Dahlia

I'm not sure how I feel about Hailey and Ashton being a couple. They don't really act it, she acts the same with him as with the other guys. I don't know.

"Okay, now that you're back," Ashton says with a sigh. "We need to discuss something important."

Hailey sits beside him playing on her phone.

"Alright..." I raise my eyebrows. Is this a business meeting?

"You sound serious." Calum adds.

"We need to fix Maya and Luke." Ashton stares me dead in the eye.

"I don't think—"

"Maya is happy now, it's good. But she's also not. She's way too angry at Luke. He didn't cheat on her or do anything completely awful. But she can't even hear his name."

"I think it's what she does rather than being sad," I reason.

"Well she needs to stop." Hailey finally looks up.

"Alright." Calum sighs. "We'll help you."

*******

Your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to get Maya and Luke into the same movie theatre to 'run into' each other. Please fulfil your duties tonight by 21 hours. Details to follow.

I giggle at Calum's note. Mission accepted.

I'm now back home in my own bed, living with Maya again. It feels weird, I'm so used to waking up and going outside to eat breakfast around a little camp fire with Calum and his parents. Now I just walk downstairs into my kitchen. With no Calum.

I laugh a little. I miss him already. Gosh, am I the clingy type now?

Well I suppose he would be too, considering he left a note for me before I woke up. And it's seven thirty now. How early was he up?

I look around, sort of expecting him to still be here waiting. He's not. I shrug and make myself breakfast. Just cereal and yogurt, but it's a change since I'm used to a cooked breakfast every morning.

India walks into the kitchen to see me, her nails clicking against the hardwood floors. She looks like she just woke up, and shakes her head around.

"Morning sunshine."

I jump. "Oh, Maya. Goodmorning!" I stuff Calum's note into my pyjamas pockets. "Were you talking to me or the dog?"

"The dog obviously. You aren't that special." She says with a smirk.

"Wow I love you too." I roll my eyes. "Food?"

"Aw I love you." Maya walks over and gives me a half hug, "Yes food. That is good for me."

"Great, you can make it yourself." I smirk and twirl away from her and out from behind the counter.

"Why are you so mean to me?" She fakes offence and pouts at me.

I scrunch up my nose and close one eye. Pretty sure I learnt the face from Luke. "Deal with it."

She laughs, "That face was cute."

Oh really?

"Thanks." I laugh.

"But no, seriously. I need food."

"Make some." I shrug.

She whines, "But we have none."

"I just ate some!"

"YOU ATE THE REST OF THE FOOD IN THIS HOUSE!" She says bitterly.

"Dude..." I shake my head lightly.

"I haven't bought groceries in like a month..." She slowly laughs.

"EW HOW OLD WAS THE MILK I JUST DRANK!" I scream and then stick out my tongue, rapidly wiping it off with my hands as if the milk would still be in there for me to get rid of.

She stands there awkwardly, "Like a month and a half old..."

"OH DEAR GOD!" I screech. India runs back into the kitchen to see if I'm alright. She had left when Maya and I started talking.

"Yeah... We should probably throw that away." She bites her lip.

"I'm going to die..." I whisper, eyes wide.

She rolls her eyes, "You won't die."

"I will though," I croak, leaning against the fridge. "This is the end of me Maya. GOODBYE!"

"I'm going out." She walks past me.

"You are horrible." I roll my eyes.

She laughs, "I'm going to the store."

"Buy my coffin at least." I demand.

"How about some chocolate?"

"Yeah aight I guess I can bring that to the grave with me. Buried with the things I love. Like Egyptians. Please don't kill India though."

She rolls her eyes, "India is too precious for life."

"Bloody 'ell!" I use a British accent. "You're gonna kill my dog too?"

She mimics the accent, "Of course not! I'm not stupid. India is beautiful."

"Ugh!" I lay on the floor with my arms and legs stretched out. "I don't understand! Go get me new milk!"

"Fine. Anything else?"

"No." I pause. "But we should go to a movie tonight!"

hehehe

"Yeah? Alright." She laughs.

Wonderful

******

I got my learners licence, after Calum was pestering me to get it. So tonight, Ashton offered to let me drive him and Maya to the movie theatre in his car.

We're all going to die.

"Here goes..." I bite my lip and start the car.

"Please don't kill me." Maya begs from the backseat.

"I'll try as hard as I can to do exactly that." I smirk at her in the mirror.

