Notes (Lashton)

9

I was at the movie theater before I could get any privacy. I found Ashton's contact in my phone, pressed call, and listened to the rings as I waited for him to answer.

"Luke, sorry to bother you." He sighed.

"You're not." I replied. I heard him give a small chuckle on the other end of the phone. It was a sad sound, which made me want to wrap him in my arms and keep him safe, protected, and happy.

"What's wrong?" I asked after a minute of pure silence between the two of us.

"I- Well, I'm not sure if you could really say that anything is wrong." He told me. That confused me a bit. Why'd he even need to talk if there wasn't anything wrong?

"Oh?" Was the only response I could come up with.

"Yeah. I need advice." He answered.

"Okay. On what?"

"Well, I don't think I have feelings for Luna anymore. I like someone else. I don't want to be with her anymore. What do I do? How do I tell her?" Ash questioned.

His explanation reminded me that I still needed to write out my response to whoever was leaving little notes in my locker, to easily turn them down.

"I think that you should just be honest. It may hurt her, but your happiness is the most important thing. Don't keep yourself unhappy just to stop her from being upset." I advised.

"Okay. I'll talk to her on Monday morning. It might make our group project awkward, though." He sighed.

"It's not like she was trying to work on it anyway. She could just sit there like she has been and ignore all of us." I responded. He laughed.

"Yeah, that's true."

It was quiet for a minute, before my curiosity grew too great.

"So, who do you like?" I blurted.

"I can't tell you." He answered. I frowned.

"I've gotta go. Our movie's starting in a few minutes." I told him after checking the time on my phone.

"Okay. Enjoy." He said.

"I will. Bye, Ash." I smiled.

"Bye."

I hung up before walking back inside. My family had already gone into the theater, so I found the right one and went inside.

I sat next to Emma, right in the middle of the very back row. I was to the very far right.

A few minutes after I arrived, a man sat down next to me, with only one seat between us. His eyes seemed to be glued to me, but I pretended not to see him. Emma babbled on to me about the new My Little Pony episodes, and I tried my best to listen to every word.

"Do you like ponies, Luke?" She asked me.

"Yeah.", I nodded, smiling at her warmly.

"Yay! Who's your favorite pony?" She asked me. I didn't know all of their names, but I was glad I at least knew a couple.

"I like Rainbow Dash." I replied.

Ben cackled beside Emma.

I looked up the at him, a little confused. I was just trying to bond with our younger sister, what part of that was funny?

"Is it because you're gay?" He asked through his laughs. I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Shut up, Ben." I joked.

Emma turned back to me, smiling before going into a story about meeting Rainbow Dash and her favorite, Fluttershy.

Halfway through the movie, Emma announced that she had to pee. After my brothers and I giggled at how loud she had said it, I volunteered to take her.

I followed her out of the massive, dark room. I had never been to that movie theater before, so we had a couple signs guide us. After just a few turns, we arrived.

I stood outside as Emma went into the bathroom. Unfortunately, she always took so long when she was in there. At least we weren't watching a movie that was very interesting.

It wasn't even a minute later when the guy seated one seat away turned the corner. He smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Hey. Your name's Luke, right?" He questioned. "I heard your sister say it."

"Yeah." I awkwardly answered.

"You're very gorgeous, Luke." He commented. I instantly regretted wearing what I was wearing.

"Um, thanks." I mumbled.

He took a couple steps closer to me, and I took a small step back. My action put a menacing smirk on his face. He was in a white t shirt with a stain towards the bottom, and jeans. His teeth were beginning to yellow, which I connected to the scent of smoke coming from him.

"I'm Kyle." He told me.

"Cool." I said.

"We could go into that bathroom and have a little fun." He smiled, taking another step towards me.

"No, thank you. I'm not interested. Besides, I have to wait for my sister." I replied, not looking into his eyes.

"Come on, sweetheart." He groaned.

"No." I stated. He stepped much closer, but my back was against the wall. There was almost nothing I could do. He was only a foot away from me.

"Why not? You're so pretty, Lukey." He smirked, his hand reaching out to touch me.

"Don't touch me." I meant for it to sound threatening, but it came out as more of a squeak.

He chuckled. "Or what?"

I didn't know. What was I really going to do? I could kick him in the balls, but he was much bigger than me. He could have easily hit me or worse.

"You know it's what you want, Luke." He smiled.

"No." Was all I could say. His hand attached itself to my face.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Jack demanded. Jack!

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, stepping closer to me and pushing Kyle away.

"Who are you? This is my boyfriend." Kyle scoffed at my older brother.

"Buddy, he's not your boyfriend. This is my little brother. And I would really suggest that you leave him the fuck alone before things get ugly." Jack smiled sweetly. Kyle raised an eyebrow, but didn't challenge my brother. He rolled his eyes, mumbling something as he walked away. Jack turned to me.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did he touch you at all like that?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks for that, by the way. What are you doing out here?" I wondered.

"The movie ended." He answered. I guess I only thought that we were halfway through the movie.

"Where's everyone else?" I questioned.

"Waiting in the lobby."

I nodded.

"Jack, can I talk to you about something later?" I asked. He seemed a little surprised, but he nodded.

"Of course."

Emma walked out and the three of us walked towards the lobby. It was 7:30 in the evening, so the sun was going to start setting soon. I couldn't help but to look for Kyle, though I didn't see him and I doubted that he would do anything if I did.

The Olive Garden we went to was only about fifteen minutes away.

***

When we got back, I took a shower before putting on some black sweatpants and a light grey t shirt. I curled up under my blankets, falling asleep almost instantly.