Luke's P.O.V

"Fuck!" I yelled and threw the hoodie I was struggling with at the wall.

"Okay," Eli said, raising his hands in a defensive position. "That's the fifth thing you've thrown in the last five minutes."

"I don't fucking care!" I shouted. "I just royally fucked up!"

"I know," Eli said calmly, which only irritated me further. "You said it three times."

"Just shut up!" I yelled, sweeping my hand at the doorway. "Just leave for all I care!"

Now Eli looked irritated. "No, you shut up. I'm here trying to help you with your girlfriend, which I don't have to do, by the way, so shut up and listen to me.

I shut up and listened to him.

"Look, you "royally fucked up,"' Eli quoted. "But Jesus Christ,don't give up. It was your first fight. She didn't even break up with you, technically. And you still need to apologize," Eli said sternly.

"I know," I said. "But how?"

I asked the question like a child, chin trembling. I started crying like a baby and buried my face in my hands.

Eli sighed and muttered something under his breath like, "God help me," before placing his hand on my shoulder. "Look, Luke, you just have to man up and apologize. Allie probably doesn't hate you," he added reassuringly.

"Thanks," I sniffled.

"Okay, bad choice of words," Eli apprehended. "But still, Allie's really into you."

"You think so?" I asked.

Eli smiled kindly. "I know so."

"Help me," I sniffled, looking at Eli pleadingly. Please help me apologize, I thought.

He sighed. "Dude, I have been trying to help you. Now go and apologize."

I huffed, but Eli fixed me with a stern glare and pointed to the door.

"Just give me a minute," my voice cracked. "To pysch myself up."

Eli nodded understandingly and left me alone, closing the door gently behind him.

Allie's P.O.V.

I wiped at my nose, hoping Finley wouldn't think that I was gross. In my defense, I didn't have Kleenex and I had been crying. Sue me.

"Okay, so what do you want to do?" Finley asked quietly.

I hiccuped. "Go home."

Finley smiled, but I could tell that she wanted a serious answer out of me. "About Luke, Allie," she said gently.

I shrugged. "I don't know. He was being such an asshole before."

She sighed. "I know. And," she hesitated. "But I've known him a lot longer than you, and he gets like that sometimes. He's been really mean to me before even when I didn't do anything. And from what I heard, you have a legitimate reason to be mad at him."

"Besides him telling me to go back to Australia?" I asked.

Finley nodded. "Well, yeah. You said he was just using you for sex, right?"

I sighed then nodded. "Yeah. Well, at least that's what it seemed like to me. Whenever he came over to hang out, he always tried to get in my pants."

She winced. "Yeah, that's pretty bad."

"But its not like, that's all it was," I was quick to reassure her. "We talked too, I know a lot about him."

Finley arched an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"I know that Ryan Reynolds is his idol, and that Fall Out Boy is his favorite band," I offered.

Finley shrugged. "Okay, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he used you."

I looked down at my hands. That was true. I'm not sure why I was defending Luke after what he just did to me. He was an asshole. But... I loved him.

"Look, I know that my brother can be an asshole, but I also know that he is a great person," Finley said. "He's a bit rough around the edges, and he doesn't exacly know how to treat a girl right, but that's why I like him with you. You were teaching him to be a better person. He spent more time with me while he was dating your than he had in six months."

My heart gave a little thump at the "was dating" but I responded, "And no offense to you spending time with your brother, but even I was making him a better person, he really wasn't making me a better person. And to me, I think that's fair in a relationship, that each person makes the other be a better person and that they want to be a better person for each other."

Finley listened and nodded. "That's true."

"And he wasn't making me a better person," I finished.

Finley looked thoughtful. "Well, I'm not going to tell you you have to make up with him, because I don't know everything that was going on, but you're right. If he's not making you a better person and you're only there as an outlet for him, which is what it sounds like, then I would either leave or have a serious discussion with him."

I stared at her, then said, "You know, you're pretty smart."

She grinned. "Well, I try." her expression then sombered. "But you need to figure out what to do."

I groaned and buried my face in the back of the front seat. "Adulting is hard," I whined.

"Life is hard," Finley corrected. "But that doesn't mean it isn't worth living."

I swear, Finley was some kind of ancient philosopher in disguise. "Okay, I'll think about it," I said.

Finley nodded understandingly. "That's fair. You need more than just a minute to think about it," she stretched and turned to the door.

