Luke skidded to a halt as he reached Ashley's locker, completely out of breath from running from the other end of the school. He'd decided that he wanted to walk with her to English today, so instead of taking his extra long route to avoid his friends he took an even longer route to go meet Ashley.
"Hey, be careful." Ashley said, laughing at Luke as he tried to catch his breath.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Luke panted. He leaned up against the locker next to Ashley's, waiting for her to finish getting her books so they could leave.
"Are you okay?" Ashley pouted sarcastically, looking up at Luke.
"Oh, I just feel like I'm having a heart attack, that's all." Luke smiled at her. Ashley slammed her locker shut and grabbed Luke's wrist, pulling him behind her as she walked down the hall.
"You're fine." Ashley scoffed, trying to balance her books in one arm while she used the other to drag Luke along.
"I'm gonna go into cardiac arrest, Ash, I swear." Luke insisted. He reached over and grabbed Ashley's books from her hands, carrying them for her while they walked the rest of the way down the hall.
"You're fine." Ashley repeated. "If you can't even run down the hall without feeling like you're dying then you must be really out of shape."
"I am out of shape!" Luke exclaimed. "I eat cookies and ice cream 24/7."
"Oh, trust me, I know." Ashley laughed.
"It's not my fault I'm - "
"Hi Luke!" A group of girls called out to him as they passed by, cutting him off.
"H-Hey." Luke stammered, quickly waving to them.
It'd been almost two months since the Homecoming game and people were still approaching Luke and talking to him about the streaking incident. At first he liked the sudden popularity. It made him feel cool, like he actually belonged among the rest of his peers. Now it was just annoying because all Luke wanted to do was forget about the fact that he ran around a football field naked, and people telling him how "awesome" he was for it didn't help.
"Wow, you're quiet the ladies man." Ashley said in a bored tone, rolling her eyes. She picked up the pace and began walking faster, causing Luke to struggle to keep up with her.
"Yeah, I guess." Luke said nervously. He reached out and grabbed Ashley's wrist, pulling her back so she wasn't walking so fast. "Are you running away from me now?"
"Oh, I would never." Ashley said sarcastically.
"Is streaking really that big of a deal? Why do people still care about something I did two months ago?" Luke asked out loud, wondering why he was still the talk of the school when what he did really wasn't all that exciting.
"I don't know, maybe everyone just liked seeing your penis." Ashley shrugged.
"Oh, come on." Luke groaned. He finally caught up with Ashley and ran ahead so he was in front, stopping in the middle of the hall to face her. "My penis isn't that great."
"Well, I think all the girls in our grade would beg to differ." Ashley smirked, looking back up at Luke.
"What about you?" He questioned. "Would you beg to differ?"
"I don't know, I've never seen your penis." Ashley answered quickly, still seeming unphased about the fact that they were literally standing in the middle of a crowded hallway talking about Luke's penis.
"Do you want to?" Luke asked cheekily, wiggling his eyebrows.
"You're ridiculous." Ashley laughed, turning away from him. They entered the English classroom together and walked to their seats, awkwardly passing by Michael as he tried (and failed) to flirt with their teacher.
"Hey, I'm not ridiculous." Luke pouted. He set Ashley's books down on her desk before pulling out his own chair and sitting down. "You're ridiculous."
"I am not." Ashley protested, taking a seat. She searched around in her binder for a moment and pulled out a sheet of paper, handing it to Luke. "Have you looked at this yet?"
"No, what is it?" Luke asked.
"She handed it out yesterday." Ashley said, nodding towards their English teacher, who was still trying to get Michael away from her desk. "It's a project, we have to work in partners."
"So I'm assuming you're my partner?" Luke asked, a small smile forming on his lips as he read over the instructions for the project. It seemed easy enough, him and Ashley could probably get it done in an hour if they really focused.
"You assumed correctly." Ashley nodded.
"Good." Luke smiled, running a hand through his hair. "I usually get stuck working on these projects with Michael, but he never does any work."
"That seems like Michael." Ashley chuckled.
"I was used to it, though, because Ashton used to force me to do all of his math homework last year." Luke chuckled softly, even though this was a topic that he really didn't want to bring up.
"He forced you?" Ashley asked.
"Well, he paid me to do it." Luke shrugged. "But then his parents found out and they realized that he sucked at math so they sent Ashton to a tutor."
"That tutor was Charlie?" Ashley asked, but it came out as more of a statement because she already knew. Luke had probably told her the story of how Ashton and Charlie met one hundred times.
