"Ash? Ashton? Ashton...? AshtonAshtonAshton-AH! ASHTON! OW!"

I charged right at Harry and just tackled him to the ground while he was trying to ask me what was wrong. I'm currently jabbing his sides and had the curly haired Brit writhing beneath, trying to get out of my hold.

This guy, really, set me up!

"Get off! You're hurting me!"

"You lied to me!" I yelled as I continued prodding his sides.

He squirmed and let out a cry, "Luke! Get Ash off of me!"

Luke chuckled and then I was pulled off of Harry, yelling, "Let me at 'im!"

"Calm down, Ash," Luke soothed. "Whatever he did wasn't probably worth attacking him."

You're only saying that because you don't know what he did.

Harry jumped onto his feet and dusted himself off, backing as far away from me as possible.

"Why'd you stop him?" Everyone turned to Niall who was looking at Luke. "It was getting good!"

"Oh, speaking of stop," Liam began as he stood up from where he was sitting on the ground, "we really need to head out to practice for tomorrow night's concert. Let's go, lads." Niall and Harry collected all of my snacks, but I got out of Luke's arms and grabbed the two by their shirt collars.

"The food stays," I ordered. They both gave me a pouting look, but I wasn't going to take any of it.

"Why?" they both whined in unison.

"You," I pointed at Harry, "lied to me. Plus, I bought these." No, I didn't, but I'm not going to tell them that. "Either you guys leave them here, or pay me back with cash or a new cellphone."

"But the manager said-" I slapped a hand over Luke's mouth before he could continue. Harry and Niall glanced at each other, and then back at me.

"Can we at least keep the goldfish crackers?" Niall asked, trying to sound like a little boy. For someone who's older than I, he really can't act like his age.

I sighed, "Whatever. Take it." The two idiots cheered and high-fived each other before setting down the other snacks and running out to Liam. Zayn walked over to the bag of oreos, snatched two cookies, and then made his way out.

"See ya tomorrow, Ash. You too, Luke." Zayn winked at me, like he was telling me something. I didn't catch what he was trying to say though.

I followed the guys until I got to the front door so I could close it when they leave. I turned on my heels, but was greeted by Luke who wasn't even ten centimeters away from me.

"It's okay if I stay a bit longer, right?" Luke asked. "I mean, I want to make sure you're okay."

I laughed, "You're such a worrywart."

He frowned, "I'm just looking out for the ones I care about."

The smile that was on my face slipped away. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but I can't help but think that this might all be an act. If he really is gone after his time with me is up, then my suspicions of him only acting like this will be confirmed.

"Ashton!" Lauren and Harry ran right at me and wrapped their smaller arms around me.

"What's for dinner?" asked Lauren.

"Is Harry not cooking again this time?" Harry questioned as his eyes scanned around the place and found that the curly Brit was not here.

"I'll get dinner started. Run along, you two."

"Can we help?" they chirped.

"He's got all the help he needs right here," Luke said as I was pulled closer to him. I cocked a brow at him.

"I do?" I quizzed.

"You do."

"Can you at least give me a hint on what we're having?" Lauren pouted.

Harry blinked at us, his eyes staring at Luke's arm that was around me.

"Do you like my brother or something?" he bluntly asked. "You're awfully touchy around Ashton." I turned crimson right there and wanted to scold him for asking such a question. Then Lauren gasped.

"Are we having spaghetti?" I raised an eyebrow. "Pizza? Something that's red, I know that."

"Go to your room!" I yelled. They let out a playful shriek and ran off. I covered my face with my hand and shook my head.

"I didn't even answer your brother's question," Luke said.

I was curious what Luke really thought about me, but I was afraid to hear the answer.

"He meant as a friend," I explained. "It'd be weird if he meant more."

Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you have something against gays?"

I widened my eyes at him and shook my head. "No!" I exclaimed. "No, that's not what I meant at all! What I meant to say was I can't see us as anything more than friends." And in a way, I meant that. The idea of Luke being in love with me seemed almost impossible, if not is.

