Close As Strangers

1.7

It's been three whole days since Luke and I spoke. We didn't call or text, he hasn't even tweeted anything. Did I break him? I hope I didn't. I came home from school like I did everyday, throwing my bookbag against my door, and hopping into my bed. I went onto my social media, seeing updates about the boys' concert in three days. The concert I should be going to. But what do I do now? Everything just isn't the same anymore. I was too hard on Luke, I admit. I was out of line. I just kinda lost it.

I hope he wasn't mad. Damn it why am I so hard headed? Why can't I just control myself when I need to?

"Arden?" My mom yelled from downstairs. "Are you home from school?"

"Yeah I'm in my room!" I yelled back.

Within seconds I could hear my moms footsteps.

"Hey honey." She said out of breath appearing in my door way. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." I said bluntly.

"Do you know what you're wearing Friday night?" She asked walking towards my bed to sit down.

"No." I said back rudely. "You and Dad won't even tell me what kind of attire I can wear. Like I don't want to be all causal instead of fancy, or fancy instead of casual."

"Nobody will judge you. But. We are having somebody to get you, wear comfortable clothes when they come to get you. You can change into nicer clothes later on." She winked.

"How will I know when to change?" I asked. What the hell was my mom talking about?

"You'll know. By the way, do your hair and makeup real good."

I watched my mom walk from my door way down the halls.

"I'm leaving $200 on the kitchen table!" She yelled. "Go buy yourself a nice dress!"

I laughed. A dress? I'm 6 months pregnant and she wants me to buy a dress? My belly hasn't really shown much. Even though I'm 6 months, if you hadn't seen me before, you'd probably think I'm just a little chubby.

I walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. There was money in the center of the table. I eyed it before I snatched it up and put it in my back pocket.

I drove to the grove. They had the prettiest dresses here. They were a little more pricey, but my mom told me to buy something nice. I walked into the Forever 21 amazed by how much clothes they could actually have in one store. There were thousands of pieces of clothing hanging up and down from the walls. After searching for what felt like forever, I had found 3 dresses I really liked. There was one red one, that ended mid thigh, it had a pretty conservative scalloped top. Then there was a black one, this one was a halter top, with a fluffy black tutu-like bottom. The last one I had was a royal blue. It was longer than the two other dresses, most likely some sort of homecoming dress.

I went into the dressing room to try the on, amazed that I still fit in a size 6 dress. They were all beautiful dresses. The red one was nice, just a little too sexy to be going somewhere with my parents. The blue dress made my hair color pop, but it was really long and I didn't really want to be wearing heels. So I went with the black one. The tutu like bottom made my bump not as big, and the scalloped halter top looked really cute.

I purchased my dress and continued to shop. Waving hi to little kids that ran by, looking at the gorgeous sunset.

My phone began buzzing and I looked down at it. Why was Michael calling me?
I hit answer and pressed my phone to my ear.

"I think you should just tell him." I heard him say over slight muffling.

"Tell who what?" I heard Ashton laugh.

"Luke has to tell you something!" Michael screeched. I heard a thump, Michael must have thrown something.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"Well um. I don't know how to say it." Luke began. My heart dropped when I heard his voice.

"Are you breaking up with Arden?" Ash asked immediately. "Why man? What did she do?"

"No, no, no. Never."

I felt so much relief after hearing him say that.

"It's just that. Arden's." Luke choked on his words.

"Arden's pregnant." Michael interrupted.

"What the hell?" Ash said loudly, his voice cracking. "And you just left to go on tour?"

"I-I didn't know then!" Luke yelled, I could hear that he was crying. "And whenever I can, I call her, but hearing her crying it sucks. Through the tears I can hear that I shouldn't have gone, I just wish I knew sooner."

"Do you think she even knew when we left?" I heard Ash ask, finally sounding calm again.

"I don't think so." Luke said quietly, his voice trailing off. "I just, I hate myself for this."

"Don't worry man, you'll make it up." Michael said.

I looked down at my phone screen. Do I hang up? I felt as if I was invading their privacy. I hit the end button and held my phone to my chest. God damn it. Why did I have to deal with this?