for the most part, this is a filler. sorry if it's boring

34| "are you in a band?"

"So you want to tell me what the hell just happened?" Ashton mumbles, after a long while. We've been driving quietly for at least fifteen minutes now, and sighing, I shake my head and lean back against the window; closing my eyes.

"Well, after you got punched incredibly hard in the jaw, you proceeded to tackle and then continuously punch Luke in the face," I murmur.

Besides me, Ashton huffs, "Yeah, okay, I didn't exactly ask for a recap, Annie. I was there. Just like, what the hell was it all about?"

I sigh, annoyed, "You called him a 'fucking weirdo', Ash. I'm thinking, maybe he got offended. Maybe he doesn't like being called out of his name."

When I open my eyes, Ashton is looking at me, his eyebrows narrowed in irritated confusion. Nodding, he bites his lip and looks away from me; drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

"What?" I whisper, turning to look out the window.

"Nothing, just ... why are you defending him? Just a second ago you were all screaming at him, and you were mad and now it's just l- "

Cutting him off, I sit up in my seat and say, "I'm not defending anyone."

"But, yo-"

"It doesn't matter, just stop talking about it," I mumble.

Ashton sighs, briefly closing his eyes, and he winces, "Man, my jaw hurts like fucking hell."

"Here, this should help." Leaning down I grab my satchel and sift around until my fingers close around the still cold bag of frozen peas. Shifting over, I gently press it against Ashton's cheek, "For the swelling."

Quickly turning his eyes away from the road, he glances at it and then up at me, a small smile lifting his lips, "Um?"

Glad that I managed to distract him from both Luke and the pain, I lean back and sigh, "I know, it's weird, but it does work."

"I know, I've done it before." He admits, nodding, "What I wanna know is why you're carrying them around in your bag?"

I lift my sprained arm, "That's why."

Ashton looks at me, before a soft smile turns up the corners of his mouth, "In the mood for a burger?"

"Always."

--

"I seriously don't understand how  you can't love pickles," Ashton laughs, reaching over the table and  picking the small, sliced dill pickles up off my plate. I watch, skeptically, as he leans his  head back before dropping them into his mouth; nodding his head as he  swallows them down, "You're insane."

"No, you're insane," With a quiet laugh, I shake my head and turn my attention back to the small diner around us.

Ashton drove us here, claiming that they had the best burgers and it'd be worth it. It's just outside of our town, a pit stop for truck drivers, and I couldn't deny not wanting to eat here. The whole place sorta just deemed, dirty?

It's not all how I would imagine a diner to be. You know, retro and cool with neon signs and bar chairs that spin with classy checkered floors. Instead, it's dimly lit and incredibly small. It smells weirdly of coffee and french fries, and yellow cushion seeps from the torn pleather booths that we're sitting in and rubs uncomfortably against my bare thigh.

Granted, the place manages to amaze me with their food, and even more, it helps to take my mind off of Luke. Leaning over, I pluck another french fry from the container we're sharing and slowly I push it through my teeth, "So, like where exactly did you find this place?"

"It's a ... long story," Ashton nods.

"Well, make it short."

He rolls his hazel eyes at me and takes a bite out of his burger, chewing slowly. I motion for him to get on with it, and with a huff he swallows and says, "Fine. I was a kid, I got in a fight with my mom. Ran away, tire blew, ended up here."

I laugh, narrowing my eyebrows, "Well what was it about?"

"What?"

"The fight?"

Ashton sighs, and leans back in his seat, "According to her, drumming isn't a real job."

Chuckling, I nod in amusement and wipe my fingers free of salt and crumbs onto my shorts, "Well, she's right. It's not."

Eyes widen slightly, like he can't believe me, and he sits up, "It is."

"Not."

"Annie, are you dumb? Do you not know of, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr? Any of those names ring a bell?" He stares at me, expecting me to say something and I deadpan, "Hello, woman. Famous rock drummers?"

Leaning back in my seat, I eat another french fry and stare at him as I chew. Ashton runs a hand through his hair, and shakes his head,

"Annie, the drums are the essential backbone of a band. With no drummer, who's gonna get the audience engaged, or you know, bobbing their head to the beat?"

I laugh, I mean he's right, but, "Ashton, are you in a band?"

He hesitates, "I mean, n-"

"Are you ever gonna be in a band?"

"Mayb-"

"Exactly, so as of right now, it's not really a job. You should probably hang onto that day job of yours."

"I hate my day job," Ashton mutters, dropping his elbow on the table before leaning his head in the palm of his hand.

"I think you look hot in red," I smirk, playfully. He frowns, further. "Well, hey! On the bright side, you still have me. And let's not forget this amazing diner, with these incredibly delicious burgers."

"Great," he mumbles, with mock happiness.

