Over (Luke Hemmings)

8

A/N

I'll be skipping to two years from the past chapters which is our current time. I have a lot to say about puberty! Sorry for the late update, too. Been busy with my studies! :(

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The noises of people chatting about how their day went on was nonstop in the cafe. I've been working here for almost three months now and I can't still get enough of the smell of morning coffee brews and the smell of the teas.

I was in the midst of washing these white mugs when the service bell was tapped on. I quickly wiped my hands on the black apron I had wrapped around my waist and faced the customer. I smiled when I saw it was Calum who had come to pay me a visit.

"And what would you like to have today?" I smiled, knowing he'd like a mug of vanilla coffee.

His smiling face dropped and he looked behind him to see if there were any more customers who wanted to order. He faced back at me when there was no one behind him in sight. "I have to cancel on our movie night."

"Third time in a row that you've cancelled on me but it's okay. I think I'll be buried in dishes to wash in here, anyways." I patted the cashier register and turned around to continue washing the mugs. It wasn't like Calum to cancel on me, mostly when it was a traditional thing.

I heard Calum sigh. "It's Ashton. He's been sleeping in our couch for the past... I don't know, three weeks."

I stopped the flowing water and wiped my wet hands on my apron once again, turning back to him. "Is there really a friend of yours named Ashton? You always don't want me to meet him, whoever he may be. How come Michael and Luke know about him and I don't?" My trust for Calum felt like it was starting to break apart.

He bit the inner skin of his cheeks and looked up. "He tends to be a bit of a, uh, romantic."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Aw, and you think I can't handle him? How old is he, like twelv-"

"Nineteen. Knowing how old he is won't make anything better." He said. He leaned forward to me and whispered, "Thing is, Maria, he has a history of being too much of a romantic that it's pretty much against the law."

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Luke volunteered to drive me to Calum's house since he happened to run an errand near the cafe I work in.

Luke turned the radio's volume down and spoke. "Excited to meet Ashton?"

"I've heard stories, Luke, really bad ones." A flashback of the words Calum used to describe Ashton had became more vivid to my thoughts and I became more scared than I already was.

"I guess not, then. He's not that bad as long as he won't like you in a romantic way. Which is probably hard to do because you're pretty." He shrugged while he still kept his eyes on the road. That simple compliment that rang in my ears meant nothing to him; though it did for me.

"Uh, thanks, Luke." I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked out in the window to hide it. "But, what is it that you want?"

He laughed and turned his head to me. "Can't I compliment my beautiful friend?"

"Ha ha, I'm not stupid, Lucas. Don't treat me like one. Seriously, what do you want?" I asked. Whenever someone gave me random compliments, I just immediately assume there's an ulterior motive behind it. No guy ever called me beautiful, not including my dad, which sort of threw me off.

Luke just laughed and shook his head as a response. "I don't want anything, I swear! Besides, how did Calum describe him to you?"

I gulped. "He just said that Ashton has a history of history of being too much of a romantic that it's pretty much against the law. That was what he exactly said." What Calum had was on repeat inside my brain and was rather hard to forget. I started to get second thoughts on meeting this Ashton guy.

"Well, in my words, he's an attractive lad. He's smaller than me, curly brown hair, hazel-green eyes." He wiggled his eyebrows at me and gave me a smug smile before returning his sight back to the road.

I faced him. "If your mission is to make a girl think Ashton's attractive, mission accomplished. But then again, I'm not like most girls and I don't judge books by their covers. We've been friends for nearly two years now, pretty sure you know that."

"So you're alright with this fake dating thing... Cool." Luke turned up the radio, thinking it would make the air less awkward to breathe in.

I got confused. I turned the radio down againa. "Fake dating thing? What?"

"Shit. Calum told me he already asked you!" He bit his lip then licked his lip ring with his tongue. He adjusted his reverted worn snapback just not to look at me. "It's so that Ashton won't make a move on you... Calum's orders. One thing Ashton doesn't like is when mates screw their mate's girlfriend. I heard he had a history with his friend before. Guess that changed him."

I sighed. "Alright, what's the plan?"

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