Don't Leave

We've had this episode before

Luke was confused by what I meant by what went on with my parents. I guess it was one of those things you need to verbalize for somebody to get. 

The next morning I quickly got ready for school and crept down the stairs, trying to remember where I had thrown my lunch bag.

"Is that you, Ro?" I heard my mom call from the kitchen in her regular tone of voice. It was happy, unlike last night.

I hesitantly walked into the kitchen. I felt my pulse pick up when I saw my dad sitting at the kitchen table. "Morning, honey" he said, not looking up from his laptop. I didn't understand. Last night they were threatening me and yelling and now they were acting like nothing had ever happened.

I sat down and ate my breakfast while texting Ashton. He kept asking me what went down last night, and I kept telling him I would tell him in person, but he still bugged me about it.

"Who are you talking to this early?" My dad asked, trying to take a peek at my phone. I knew he had a hunch it was Ashton, but I wasn't about to tell him that.

"A girl from school." I lied. "Oh, who?" My mom asked curiously. "Kirstie" I mumbled, pulling down my sleeves more. "I should, erm, go" I said, taking my car keys off the counter and running to the door. "Come on Tyl-"I started to yell, but then I remembered.

He wasn't here anymore.

I was basically an only child now, but I would never call myself that.

I got in my car and turned on the radio to distract myself. I pulled into the crowded parking lot. I wanted to run over the people that wouldn't move fast enough. "COULD YOU WALK ANY SLOWER!!!" I screamed from my car, hoping that they didn't hear me. None of them budged.

After finding a parking spot, I walked into the school building, tugging my sleeves over my wrists. I moved through the crowd of people to my locker, which took a while. "Hey blondie" I heard somebody say. I turned around to see the last person I wanted to see.

"Go away Brian, I'm not in the mood today." I snapped, shoving my books in my locker. I wanted to go find Luke. Ashton didn't even cross my mind. "Why not? I thought we had something special" Brian teased.

"Brian I'm serious" "So am I" He smirked. I groaned loudly and slammed my locker shut, grabbing the attention of a few. I pushed through the crowd to Luke's locker, trying to scout out the tall blonde quiff.

Once I found him, he had no hesitation to grab me and hug me tight. "Luke...air" I gasped. He let go of me and opened his locker. "Can you please explain to me what happened last night?"

"Okay this is going to sound bizarre but-" "Rowan!" I heard Ashton call out. I looked over at the messy haired boy running over to me. He also embraced me tightly before letting go. "What happened?" He asked. I saw a look of annoyance in Luke's face.

"I don't know how to describe it. I got these text messages from my Dad and he was getting really mad and telling me to come home, so I did. When I got home, my mom and dad started screaming at me and threatening me and telling me things and it scared me, but they were acting totally normal this morning." I summarized.

"What do you mean,by telling you things?" Luke asked. "Saying I couldn't do things." I said. I wanted to avoid the fact that they had forbidden me to be with Ashton. I wasn't planning on breaking up with him, but things still felt weird since Luke told me how he really felt when Ashton was in the hospital. I had no idea if he still felt that way, or if things had changed since he asked Paige out.

"That doesn't matter right now. I'm just scared. They've never been like this, so why start now?" I thought out loud. "You know, they could just be uneasy since, y'know... your brother and-" Ashton began. Luke gave him a look which cut him off.

"Hey guys what's shakin'?" Calum said from a distance. He was walking towards us with Michael. "What are you guys talking about?" Michael asked. "Rowan's parents are acting strange." Luke filled them in. "It's probably because of- oh." Calum started, but didn't finish.

"Because of my brother's death I KNOW." I snapped. "Wait no! I'm sorry!" I cringed. I got strange looks from all four of the boys. "Im sorry" I mumbled. "Hey Rowan, are you busy Friday night?" Luke asked me, but only loud enough so I could hear.

"Probably not." "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to spend the night like we used to do when back when." He asked awkwardly. "Of course." I smiled. His eyes brightened but then dimmed again when Ashton tapped my shoulder.

"C'mere" He whispered, grabbing my hand. "Where are we going?" I asked as he took me away from our crowd and towards an empty area. He took us out to the school's garden, a place that was almost always empty. It was quiet, and the sky was a faint blue above us.

"Rowan" He said, getting down on one knee. "Ashton?" I stuttered. "I'm not proposing, babe. We've had this episode before." He laughed. I thought back to our time in the summer house when he proposed and asked me to be his girlfriend. Those were such good memories.

They were happy memories, when all was well. Sure, there were some hiccups, but I would go back any time. It was like time was at a standstill and nothing really mattered.

"So anyways, like I was saying" Ashton said, snapping me out of my flashback. "There's a dance coming up, as you know, and I would love it if you would be my date." He said, smiling.

"Ashton, I would love to!" I said, pretending to be excited. Yes, I was excited to go with but 1) I already saw it coming- and 2) I had other things on the mind.

"Then it's set!" He said, pecking my lips.

A/N- annnnnd another chapter! So yeah I hope you guys are enjoying this book! I know it's slow but there is a lot of drama coming up.