away from his face once. That's when I began to think that something was up.
"What happened to your eye?" I asked, moving Luke's hand away from his face. Right under his eye looked bruised, already a dark blue color. It wasn't enough to make his eye swell shut, but it was definitely enough to leave a mark.
"I, uh, slipped and fell into a cabinet at my house this morning." Luke said quickly, returning his hand to the side of his face.
"Luke," I groaned, knowing that he wasn't telling the truth. Luke had gotten hit in the face, I knew that. I just wasn't sure who had done it.
"I told you before, Stel, I'm pretty clumsy sometimes." Luke gave me a small smile.
"Dude, it looks like someone punched you." Michael chuckled. I had almost forgotten that he was sitting across from us.
"I didn't. I fell, I hit my eye." Luke said harshly. He turned to me, covering up his mouth so Michael couldn't read his lips. "I'll tell you later."
After a few more minutes of us making casual conversation and eating our lunches, Michael decided to speak up.
"So what's the deal with you two? Are you a thing now?" He sat forward, eagerly waiting our responses.
"What?" Luke asked. He turned to me and flashed me a big smile before speaking again. "We're not a thing, we're not even friends."
"Ha, very funny." Michael shook his head. "You like each other. That's why Stella broke up with Ashton, isn't it?"
I laughed, mostly at the fact that Michael was just now putting this together. It had been almost three weeks since I broke up with Ashton, surely if he had actually been spending time with either of us he would have caught on how different Luke and I had been acting around each other by now. But that clearly wasn't the case.
"That wasn't the only reason, actually." Luke said before I could.
"What was the other reason?" Michael asked, still looking very confused. I looked at Luke, hoping that he would he able to tell that I didn't want Michael to know about Ashton hitting me.
"Ashton's an asshole." Luke replied. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest.
"So Luke, you like Stella?" Michael questioned. He suspiciously raised an eyebrow at us.
"She's okay. She has nice boobs." Luke shrugged, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. He leaned into me and rested his head on my shoulder, looking up at me innocently. His lips broke into a smile, not being able to hold back his laughter any longer.
"I can't argue with you there." Michael smirked, throwing his hands up in the air like he was surrendering.
"Why do you always have to bring that up?" I whined as I shoved Luke away from me.
"Don't get mad, I compliment you on other things all the time!" Luke countered. "I said you have pretty eyes, pretty hair, pretty-"
"Anyway," Michael spoke, cutting Luke off. "Luke likes Stella. Stella, do you like Luke?"
"Well, um," I paused, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with Michael questioning me about this. Of course I liked Luke, and he knew that too. I just wasn't really ready to talk about us yet. I didn't really want to rush into things, I liked the way everything was now. "Yeah, I guess."
"You guess?" Luke shouted, acting offended. He sat forward again, but I ignored him.
"Are you guys going to...do anything about this?" Michael laughed, looking between the two of us.
"I'd prefer if you don't try to get in the middle of our relationship, Mr. Clifford." Luke snapped, clearly getting a little annoyed with Michael - which wasn't a hard thing to do.
"I'm just trying to help!" Michael chuckled.
"I don't need you help, I have a plan. It's all in my head." Luke said, and turned to me. "It's only a 5 step plan."
"If it's only 5 steps then why don't you just ask Stella out right now." Michael argued. I knew that Michael had wanted Luke and I to get together from the start, and the fact that this was almost happening had gotten him a little excited.
Sure, it did make me feel a little strange listening to Luke explain how he had a plan to make me his girlfriend, but it was honestly no big deal to me. Luke and I weren't exactly the ordinary couple, so obviously we weren't going to have an ordinary way about doing this. I really didn't mind it, it was different and I liked different.
"Let me stick to my plan!" Luke demanded.
"Why don't you just start it right now?" Michael pressed.
"I'm working on it," Luke groaned. "Besides, I'm trying to stall a little. I don't like step 3 at all."
"What's step 3?" I asked, though I knew that Luke wasn't going to tell me anything.
"I have to do steps 1 and 2 first! They have to be in order!" Luke giggled, he didn't seem aggravated with Michael and I anymore, more amused.
"What kind of guy makes a 5 step plan to ask a girl out?" Michael scoffed. I wasn't surprised that Michael seemed completely clueless about this, I couldn't even remember the last time I had seen him with a girlfriend. He was more of the type to hook up with a girl at a party and then never speak to them again. Not because he wanted to be mean, but because he was afraid of making a commitment.
"The type of guy that wants to make sure a girl actually likes him before they get into a relationship!" Luke rolled his eyes. He lifted the can of Coke to his lips and took a big sip.
"Wow, you're such a gentleman." Michael sighed sarcastically.
"It's better than being whatever you are." Luke shot back. He looked at me quickly from the corner of his eye, as if to apologize for being so rude to Michael.
"You can be such a-" Michael pushed his chair back and got ready to stand up, but I stopped him.
"Guys, knock it off. Michael, just let Luke carry out his little plan. It's cute." I cut Michael off. I didn't need Luke and him to break out into a fight right here.
"Fine," Michael muttered. He returned to his previous position, leaning back in his chair. "Go ahead with your stupid plan."
-
"See, it's not that cold in here right now." Luke said, obviously trying very hard to prove his point to me. We were in his treehouse again, and he was trying to convince me that it wasn't a bad place to hang out in all the time.
"Because I still have a jacket on. And this blanket." I laughed, holding up the blanket that Luke had given me earlier.
Luke rolled his eyes, "Obviously you're not going to be able to sit up here in shorts and a t-shirt and be comfortable."
"Just go in your house." I groaned.