Brushing my hair from my  eyes, I smile over at him, and use my free hand to reach out and ruffle his curls. Glancing out the windows, I notice that it's getting darker outside, and I realize that sooner or later I'm gonna have to go home.

The thought soon leads me back to thinking about Luke, and I internally sigh. Some part of me wishes I had never left, and how I really just want to be back home with him. With a slight  sigh and a small smile for Ashton's sake, I lift my burger to my mouth and take a  bite.

Chestnut eyes watch me in amusement and with my mouth closed, I smile wildly, exaggerating my chewing. Ashton laughs, "Annie, there's ketchup all over your mouth."

Flushing at a failed attempt to be cute, I lift the back of my hand, wiping it away.

One edge of Ashton's  mouth is scrunched up on the side, revealing one his incredibly cute dimples, and he laughs, "I could have gotten it off for you," he  pauses, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, I like ketchup,  and I definitely like your lips and it could have taken two se-"

"Hope you're not implying that you were gonna lick my mouth." I blink, straight-faced, "Because that's disgusting."

"Relax, I was joking!" He laughs. "By the way, before I got punched in the face, what the hell were we supposed to do today?"

I shrug. Originally, I had just planned on driving around. I didn't have an exact place in mind, I really just wanted to get out of the house. But seeing as though Luke didn't exactly agree with that, here I am, sitting across from a beat up guy, eating burgers in some shady ass diner practically in the middle of nowhere.

Which I guess, isn't really that bad.

A hand goes to his hair, and he laughs lightly. "So what was the big fuss with your brother about?"

I roll my eyes at him, waiting for him to reword his question, and when he obliviously takes another bite of his burger, I sigh.

"Ashton, I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to keep telling you, he's not my brother," I whine, "He's Andrew's son."

"So, you're stepbrother?"

"Not yet. Our parents aren't married."

"Same difference."

Narrowing my eyebrows, irritated, I say, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Whatever, ready to get out of here, babe?"

There's that word again. So carefree and easily mentioned, like he's said it a hundred times before.

"Uh, y-yeah, come on." I try and I swear I  almost get away with it, but the minute I look back up at Ashton, a  furious blush breaks out all over my face. I tug on my bottom lip with  my teeth, and attempt to subtly covered my cheeks with my hair.

"Hm, that's a sight to behold." It's quiet for a second, hell -- probably even less than  that, before Ashton suddenly bursts out laughing, "You're blushing, because I called you,  babe?"

And the blush grows  stronger, "No." I focus on cleaning up my area, and I block  out the sounds of a certain ash blonde haired boy laughing at me. His  sneakered feet kick at my shins underneath the table, and I huff at  how immature he's being.

"Ashton, shut your mouth. Or this whole bottle of ketchup is gonna be thrown upside of your head."

"Yeah, you and your brother definitely have the same violent traits going on. I can see the resemblance."

"You're so funny," I huff. "Seriously, shut up. He's not my brother."

"But, babe," He grins, emphasizing the word, "Babe, I don't want to shut up."

"Ashton, stop." Groaning, I pick at the remains of my food, shoving random pieces of bread around my plate as Ashton laughs.

"You should know, I call everyone, babe. Even Chelsea," He grins, flicking a strand of his  hair from off his forehead. "But I might have to call you that more often. I quite like seeing you all flustered, it's definitely not everyday I get to see that."

"Don't make it a habit."

"I might," he says, still smiling. "No, but seriously, we should go. I wanna show you something and then I'll take you home, before your brother puts out a missing persons report."

I roll my eyes, "He's not my brother."

Ashton chuckles, standing and helping me out of the booth, "Your stepbrother."

"You're annoying."

---

After about ten minutes of walking down the empty street away from the diner, I sigh and turn to Ashton, "Alright, where are we going?"

"You'll see," With a laugh, he looks behind us, and then takes off across the street, yelling for me to 'catch him if I can'.

Shaking my head, I squint my eyes after him. There's a playground directly across the street, and I watch as Ashton jumps clumsily over a see-saw, before running to the edge of the park and disappearing completely behind a large bush.

"Ashton?" I call out.

"Come find me!"

Rolling my eyes, I cross my arm over my chest and cross the street, where the park is. It's old and aged and   the rusty swing set creaks in the blowing wind; moonlight dim against   fake metal slides. There's a bush all the way at the end of the field and I   hurry towards it, before quietly tiptoeing behind it. To my surprise, I end up coming face to face with a grassy hill that dips   low through a cluster of wild raspberry trees.

"What the hell?" I smile, looking around. Stumbling down the hill, I'm met with a large, scenic river.

Clear, natural flowing whitewater, streams quickly downhill and I shiver in my thin t-shirt; the   air suddenly becoming much cooler due to  the breeze blowing up the stream.

