third person
Ashton plonked into his seat in between Jay and Ashley with his strawberry flavored fro-yo in his hands. The five of them had to force two tables together in order to fit the teens.
"Okay, quick pep talk." Ashton started telling the girls while the two tall boys were still grabbing their frozen yogurt. "Don't be awkward."
They looked at him expectantly, waiting for more of a lecture than that. But none ever came, to their relief and confusion.
He twirled his spoon around in the pink cream, assuring that it collected the rainbow sprinkles before carrying it to his mouth whilst eyeing his male friends across the room.
Luke couldn't deside for his life whether he wanted philly vanilla or salted caramel. After a minutes hesitation and an impatient push from Michael, he chose the second. His hand pulled the lever, and he began to fill his paper cup.
Laughter sounded from the table seating his new friends and Ashton, making his head turn from his cup to the girl seated next to him.
Jay.
The name really suited her. Luke loved the way it sounded, it was so short and simple but he liked the way his mouth moved to pronounce every letter. It was a string of sounds that he could repeat all day long.
He watched as she hung her head backwards and scrunched her eyes shut at some stupid joke Ashton made. Her smile radiating, making Luke's heart light up, feeling stars twinkling across it. Energy coursing through his body, yet it was all used to attempt to capture the details of her smile and store it in his memory.
"LUKE!" Michael interrupted his gazing, causing Luke to jump. Luke hated when Michael shouted, for he was already a loud person in general. Sometimes the redhead would be casually speaking and slowly increase his volume as he went on. It wasn't on purpose, he knew that much, sometimes it was even funny but other times it hurt Luke's fragile eardrums.
He then felt the numbing cold on his hands and realized the salted caramel frozen yogurt was overflowing, spilling onto his tense hands and the gray tiles of the floor.
Luke blushed out of embarrassment, muttering profanities under his breath and cleaning up his mess.
"Thanks for the help Michael." Luke rolled his eyes as he took a seat next to him, not realizing it was directly in front of Jay until he took a spoonful from his not-overflowing cup.
He felt his face heat up as she handed him a napkin. Luke cursed himself for putting an excessive amount of whipped cream atop his frozen yogurt.
Despite his humiliation and temporary self-hatred, he accepted the napkin with a small smile and a nod before staring back down at his white, plastic spoon. He twiddled it between his fingers as he pushed around the remainder of his snack, suddenly losing interest in it.
Luke suddenly remembered that his other friends were with him, not just Jay, and they were all bantering about the track tryouts that just previously took place.
"Did you see Luke run? He looks like an elephant, except not as dangerous." Michael poked fun. Another quirk about their friendship: Michael's consistent bullying to the younger blonde. Of course he was always kidding, that's what made it humorous.
"Yeah? At least I didn't face plant when I jumped hurtles." Luke retorted, referencing Michael's little tumble from earlier.
Everyone at the table laughed, recalling Michael's long legs getting caught in the hurtle. But one only laugh stood out to Luke; he only felt accomplished for making one of those people laugh. The same smile as the one stuck in his head on his stroll home from the game. The same smile that made him scatter frozen yogurt across the floor. The same smile that made him realize hey, maybe girls aren't so scary after all.
Once they all finished, they tossed their trash into the waste bins and made their way to the parking lot.
Luke had been trying to find the balls to strike up a conversation with Jay the remaining time in the little shop. He hadn't even looked her in the eye since she handed him that napkin.
He cleared his throat and started to approach her but suddenly she leaped onto Ashton's back.
"A warning would've been nice." Ashton muttered, though giving the short girl her piggyback ride anyways.
"You're so frickin' tall, I can practically see Peru from up here!" Jay exclaimed before resting her chin upon his shoulder.
Luke sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Of course she prefers Ashton. He's known her so much longer, he thought to himself, it was dumb to even try. So he swallowed his disappointment and kept walking, that is, until he felt a heavy weight on his broad back.
"Oh Lukey, you're so tall! I can see the whole wide world from up here!" Michael mocked, knowing Luke would collapse any second.
But he didn't. Perhaps he wanted to show off that he's not as frail as he looks.
"Please stop, I look like I'm tagging along to a double date." Ashley begged, admittedly looking out of place.
"Well, if you insist." Michael hopped off Luke's back, and grabbed onto her shoulders to show he would jump on her instead.
"No no no no no no no, I have the strength of a strand of uncooked spaghetti." Ashley spewed quickly, turning around to face him and grabbing a hold of his wrists. She remembered who she was talking to and immediately dropped his arms, and continued her walk to Ashton's car.
"What was that about?" Luke asked, suddenly appearing at Michael's side. He just shrugged in response, brushing it off.
They all said their goodbyes and hugged, Luke's to Jay being over in a flash before he disappeared into Michael's vehicle, riding shotgun. Jay looked up to Ashton confusedly and a bit hurt. The blue eyed dork was attractive and funny, and after being convinced that he may have had feelings for her, that quickness of the hug made her feel unwanted.
Ashton gave a look of sympathy and pulled her by the waist closer to him, pecking her head quickly and resting his own on top of hers.
What they didn't know was Luke saw the whole thing, and it felt like a stab to the chest and he couldn't put his finger on why.