"Please god spare my life from this demon." She begs, looking up at the car roof.

Ashton smirks and shakes his head. "Drive, Dahlia."

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Maya says dramatically.

"It's dangerous to yell and distract the driver," I quip.

"You've never even driven before. You know nothing."

"Um excuse me I've never driven with you in the car."

"You've never legally driven in your life. That is until now."

"And I'm illegally amazing."

"GO!" Ashton puts his feet up on the dash. "I want to get there in time to grab popcorn."

"If I die, I'll kill you." Maya growls.

"I'll keep that in mind. You know, I've always been afraid of being killed by a dead man." I drive down the street and stop at the stop sign. "See? You lived."

"I am a woman if you didn't know. I have boobs."

Ashton's eyes widen. "I'm jumping out."

Maya rolls her eyes, "It's not like you haven't noticed them so shut up."

"Maya!" I scold, smirking at Ashton's blushing face.

"That's ridiculous." He croaks.

"Ashton, Ashton, Ashton... Girls can tell when you look. Just to let you know."

"MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB LITTLE LAMB LITTLE LAMB MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB ITS FLEECE WAS WHITE AS SNOW!" He sings loudly over her talking.

"CHILDREN! I will turn this car around! Do you understand me?" I yell.

"Dahlia, I will slap you."

"As head of this vehicle, I declare you grounded."

"It's okay. We don't have to go to the movie." Maya shrugs.

"YES WE DO!" Ashton screams.

She laughs, "Alright then. But seriously Ashton, we always know."

"She's be comin' round the mountain when she comes! She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes!"

"Oh my gosh! Can you just shut up?" Maya complains.

"This is so stressful..." I whisper in mock horror.

Once I finally pull into the theatre parking lot, Ashton lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay you did great but let's be honest here, that was terrifying."

Maya

After the very long car ride to the movie theatre, we finally arrive. Ashton and Dahlia walk a bit slower behind me so that they can talk. I assume he's telling her about her driving or something like that. Or maybe he's just scared to talk to me.

I decide to stand in line for popcorn while they buy the tickets. They had texted me what they wanted. Dahlia asked for nachos and a Sprite. Ashton asked for a large popcorn with a Pepsi. And I'm just gonna get a medium popcorn and a Sprite as well.

After I order, I struggle to carry it all in my arms. Somehow I find a way to do that without dropping anything. I slowly walk to the doors, trying not to drop it all.

A guy around my age runs up, "Do you want some help to carry all that?"

I turn my head to see Dahlia and Ashton still in line, "Yeah sure."

He grabs half of it from me and smiles. "Which theatre?"

I look back again and see that they're just getting the tickets. "Well it's supposed to be number six but my friends are being slow."

"Alright, should we wait over there for them?" He points at the doors to theatre room six.

"Um," I glance back to see them again. "Sure."

He smiles. "Okay."

We walk over to the doors. "So what movie are you going to see?"

"Wolverine!" He says with a goofy grin. "And so are you."

"What?" I question him, slightly confused.

"Theatre six." He smirks. "Sorry, did that freak you out?"

"Oh," I laugh. "Yeah... Just a little."

He laughs and looks down at the ground.

"Aye, it's alright. You seeing the movie with anyone?" I smile.

"No, none of my friends wanted to." He looks a little disappointed.

"Then watch it with me." I suggest.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" I laugh.

"Alright!" He says happily.

I giggle at his happiness, "What's your name?"

"Zach."

"I'm Maya."

"Nice to meet you Maya."

"Tell me about yourself."

"Well, what do you want to know?" He bites his lip.

I lean again the wall, "Interests, hobbies... I don't know. Just anything about you."

"Uhm I like X-men a lot." He laughs. "Which you might have been able to tell."

"Well that's good. Cause I like guys who like x-men a lot." I grin.

He blushes. "Yeah?"

"Very much. I think it's hot."

He blushes even redder. Hmm, he's different than the last one.

Dahlia and Ashton walk up with the tickets. "Who's this?"

"This is Zach. He was helping me carry all of your food because you guys were being slow as heck." I hand them their food so I'm only holding mine and Zach doesn't have anything to hold. "And this is Ashton and Dahlia."

"Nice to meet you." He smiles and holds out a hand.

"Nice to meet you too." Ashton shakes his hand.

"He's gonna watch the movie with us." I add.