"But in here we're completely alone, no one can walk in on us." Luke tried to reason with me, but it still wasn't really working. He crawled across the mattress and sat in front of me. He pulled the blanket over and laid it across his own lap, while grabbing hold of both of my hands.
"No one ever does walk in on us." I laughed. It was true, Luke's mom was hardly ever home, she was always at work. I didn't see why Luke was so scared to go in the house even when she wasn't there.
"That's because we're always out here!" Luke said. He leaned forward and quickly kissed me on the lips, not staying there long enough for me to even react.
"We could just go to my house, we don't have to hang out in a treehouse all the time." I sighed, watching as Luke gently traced my cold fingers with his own.
"There are people at your house too. I like being alone." Luke pouted. He turned my hands over and began tracing every line on my palms.
"You aren't alone, you're with me." I spoke softly, staring at Luke and admiring the way he seemed to captivated in what he was doing to me. He seemed so focused, like if he made one little mistake it would completely throw him off.
"I think we should both just move somewhere really far away with no people, then we can be alone together." Luke whispered, his fingers still skimming over my skin.
"I don't want to leave, though. I like it here." I said, and that was true. I loved the city more than anything. I had lived here my whole life, I couldn't picture myself living anywhere else with anyone else.
"I'm only staying for you, you know." Luke looked up at me, breaking his focus.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I want to leave, so bad. I just want to get out of this crazy world and forget about everything. But whenever I'm with you I realize that I want to stay just a little longer." Luke explained.
"Luke," I sighed, reaching up to grab his face. I cupped his cheek with one of my hands, letting him continue to hold onto the other. I ran my thumb over the growing bruise under his eye, remembering that he hadn't yet told me what happened to him.
"You're special, Stel." Luke whispered.
"You never told me what happened." I said, changing the subject. I was too concentrated on what hurt Luke to think straight at the moment.
"I got in another fight." Luke said quietly, letting go of my hand. He crawled to the other side of the mattress, away from me.
"With who?" I asked. I had known that Luke didn't really slip and fall, but I hadn't really expected him to have gotten into a fight.
"It doesn't matter." Luke shook his head, "I just wanted to let you know what really happened."
"It does matter. You can't just tell me that someone punched you in the face and not say who did it!" I groaned, annoyed how Luke never told me exactly what was going on because he didn't want me to worry about him.
"I don't want to tell you, Stel." Luke snapped.
"You're impossible, you know that?" I sighed at him.
"Okay, fine. It was your crazy ex-boyfriend. He thinks it's my fault that you wanted to break up with him. And I don't even know why he cares so much, since he was-" Luke paused, then coughed a couple times. "He was an asshole anyway."
"Ashton did that to you? He seemed totally fine with our breakup!" I yelled, appalled that Ashton would fight Luke over something so stupid.
"Don't say anything to him about it, please. I don't want to start anything else." Luke pleaded.
"No, I should say something about, he can't just punch you and expect nothing to happen about it!" I threw my hands up in the air. I was so frustrated, not only at the fact that Luke got hurt over this but at the fact that Ashton felt that it was okay for him to go after Luke over something he had no control of.
"Please don't, Stel. He won't to do it again, I promise." Luke stood up and walked over to me, grabbing my hands and pulling me off the mattress as well.
"Fine, I won't say anything to him." I huffed, folding my arms over my chest. Luke rested his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me.
"I'm fine, see? It doesn't even hurt that much." Luke assured me.
I tilted my head up, causing my lips to meet with Luke's and instantly calming us both down. Luke grabbed my hips and pulled me closer as he deepened the kiss, closing the small space already between us. I rested one hand on his chest and brought the other behind his neck, using it to help me stand up on my tip toes to reach Luke's height.
"Are we done now?" Luke chuckled, pulling his lips away from mine but still staying pressed up against me.
"Done kissing?" I questioned, softly biting my bottom lip.
"Done talking about me and Ashton." Luke lightly kissed me once more.
"If you want." I shrugged.
"Good, because I have to ask you something." Luke sighed, pulling away from me all together.
"You actually have a question for me this time?" I laughed, since Luke was always on my case for asking so many questions.
"It's an important question!" Luke smiled wide, showing all of his teeth.
"Okay, go for it." I said. I stepped back and sat back down on the mattress, awaiting Luke's important question.
"Alright," Luke took a big breath and began talking. "So you know I have that whole plan, and today during lunch I was like 'okay, screw the plan' but then you said it was cute and I decided that if you thought it was cute then maybe I was, I dunno, worth it. And I just - anyway, what I was wondering was-"
"How long is this going to take?" I joked, interrupting Luke.
"If you hadn't interrupted it wouldn't have taken nearly this long." Luke snapped, then took another big breath in. "Can I, like, take you out? On a date, I mean. I want to take you on a date."
"It depends, what does this date include?" I asked, just to mess around with Luke for a minute. We both knew I was going to say yes.
"We can do anything you want! Well, actually, I had this idea. But if you don't like it we can do something else, I don't even care!" Luke exclaimed, kneeling down in front of me.
"I don't know, I usually don't date boys who like Disney movies as much as you..." I laughed at myself, while Luke pouted.
"Stella Anne, please let me take you on a proper date." Luke begged me, which only made me laugh even more. As much as I loved seeing Luke acting like his confident self, it was always fun to see him get a little nervous.
"Okay, yes, fine we can go on a date." I said, finally giving in.
"Okay, so now step 1 of my 5 step plan is done!" Luke raised his arms in the air and waved them about victoriously.
"You're such a dork." I shook my head at him, watching the way he acted like this was some great accomplishment.
"That's what you like about me!" Luke laughed. He pushed himself forward and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me back onto the bed with him, where we spent the rest of our night.
Little did I know, that one important question would soon change everything.