"Ashton?" I call, taking a small step forward.

"Ssh, over here."

Squinting my eyes in the dark, I look around, "Where?"

"To your right."

And then I see him, standing on the edge of the river, attempting to skip stones across the water with a smirk on his lips. "Welcome," Ashton lifts  his chin, looks at me for a long moment and then quietly whispers, "This is my safe place." Even with his bruised jaw, and split lip, his face  is handsome; hazel green eyes alight in the dark.

"Come on, there's a clearing just over here."

I smile, "You sure you're not gonna go crazy and kill me?"

"If I'm going crazy Annie, it's only for you." He winks, then turns around, heading down the bank.

"Wait up!" I laugh.

We brush through a   tangle of bushes, swatting at the tiny thorns to keep our faces from   being scratched and then jump, stone by stone, across a smaller stream   of water to where a small area of land is. Wildflowers and yellow weeds, litter the hills, and I smile appreciatively.

"Wow, it's so nice here."

"I know," he whispers back at me.

Turning around, Ashton motions to a large rock that juts out flat at the top, and he gently   lifts me by my waist up onto it. I sit, knees up, my arms   around them and I wait patiently for him to climb on next to me; his   long legs dangling.

Moonlight shines down, and with  the river smell surrounding us, warm and brackish, I feel more safe and   at home then I've ever felt before.

"Ashton?" I say. Or sigh.

"What's up?" He picks up a rock and hurls it far out in the water.

"I never apologized for the whole Luke thing."

Looking over at me, he shrugs, "It's cool. I kind of deserved it, I called him out of his name, like you said."

"Still, I just want you know that I really am sorry, alright? We were supposed to just hang out and you ended up getting punched in the jaw, so I'm sorry."

He doesn't say anything   for a while, watching the ripples grow wider and wider. But then he   shrugs, "You're alright, Annie."

With a soft smile, I lean back, flat against the rock, and look up into the deep azure sky. Ashton lies down next to me, and points.

"Little Dipper."

We watch it sparkle in   the sky for a few minutes, then he reaches over and gently, but almost   warily takes my hand, squeezes it and holds on.

"My mom is having a wedding rehearsal dinner," I whisper.

Ashton narrows his eyebrows, "That's nice."

I shrug, "Yeah, well we haven't booked a band to play yet." It's quiet for a minute, and I continue, "I'm curious to find out what you have to offer."

"Are you asking me to pl-"

"Yeah, I am. Get together a great band and you're in."

Ashton sits up on his elbows, smiling wide and he ducks his head slightly to look at me, "Seriously? I mean, no offense, but it's not exactly your wedding."

"Perks of being the maid of honor," I grin. "You have the responsibility of deciding who plays at the wedding."

"Wow," Ashton laughs, rifling his hand through his hair anxiously, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, but your band has to be like really good. You've met my mom, she won't let anything ruin her idea of a perfect wedding."

"Yeah, yeah I know. I won't let you down," he gushes.

"Do a good job here, and I'll hire you to play at the wedding." With a smile, I shrug, "Maybe I'll even let you be my date."

He rolls his eyes, still smiling, and he gently reaches out and moves hair from my face, "I feel like saying thanks would be understating how grateful I really am."

"Wouldn't hurt to hear it."

"Thank you," Aston allows. He brings my hand up to his mouth and softly rubs his lips against my skin before pressing a kiss to it, "So much."

The river sighs, Ashton lays back down besides me, my head in the crook of his arm, and my heart beat slows down to a lazy thump.

And even though, this is exactly where I   want to be, right here in this moment with Ashton, in his safe place, listening to the   sounds of the river with his lips on my skin, I can't get the sight of a certain blue eyed boy out of my mind.

--

Later that night, after I made Ashton assure me a couple dozen times that he'd be okay walking home alone, I take Luke's mix tape from my CD player and tuck it into my satchel before making my way up the driveway.

Nor Andrew or my moms car is here, and I sigh gratefully, before unlocking the door and slipping inside. The lights are off, and I kick my shoes off by the door; setting my keys on the vanity table.

Blindly I make my way into the kitchen, and when I turn on the kitchen light, the sight of a boy huddled over the table, writing, makes me scream.

"Shit, Luke you scared me," Letting out a relieved deep breath, I press my hand to my chest, feeling the crazy beat of my heart, and lean back against the door frame.

"Why are you writing in the dark?" I ask, trying to distract myself from feeling embarrassed.

Blue eyes glance up to meet mine and he blinks impassively, before turning his attention back to the pile of papers in front of him. I swallow, and lift myself up.

There's headphones in his ears and he's carefully writing something down. There's a cut on both his lip and his eyebrow, and underneath his eye it's bruised a purplish-red. My stomach knots at the sight, and I can't help but think that, this is all my fault. He looks so much different now, as opposed to the pale, charming, insanely gorgeous guy that I'm used to looking at, and I swallow.

