The Deal || Luke Hemmings

Sharing a Common Interest and a Common Dislike

Luke

       I crossed out the two lines from the paper.

I couldn't concentrate. I wasn't the best at writing song lyrics--yet even the best take a long time to think of what to write; and what they usually had when they held a pen in one hand and paper on the other was inspiration. And I didn't have any of that today.

What I had now was a distracted mind, which was completely useless in this situation.

And the reason for that was I could still hear Ashton's voice calmly telling me,

"Cara told me everything."

This was my fault.

But I was going to do something about it.

-

Days had passed and during that somewhat long span of time, I managed to arrange a few meeting with Michael and Ashton for the song I would be singing in the school fair.

None of us really talked. We just did what we had to do for the sake of our grades.

They learned the song quickly--that's because I made sure that the song was easy. After all, we only had a few weeks left to prepare. Cara was finished practicing her song with the band way before, and I was soon to be done with mine.

All we needed to complete was the third song.

Sure, we had all the lyrics, (And a lot really caught my attention) but everyone in the band needed to find the perfect melody that would fit. We also decided that instead of a duet, we'd all get to sing one at least one part of the song. Most likely, the parts we created ourselves.

Today, I decided to take a short stroll to clear my head a bit and sort things out with myself...

and someone else.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Irwin. Is Ashton there?"

Ashton's mom smiled at me delightfully and nodded, calling her son.

Sluggish stomps could be heard when I realized that it was just Ashton walking. I waited far outside, so he wouldn't have any choice but to come to where I was as well.

"Did I miss band practice day today?" Ashton asked, stretching his arms. Perhaps he had just woken up from his nap.

"Nope," I shook my head.

"So what now?"

"I'm here," I replied slowly. "to confirm if it was really Cara who told you about the deal."

Ashton suddenly snapped out of his sleepiness and stared at me like I hit my head on a rock and forgot everything.

"Wait I shouldn't have said that," I was now laughing like maniac and Ashton's eyes widened ten times more. Even I didn't know what was so funny about everything. "Yeah, yeah she told you! I'm just here to tell you that she's all yours."

Ashton scratched his head in confusion, but I knew that deep down inside he was quite pleased.

"Sorry if I got in the way of things," I smiled coyly. "And when I punched your nose. On the contrary, it's looking right." Really, I thought the tip of Ashton's nose was turning to the right side.

"Luke," he stopped me before I could say anything more ridiculous. "Are you okay?"

"I was expecting a thank you but I'll accept that too if that's your way of thanking people. What a queer way of doing it though. But yes, I'm fine. Thanks." I prepared myself to make an exit by backing away from the scene. "I should be on my way!"

"Luke," he said, following me as I went in the opposite direction I was facing. "do you know what you're saying?"

"Something intelligent probably."

Ashton didn't seem to hear me. He still couldn't get over how I...

"Got in the way of things?" he repeated what I said earlier. "I can't believe it. So you actually did like her," he chuntered at his new discovery.

"Last time we fought, you hinted that already."

"No, no," he grumbled. Then with a sigh, he said, "I was just trying to get something out of you at that time because I was angry."

"You also hinted that you liked her a few times too," I said.

"How so?" he scoffed.

"Let's just say it's obvious."

"Well that's specific."

I had nothing left to say so I took it as my time to leave. I did what I had to do, which was to fix things up with Ashton. I made it clear that we didn't need to break each other's noses since he could have Cara for himself. Not like she was for me anyway...although the sixteen year old Luke might have thought otherwise.

"What happened?" I heard Ashton tell himself.

"Why are you talking to yourself?" I stifled a laugh. "I didn't know that that was one of the side effects of being overjoyed."

But even after I said that, Ashton didn't mind my comment.

"Well then, bye!" I waved my hand, signalling that I was going to leave him to mumur strange things to himself.

"But didn't you have a crush on her in year nine?" he blurted out, still in disbelief.

I brought my hand down."How did you know that?"

"Let's just say it's obvious," he replied, imitating me.

"So?"

"Nothing," he said. "Just wondered why you stopped."

I shut my eyes for a moment. "I wonder why too."

There was another long pause and I had to ask myself why I was telling Ashton all these things. I never liked the idea of saying my thoughts to other people, with the exception of Calum...sometimes. The silence lengthened until Ashton scoffed.

"You shouldn't have bothered coming anyway," he said nochalantly.

"What?" I grunted. I had come all the way here for me to act like a mad dog. "How come?"

Ashton laughed bitterly. "She's fond of me, alright. But not that fond of me."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe she might tell you one day," he smiled sadly, gazing in to the empty scene at the back of me.

"At least you're not a bad influence on her," I sneered, quoting what Michael told me Ashton said I was. "Not like me."

Ashton only looked at me, confused. "Why? Do you take drugs?"

"What? Of course not," I shook my head. "I thought...

"Hey," said Ashton. "I get in to fights with a lot of people but I never say anything horrible about them. I'm not some girl who dishes out on her feelings."

"And if this has anything to do with Michael..." he said afterwards with disgust. "He's a di-

"Hey," I stopped him, seeing that his mother appeared near the front porch. "I thought you never say anything bad about people."

"I didn't get in to a fight with him," he answered back slightly grinning too.

"Man," I chortled, realizing that Michael had lied and I had fallen for it. "I'd like to give him a good whack one day."

"So would I," Ashton admitted.

"We'd both upset Cara then," I pointed out.

Ashton watched me helplessly.

"She already is."

-God Bless!-