"Are you saying that it's weird for us to be together? That we have no chance?" He was getting awfully close, and then he had me backed up against a wall.

"W-well, I th-think w-we don't h-have a ch-chance..." He rested his arm above my head and leaned in closer to me, his face only being centimeters away from mine. His eyes were now a dark blue and they were staring right into my brown eyes.

"Keep this in mind, Ashton," Luke spoke in a low, deep voice that sent chills up and down my spine. "There's a chance for everything. There's a chance that I may be a great footie player and receive a scholarship. There's a chance that you may grow taller than I someday." I frowned at that. Then, he smiled, "There's a chance you and I may end up together."

At this point my heart was racing and practically pounding out of my chest. I thought that Luke could see or hear my heart drumming. Was he hinting something? Or is he just giving me false hope?

"Understand?" he asked, slowly pulling away. I gulped, but managed to nod.

God, I couldn't help but think this side of Luke is so hot.

"So, what are we going to make for dinner?" Luke questioned as he finally backed away from me. I felt my heart pace start to even out and the blush leaving my face.

"I-I think I'll just order some take-away," I breathed.

------

I decided to order some Chinese food. I haven't had any in a while, and Harry and Lauren love it. I just hope Luke's okay with it.

"How do you feel about Chinese food?" I asked Luke after I had ordered.

We were sitting in the dining room and we were doing homework while I made a call to a restaurant not far from here. Luke and I were across from one another, so I had the advantage of occasionally glancing up from my Spanish homework and at Luke without being noticed. He'd twirl his pencil around his thumb before scribbling down answers onto his Algebra 2 homework.

Luke glanced up at me, playing with his lip ring. "Honestly, it's not my favorite," he said, shaking his head and looking back at his homework.

"Well, what do you like? Next time I'll get something you like."

"I don't have a favorite."

"Okay, first the snacks and now food in general. Do you have a favorite something?"

"I do have favorite things. Just not food."

"Is it because they're all equally good?"

"Sure, let's put it that way."

I continued working on my homework until I heard Lauren run into the dining room.

"What're we having?" she asked. "We're getting take-away, huh? You're not making food."

"We're having fried noodles and orange chicken. The delivery should be here soon." Lauren nodded before taking a seat next to Luke. She stared down at the math homework and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't worry about this now," Luke told Lauren. "Wait until you actually take the class. Then you can worry." She gave him a hesitant nod before finally leaving. Luke looked over at me. "Do you spend time with your siblings?"

"Right now, not as much as before," I answered. "My friends are always over, and I just send them up to their rooms."

"Aren't they allowed to go over to their friend's house?"

"They never go."

"Well, where are your parents?" I stopped writing and set the pencil down.

"My mom's always at work, and God knows what happened to my dad."

"Oh. I didn't mean to trigger any-"

"It's fine. No harm done." I suddenly didn't feel like doing homework anymore. I shut my textbook and rub my eyes with the back of my hand. "I'm going to rest a bit on the couch." I slid out of my chair and began making my way to the couch that was in the den. I plopped myself onto the couch, but the bump on my head hit the armrest a bit too hard, causing some pain to shoot through my head. I hissed, sitting upright, and brought my hands to where it was starting to hurt.

That's like life's favorite spot to hurt me, I swear.

Luke came rushing into the den, "Are you okay?!"

"My head's prone to injuries ever since you hit me with the football," I joked, but my head was still hurting. I slowly lowered myself so that I was lying down on the couch.

Luke let out a sigh of relief, knowing that I wasn't severely hurt. He walked over to me, took a small pillow that was on the couch, carefully lifted my head so he wouldn't hurt me, and propped the pillow under my head. "Roll over on your side."

"Luke, this is fine," I told him, but my head was still hurting. At this rate, the bump will never go away. He sat on the edge of the couch and just stared at me, his eyes never leaving. I shifted uncomfortably as he just kept staring.

That was when I gave in and went on my side. There's no way I can stare back at him and not feel nervous. His gaze was so intense I could feel it burning a hole through me.

