Skinny Love | l.h.

5

We arrive at the place where we're eating lunch after a few minutes of driving. The car ride was mostly silent except for the loud music playing out of the speakers in Michael's car. Michael's taste in music is different from mine. His mostly consists of punk rock bands and screamo.

Screamo just makes me feel uncomfortable. I always wonder if that kind of singing hurts your throat since you're literally screaming into the microphone.

We step inside and I see it's a nice place, not very big but not too small. It's laid back so you don't have to dress up when you come to eat here which is perfectly fine by me. I'm more than comfortable in my high-waisted shorts and t-shirt. Dressing up all fancy isn't really my thing anyway.

We're here before Ashton is just like Michael said we would be. We go ahead and find a table for us to sit at while we wait for him. Luke and I sit next to each other and Michael sits in front of Luke, obviously making sure Ashton gets to sit in front of me. I can see it in the look in his eye when he glances at me, taking his seat.

We order our drinks when a waitress is quick to serve us. Michael orders for Ashton since he swears he knows Ashton well enough to know what he would want. I don't question it since they have been friends long enough to know that about each other.

Of course, Michael flirts with the waitress a little, which doesn't surprise me at all. She doesn't hesitate to flirt back, even though his flirting isn't the best. I'm used to hearing the girl scoff or shoot down his line but not this time apparently.

Luke and I tried our hardest to hold back our laughter at the cheesy pick-up line Michael used which was, "Do you know what my shirt is made out of? Boyfriend material."

Michael always has a few cheesy pick-up lines in store and I had to keep myself from face-palming when I heard that one. That one has to be the worst. Trust me, I think I can say that since I've witnessed more than enough times of him trying to pick up a girl, which is a lot.

The pick-up line didn't even come out as smoothly as it should have. The words left his mouth in the most awkward way and I could tell he might've regretted saying the line afterward as we sat through an awkward pause, waiting for the waitress' reaction. I even regretted it for him.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Ashton says quickly, taking the open seat in front of me. He adjusts his hair a bit as he scoots his chair closer to the table.

"Hi." I greet with a smile, which Ashton gladly returns. I can see Luke looking between the two of us for a few seconds before looking away to play on his phone. I already feel uncomfortable and nothing has really happened yet.

"Hey, Ash." Michael gives me a quick glance in which I return with an eye roll. He wiggles his eyebrows and points to Ashton before doing a mini hip thrust in his seat. My eyes widen at this gesture and my first reaction is kicking him in the shin under the table. Luke chuckles, having witnessed the past few seconds, knowing exactly what Michael was implying.

"Ow!" He yells out in pain. "What the hell, Bree!"

"What?" I act as if I have no idea what happened. This deepens the frown on Michael's face.

"I'm probably going to have a bruise on my shin now thank you very much." Michael glares at me, probably wanting to kick me in return but I know he never would.

"Man up, Michael." Ashton says with a small laugh, patting Michael on the back.

"It hurt like bitch." Michael rubs his shin. "Don't tell me to fucking man up."

"Anyway," Ashton adverts his gaze to Luke before continuing. "Luke, I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Bree invited me actually." Luke glances at me and I don't bother to correct him on that. Him and I both know he invited himself, but I really don't mind that he came along. I'm just happy that he doesn't hate my guts.