Tonight was Ashton's 18th birthday. Since it was a Friday night, and his parents were laid back, they let him throw a huge backyard party.

I was finally done getting ready, and Casey had finally stopped talking about Ashton. They had been talking non-stop since we hung out at Ashton's last weekend. She even told me they went to see the new Spiderman movie together and that she was starting to like him all over again.

I checked the clock and it was just passed 6pm. Now we would be fashionably late, even though we were actually just late in general because neither of us wanted to get off the couch and turn Netflix off.

I gave myself one more glimpse in the mirror before looking over at Casey. Ally was out of town visiting family so she wasn't able to come; she usually had family related things to do. That meant it would just be Casey and I for the night.

"You look so cute!" she exclaimed.

"Don't make me blush!" I laughed, turning back to my mirror to give myself one last look before we left. I didn't dress up often, so this was a rare sight.

"Hey guys!" Ashton said, greeting us once we walked into his backyard. I looked around scanning the crowd that had already gathered in his large backyard.

"Happy birthday!" I said hugging him first, then Casey following after me. Their hug lingered for a second longer.

"Thank you, you both look great" he said while smiling at Casey.

The feelings were there, it was obvious how Casey and Ashton were gravitating toward each other. I was just waiting for something to begin between them.

"Hey" Ashton said looking behind me, I turned around to see Luke.

"Happy birthday old man!" Luke said "I put your cane inside" he said, laughing at his joke.

Ashton rolled his eyes and walked off to greet the other guests.

"You look great" Luke said smiling towards me, "You too Casey" he said looking at her. I smiled and tried to hide the redness on my cheeks by looking down.

After dancing with Casey, we decided to sit down. It was a good thing we did because the DJ started to play a slow song.

Casey and I were in conversation when Ashton came over and stood next to Casey.

"Can I steal her away for a little bit?" Ashton said asking me.

"Oh yeah, I don't want her anyways" I said smiling at Casey.

"Casey, will you dance with me?" Ashton said holding his hand out.

I saw Casey contemplate in her mind for a second, and I cursed her under my breath, telling her to just go and stop overthinking it. Finally she put her hand in his and walked off. She looked back at me like she was going to make a fool out of herself and I was terrible for letting her do it. I just smiled and shook my head at her, mouthing 'you'll be fine'.

I pulled my phone out of my purse checking my messages and I snuck a few pictures of Casey and Ashton when I heard Luke clear his throat.

"Hey Luke" I said looking up at him.

"Having fun?"

"Yeah" I smiled. I knew people hated one word answers, but I was bad at small talk. Plus Luke was making me nervous, as usual.

"Wanna dance?" Luke said smiling at me.

"Oh uh" I stuttered. "I don't dance" I said shaking my head at the dance floor and trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.

"Everyone dances" Luke said to me.

"Oh it's not that I don't... I actually can't" I admitted. I was the worst dancer; I didn't even plan on doing a first dance at my own wedding because I was so terrible and didn't want to embarrass myself.

"I don't believe it, not until I experience it" he said with a small nervous smile. I argued with myself in my mind. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Luke, but Luke was asking ME out to dance.

"Trust me I'm probably no better" he said once again.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you" I said standing up. Luke held out his hand and I took it, letting him lead me to the dance floor. Of course we went over right next to Ashton and Casey.

"How did you get her over here?" Casey asked in utter shock.

"Just takes charm, Casey" he said to her, gloating, then winking at me causing more butterflies to fly in my stomach.

I really don't dance. Yet, here I was letting Luke spin me in circles, and swaying me on the dance floor. I will admit Luke made it bearable, because following his lead made things easier for me, yet I still managed to step on his feet a couple of times.

"Sorry" I mumbled after stumbling and lightly stepping on his foot yet again. I let out a sigh of complete disappointment. I didn't want Luke to be bored or anything.

"Stop saying that" he said looking down at me smiling, "you're fine"

I nodded and continued to follow him. I looked up at him, giving him a small smile. I noticed our height difference. Luke made me feel so tiny compared to him. The song came to the end and I let out a sigh. Even though I was probably horrendous, dancing with Luke went a lot better than expected.

"Thanks" I said looking up at him.

"No thank you. And for the record, you're not that bad" he said. I looked over at Casey. We high fived as we walked back to the table then sat down.

"I could really go for some ice cream" Casey said.