"Oh, alright." Ashton nods.

We walk into the theatre. The order we sit in is: Ashton, Dahlia, Me, and then Zach. Looking over at Zach, I notice he's intently staring at the screen waiting for the movie to play. It's so cute the way he's getting excited. It's just too bad he didn't have anyone to watch it with. Well, I guess it's not that bad. At least not for me.

**********

After the movie was over we all stood up and started walking outside. "Hey Zach, do you wanna go eat ice cream or something with us?" I ask since we were planning on going out for ice cream after the movie. Plus, Zach is pretty amazing so far.

His face lights up. "Okay!"

I smile. He's so cute. "We were gonna go–" I bump into someone and basically almost fall over. But whoever I bumped into grabbed onto my arm to make sure I didn't fall. Thank goodness.

I look up to see Luke. Of course.

I rip my arm away from him, "The heck are you doing here?!"

He looks startled and confused to see me. "I– I was watching a movie with Hailey and Calum..."

He's here with Hailey and Calum and I'm here with Dahlia and Ashton... "Why? Was this your idea?"

"M-mine?" Luke asks. He looks like a puppy you just slapped. "No, Ashton was gonna go with me but he was—" he stops and looks behind me. "Sick?"

What. The. Heck.

I turn around and stare at Ashton, "Care to explain? Oh maybe not. You know, since you're sick." I cross my arms and give him the death glare.

Ashton fake coughs. "It got a bit better so I decided to—" another fake cough, "risk it."

I ball up my fist, "Ashton. Did you guys set this up?" I speak through clenched teeth. I swear I'm gonna kill someone.

"No this is merely coincidence, I assure you." Calum speaks up. Dahlia rolls her eyes.

There's no way that this is a coincidence. All of my friends are dating each other and none of them decided to go together. And nobody coincidentally runs into someone they hate who just so happens to be with the rest of their friends.

"Should I leave?" Zach whispers to Dahlia.

"Take me with you."

I look over at Luke staring wide eyed. "Do you think this is a coincidence?"

He shakes his head side to side.

I turn to Calum, "Luke agrees. It's not a coincidence."

"You don't even like Luke."

Luke bites his lip and sidesteps.

I roll my eyes, "And that's exactly my point. Why would you want me to see him if I hate him?"

Luke quickly turns away and walks over to the parking lot.

I ignore him. "You know that you can't make me want to be around him right?" I ask hoping they'll just drop the whole thing and let me be mad at Luke.

"Are you asking me or Calum?" Ashton points to himself and then Calum, who is standing there looking guilty.

"I'm asking whoever won't lie."

"Dibs out." Hailey stomps and throws an arm in the air.

"I don't freaking care who!" I'm getting extremely angry.

"All of us came up with the idea of going to a movie." Ashton confesses.

I look over at him, "Why?"

"Because we enjoy doing things together." Calum replies.

"This isn't doing 'things' together. We went to different movies." None of this is making sense to be honest.

"We're warming you up to the idea of it."

"Can you guys just leave me and him alone?" I ask very angrily.

"Technically they could but let's be real." Hailey says.

"We aren't fixable. Okay? Just don't even try." I say half calmly, half not.

Everyone rolls their eyes.

"And you know what? I'm gonna go be with Zach. Because I like him."

I turn around and walk over to Zach. He's talking with Dahlia. I feel so bad for this happening with him here. Dahlia notices me walking up. And shifts her weight. I grab onto Zachs shoulder. "Hey, I'm so sorry about that."

"It's okay."

Dahlia walks away. I smile at him, "The guy was my ex."

"I figured." He says softly.

I look down and laugh, "I guess I'm the one scaring you a little this time?"

He laughs nervously. "A little."

I smile, "Guess it's our thing."

The idea of having a 'thing' seems to make him happy. "I guess so."

"Still up for some ice cream?" I ask because well, he's the cutest thing ever.

"Of course," he smiles goofily.

We then go outside and walk down the street into the ice cream place. I think this will make everything that just happened a whole lot better.

* * * * *
Maya's being pretty frustrating, huh? Maybe soon she'll forgive Luke. But maybe she won't... *evil laugh*

Lol, what do you guys think? Will she calm down? And what about Zach? Think he'll stick around?

Oh also, the banner shows Maya's old hair so here is a picture of the red.

Thanks for reading! We love all you TaliMarks! :P

~Tara and Ali (Tali)