He gently pushed me inside the couch and slid in next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, getting even more nervous than I was before. My heart's pounding again.

"Making sure you won't fall?" he answered in a form of a question.

"I've slept on this couch plenty of times. I doubt I'd fall off, because it hasn't happened before."

"I'm not taking any risks." An arm slid around my waist and he pulled us closer to one another. Now my chest is literally a drum. It'd be a miracle if Luke didn't feel it.

"If my brother or sister were to see us, they'd get the wrong idea." I just wanted him to get off the couch. Another part of me wanted him to stay with me like this forever, but then...

That Aleisha girl...

Six days...

False hope... I don't want to end up being played with.

I didn't realize how much my crush on Luke actually scares me. What if our feelings aren't mutual? What if he's doing this only because he's being nice? What if he's gone when the six days are done and he doesn't have to deal with me anymore? What if... he's with Aleisha?

"Why does it matter if they see us?" Luke's head was barely touching my head. Barely, because he's still minding the bump he made. His breath hit the back of my neck and it turned into a shiver running up and down my back. I just noticed now that his fingers that were resting on my stomach were twisted into my Captain America shirt.

"B-because they might get the wrong idea."

"Let them think whatever. Only we know the truth."

Right, and the reality is, he's no more than a caretaker of mine and I'm the one who's hopelessly falling for him as the seconds go by.

I flipped myself around so that way I was facing Luke. He looked at me with questioning, blue eyes. "Is something the matter?"

I didn't answer. I just squirmed around a bit until I was in a position where my face was pressed into his chest, his arm now around my back. He slid his other arm under and around me and I felt his fingers lock together. I tried snuggling closer, and Luke's hold around me tightened a bit more and our legs were even tangled. His hands separated and the one that was draped over me moved to my head and began stroking my hair.

I winced when a small pain triggered when he pressed a bit too hardly on the back of my head.

"My bad," he murmured. He continued playing with my hair, once in a while trying to soothe my head. It didn't hurt this time.

"You know..." I began, but trailed off. I was going to tell him that I didn't mind staying like this for the rest of my life.

"Yeah, Ash?" My heart fluttered at the nickname that only my friends call me by.

But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't call him 'Lukey', because that's Aleisha's nickname for him.

"It's... never mind." I slowly moved an arm around his waist. He didn't protest or anything, but I stopped before fully going around.

"Go ahead," he said. I didn't know whether he meant he wanted me to tell him anyway or that it was okay for me to continue wrapping my arm around him.

He answered my silent question of what he meant by grabbing my hand and guiding it around him. "If you don't want to say it, then you don't have to. But if you change your mind, this penguin's all ears for you."

I nodded, my face still against his chest. I could feel his breath hit my hair.

"Lukey..." I breathed quietly. That nickname isn't for my lips to say, but I couldn't help it before it escaped from me.

"... Ash-"

Ding dong!

I jumped up and over Luke, scrambling onto my feet and running over to the door. I pulled out my wallet and grabbed a twenty. I swung the door open and saw a blonde girl standing there, holding a bag of Chinese food.

Her smile brightened when she saw me. "Hi!" she exclaimed gleefully.

"Hey," I grinned as I leaned against the door. "So, um, how much?"

"It's sixteen even." I handed her the twenty and she pulled out four dollars without removing her eyes from me. I thanked her and just as I was about to close the door, she immediately said, "I'm Jasmine Dorhauer."

I opened the door just a bit more before blinking at her. Her smile was so big and wide, I thought it'd crack her face.

I gave her a smile and said, "I'm Ashton Irwin."

"And I'm Luke Hemmings." Luke was suddenly by my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Can we help you with something?"

"Oh, I just... thought it'd be rude if Ashton here didn't know my name," Jasmine answered. Luke gave her a nod, not convinced with her reply.

"It's not necessary for an employee like yourself and a customer like Ashton to associate so casually."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused," Luke grinned.

"Luke, what are you doing?" I asked in a stern voice.

