Superficial //a Luke Hemmings fanfiction//

7- Ready?

song for this chapter: stand by me by ben e. knight (you'll understand at the latter parts); and yes, i'm thinking of emma stone for tiffany hehe

Well now that they acknowledged my presence, I whispered to Tiffany alarmingly, "Run to the car!" Then we knocked out the door with our panicking sprint outside to the car. It was good that it stopped raining outside, or we would have been soaking wet once get in Tiff's car. Behind us was a muffled shout from behind, yelling, "Wait! Jennifer, please!" I looked back from my shoulder, and saw a friend of theirs (I think his name is Ashton?) running towards us.

I commanded Tiffany as we ran, "Don't stop, Tiff! Keep running!" She followed what I told her to do, and so we did not stop running, but the odds were not in our favour with Mr. Irwin's fantastic height that sped up his pace to catch up with us, and stop the both of us from running. We were already 3 meters away from her car, but he had to get in our way. Marvelous! The three of us started panting, with our palms resting on our knees, and our backs arched, moving up and down as we panted. Before Ashton came back to position, we went out of his way, then onto Tiffany's car. Ashton saw what we just did, so he stood upright and simply took big steps towards us.

Panicked, I urged to her, "Do hurry up with those keys, please." She replied, "Okay, okay, stop pressuring me!" Too late, he was already in front of us that Tiffany had to stop fumbling with the keys. I was now breathing faster than a while ago, but I hid it to avoid my signs of anxiety in front of him despite what he had seen us do a minute or two ago. He cleared his throat, and introduced himself, "Good afternoon, ladies. My name is Ashton Irwin, drummer of 5 Seconds of Summer, and bandmates of Luke, Calum, and Michael. I believe you know them, Jennifer. They were your schoolmates." I scoffed at his statement and rolled my eyes.

He continued, "I'm so sorry for that sudden rush a few minutes ago, I just really wanted you to, I know that you would go against this but, I just wanted you to dine with us tomorrow at this restaurant called Crowe's. I'll just text you the address if you accept this invitation."

Tiffany spoke up, "Ashton, you know the situation in the past that influenced the way Jennifer is acting today, right?" She raised her brow in an intimidating way. He answered politely, "I am completely aware of that. They were in fact the ones who told me the story, and admitted what they have done to you," his eyes reverting to me. Meanwhile, I scrunched up my nose, frowning my mouth, and bringing my eyebrows altogether in an angry expression. Slowly, tears were starting to gather around my eyes. I just hated memories.

When Ashton noticed what was happening to me, he told Tiffany, "It's okay if she refuses to go. This is not mandatory, anyway. This dinner was going to be a talking and reunion thing anyway, so... I'll just go back to them and tell them that you are both not coming," ending with a warm smile (I couldn't help but notice that beautiful dimple on his cheek, though). Guilty that I refused an invitation from an innocent guy who did not contribute anything bad from my past, I called him up, "Ashton!" He stopped right before he stepped on the stairs to the entrance of the restaurant. He asked, "Yes?" still keeping that warm smile on his face.

I knew that this decision would mean facing my enemies, I knew that it would mean talking to them, eating with them, and the worst— the awkward air that would surround us when that happens. Taking a deep breath, I cleared up my throat, and replied confidently, with my chin held up my high, "I'm going." I expected him to formally take note of my reply, then ask for my number so that he would text me the address, but instead, he lifted me off the ground and jumped up and high, and started cheering, "Yes! She's coming, yay yay yay! Woohoo, y-e-s yes, she's coming!! No, they're comin'! Yes, they're coming!" Well okay, then.