"Yeah, that tutor was Charlie and they fell in love and lost their virginities to each other and all that jazz." Luke quickly finished his sentence, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, you - Wait." Ashley cut herself off this time, slamming her hands down on her desk. "Didn't Ashton and Charlie only meet a few months ago?"
"They met in March of last year. March 9th." Luke said, a little embarrassed that he knew they exact date. It was only because he overheard Ashton say it once.
"Okay..." Ashley said, seeming slightly creeped out at how much Luke knew. "Anyway, that means Ashton was still a virgin just a few months ago."
"And..?" Luke asked, not seeing her point. It didn't matter that Ashton was a virgin a few months ago, what mattered was that Ashton lost his virginity to Charlie. That wasn't fair at all.
"So he has no right to be making fun of you for still being a virgin." Ashley stated, crossing her arms over his chest. "He waited until the end of his senior year to have sex and there's no reason why you can't do that too."
"Well - "
"When did Calum lose his virginity? Do you know?" Ashley questioned.
"Uh, right before summer break ended. We were at a party, I remember him coming to tell Michael and I right after it happened." Luke answered quietly.
"Oh God, that's even worse." Ashley groaned. "Calum had sex for the first time, like, three months ago and he still has the nerve to try and force you to lose yours!"
"I mean, yeah, but..."
"But nothing, Luke! It really pisses me off that your friends treat you this way just because you're the last one in their little group to get laid!" Ashley yelled, much more annoyed now than she had been a few seconds ago.
"It's-It's not a big deal, they just tease me a little..." Luke mumbled. He didn't like when Ashley got so upset about things like this. It had nothing to do with her, Luke didn't understand why Ashley cared so much.
"They do not tease you." Ashley huffed. "They bully you to to point where you consider sleeping with random girls just so you can be approved by your so called 'friends'. I can't believe that you put up with these people, Luke."
"They're my friends, I kind of have to put up with them." Luke said softly. Sure, they were dicks sometimes and made Luke upset about a lot of things, but at the end of they day they were his friends that he'd known since kindergarten and he couldn't just drop them.
"No, they're not. I'm your friend, Luke, you have to put up with me. You do not have to put up with shitheads like this." Ashley said, pointing to Michael as he walked by them, on the way back to his seat.
"Hey." Michael whined, slowing down a little. He turned to Ashley and Luke, giving them both a mischievous smile. "How's my favorite couple?"
"We're not a couple." Luke answered quickly, shaking his head.
"Go away, we're trying to talk shit about you." Ashley groaned, trying to shop Michael away.
"Aw, that's sweet." Michael chuckled. He turned towards Luke, who was nervously staring down at his lap and trying to avoid eye contact with Michael. "Have you two fucked yet?"
"No." Luke muttered quietly, continuing to stare down at his lap.
"Well, it's only a matter of time before you do." Michael laughed. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Ashley and Luke's desks, not ready to leave yet.
"Michael, go away." Ashley sighed, quickly glancing at Luke. He'd looked up now and was observing as Michael and Ashley's argument unfolded.
"Oh, but I had something to tell you guys." Michael said, smirking again.
"We already know that you have a massive crush on our English teacher." Ashley rolled her eyes. Luke gasped, startled that Ashley would say something like that.
(Luke knew about Michael's crush on their English teacher, of course, and he'd accidentally let it slip to Ashley once. Now Michael was probably going to come and best Luke up for spilling one of his secrets).
"That's not what I was going to tell you." Michael said, staying surprisingly calm considering what Ashley had just called him out for.
"What did you want to tell us?" Luke asked, actually interested for once.
"Well, my parentals are going out of town next weekend so I thought that I'd throw myself a little late birthday party. It's next Wednesday, and in case you still need to buy me a gift I'll be accepting cash and blowjobs." Michael explained, winking in Ashley's direction.
"I wouldn't give you a blowjob if we were the last two people on Earth." Ashley glared at him, folding her arms across her chest.
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, babe." Michael laughed softly. "Anyway, you guys should both come to my party."
"Why would we want to do that?" Luke asked. He had a bad experience at the last party he went to and would rather not have that happen all over again.
"I don't know, I think it would be a good opportunity for you to get fucked. Maybe Ashley here will take you upstairs and let you do what you want with her again." Michael said, nodding in Ashley's direction. "You are going to let him fuck you this time, right?"
"No." Ashley said harshly, glaring at Michael.
"Come on, Ash, he needs to have sex with someone already." Michael pleaded with her, almost like he'd forgotten that Luke was still there and listening to their conversation.