Jasmine sighed, "Yeah, okay. I'll go." She looked at the ground before turning away and walking off to the vehicle she arrived in. She turned her head a bit and looked at me.

"Bye, miss!" Luke called out. I smacked him in the stomach. I tried to lighten Jasmine's mood by waving at her, mouthing "Bye" with a smile on my lips. She returned the smile, waved back, and climbed into the car. Then she drove off.

I closed the door and glared at Luke, who was giving me an innocent look.

"What?" he asked.

"That was rather rude of you," I simply stated as I slipped away from his hold and into the dining room. I pushed our homework and backpacks aside and put the bag of food onto the table. "Could you go get some plates? They're in the top left cabinet." He showed up beside me with three plates. I raised an eyebrow. "There are four of us."

"Oh, really?" he asked trying to sound surprised. "I must've forgot to include myself." I chuckled as he set the plates down and went back to the kitchen. Then he came back. "No more plates."

"Get a bowl. It should be in the same cabinet." Then he was going back to the kitchen. Once all of the food was out of the bag I went to the kitchen and saw Luke just staring at the open cabinet. I rolled my eyes and walked over and grabbed a plate. I stared at it, and then up at Luke. "I thought you said we had no more plates?"

"What? Where did that come from?" He let out a weak laugh and then walked out and headed to the den.

"Call Harry and Lauren out!" I yelled. "Tell them food's here!"

I went to a drawer and grabbed some forks and spoons, and then returned to the dining room and set the plate on top of the other plates and the eating utensils on top of that plate. I saw Harry and Lauren enter the dining room and they took their seats at one side of the table. I passed a plate to each one of them and they began pulling out the fried noodles that were in the take-away box.

"Where's Luke?" I asked my siblings.

They just shrugged as they hungrily stabbed at a piece of orange chicken. "He told us to come here," Harry answered, "and then we just ran out of our rooms. We didn't bother looking to see if he was following us." I frowned at his answer. I told them to stay in the dining room as I went to look for Luke. I walked into the hallway, but stopped when I heard something coming from somewhere. I began approaching the sound and found that it was coming from the bathroom. I pressed my ear to the door.

"... do this," Luke mumbled. "... only..." There were other words I couldn't make out. I decided to knock on the door. "Occupied?"

"Luke, it's me. Let's go eat now," I told him.

"Yeah, I was just... using the toilet." Then the sound of a toilet flushing was heard, followed by running water from the faucet. He walked out, wiping his hands on his shirt and smiling innocently at me. I decided not to ask him questions and we walked to the dining room.

By the time we reached the dining room I saw that Harry and Lauren were already gone. Either they were super hungry and finished their food and left the room or they took their food to their rooms. But at this point I didn't really care. What was really worrying me was the fact that Luke put so little food on his plate. Like, his food only took up one-sixth of the plate. Mine was competely filled up, covered in fried noodles and pieces of orange chicken. Did I order too much food? This is a family order, anyway. Maybe he has a small stomach? I wouldn't know. I don't know much about him, other than the fact that he's incredibly smart and has a liking towards penguins.

"Are you not hungry?" I asked Luke who was just pushing a piece of orange chicken around his plate.

Luke shrugged before setting the fork down. "I guess I ate a lot at lunch," he laughed. "I'm not feeling very hungry."

I raised an eyebrow at him, because I don't remember him even having a tray of food in front of him during lunch. How could he have eaten a lot?

Oh, right. He was gone for the majority of the lunch. He was with Aleisha. They probably left to eat together. Alone. Just the two of them.

Suddenly I lost my appetite. But then it came back, because I was ridiculously hungry.

By the time I finished my mountain of food, Luke finished his dinner (can I even call it that, because he ate so little?). I was still a bit famished, however, so I decided to get more food. When I looked over at Luke he had some kind of look on his face. I didn't know what it was, but the closest I could say he seemed was... pained?

"Luke?" I asked, worry hinted in my voice.

"Excuse me," he quickly said. "Restroom." He pushed himself out of the chair and walked off, leaving me alone in the dining room.