"Oh me too." I said pulling out my phone to see if any place was still open. There weren't many people left at Ashton's since it was close to 11:30. I groaned because my phone was being so slow.

"Hey Ash, what's your Wifi password?" I said looking at him across the table.

"I actually don't know. I can go inside and get it if you like?" he asked, getting up.

"I got it on my phone Ash" Luke said, "it's one of the long one with the letters, can I text it to you that way you can copy and paste?"

"Yeah here" I said taking Luke's phone, typing my number into a new message.

After receiving Luke's message, I copied and pasted the code before finding a place still open on a Saturday night.

"Hey sweet frog is still open" I said looking around at the table. We all agreed might as well go get some ice cream since the party died down. We all got up and crammed into Ashton's car.

As soon as I got home, I went upstairs and changed before crawling right into bed to relax. Right as I finished Paper Towns, I heard my phone ring.

"Hey" I said answering Casey's call.

"Hi I just wanted to tell you, Ashton and I think Luke has a crush on you."

I started laughing because this sounded like we were in middle school. I really didn't like people being involved in my business and plus, they were wrong.

"Doubt it, what's going on with you and Ash?" I said trying to avoid the subject. I didn't want to get my hopes up. No boys ever liked me, and I was not going to believe the first boy who did was Luke. Also, I didn't want to be up gossiping until 3AM, I was not that type of girl.

"Nothing, I mean we like each other, well I really like him but he hasn't said anything. I think he likes me....... Anyways, we're gonna go get dinner on Tuesday"

"I bet he does like you, Casey. Why wouldn't he? Also, Did you really call me to just pester me about Luke?"

"Kind of. You guys would be really cute Bailey"

"Yeah yeah, I'm going to sleep goodnight" I said laughing.

When I hung up, I decided to text Luke anyway.

*Thanks for putting up with me and my horrendous dancing.*

I plugged my phone into the charger, but as I was waiting for Luke's reply I started to drift off into sleep.

I fluttered my eyes open, realizing that I was so tired I feel asleep. The clock on my wall said "2:13 AM" I clicked the home button on my phone seeing I had a text from Luke.

I opened it quickly, scanning over the message.

*My pleasure. But stop saying that, it wasn't that bad :-)* I found myself laughing at Luke's ugly smiley face.

*Sorry I fell asleep, but so you do admit it was bad, just not THAT bad :)*

I decided Luke was probably asleep so I locked my phone and went back to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt the soreness in my legs from the heels, standing, and dancing. I stretched out before checking my phone curious if Luke had texted me back.

*It's okay, I did too. Good morning :-) It wasn't bad in general, Bailey. Just accept it* I read and laughed at how persistent Luke was.

*Good morning :) Fine, I won't believe it, but I'll accept it. Happy?*

I sat up, deciding what I wanted to do, besides sit around and wait for Luke to text back. It was already almost noon so I hopped into the shower. I took a long shower, remembering my dance with Luke. Everything about it was perfect. I heard my phone ring when I was showering, and it made me want to hurry up in case it was Luke. I then scolded myself for acting that way. I needed to calm down before I got my hopes up.

After laying in bed for a few more minutes, I got in the shower.

I got out of the shower, dried off, and then checked my phone. I saw Luke's name appear and I began to smile.

*yeah yeah, good enough.*

*Yeah better be :)*

Luke and I texted back and forth for hours.

*School just ended like two weeks ago, and I haven't gone out or done anything but finish Prison Break on Netflix* I sent.

*I heard that show was good. I haven't either, just messing around on my guitar and more boring errands haha*

*At least you've left your house oops* I semi-regretted sending that because I didn't want Luke to think of me as the loser that I thought I was.

My phone started ringing, and I was shocked when Luke's name appeared on my screen.

"Hello?" I said into the phone confused.

"Hey, what are you doing right now?"

"Uh watching House on Netflix" I said hesitantly cursing myself for being so boring.

"Let's go do something" butterflies began to fly around in my stomach.

"Hmm, like what?" I asked with a laugh.

"Lunch and then I'll figure something out"

"Fine, pick me up at my house" I said with a huge smile on my face.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes" he said and then the line went dead.

-

A/N

Things are slowly picking up :)

I hope you guys like this, i'm finishing up the end of this story as we speak and I really love how far it came, so stick around!

I don't have much to say, but comments are nice ya know.

Next chapter Thursday!!!

uh ya you're cool and have a nice face.

bye :-)

-Ricki