She opened it and climbed out before turning back to me. "Think about it, I'm going to go check on Eli, but if you're going to go home come in and say bye to me," she said. 

I nodded. "Okay."

She closed the door and walked up to her front door, twisitng the knob and disappearing inside. Finley was a good friend, and a smart one. I did need to reevaluate our relationship. I think the problem was, besides him using me as an outlet, that I cared more for him than he did for me. I think the first step in repairing this is having a good talk about how we felt for each other.

And if he didn't love me, then I was gone.

Luke's P.O.V

I spent the next half an hour pacing back and forth in my room, practicing my apology before I even thought about going downstairs.

I had changed into sweats and a T-shirt and was pacing.

Hey, Allie, I'm sorry I told you to go back to Australia, please stay.

I shook my head. No.

I'm really sorry, Allie. I didn't mean anything I said, I was just angry.

I shook my head more forcefully. Definetely not.

 Allie, I love you, please stay.

I groaned and flopped onto my bed. I couldn't think of a good enough apology. They all sounded like shit to me. Fuck it, I just went downstairs, grabbing a blanket and holding around my shoulders making it trail after me like a cape.

I found Finley talking to Dad and Eli was nowhere to be found.

She turned to look and me and I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again, having no words to speak.

"You're an idiot," she informed me, eyes a little dark.

"I know," I croaked.

Now she gave me a once over and then asked, a little amused and a little concerned, "What did you do?"

"I shouted, punched some stuff and then cried for the last half hour," I said flatly.

"Oh," she said awkwardly.

My nose dripped and when sniffing didn't stop the flow, I wiped my nose.

"Do you, um, want a tissue?" Finley asked awkwardly.

I shot her a blank look.

"What?" she asked.

"Don't try and act like you feel sorry for me, I messed up, it's my fault, don't even try to make me feel better," I said.

Just then, the door opened and all of our heads turned to it. 

Allie stuck her head in and said, "Hey, Finley? I'm just gonna go..."

She stopped dead when she saw me, her expression slighty sad but a hell of a lot more angry.

I felt like I was stuck in place. "Allie," I breathed.

"Um, yeah?" she said, still angry.

"You're still here," I felt like I was stating the obvious, but I was shocked. I thought she left hours ago.

She snorted. "Thanks, Captain Obvious."

I looked and my feet and mustered all the courage I had. "Allie, I'm so, so sorry-"

Allie held up a hand to stop me, effectively cutting me off. "Save it, you idiot. I don't want to be here. If i had it my way, i would be long gone, out of your face, but your lovely sister made me stay here to talk to her. And for your information-"

I stepped forward, shutting her up with a kiss. She could yell at me later right now I wanted to apologize. She made a muffled sound into my mouth and she tried to pull away but I held her tightly. I tried to convey my sorrow through my kiss, tell her I was sorry, and I needed her and I loved her and I hope she needed me.

I pulled back a little and whispered, "I love you."

Her entire body relaxed into mine and she wrapped her arms round my waist. "Yeah, I love you too, you stupid idiot."

I smiled so big my cheeks hurt. I pulled her in and just hugged her tighytly and whispered 'I love you' over and over again in her ear. 

She held me tightly too but instead, she whispered, "We need to talk.

I agreed, but right now, I was happier that I had my sassy Allie back.

__________________________________________________________________

Hey guys. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a a month, and I need to talk to you guys about that.

High school is hard. I'm still adjusting to a new school system, and I had exams week a couple weeks ago and they literally were the hardest thing I've ever had to do in school. I actual studied, and I don't study. Ever. Then second semester started, and I have to adjust to new teachers and more homework. Plus, I've just gotten a job and its hard to balence working three days a week with school, especially since I work at least six hour shifts after school and eight hour shifts on the weekends. I'm really sorry that I didn't update.

It sucked to see those days ticking by but honestly, I really didn't feel any sense of motivation to write. Writing used to be really fun for me, but now its a bit hard to simply write for fun. I enjoy it, but updates might come a little bit more slowly for me.

As for an update schedule, I'll try and update when I can, but they might not be that frequent. Once I'm settled into my job and school has calmed down a bit, hopefully I'll write a little bit faster. I don't want to become one of those authors that update every six months, but now I understand why it takes them so long.

Please understand, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Love ya,

-taylor