This is the second time he excused himself from the table. Didn't he just go to the restroom not even a half hour ago?

I decided that I'd go watch some telly. I went to the den and turned on the telly and saw that the game was left on. I sighed and shook my head. I shut off the game and switched to a different channel and saw that How I Met Your Mother was on.

As the show was playing I sat on the couch and picked up the unopened box of Cheez-it. I decided to munch on those while I watch the telly.

The episode ended fifteen minutes later since I did start watching in the middle, and Luke was still not back. What's taking him so long? I'm getting a bit worried now. No, I'm really worried.

Maybe I should check up on him.

I turned the telly off, collected all of the snacks that were left on the table and carried them to the kitchen to stock them into the cabinet. I had to rearrange the snacks just so they'd all fit nicely and not push the cabinet door open even a small bit.

I walked over to the hallway and saw that Lauren was standing in front of the door, her arms crossed over her chest as her foot tapped impatiently against the wooden floor.

"He's been in there for a while," she groaned. "I need to shower. Harry's in the restroom in Mom's room. I didn't want to be rude, so I waited out here. I'm trying to figure out what he's doing in there that's making him take up the restroom, but all I hear is the sound of running water. It's been five minutes since I was standing here."

I nodded, and then knocked on the door. "Luke? You okay? You've been in there for quite a while."

The water shut off and then the sound of a fan was heard. Luke opened the door and pushed me and Lauren away from the restroom.

"Might not want to go in there for a bit," he warned. "It doesn't have a pleasant smell."

"That's just gross," Lauren said in disgust as she pinched her nose and returned to her room.

"I left the window open," Luke told me. "The smell should be gone in an hour or somethin'."

"What were you doing in there?" I asked him.

"What other reason would a guy using the restroom for nearly a half hour do in there?" That didn't really tell me much, but I decided to not question about it.

"Um, let's just go." When I inhaled I scrunched up my nose.

Is that air freshener I smell? And mouthwash?

When I looked at Luke, he was constantly wiping at his mouth with his shirt. Did he spend thirty minutes in the restroom just to make sure his mouth was fresh? Wow, talk about hygiene.

He ran his fingers through his blond hair and swept it to the side. He walked into the dining room and began stuffing his backpack with his things. He threw the bag over his shoulder.

"I think I should head home now," Luke informed me.

"Right," I replied. "Do you want the Cheez-it box? I mean, you did pick it out."

"No, thanks. You keep it."

I grabbed my keys and yelled to Harry and Lauren that I was going to drop Luke off at home. When no response followed Luke and I headed out to my car.

When the drive to his place started Luke was on his phone, tapping away on the bright, little screen. He's probably talking to Aleisha. Honestly, I cannot stand that girl. She's stealing Luke away from me.

Oh, my God. He's not even yours, Ashton! ¡Cálmate!

I turned onto his street and approached his house. I parked the car into the driveway and glanced over at him. "Okay, we're here."

Luke looked up from the phone and stuffed it into his pocket, thank God for that. He unbuckled his seatbelt, climbed out of the car, and grabbed his backpack.

"Goodnight, Ashton," Luke said. "See you tomorrow. And don't be late." He winked and shut the door. I watched him as he walked into his house.

I'm starting to get used to his presence around me. It's only been a little over twenty-four hours, but this blond boy has become a part of my life already. Things wouldn't be the same once he's no longer around me. I can't go back to my life before now that Luke appeared. I'd probably be the saddest thing alive.

This week better not go by too fast, because I'm not ready for the first day when Luke and I aren't around each other.

I should stop worrying about the future and focus on the present. Luke's in my life now, and that's all that matters at the moment.

I hope nothing bad happens that'll cause strong tension between us. I really like having Luke by my side. He makes me feel special, despite only knowing me since yesterday afternoon.

I just remembered. Michael gave me back the ticket and backstage pass to One Direction's gig behind the school. Maybe I'll ask Luke to go with me. That's if he isn't going with anyone else. Michael already abandoned me for a girl. I wonder if Luke will say yes to the offer.