"No he doesn't." Ashley snapped. "Luke's not going to have sex with anyone until he's ready and only he gets to decide when that is, not you."
"Luke wouldn't know that he was ready to have sex if it hit him in the face." Michael scoffed. "That's why I've stepped in to help him out. I'm just being a good friend."
"No, you're being a really shitty friend." Ashley argued back.
"I am not!" Michael yelled, standing up so he was now looking down at Ashley. She didn't seem scared at all, though, she just simply stared up at Michael and waited for him to make his next move.
"C-Can you go away, please?" Luke stuttered, finally speaking up.
"What?" Michael snapped and turned around to face Luke, a fiery look in his eyes.
"I just - I, um, I think that maybe you should just go back to your seat." Luke said softly. "Please."
"Seriously, Luke? You're seriously choosing her over me?" Michael scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No, I'm not choosing either of you. I just don't think that now is the best time for you two to have this conversation." Luke explained, nervously playing with his fingers. "Maybe you can get together and discuss your differences later."
"Yeah, right." Michael said, rolling his eyes. He stayed still for a moment, then finally spoke again. "Fine, I'll go."
"Thanks." Luke mumbled, barely glancing up at Michael as he began to walk towards his own desk again.
"Come to my party, Luke, I can guarantee you'll have a good time." Michael said over his shoulder as he walked away, leaving Luke and Ashley alone.
"I hate him so much." Ashley said once Michael was gone, still glaring at him from across the room.
"He's really not that bad once you get to know him." Luke said quietly. "He has his moments, but most of the time he's okay."
"He's not okay. He's a jerk and a player and all he cares about his sex and his fucking guitar. I won't be surprised if he doesn't graduate at the end of the year with the rest of us." Ashley went on.
"He's alright." Luke shrugged, trying to put an end to the conversation.
"In third grade he pushed me off of his trampoline." Ashley muttered, mostly to herself, as she looked around in her binder for something else.
What Ashley said actually made Luke laugh really hard, because he could remember that happening. It was strange, Luke could barely remember elementary school and until now he didn't think that he'd ever hung out with Ashley specifically, but he definitely remembered that time in third grade where Michael pushed his next door neighbor off of the trampoline.
"It's not funny." Ashley groaned, turning to face Luke again. He covered his mouth with his hands, trying to contain himself.
"I remember that happening." Luke said in between giggles, "I was there."
"Were you really?" Ashley laughed nervously, her cheeks turning red again.
"Yeah, oh my God. It was so fucking funny - " Luke noticed Ashley glaring at him and quickly stopped himself. "It wasn't funny at all."
"Yeah, it wasn't." Ashley pouted.
"Wow, sometimes I forget that we've literally gone to school together for our whole lives." Luke said, calming himself down a little.
"Yeah, I guess we didn't pay much attention to each other." Ashley shrugged.
"I guess." Luke sighed and leaned back in his seat, trying his best to remember anything about Ashley from when they were younger.
"Seriously, though. It wasn't funny." Ashley said, becoming serious once again.
"It was pretty funny." Luke chuckled.
"No it wasn't." Ashley said and shook her head, once again denying what Luke already knew was true.
"Yes it was." Luke insisted.
"No." Ashley said, leaning in closer to him.
"Yes." Luke leaned in closer as well, not noticing that they were now only a few inches apart.
Both of them stopped talking and just stared at each other for a moment, coming to the realization at the same time that they were way to close.
"Shut up." Ashley finally said, placing her hands on Luke's chest and shoving him away from her.
*•*•*
"You really didn't have to invite me over again." Ashley said as they walked through the back door into Luke's house."
"Yes I did." Luke nodded. He took his shoes off and left them by the door, keeping his dorky coat on as he walked into the kitchen.
"I feel like I'm always here, your mom is going to start hating me." Ashley groaned. She followed Luke, grabbing a cookie from the plate left on the counter.
"My mom could never hate you." Luke scoffed. He turned and grabbed the entire plate, carrying it with him down the hallway.
"I just don't want to intrude." Ashley sighed.
"You're not intruding at all." Luke said over his shoulder, walking down the hall and towards his mom's office. "We have to work on that English project, anyway."
"Yeah, I'm sure that'll go over well." Ashley chuckled softly.
"Hi Mom." Luke said, opening the door of the office and peeking his head in.
"Oh, hi Luke." Liz smiled, setting down the papers she was looking at and turning towards Luke.
