Ash’s POV

I managed to stay away from everybody I used to call friends although I still lived with and had to ride to school everyday with Alex. All I did was just make sure I never talked to him, and I walked away as soon as I could. There was no point for me making any new friends, because I was too afraid Luke would hate them too. But it was all for my own good, just like he told me over and over again. These people didn’t care about me, but he did and he actually made sure I knew that. So far these so-called ‘friends’ I used to have didn’t even try to figure out what was going on. They obviously couldn’t care less about me.

Driving back home in a car with Alex, Jack, and Rian was pretty awkward. They were all laughing together, enjoying themselves, while I was sat quietly in the back seat staring out of the window. I didn’t pay attention to Jack sitting just two feet away from me, I didn’t care about the story Rian and telling, and I didn’t give a fuck about the laugh that used to make me break out into a grin myself. However, when we finally pulled up on the driveway, I didn’t feel any better.

Luke was sitting on the steps in front of the front door, smoking a cigarette, probably waiting for me. I had no idea what he was doing; I had told him countless of times not to just randomly show up anymore. No, I didn’t say that because I was afraid, but I did it because I didn’t want anybody catch him punishing me. Whenever I did something bad, he made sure I knew it, and I had the bruises to prove it all. It was the reason why I always had to wear long sleeves and couldn’t wear crop tops.

But for some stupid reason, I still did what I did next. Thinking back, it was a stupid thing to do, but I just did it. I got out of the car as soon as it stopped and walked towards the guy I called my loving boyfriend. He smirked at me, but I just looked back at him unemotionally and grabbed the cigarette from his hand, throwing it on the floor before putting it out with my foot. His smirk immediately turned into a glare and his jaw clenched. It was a terrible mistake on my part.

“You said you’d stop smoking,” I pointed at the bent cigarette, bluntly stating a promise he had made when we just started dating.

“You see,” he said matter of factly, taking the entire packet out of his back pocket to get a new one, “I did, but I started again. Technically I didn’t break our promise.” It was obvious he was forcing a smile with Alex, Jack, and Rian around, but I could read the actual emotion in his eyes: hatred. He opened the packet and turned it to me, “want one?”

“No!” I exclaimed. Wasn’t it obvious I already hated it when he did it? Why the fuck would I want to smoke! That was the worst fucking logic there ever was.

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged, taking out one of the smokes, taking his lighter in the other hand.

I huffed out in frustration and sped walked right into the house, up the stairs and into the room. To be honest, I really didn’t care what the others saw and witnessed then. I just had had enough shit today already. Luke had been texting me in class, asking me way too many over protective class, and I got caught using my phone underneath the table. The teacher took my phone away, which lead to Luke freaking the fuck out, and I just knew that he was here to set me straight, even though I had already explained the whole situation to him. Apparently, he ‘loved me too much to not be concerned’.

“Oh, come on, babe,” I heard footsteps running up the stairs, adding a chuckle, “I was just kidding.”

But as soon as he entered my room and closed the door behind him, his whole demeanor changed. He wasn’t the joking guy that was trying to apologize to me… no, he was the complete opposite. Glaring at me, his breath became slightly heavier.

“Don’t ever fucking do that again!” he growled as he got closer to me, grabbing my hips tightly, probably creating bruises the size of his fingerprints. “Are you trying to make me seem like a bad guy!? I am not the bad guy here! Remember, I’m the one who cares about you, so don’t you dare try to bring me down!”

I nodded silently, he would realise my voice shaking if I dared to talk. It would only make things worse… it had happened before. He didn’t like it when I sounded weak, so it was better to keep my mouth shut than to show how fragile I was.

“I love you, ok?” he added after staring me in the eyes for a couple of seconds. When he pressed his lips forcefully against mine, I froze up. Tears were threatening to spill from my watery eyes, and I had to make sure he couldn’t feel my bottom lip tremble. This wasn’t what I wanted!

He pulled away, giving me a stern and weird look, “what the fuck is wrong with you? When I kiss you, you kiss me back! Don’t just stand there, you bitch!” Once again, he slammed his lips against mine, forcing my mouth open so he could explore it. The kisses weren’t as soft and gentle as they used to be, instead they were painful and terrifying.

“Hey, Ash- shit!” Rian stood there, looking at Luke and I with wide eyes, as if he had just walked in on something he shouldn’t have at all, yet he still continued to stand there and didn’t rush out, “we were just wondering if you were still coming tonight?”

“To what?” Luke asked him a bit too harshly.

“Umm… the Sum 41 concert… we kinda planned to go a couple weeks back,” Rian tried to carefully put it, not wanting to set Luke off more.

I looked up at Luke. I really, really wanted to go. They were definitely one of my favourite bands, and being able to see them live would be a dream come true. But it wasn’t going to happen tonight. The look Luke was giving me told me I better say no, or it would have serious consequences.

“Oh… I forgot about that…” I lied, hoping I wouldn't hurt the drummer with my rejection, “I don’t think I’ll come anymore, sorry…”

“Are you sure?” Rian doubted.

“Yes, she’s sure!” Luke snapped back, wanting to continue what he had started.

Rian quickly left without another word. I knew exactly how terrifying Luke could be, so I shouldn’t have blamed him, but it just made me feel like these people really didn’t care for me at all anymore.

