ZOE
The next few days flew by, and it was finally Friday. Laurel and I had spent a lot of time with the boys, especially Luke and Ashton since we were stuck in detention together. I felt kind of bad for them, because they were still struggling to tell Laurel and me apart. I don't blame them though, we literally look exactly alike.
We both have wavy brown hair down to our hips, light blue eyes, we're both exactly 5 feet 8 and a half inches tall, and I only weigh one more pound than Laurel. Always have, probably always will. Like, it never fails. If she gains a pound, so do I. If I lose three, so does she. Always. One. Pound. More.
We sat down at lunch, and Ashton said to Michael and Calum, "Zoe is in the Nirvana shirt today, Laurel is in the Fall Out Boy shirt."
"Thanks dude." Calum said.
Laurel and I just laughed. Every morning before English, Luke and Ashton guesses who's who. They're actually getting pretty good at telling us apart. Michael and Calum, however, not so much. It's kinda hard because they only see us at lunch. Luke, Ashton, Laurel and I have English together, then Luke and I have choir together, and Ashton and Laurel have band together, and then we all have detention. So they see way more of us than Michael and Calum do.
"You guys are still coming tonight, right?" Ashton said, clearly more to Laurel than to me.
She smiled at him and said, "Of course! Wouldn't miss it for the world."
I just so happened to look at Michael right as she said that, and he rolled his eyes. I started cracking up; earning me confused looks from everyone at the table except for Michael, who I was looking at. He must've known I saw him.
"What is so funny, Zoe?" Laurel asked.
"Nothing." I said, and then took a bite of my grilled cheese. "This grilled cheese is really good."
"This what?" Luke asked, laughing.
"Grilled cheese...?" I said cautiously.
"That's a cheese toastie." Ashton said.
"It's a grilled cheese." I replied.
"Nope, pretty sure it's a cheese toastie." Ashton said
"And I'm pretty sure that it's a grilled cheese. I quite frankly don't give a rat's ass about your weird Australian lingo, I'm American, and this, is a grilled cheese." I said, and then took another bite.
Luke started cracking up after that. "You're kinda awesome." He said.
"I know." I said with a mouthful of grilled cheese. Luke smiled.
After 6th period, Laurel and I were at out lockers.
"Hey, I'm gonna go get food after detention with Ash." Laurel said.
"Okay." I said. "You're coming home before the party, right? I don't wanna have to show up alone."
"Yeah of course!" She said, "We're getting ready together."
"Getting ready? I was just gonna wear this." I had on my nirvana shirt, black skinny jeans, and combat boots. It was perfectly fine to wear to the party. I know because I asked Luke and he said so.
"Don't you wanna like do your hair or makeup or something?" Laurel asked.
"Not really." I said.
"Well okay then."
I shut my locker and started to walk towards AP World History when Laurel said, "oh hey, one more thing."
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Luke kind of drove Ashton to school this morning so we're gonna take the van and you're gonna need to catch a ride with Luke. Bye love you!" She said, and then ran off.
Great.
After detention, Luke and I walked to his car.
"So... Do you wanna grab some ice cream or something?" Luke asked awkwardly.
"Sure, that'd be nice." I said.
"So what do you recommend?" I asked once we got there.
"I get the Reese cup mix. It's delicious." Luke said
"Sounds great." I said.
"We'll take two Reese cup mixes please." Luke said once we walked up to the counter.
"Here." I said, handing him money for the ice cream.
"No." He said, pushing my money away, and pulling out his wallet. He handed the cashier the money.
"I could have paid." I said
"Okay, doesn't mean I'm gonna let you." He replied.
"Why?" I asked.
"It's the nice thing to do. I'm a nice guy." He said while smiling.
"Well thank you. Next time, it's on me though." I said, then shoving my mouth full of ice cream. Damn, this was good.
"Oh so there's gonna be a next time?" Luke said while smirking.
"We're friends; I'm sure at some point in this friendship ice cream will be involved again." I said, silently thanking God for my quick thinking.
"Oh, right. The boys and I love ice cream so yeah it'll probably happen again. Probably soon. So if you and Laurel plan on sticking with us, you better get used to ice cream. And pizza." Luke said, causing me to laugh with a mouth full of ice cream. Attractive. Luke laughed too, which made me feel good.
