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"Just because he was with another girl doesn't mean anything..." I argued with Becky and the boys. By the boys, I mean Luke's friends who we only hang out with on occasion.

"Listen Gab this looks pretty relationship like to me." Ashton fought back.

"Why would I care? We aren't anything but friends.." I huffed lying straight through my teeth. The photo hurt me a lot more than I was showing.

"Yeah that's why he gave you those love bites" Calum giggled at Michael's sassy comment receiving a pillow to his face.

"Who the fuck told you?"

"Woah Woah- calm down little darling...don't blame the receivers blame Becky. She told us" I snapped my head over to a guilty looking Becky.

"Becky?! You betrayed me!"

"What? It's not my fault I had to tell them. They're nice to me"

"That's not how it works, Beck." I groaned while hiding my face in my hands.

"Just tell us the truth. Are you madly in love with our best friend"

"Fine then- no." I rolled my eyes at their child-like behavior.

"Oh come on. I know that photo is upsetting you why don't you just say it"

"I won't deny that. I just feel like he was only there because of Amy"

"Oh god, what is this? A classic chick flick? No thanks. While we're at it why don't we masturbate and cry into a slice of pizza?"

"What kind of chick flicks have you been watching Michael?" Calum asked Mikey who's reaction was a bored shrug.

"We probably shouldn't be talking about this now Luke said he'd be here any minute." Ash was by far the most mature of our group. He always tried to help people as much as he could- the total opposite to Michael.

As if by magic the door flung open to reveal a very red-cheeked boy. The sight of him made my heart melt inside. His hair was in a half quiff but also flattened at the back. His cheeks were all rosy from the cold wind outside and his shirt had a few buttons undone at the top.

When he saw our faces looking expectantly at him his face cracked into a warm smile. He scanned the group to find my eyes making him smile even more. He sat on the floor next to me where he tried to talk to me.

"Hey princess" for no reason other than the fact my friends are nosy everyone was staring at us.

"Hi" I coldly shuffled a bit further to my left away from Luke. His face dropped slightly but he slid back over to me. His hand took mine and he tried to make me smile.

"What's up baby girl?"

"That's not my name" I stated harshly.

"Of course it isn't I just thought you liked it...sorry princess" his head hung low making me immediately feel guilty. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

"Anything you say to me you can say to everyone" I looked at Luke like he was uninteresting even though I genuinely thought he was more interesting than a lot of things.

"Oh, O-okay...uhm...why are you annoyed at me? Was it about the other night? I'm sorry it's just-"

"No, it isn't."

"Then what did I do princess? Why are you being like this."

"Why are you even here Luke?" I sighed looking into his eyes for the first time that night.

"Gabbie- no." I heard Becky's voice pipe up. "Don't do that. He doesn't understand"

"What don't I understand?" He turned to look at the group whose eyes were all on us.

"We saw the photo of you and that girl"

"What me and Lilith? We're just...friends."

"You seemed like damn close friends to me." I shook his hand off mine and got up. "I need some fresh air. Just start eating without me."

I let myself out remembering to pick up my coat on the way.

I simply sat on Ashton's apartment's steps for a few minutes before hearing the same voice again.

"Come on, princess. Not now, don't be like your sister"

"Excuse me? I was fine Luke, I would have gotten over you if you hadn't done this." I rubbed a part of my neck where I had applied 3 coats of concealer and foundation to reveal a less prominent love bite.

"Oh...that."

"Why did I even think this was going to happen? I'm so dumb."

"No, you aren't baby girl"

"I'm not your baby girl!" I stood up from the step balancing myself as I looked up at him. "You made me the fool and you the thief. Just tell the others I say goodbye. Tell Becky I'll be at our apartment" I sighed shoving my hands into my coat pockets.

"How will you get home?"

"I just will. Goodbye"

I felt a tear fall down my face. No, you can't cry in front of him. Now he thinks he's won and you're weak, I thought. I looked up to the sky, a technique I learned as a child, to stop my tears.

I regained my will to walk and walked down the steps. I didn't even reach the last one when I felt a warm hand bring me back.

"You may not be my baby girl, and you have every right to be pissed at me. But you're my friend. Stay here" My tears that had just left reappeared.

"Your Friend...oh yeah" I sniffled and stood back on the step Luke was on.

"You go in I'll just be a second." Luke nodded and hesitantly walked back inside.

See, you're just his friend. I told you you'll never be more, I thought.

After drying my tears and taking a few deep breaths I arrived back inside. A look of relief coursed through everyone's face as I sat back down.

Silence corrupted the room like the plague because one person was silent everyone else was too.

"You can keep talking" I spoke in a hushed tone.

At that point, everyone began to talk about anything and everything. Everyone was deep in conversation but me. Luke was talking to Cal but every now and again I would catch his eyes wander over to me. I spent the whole night with my face in my hands or asleep. Not that anyone noticed...