"Ashley's over again, we're gonna go in my room and do some homework." Luke said as he shoved another cookie in his mouth, stepping aside so Liz could see Ashley.
"Hi Ashley." Liz said, giving Ashley a small wave. "How are you?"
"I'm good, how are you?" Ashley asked politely, barely coming out from her hiding spot behind Luke as she spoke.
"Oh, I'm just fine." Liz answered with another smile.
"We should get started on that English project." Luke said after a few seconds of silence, beginning to turn and make his way out of the room.
"Luke, can I talk to you for a second?" Liz asked quickly, making Luke freeze.
"Yeah, sure." Luke nodded. He handed Ashley the plate of cookies and told her to go off to his room.
"You and Ashley have been spending a lot of time together." Liz said once Ashley was gone.
"Uh, yeah we have, I guess." Luke shrugged nervously. He was trying to think of all the wrong things he'd done recently that Liz could possibly yell at him for. Maybe she found out about him ditching school, maybe she looked at his internet history....
"Is she your girlfriend?" Liz questioned.
"What? Mom, no." Luke blushed, trying to cover up his face with his hands. "She's just a friend."
"Are you sure? You're getting pretty red..." Liz laughed lightly.
"She's not my girlfriend, we don't like each other like that." Luke explained. "We're just friends."
"Okay, fine, I was just wondering." Liz put her hands up in surrender. She grabbed a white envelope from her desk and handed it to Luke. "This came for you today."
"Mom..." Luke said slowly, already knowing what it was. He'd received a thousand white envelopes like that before and never read a single one.
"I know." Liz sighed.
"I'm not reading this." Luke said, shaking his head. He didn't want to read it, he didn't want anything to do with it.
"I know, you don't have to if you don't want to. I just thought that I'd give it to you and let you decide what to do with it." Liz said softly, understanding why Luke didn't want to open the letter.
"I'm gonna flush it down the toilet, that's what I'm gonna do with it." Luke mumbled.
"Okay." Liz chuckled. "Now go back to your room, you don't want to keep Ashley waiting."
"Alright." Luke nodded, beginning to walk out of the office again. He stopped himself and turned around, though, forgetting something important. "I love you, Mom."
"I love you too." Liz smiled again, watching Luke as he walked down the hall.
When he got back in his room Ashley already had her school stuff spread out on the bed, laying on her stomach in the middle of it.
"Hey." She said, pointing to Luke's hand. "What's that?"
Luke stood almost frozen in the doorway, his hand tightly clutching the envelope.
"Nothing." He said, bringing the envelope up so he could see it again and ripping it in half. He didn't want to read it.
"Okay..." Ashley said slowly, returning back to her homework. Luke came and sat next to her on the bed, tossing the shredded remains of the letter onto the floor so he could pick them up later.
"What are you working on?" Luke asked, looking over Ashley's shoulder. He laid down next to her, getting obnoxiously close.
"Math." Ashley said, scrunching her nose up.
"I can do it for you." Luke offered. He was used to doing other people's homework for them, his friends made him do theirs all the time.
"It's fine, I know what I'm doing." Ashley shrugged.
"I can do it for you." Luke repeated, watching her intently as she solved the problem.
"No, I'm fine." Ashley said, letting out a big sigh.
"I can - "
"I'm going to slap you in the face!" Ashley groaned. She finished up the last problem and slammed her book shut, pushing it over to the other side of the bed.
"I was just offering." Luke said softly.
"I know, but I didn't need you to do my homework for me." Ashley sighed. She rolled over so she was on her back now, staring up at the ceiling.
"Oh, okay." Luke nodded. They sat in silence for a moment before Luke finally gained enough confidence to make a move again, and he crawled on top of Ashley.
"What are you doing?" She asked, but she almost immediately wrapped her arms around Luke's neck, letting him know that she wanted him to stay there.
"Nothing." Luke shrugged, supporting himself with his hands so he didn't crush Ashley. "I'm just hangin' out."
"Oh, okay." Ashley nodded, trying to hide a smile.
"So, what's this English project about?" Luke asked. He already knew, he just needed to start a conversation to kill the awkward vibe and school was the first thing that popped in his head.
"Well, we have to take a scene from the play that we're reading and modernize it." Ashley explained.
"Oh, that sounds super easy." Luke scoffed. "We can do it after dinner."
"Dinner? So now I'm staying for dinner?" Ashley questioned. Luke had just sort of assumed that Ashley was going to stay for dinner, like she always did. He was afraid now that he was being too pushy, he didn't mean to force her to stay.
