*Ashton's POV*

I've no idea how long I've been curled up in my blanket on the bed. All I know is that it's already gotten dark outside.

There was a knocking at my door, but I ignored it. I didn't want to move at all. I was too sad to do anything.

However, the knocking continued and it was really irritating me, so I got rolled off the mattress until I was lying on my back against the cold ground.

"Don't make me get up, please," I silently begged, even though whoever was at my door couldn't hear me. More knocking followed and I had to drag myself towards a wall to pull me up.

I reluctantly went my way over to the front door. I opened it slightly and peeked inside, seeing Cynthia standing there. She was holding a carton of what appeared to be chocolate chip ice cream.

"Hey, Irvin," she greeted. "I had my dad take over the front desk."

"I'm not a girl," I told her, still eyeing the ice cream. "I don't need a girls' day."

"But you need a friend, don't you?" I looked up at her face before I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth. I faced downward and sighed, nodding. "Okay, let me in."

------

"And then he tells his slut of a girlfriend that he doesn't like me and I'm just a friend!" I finished, scooping another spoonful of ice cream and popping that into my mouth. "I mean, what the hell is up with that?! Does he like me or not?!"

She and I were currently sitting on my mattress and she rested her head against her propped up arm.

"Wow," Cynthia said. "You rant way more than I do to my friends."

"It's just..." I sighed. "... I really like him, Cee, okay?"

"Maybe he was just saying that to his girlfriend, because that's what she wants to hear."

"But what if he actually meant what he said to her?"

"What if he didn't?" I looked up at her with a confused look. "Think about it. You don't know what he's thinking. He could be lying to either of you, but I'm going with he's lying to his girlfriend. There's no way he'd suck you off and say that it was nothing."

I shifted uncomfortably, crossing my legs and bringing my knees up to my chest. "Um, d-don't bring that up."

"Why not? You got sucked by a hot guy, not to mention your crush." She raised her eyebrows at me and I moved away from her.

"You're weirder than I thought," I said.

Cynthia just laughed. "Only to those I consider my best friends. Anyway, you should't mope around all day just because your crush is being a jackass."

"Watch me." I set the ice cream carton down, grabbed my blanket, and threw it over myself, curling up into a ball. The next thing I knew it was being pulled off of me and I shot up. "Hey! My blanket!"

"Forget your blanket! We're going out!"

"Go away." I lay back down and pulled my knees close to my chest. There was a moment of silence before Cynthia shouted something and then poked my butt and I screeched, pushing myself up against a wall and staring at her with wide eyes. "What the hell was that?!"

"Kancho!" She placed her hands together to make them look like a gun.

"Well, don't do that that again!"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot that only your crush could do that, but not with his fingers, if you know what I mean." I groaned and I slapped my hand over my face.

"Cindy, I'm so done with you right now," I sighed. "I liked you better when you were all innocent."

"I'm trying to bring up your mood." I peeked at her from between my fingers and saw that she was sitting with her legs crossed and looking down at her lap. "You're so down and I just want you to go back to your old self."

I blew some air from my nose and I couldn't help but smile a little. "Well, you did make me feel a little better. I at least don't want to be stuck in this apartment for the rest of this day." Cynthia looked up and beamed at me. I stood up as she placed the lid back onto the ice cream carton.

"Good. It's unhealthy to stay indoors all day. I should know. I've been stuck in this freaking building since the beginning of the summer."

"Don't you have any friends?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I'm just not allowed to leave, because my dad makes me stay."

"Ah, ol' Fitzy keeping is daughter away from her social life."

"Well, I have you now, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm going to put this ice cream in your freezer." Then she stood up, taking the ice cream carton with her as she left the room.

"While you're at it, leave. I need to go do something later." I heard Cynthia groan from outside and I laughed.

"What's more important than hanging out with me?" she questioned.

"Getting money to pay for tomorrow's rent." Thanks to Cynthia, I have the mental strength to steal again.

She didn't reply, so I thought she had left. I got onto my feet and headed out of my room. Cynthia was standing by the door.

"I heard you," she said. "I need to do stuff as well. So bye! I assume you'll be back late after midnight?"

"I guess so." Cynthia smiled at me and then waved before she finally left. Once the front door shut I ran back to my room and went over to my backpack that was lying by the wall.

I opened up the small pocket and pulled out the lighter and box of cigarettes, pushing the lighter into my pocket and taking a cigarette from the pack. I put the box back into my backpack, zipped the bag shut, and then left my apartment.

Placing the cigarette between my teeth, I hopped down to the lobby and saw Leonard at the front desk.

His eyes looked up and then he scowled at me.

"Later, Fitzy!" I exclaimed. He shook his head and then I walked out the building doors.

Now I just needed a place to target.

I glanced down at Leonard's watch and saw that it was already seven. I wasted so much time being sad over Luke that I lost precious time to find a place. It shouldn't be that hard, but I never know when there might be a delay.

I pulled out the lighter from my pocket and lit my cigarette up, stuffing the device back into my pocket. I removed the cigarette from my lips and puffed out a cloud of smoke. Walking around while smoking sure is relaxing to me.

After walking around the local area for half an hour I reached a neighborhood and noticed how fancy these houses were. They all looked as if they had some sort of security to protect the homes from any thieves. There are hardly any thieves around here. For the past two years I've been living in this city, I've never heard any news of a robbery that wasn't committed by me.

Out of all the homes that I came across I found one that had an open window on the second floor. Even though I should focus on finding a place to get money, it was hard to not go through the window and into the house. All the lights inside were out, so it just made stealing from there even easier.

I glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and then I tossed my nearly finished cigarette to the ground, stepping on it to put out the light. Then I swiftly made my way over to the side of the house and into the shadows.

There was conveniently a ladder by the house and I wondered how stupid the people who lived in this house were, to leave a freaking window open with a ladder chilling by the side of the house. I rolled my eyes as I set my backpack down onto the ground. I stripped off my outer clothes until I was only wearing my black outfit. I shoved my clothes into the backpack and pulled out my mask and gloves. I slipped those on and then I patted to the top of my backpack before I made my way over to the ladder.

I climbed up onto the roof and went kept low, so neighbors wouldn't spot me. I crawled over to the edge and peered down at the open the window. I had to be very careful as I make my way in. One wrong move and I could fall off and hit the ground below.

I listened for any movement inside, to make sure the coast was clear. When I heard absolute silence I sat on the edge and moved myself closer until I knew I could get inside. With one quick movement, I successfully made it into the room.

Glancing around, I noticed that I appeared to be in some teenager boy's room. Well, it explains why the window's open. Irresponsible and careless teenagers.

I slowly moved around the room to find anything that I might want to take. I heard a loud snore and I froze. No one was in the room, so it must've been from another room nearby.

Again, I was back to creeping around the room. I made it over to a dresser and started opening some drawers. Sometimes people keep their valuables in there, so I should check thoroughly for anything.

I found a lot of cash in the drawers and then I shoved those into my pockets. I counted about six hundred and seventy-four dollars. Why would this teenager have so much money chilling in his drawers?

I closed the drawers silently and then stood back up onto my feet. My eyes landed on a picture frame and I squinted at the photo. For better lighting, I picked the picture frame up and walked over to the window. I widened my eyes when I saw whom it was in the picture.

I-It was-

Then the door flew open and I twisted myself around to look at the door, a feeling of terror filling inside of me when I saw the person.

Luke.