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Alex’s POV

So… Ash wasn’t coming anymore… Although we didn’t talk or ever do anything together, I still hoped she would have decided to come with us. Rian went into her room to go check and see what her decision was, but apparently she was very busy with Luke. She was still the girl I liked, but something was different… something was missing. I hadn’t seen her beautiful smile in weeks, her eyes didn’t sparkle like before, and even though I’ll sound like an asshole for saying this, she didn’t show off her body anymore. Sure, she had always been the more conservative type, but it really had gone out of hand. All she wore were the same bland t-shirt with either a sweatshirt or a zip-up hoodie. Her hair wasn’t styled occasionally like she used to do for fun, and she only seemed fed up with things.

I thought it had something to do with Luke, but she kept insisting that they were doing just fine and that I didn’t need to worry. It was just the fact that he had threatened all of us on the same day that Ash came home with that black eye. She denied that it was from Luke doing it on purpose, but something seemed off about the whole story. This concert was going to be to moment when I was going to confront her about it and make her tell me everything. I was going to be there for her, and care there for her, just as a friend.

But that wasn’t going to happen anymore…

We were already on our way to the venue. Rian, Jack, and I first drove to Jack’s house to get the mini van, and then we went on our way to pick up the girls. Lianne didn’t live too far away, so she was with us in no time. Harper, however, lived in a, let’s say, different part of town. We were on our way to get her, when we all got a text on the group chat we had going on. It was Harper telling us that she couldn’t come; she had to babysit her brother since her dad wasn’t home from work yet, and her mom walked out a couple of minutes before. I felt bad for her and we all tried our best to be there whenever her parents had done something. However, Ahs was normally the one that would do most of it… but she was gone now. We were all a bit different with Ash being there, but not being present. Everything in me just screamed to turn this van around and go back home to get the girl that had blown us off earlier in the evening.

“Guys, since we have a spare ticket, maybe we can ask Luke to come,” I suggested, hoping they would agree. But only mentioning Luke wasn’t going to help at all, of course, “Ash is probably not coming to stay with him, if he can come she will probably come too. I mean, this is one of her favourite bands playing, she can’t just be saying no because she actually doesn’t want to come.”

“Well… we’ll have to ask Harper if she’s ok with it first,” Rian told me, not saying no to the plan.

So, I quickly sent Harper a text, repeating exactly what I had told my other friends before. I knew Harper really wanted her best friend back, and that she would do anything to make that dream come true. Maybe this was the first step to finally getting Ash back.

“Ok, we’re turning back around!” I grinned, tapping Jack against his shoulder, “Harper says it’s ok.”

And in no time, we were back at my house. Ash’s light was still on, telling me she was still in there. She never left her room with the light on, unless she was gone for a couple of seconds. So, I rushed up the stairs and opened up her door. There the couple was, the girl seated on the desk, while the boy was feeling her up, kissing her as hard as possible. Ash was trying to keep him away at arm’s length, while he kept pressing up harder against her. It was like there was a battle for space going on: Luke wanted it gone, Ash wanted more.

I cleared my throat, causing both of them to look at me. Luke looked so fed up and sighed loudly when he saw my figure standing in the doorway. I just gave them both a kind smile, as if what I had just witnessed didn’t faze me at all, “so, we have a spare ticket. We were wondering if you’d like to come.”

“Me?” Luke frowned, pointing at himself, while his other hand gripped Ash’s thigh tightly.

“Well, yeah,” I nodded, acting like I didn’t notice the anger and frustration in his voice, “we still have Ash’s ticket and Harper couldn’t come anymore… so both of you can go.”

Luke went to snap something back, but Ash opened her mouth before he could, “yes, that would be nice.”

She quickly jumped off her desk and grabbed her phone from the floor, before walking up to me. While she wasn’t watching, Luke glared at me and mocked her words, acting like he was slicing his throat, giving me the ‘I’m watching you’ signal. I completely ignored what he was telling me, and instead gave him the sweetest smile ever, “nice to know you’d love to come as well.”

He rolled his eyes and let out a quiet snort, grabbing his jacket from the bed. We all went out of the house together and got in the van. It actually seemed like the people already in it were surprised that I managed to get them both to come. However, it still wasn’t like Ash was our friend. She only gave everybody that awkward hello when you’re somewhere with only strangers. And that was what we basically were.

Because of our ‘small’ detour, we didn’t manage to get places at the front, and were instead stuck somewhere in the middle. But, the view was still amazing. Somehow we did stay together, however, and weren’t thrown apart by hyperactive people that would only push and shove to annoy others. We had also created a buddy system, in case we were to lose each other, though. It was a lot easier trying to stay close to one person, rather than a whole group. Of course, Ash and Luke were together the entire time, we didn’t even have to tell them our plan; Jack and Lianne were together, since Jack claimed it would be easier for him because she has hair that would stand out in the darkness, which left me stuck with my boy Rian. Oh well, it was better than nothing. Of course I would have rather wanted it to be Ash, so I could always stay close to her, but that was never going to happen.

Speaking of which, Luke really didn’t seem into it. This wasn’t exactly his type of music, and he’d just stand there, his arms wrapped around Ash while she was shouting a lot the lyrics. I knew she really wanted to go, and that Luke was what was holding her back. And it seemed to be working. Emphasis on seemed…

About half way through the set I couldn’t see them anywhere.

They weren’t next to me, they weren’t anywhere in the radius of a couple of feet. They were just simply gone.

Notes

We're finally getting closer, guys! Sorry for making the story move to slow... I have a tendency to do that. I can promise you, though, that it will all go down in the next chapter, just like the title of this one suggests.

Are you guys excited? What do you believe will happen? I wanna know if I've been hinting towards the right things.