NO SHAME

XIV

"Happy birthday Aspen!" Luke yelled as he bursted into my room.

    "Luke, it's too early for this," I whined.

    "Not for your birthday, it's not," Luke said as he walked over to the bed and pulled me up by my arms.

Luke pulled me into a hug once I was standing and didn't let me go until I hugged him back. I laughed at the overly enthusiastic boy standing in my room before I pulled away from him and started to push him out of the room.

    "Luke, get out and let me get ready, oh my god," I said to him, causing him to laugh at me.

    "Fine, fine, but come downstairs when you're done, birthday girl," he laughed.

    Once Luke was out of my room I changed out of my pajamas and put on a bit of makeup to make myself presentable. Once I was finished, I went downstairs like Luke asked and found him waiting for me at the kitchen counter with breakfast already made.

    "Did you make me breakfast?" I asked him with a smile.

    Luke gave me a shy nod and motioned for me to sit down and join him. I sat down in the chair next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder for a moment.

    "Thank you Luke, this is really sweet of you," I softly remarked.

    "Anything for you, birthday girl," Luke told me.

He had said it as a joke, but I knew that he also meant it, and that he would do anything for me. He had already done so much, and showed me so much kindness and I was infinitely grateful for him and everything he's done for me. I knew that Luke was someone I could count on for literally anything, and I wanted him to know that he could also count on me.

It was strange, really, how one night had changed everything about our relationship and the way we saw each other. We had gone from hating each other to trusting each other with our lives in just one night. Luke helped me through the lowest point in my life, and I wanted to do whatever I could to return the favor.

I leaned over and gave Luke a chaste kiss on the cheek, and sat back in my seat.

"Thank you, Pretty boy," I smiled at him and began to eat the breakfast he made for me.

Luke had a small smile on his face that had me feeling butterflies on my stomach. Wait. Why was I feeling butterflies? What was happening to me? I shook my head as if to clear it and continued eating. Luke gave me a weird look but I just ignored it. There were too many thoughts going on in my head, and I didn't know where to start with them and what to feel about them.

"Hey, are you okay?" Luke gently asked.

"Yeah, of course," I lied.

"Okay... Just so you know, everyones going to be here in like an hour or so. Oh also, I have a gift for you."

"Luke, I told you-"

"Aspen, shut up and accept the gift," Luke interrupted as he handed me a small box with a neat ribbon tied on it.

"Luke Robert Hemmings, what did you do?"

"Aspen Tae Miller, just open it."

I sighed at him, but did as he said and unwrapped the ribbon so I could open the box. Inside the box was a beautiful silver necklace with a little pendant that had five tally marks on it.

"It's supposed to represent the band name but also, the five of us. You're basically the fifth member so it fits," Luke explained.

"I love it, thank you," I expressed. Luke looked relieved that I liked the gift and gave me a beautiful smile.

"Let me put it on for you," he offered.

I handed the necklace to Luke so he could put it on and turned around. I pulled my hair to the side for him and he put the necklace around my neck, clasping it in the back. His knuckles brushed against my neck as he clasped the necklace, causing me to feel sparks where his skin had touched mine. Weird, I thought.

I ignored the feeling and turned back around to face Luke.

"How's it look?" I asked him with a joking tone to my question.

"Like the best gift anyone could ever receive," he joked back.

"Ok, Mr. Ego. I haven't opened Calums gift yet, calm down."

Luke put his hand over his heart and gave me a shocked expression and I pushed his shoulder lightly.

"I'm joking, it's perfect," I said and gave Luke a hug. He held me for a second and brushed his fingers through my hair before letting me go. Something about that small action made me really happy, and I could feel the butterflies stirring again.

Suddenly a thought popped into my brain that made me want to hide in a hole forever.

I liked Luke.