"I love pizza." I said
"Who doesn't?" Luke asked with his mouth full.
"True."
"So Ash really likes Laurel." Luke said
"Oh thank god. Laurel won't shut up about him."
Luke laughed and said, "Same with him about her. I like the girl and all, but Jesus he's annoying the hell outta all of us. He finally got the balls to ask her to eat after school today so maybe he'll finally shut up."
I was laughing really hard at this point, because I knew exactly how he felt. "You know them going out today is just gonna make them talk about each other more, right?" I said, still laughing.
"I know. I was just trying to pretend for a minute that it wouldn't. So shut up and let me dream." He said, making me laugh.
"So are you excited for the choir concert?" I asked
"Yeah I mean I guess. As excited as I'll ever be." He replied.
"Do you not like choir?" I asked.
"I do, I love to sing, it's just I hate the songs we do. They're old and annoying."
"Hey, I love Sinatra, thank you very much." I replied.
"No, that's the only song we're doing that I don't mind. It's the others."
"Yeah they're pretty annoying. Why don't you have any solos?" I asked.
"I didn't want one." Luke said
"Why?"
"Because the songs are awful. Not my style. I'd sound horrible."
"Not true. I can hear you in class, you're really good." I said.
"You can hear me?" He asked.
"You aren't exactly a quiet singer, Luke."
"I can hear you too if I listen hard enough, you have a lovely voice." He said.
"That's creepy." I said, smiling.
"How so?!" Luke asked, clearly getting offended.
"You're listening for my voice! That's borderline stalker, Luke Hemmings."
"You're a nut." He said while laughing. "Ready to go?"
"Yep."
I gave him directions to my house, and when we pulled in my driveway, his jaw dropped.
"What?" I asked.
"You're rich?"
"My dad is." I replied.
"Something rich people say. I thought you were poor."
"Why?" I asked while laughing.
"You share a black 2005 minivan with your twin sister!" He said, laughing as well.
"Hey, we like it!" I said
"You could probably have any car you wanted, couldn't you?" He asked.
"I mean, yeah. I have the vehicle I want. It's nice and comfy." I said.
"You look like a mum driving it." Luke said.
"My mom and dad always like to show their money off by buys expensive things. Laurel and I hate it. So, we told them we would be sharing a 2005 Chrysler minivan we found."
Luke smiled and said, "You really are something else, Zoe."
LAUREL
Ashton and I ended up going to this little diner type place close to the school. It reminds me of Steak N Shake. He said they have really good burgers.
"This reminds me of Steak N Shake. It's so cute!" I said after we got done eating our food.
"What is Steak N Shake?" Ashton asked
"Damn, I forgot you don't have those here. It's a franchise in America that's a lot like this place. It's really good."
"Oh. Sounds nice." He said
"So are you excited for tonight?" I asked
"Yeah, I have a feeling it's gonna be a great night." Ashton said, smiling.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Well, I'm starting it off by having dinner with a beautiful girl, then I get to play a gig with that beautiful girl watching me in the audience, and then, hopefully that girl wants to spend time with me for the rest of the party." He said, smiling ear to ear.
"Oh, do I know her?" I asked jokingly.
"Yes, she looks a lot like you."
"Oh, so you're into Zoe. That's cool." I said, smiling sheepishly.
"No! No, God, no! I mean, not that she isn't cool or whatever, it's just I think Luke likes her and I would never wanna step on his toes, not that you're my second choice that's not what I'm trying to say cause you definitely aren't my second choice cause I've liked you since I first saw you, I just-"
"Ash, shut up!" I said, cracking up. "I was only joking!"
"You're mean!" Ashton jokingly yelled.
"You like me, huh?" I asked, smirking.
His eyes got wide because he realized what all he had just said when he word vomited. "I think that whatever is said during a word vomit is completely and utterly invalid." He said, making me laugh.
"Don't worry," I said, "I like you too." I smiled, and Ashton smiled back at me.
"We better get going. The boys will kill me if I'm late." Ashton said.
We got up from the table, and as we started to walk towards the door, he grabbed my hand. I looked at him and smiled, and he smiled back at me. I think I'll really like it in Australia.