pretty in pink|| l.h.

04.

luke picked aria up exactly fourteen minutes after her shift ended.

aria's mind had been buzzing all day, and calum had arrived an hour prior to her date, a frown permanently etched on his face. michael tried to kick him out when luke entered the record shop, but calum stood by the back door, pushing the alarm every time aria and luke attempted to converse. after ten minutes of this, aria headed to the back room.

"duckie, what the fuck are you doing?" she sighed, placing her hands on her hips. calum shrugged. "i think i could play this in the school band." aria shook her head, and then rolled her eyes at her best friend. "well, you better stop soon, because when luke and i leave, michael's going to beat you to a pulp." calum let out an elvish chuckle, and pushed the alarm once more. aria sighed deeply before leaving calum alone and heading to the front room to grab her coat.

"are you ready, luke?" the alarm sounded once more. luke nodded diligently, and the two of them exited the shop, allowing michael to deal with calum.

small talk with luke was painfully boring, aria decided. the boy was extremely invested in sports, something aria could care less about, and the two of them had absolutely nothing in common. maybe the perfect boy wasn't so perfect, after all. maybe it would have been better to stay at the shop with calum.

"...but enough about me, what's up with that calum kid?" luke asked, looking down at aria. aria raised her eyebrow.

"what about him?" the girl asked, laughing a little bit.

"well, i dunno. seems like he's in love with you, or something." the boy shrugged, turning the corner into a neighborhood that aria had never been in before.

"what? nah, he doesn't. it's, it's nothing." the girl trailed off, and then the two were in front of ashton irwin's gated estate.

it was everything aria expected it to be. with hoards of people bustling about, it seemed like a party straight out of the great gatsby. there were teenagers throwing up on the lawn, college students doing keggers, and girls all around doing things that aria would be ashamed to tell her father about.

"so, this is your world, huh?" aria looked around, and she already felt severely out of place here. luke pulled her to the front door and inside, where things were even more insane. music was blasting through the house, and aria could barely see five feet in front of her.

the two rambled about the house, luke saying hi to all of his friends, and aria looking around, lost.

"hey, aren't you that girl in my art class?" someone caught aria's attention. "nice hair. this isn't a carnival," she snorted, and aria looked to luke. he gave her a worried look, and they continued through the house.

"dude, who brought that weird chick?" someone asked, and a football was thrown over aria's head. in that moment, she decided she didn't quite like high school parties as much as she thought she would.

"gosh, aria, sorry this turned out to be such a bust. those guys can be some real assholes." luke shoved his hands in his pockets nervously, and aria touched his arm.

"it's no problem, luke. let me take you somewhere else; maybe we'll have better luck there." aria knew just the place where she and luke could go and have a wonderful time.