"Well, I just thought you'd want to..." Luke trailed off. "I'm making spaghetti."
"Of course you're making spaghetti." Ashley laughed, momentarily distracting Luke with how pretty her smile was.
"What? Do you not want spaghetti?" Luke asked.
"No, spaghetti sounds great." Ashley said, shaking her head. "I just love how you always cook for you and your mom. It's cute."
"Michael says it's weird." Luke said, blushing a little again.
"Well Michael's a fucking asshole." Ashley said, rolling her eyes.
"He's really not that bad most of the time, Ash, I think that if you got to know him a little better you'd see." Luke said softly. He didn't like the idea of his two best friends being enemies, it made things too complicated.
"I've known him for almost 14 years and he's always been the same towards me, nothing's going to change." Ashley sighed.
"I bet he has a crush on you." Luke said quickly, regretting what he said as soon as the words left his mouth. "Boys are mean to girls that they like."
"Boys in the first grade are mean to girls that they like, not boys Michael's age." Ashley scoffed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Sometimes Michael acts like a first grader." Luke shrugged.
"That's true." Ashley nodded. "But no, I don't think he has a crush on me. If he did then he probably would have tried to fuck me by now."
"He hasn't?" Luke wondered out loud.
"No, he hasn't. Thank God." Ashley said, letting out a sigh of relief. "I would definitely call the cops if Michael Clifford ever tried I get me to sleep with him."
"You could just call me, I'd totally beat him up." Luke said, giving Ashely a big, dorky smile.
"Aw, Luke, that's really sweet, but Michael would totally kill you." Ashley laughed, running her fingers through Luke's hair.
"Maybe." Luke shrugged.
"Yes." Ashley insisted.
They both fell into a comfortable silence and sat there for a few minutes, the two of them staring into each other's eyes without a care in the world. Ashley had really pretty eyes, Luke had never noticed them before.
"So, uh... Can I finger you?" Luke broke the silence, making sure that his mom wasn't able to hear him. That would be really embarrassing.
"No, not today." Ashley said, letting out a small giggle.
"Oh, so tomorrow?" Luke asked.
"No, never." Ashley said, her fingers gently twisting the hair at the nape of Luke's neck.
"Are you sure?" Luke questioned, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, Luke, I'm sure." Ashley laughed. Luke sighed and collapsed on top of Ashley, causing her to let out a big groan.
"What if I just fell asleep like this?" Luke asked jokingly, burying his face in the crook of Ashley's neck and making himself comfortable.
"I would push you off of me." Ashley said, struggling to breath under all of Luke's weight.
"No you wouldn't." Luke teased.
"I definitely would." Ashley nodded. She paused for a second, then said, "I can feel your heart beating. It's really fast."
"Yeah, it does that." Luke laughed. His heart always beat a lot faster than what was considered "normal" and when Luke was younger doctors always worried that there was something wrong with him. But there was nothing wrong, of course, and Luke's irregular heartbeat was just another one of his weird quirks.
"It's cute." Ashley laughed.
"I didn't know heartbeats were capable of being cute." Luke chuckled nervously, suddenly feeling very self conscious about how close he was to Ashley. He slowly climbed off of her, laying down on his back next to her.
"I think you should know by now that I find pretty much everything you do cute." Ashley said, reaching over and grabbing Luke's hand. She intertwined their fingers, waving their hands around in the air for a minute.
"You're way too nice to me." Luke said for what felt like the millionth time. But he meant it, he honestly didn't think that he deserved for Ashley to be so nice to him all the time.
"Yeah, I know." Ashley sighed.
"I wish everyone was as nice as you." Luke said, sighing deeply.
"I'm not even that nice." Ashley giggled, gently reaching over with her free hand and slapping Luke on the chest.
"Your the nicest friend I have." Luke mumbled, staring up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, because all of your friends are assholes." Ashley groaned, slapping him again. "We've been over this, Luke, come on."
"I think you're really cool." Luke continued, not realizing how weird this whole thing probably sounded.
"Thanks." Ashley laughed softly. "You're really cool too."
"I'm a huge dork, I'm not that cool." Luke giggled nervously. He wasn't used to things like this, Luke rarely ever had someone say things like this about him and he didn't know how to react.
"Well I think you're cool and that's all that should really matter, right?" Ashley asked.
"Right." Luke nodded, rolling over and climbing on top of Ashley again.
-
sorry this is another filler I hate myself but the next chapter will be good ok it's the one I was leading up to so don't hate me bye