Ashleys POV:
Its official, I am the most hated person at school right now. I walk along the gradually hushing hallway hand in hand with Luke. People look at us with outright disgust on their faces. I see Jade narrow her eyes at the two of us she approaches me and spits out “Laurel isn’t even cold in her grave yet" I am frozen to the spot, if one of my closest friends is still treating me like this how will everyone else act around me? I feel tears pool in my eyes and I don’t know what to say back to her, but I don’t need to Luke stares Jade down “Don’t say another word to her.” he turns to the crowd who are watching mouths open “If anyone says anything to hurt Ashley you’ll have me to deal with understand?” A few people nod their heads and I feel a surge of gratitude towards him, people can say what they want behind my back but now at least they won’t bother me.

I am sitting at home after the worst day I have had in a long time looking through pictures on my laptop of me and Laurel, its so hard to not think about her when I am home, she was as much a part of this house as the roof above our heads, every room carries so many memories of the two of us. I hear the bell ring and I get up to answer it, a familiar face greets me, Luke. He gives me a sad grin “Hey, beautiful” I do not look beautiful, in fact I probably look hideous but him saying it makes me feel warm inside. “Wanna come in?” I ask “No” he says and I feel my heart sink, he grins at me “I’m not coming in because were going out.” My smile is a mile long “Wait, gimme 10 mins I need to get ready.” “Why?” he asks “You look good to me” I ignore him and run upstairs, I will not go on my first date with my first love looking like this.

Fifteen minutes of hurried changing and half a bottle of hairspray later I am sitting in Luke’s car. “So where are we going?” I ask him “You’ll see” he replies mysteriously. We sit in comfortable silence, at the traffic lights he grabs my hand and doesn’t let go till we reach The Vine, an Italian restaurant that I love, I’m so happy I changed into my red dress, The Vine is not a place for lazy dressers. I climb out of my seat and Luke opens the door for me, a true gentleman. He links his arm through mine and we walk into the serene restaurant. The tables are candle lit and soft piano music plays. A waiter comes and shows us to our seats “Someone will be with you shortly” he says politely. We sit down and Luke smiles at me “You like it?” “I love it” I say and we sit there staring at each other with stupid grins on our faces. “You know when I realised I loved you?” Luke says suddenly I stutter not quite sure what to say and he carries on “It was at…Laurel’s party four years ago, after that game of Spin the Bottle do you remember?” I nod. Of course I remember.

5 years ago:
It had been a long day, but a good one parties at Laurels were always unforgettable, we all sat in a circle, me, Laurel, Luke, Callum, Jade, Michelle and Raymond. I knew who Laurel wanted to kiss, Callum. It was the year she had developed a huge crush on him, that she had apparently had for years, she seemed to develop crushes overnight that year. I knew who I wanted it to land on, Laurel had a mischievous smile on her face as she twisted the bottle it was my turn, I willed it to lan on Luke… and it did. The rules of the game were that the boy and the girl had to go into the kitchen for 8 minutes where they would spend time together and usually kiss.

Awkwardly, me and Luke trailed into the kitchen and i began to regret the bottle choosing him, we hardly spoke to each other and I didn’t know what to say. We took two seats and I tapped my foot nervously on the tiles. “So, Ashley whats up?” he said “Nothing much" I mumbled. “Why don’t you ever talk to me anymore?” he blurted out “We used to talk a lot and this year you kinda just drifted away from me, I miss you” my heart thumped so hurt I thought he must be able to hear it, HE MISSED ME! “I dunno” I shrugged trying to play it cool “But I missed you too” I smiled, he smiled and then her did something unexpected he reached a hand out and stroked a lock of my hair, I must have made a noise because he pulled back and looked embarrassed. We didn’t say another word to each other until Laurel came back to tell us our time was up. I didn’t think he even remembered.

I hear the slight cough of the waiter as I reminisce, I look up and am startled to see Calum in a white shirt, black waistcoat and tie staring down at us with hatred. “Listen, mate-“ Luke begins. Calum raises a hand and says “What would you like to order” harshly. Luke stares at me and I stare back, did he come here on purpose to make Calum jealous? How could he! Calum is one of my oldest friends and I don’t want him thinking I am part of this horrible display. “You know what” I say “I just lost my appetite.”

Notes

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