What the fuck did you do, Annie?

Setting my bag down on the table, I slowly walk over to him, and gently take his chin between my fingers; lifting his face up towards me, "This is all my fault."

Luke tugs his chin out of my grasp, and annoyed he reaches up and takes his earphones out, "Anastasia, I can't hear a thing you're saying."

"I'm so sorry, Luke," I whisper, my voice cracking. "I am so, so sorry."

Cornflower blue eyes soften, setting his jaw, and I sniffle, "I'll be right back, stay here okay?"

"It's not like I have anywhere to go."

Sighing softly, I turn around and race upstairs to get the first aid kit from Luke's bathroom. In the mirror, I stare at myself; mentally cursing myself out.

This is your fault. Both Ashton and Luke are bruised and hurt, and you have not one scratch to show for the fight you practically caused. Grabbing the kit, I wipe any escaped tears furiously from underneath my eyes and I head back downstairs.

"Hey, I'm back." With another sniffle, I set the kit down and automatically I began rifling through it; looking for anything that could help heal him. The tall boy in front of me, sighs, and then he shifts so that I'm completely in front of him; his long legs parted, with me in between them.

"Annie," Luke whispers quietly, "I really don't think Neosporin is gonna fix a black eye."

"Ssh, I'll make you better, I promise." Fishing out a band-aid, I hold it up, "You like Batman, right?"

Luke stares at me for a long moment, his eyebrows slightly pulled down in confusion, and then he nods, "Yeah, yeah Batman will work."

"Great," I hiccup. Leaning over I grab a cotton ball and press it to the lid of the peroxide before slightly flipping the bottle over enough to wet it, "Come here."

I press it gently against his eyebrow, cleaning it, and then I grab the Neosporin and squeeze some out onto the cut, "You're gonna be alright, Luke, I promise."

Blue eyes look up at me, and I nod at him. Looking down, I tear open the band aid and press it over his eyebrow.

"Your supposed to use the small one," Luke says.

"Ssh, this one has character," I mumble, "Literally."

Luke sighs and then blinks, "Are you done, Annie?"

Shaking my head, I gently run my fingertips underneath the bruise underneath his eye. He flinches, and then reaches up, taking hold of my wrist and seizing my movements.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, "You should put some ice on that. Or you know, some vegetables."

"Will do."

"Let's fix this lip." I say, turning my attention back to the first aid kit. Rifling through it I look for anything that could help him. Unfortunately there's nothing, and I turn to him; suddenly getting an idea.

Leaning forward, I gently press my lips softly against the corner of his mouth, where his cut is. "Better?"

"Much," he whispers. His hand gently squeezes my bare thigh, and Luke pushes his chair back, "Goodnight."

Standing up, he quickly packs up his papers, and then he shuffles past me and upstairs, into his room. For some reason, I feel, I don't know ... rejected? Sitting down at the table, I lean my head down on the table, closing my eyes. Maybe Luke really is just sick of me wasting his time.

----

AN - prepare for a long ass announcement .-. thanks for reading, pls comment and vote ;D

bc i got like over 100+ messages regarding to those shout outs, I decided I'm gonna give the first few to people who had the most recent updates, and great story plots that I'd thought you all would like.

here ya go:

to flee a planet [sci-fi, ranked #956] - Some people say that the discovery of Vesta saved mankind. Some say Vesta ruined it.I have never known a time without it. betweentheseworlds

this isn't right // a.i - 16, almost 17, year old junior, Adeline Rain has always felt uncomfortable whenever she was around 18 year old senior, Ashton Irwin. Ashton, unknowingly, feels extremely strong for Adeline, yet he shows it by hurting her. Will she stand up for herself, or let Ashton take advantage of her? lalalandluke

otherwise / luke hemmings / 5sos - in which a shy outcast gets paired with dreamy all-you'd-ever-want Luke Hemmings xforeverfangirlingx

two worlds // luke hemmings - "Why would she be jealous anyway, Luke?" I gulp."Because--" His eyes travel from mine to down my body and up again, locking their gaze into my mouth. "she thinks you're a threat." lukeythehemmings

5sos imagines - self explanatory marisaxmckay

the real secret life of an american teen / luke hemmings - in which an average teen learning to handle her bipolar disorder and being constantly cyber bullied by the fans of her boyfriend Luke's, band, struggles to learn to how to stop self harming and to love herself jennahemmings16

just want to feel something [teen fiction] - imagine having to relive your love of your life's suicide over and over again. disorted-thoughts

you & i || m.c - "no, you see, there is a problem. and the problem between you and I, is you." kariclifford

-

if your not here no worries, there's still like a bunch more chapters to go ;D i'll shout you out, promise.