Streaker.

16

"I don't know, I feel kind of bad." Luke sighed, looking out the window of Ashley's bedroom.

It was Saturday night and Luke was at Ashley's house, trying to get their English project done, while Michael's birthday party went on next door. Luke had insisted multiple times that he was fine with not going, but now he was starting to think differently. He and Michael had been best friends for years and even though they fought more than they probably should, Luke felt strange about not attending his best friend's 18th birthday party.

"Why?" Ashley asked, her eyes trained on her laptop. She was supposed to be typing up the first few lines of the scene that Luke had translated, but he knew that Ashley was just online shopping. They were never going to get this project done.

"He's my best friend and I'm intentionally not going to his birthday party." Luke explained. He finally tore himself away from the window and walked over to Ashley's bed, sitting down next to her.

"Hey, I asked if you wanted to go." Ashley shrugged. That was true, she had asked Luke if he was sure that he didn't want to go to Michael's party, but he could tell she thought that he shouldn't so Luke just said that he'd be fine with not going.

"I just don't want him to get upset with me for not stopping by." Luke said, sighing again.

"Honestly I don't think he'll really noticed whether or not you show up, but if you want to go that's fine with me." Ashley spoke quickly, still not looking directly at Luke.

"Well, I don't want to just leave you alone." Luke mumbled, playing around with the hem of his t-shirt.

"You don't need to worry about me." Ashley scoffed, tucking some hair behind her ear. She shut her laptop and turned to face Luke. "You can go, I'll just hang out here."

"We should go together." Luke said. He didn't want to leave Ashley alone and he didn't want to show up to the party by himself either, so he figured that Ashley tagging along would just make everything better.

"Seriously?" Ashley asked, giving Luke a blank look.

"Yeah, seriously." Luke huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "Just come with me for, like, fifteen minutes."

"I don't know..." Ashley trailed off, looking in the direction of Michael's house again. The vibrations from the music playing was practically making Ashley's own house shake, and they could hear kids running around and screaming outside.

"We can walk in, say hi to Michael and maybe Calum and Ashton if they're there, and then leave." Luke assured her.

"Do you promise?" Ashley asked, turning back towards Luke. She pouted and looked up at him with wide eyes, a look that she knew he could never say no to.

"Yes, Ash, I promise." Luke giggled, trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"Alright, fine." Ashley sighed. "We'll only stay for a little while, okay?"

"Yeah, of course. I don't want to stay for long, anyway, I just want to drop in and say hi to everyone." Luke explained. He knew that Michael would somehow find out if Luke didn't show up, and he didn't want to risk that. Luke was just going to say hi to Michael and his other friends and talk for a few minutes, then they could hear straight back to Ashley's house.

"Okay, we can leave in a few minutes. I just need to change my clothes." Ashley said, gesturing down to the sweatpants and t-shirt she was wearing.

"Got it." Luke said, standing up from Ashley's bed. He turned around and looked out the window again, waiting for Ashley to get changed.

"You don't have to do that." Ashley laughed. This was the second time that day that she'd changed clothes with Luke right there in the room, and both times he'd turned away from her. Luke just didn't feel comfortable staring, and he felt that Ashley would be uncomfortable by it as well.