the buddy system / lrh 🍒

17:dating?

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Luke questioned, slightly confused as to who the hell the boy with the batman pajamas were, and, by the look of Katherine's face, she was quite lost as well.

"How do you know his name?" Katherine repeated, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

Ashton let out an annoyed groan, rolling his eyes at the couples stupidity. "Luke Hemmings right? I go to school with your brothers, Ben and Jack Hemmings," he stated, raising a finger up in the air as-a-matter-of-factly. "You're brother Jack is my best friend."

The blonde blinked for a bit, racking his brain for Jack's best friends name, which honestly took a good amount of awkward silence that seemed to hang between him and the curly haired boy.

In his defense though, it wasn't really hit fault that he had no idea who this boy even was, mainly because his brothers were rarely home considering that they shared a dorm at the local university and only came home sometimes, usually without warning and whenever they felt like it. Like that Friday, where they both climbed into the house through Luke's window just to scare the living shit out of him before work so Jack could take his car that morning and give it back just do Ben could take it later that day.

He had a weird ass family.

"Oh! Ashton, right?" He questioned, his eyebrows furrowed from thinking too much. "Jack mentioned you that one time," he added, remembering a scenario in which his older brother had to leave with a boy named Ashton. He just never knew who that Ashton was.

You see, Jack never really talked about his best friend, or his life at all with Luke. They kind of just left each others lives alone. It's not that they weren't close or anything, they were, and it was annoying honestly, they just never really sat down and talked about things anymore, mainly because they didn't have time to anymore. Not with him and Ben both being off at college and Luke being home alone most of the time with their dad.

Ashton nodded and furrowed his eyebrows. "Took you long enough. Hey, what are you even doing here anyway? Are you guys dating or something?" He asked, clearly confused as he looked at the both of them. "Kat never told me she even liked anyone."

Katherine pursed her lips and shook her head, stuffing her hands in her jean pockets as she thought for a minute.

"No, were just friends," she stated simply, making Luke cringe at the word.

Friends.

He didn't really know why that word was like a fucking punch in the gut but it was and he hated it.

He hated it because Katherine Heally had the fucking power to pile up his happiness and kick it all down with just one fucking word. It made him want to puke or like kick something.

"Yeah, were just friends," he repeated, crinkling his nose at the blatant hurt in his voice that made it break and raise an octave. He was so fucking obvious sometimes and it really pissed him off.

"I just came to apologize for her. It wasn't her fault she didn't come home. She fell asleep in my car and i didn't want to bother anyone so i just let her sleep over. We didn't like sleep together or anything," he explained, sniffling every once in a while from the cold.

And he had to admit, that was mostly true. They didn't sleep together sexually at least, not that Luke actually wanted to anymore.

He kind of just wanted to sleep and maybe throw up his coffee in anxiety, which made him regret ordering a fucking large that he chugged down in at least under five minutes in the most unhealthiest of ways.

It made his stomach feel gross now that he thought of it.

Ashton nodded, looking over at Katherine, who stared down at her worn out black vans in obvious gut wrenching guilt over either literally friendzoning someone whom she was absolutely certain she was in love with to the point where she said it multiple times the night before or for staying out late without a single notice.

But in all honesty, Luke didn't really care anymore. His insides felt mushy and his entire body felt annoyingly numb, so numb it made him feel sick, like he had a fever and was probably thinking like he was going to die, which was probably the mindset of almost every other sick kid like ever.

But he wasn't sick, just so fucking tired that it was mind blowing. Like his head was literally going to pop if he stayed around for any longer.

Ashton cleared his throat awkwardly, "thanks for telling me the truth, mate," he stated, smiling slightly at him, making the blue haired boy plaster a fake smile on his fair features. "And thank you for bringing my sister home safe."

"You're welcome," Luke responded simply as he began to walk away. "I should go home now. I'll see you on Monday, Katherine," he added, making Katherine crinkle her nose at the way he said her name, like it was a Satanic chant or some shit.

"Luke," she began, stepping forward as if she was going to follow him. And God did some part of him want her to just run after him and say she loved him, say something before just giving up. But as the blonde turned, she just stood there, as if she was frozen in place.

"So much for following the system, huh?" He questioned, a light, forced chuckle escaping his lips as he walked away from everything he wanted.

Because loving people was like the buddy system, and maybe loving people wasn't for everybody.

--
This story's ending soon holy shittt
Theres probably ten-fifteen more chapters left? Either way, it's ending pretty soon because i never meant for this to be long?

But god do i love this story. It's helped me through so much shit and gave me a reason to like be happier because people actually read my things and that makes me so fucking happy.

But anyway, here, have some Katherine breaking innocent Luke's heart and throwing it in like an ocean full of pirhafnas. Also, sorry it's so short i have to like split chapters up evenly or like they get too long >.<

But next chapter will be full of angsty, crying Luke and muke so like watch out for that.

Anyway, peace out girl scout!