Luke was laughing, and I was on the ground, my cheeks flaming in embarrassment.

"That was... so graceful," Luke remarked as he easily climbed over the fence and landed beside me.

I scowled at him as I stood up slowly, brushing myself off. "I think I broke my ass."

"You fell like three feet. You'll be fine," Luke said in exasperation. "Now come on."

I rolled my eyes but followed him as we ventured away from the fence and into the park. It was a pretty warm night considering it was February, and I was quite enjoying the quiet that the park brought. There was no one around, just us and the night.

"Let's sit," Luke suggested and he dropped down onto the ground, stretching his legs out and tilting his head back to look at the stars. I sat down next to him but instead of looking at the stars, I studied Luke. I let my gaze travel down his profile; his adorable nose, his lips and lip ring, his Adam's apple and his broad chest.

"You know," he said softly, turning slightly to look at me. "The stars are really pretty. They'd be a better thing to stare at."

I half smiled and murmured, "I don't know. You come pretty close."

Luke's lips parted in surprise, and I couldn't blame him. Usually I wouldn't have the balls to say something like that, but tonight felt different. It felt like we were the only ones in the world, and I could say anything I wanted to. I let my gaze drift away from Luke and up to the stars. It was a really clear night. I knew that Luke was now staring at me, and the corner of my mouth curled up in a grin. I pretended not to notice and instead I lay back so my neck wouldn't hurt from looking at the sky. The ground was cold but I didn't mind. After a moment Luke lay down too, his shoulder pressing against mine.

"I'm not going to pretend I know anything about stars and tell you all about the constellations and shit," Luke whispered, his breath stirring my hair.

"Me neither," I whispered back, and suddenly we were laughing together at god knows what. But it felt good to really laugh properly, especially with Luke. Being around him made me feel better, happier, like all the shit with my mom and Nathan never happened. When our laughter died down I moved closer to him and absent-mindedly traced patterns on his chest with my finger, my head fitting in the crook of his neck. Luke's nose, then lips brushed over my hair and I sighed softly. I was so content here even if I was kind of cold.

"Noh," Luke breathed. "I've realized I don't know all that much about you."

I tilted my head a bit to look at him, my eyebrows furrowing slightly. "You know the most about me out of all my friends. You know, considering you're my best friend and all."

He grinned. "Well, I know that, but... like, your favorite color and shit."

"My favorite color?" I repeated with a chuckle. "Well, it used to be red, but now it's blue."

"Is it really?" Luke said in mock surprise. "I wonder why that is."

"Mm. What about you?"

"Mine was blue, but now I'm leaning more towards green."

I fake gasped. "Hey, my eyes are green."

"What a coincidence, huh?"

"Sure," I said sarcastically.

"Okay, what's your favorite animal?" Luke asked, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger and then dropping it across my face. I blew it off my face and thought.

"Uh, I don't really know. I haven't really thought about it. Maybe a giraffe or something." I glance at him with a grin. "I bet I know what yours is. A penguin, right? Considering your Instagram username used to be 'Luke is a penguin', which, by the way, was pretty cool. You shouldn't have changed it."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, too late. Should I follow you on Instagram? I should."

"Go for it."

Luke shifted under me to get his phone and he tapped on the screen for a minute. Then he put his phone back in his pocket and all of a sudden he rolled over so that I was under him and his hands were either side of my head. My breathing sped up as our faces became very close together and our breaths mingled.

"My clothes are going to have so much fucking grass on them," I murmured and Luke laughed softly before nuzzling his face into my neck.

"Did I tell you that you smell really good?" he said against my skin, and shivers ran down my spine.

"You might have mentioned it," I whispered faintly. I could barely concentrate on what I was saying as I felt Luke's lips very gently run from my shoulder to my collarbone, and then he stopped there before saying softly, "I think you should get a tattoo here."

"Oh yeah?" My fingers suddenly found Luke's hair and they weaved themselves through it, marveling at the softness. "Of what?"

Luke didn't answer for a moment but let his nose brush up my neck. "When's your birthday?"

"Hm?" I breathed as I felt the cool metal of his lip ring against my skin. He chuckled quietly.

"When's your birthday?"

"Oh. 29th of July," I answered. "Why?"

"What would that make your star sign?" he asked as he lifted his head up and chose to look at me in the eyes. I immediately missed the warmth of his lips on my neck.

"Uh, Leo." Then I asked again, "Why?"

"Maybe you should get tattoo of that." Luke seemed to think for a moment. "Or maybe a tattoo of 'Luke'."

I laughed and placed both my hands on his chest, pushing him off me and sitting up. "Not happening, Luke."

"Worth a try." He looked at me carefully; his eyes flickering down to my lips then back up again. There was a sort of question in his gaze and I guess whatever expression was on my face seemed to have answered that question because a small grin crept its way onto his lips and suddenly, his face was right next to mine. His eyes were so, so blue, and I was completely lost in them, until a bright light caught the edge of my vision. I winced and turned towards it at the same time Luke did. My eyes widened. "Shit," I swore and stood up, pulling Luke with me.

"Is that a person?" Luke said, squinting.

"No, it's a cow, Luke. Yes it's a person!" I said urgently, just the torch they were holding landed on us and they shouted something into the night. "We've gotta go, Luke."

I ran, still holding his hand and ignored his laughing as we made our way very quickly back to the fence. "C'mon, lift me up."

Luke was still snickering as he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist from behind and lifted me up so I could clamber over the fence. This time I managed without falling and Luke followed behind me. Once we were out of the park I finally stopped to glare at Luke who was still laughing.

"We got caught, Luke! Why are you laughing?"

He stopped laughing and looked at me with a glint in his eye. "No we didn't. We made it out, didn't we?"

I continued to glare at him even though he was right. He just smirked back at me and soon my annoyance faded and I had to hide a smile.

"You're so annoying," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"You're just saying that because I'm right. And trust me, snowflake, I'm always right."

We began to wander back to Luke's car, our breaths fogging the air as it grew colder. As we rounded a corner, we were met with the unpleasant sight of paparazzi standing around with cameras, and I froze.

"Luke," I whispered in slight fear. I so did not know how to deal with this.

"Just keep walking and don't talk to them. Just ignore them, Noh," he said quietly.

"That's going to be kind of hard," I responded, wrapping my arms tightly around myself and looking down as we began to approach the paparazzi who suddenly noticed us. Flashes took over my vision and shouted questions accompanied by the clicks of cameras filled my ears. I pressed my lips together as Luke led me back to his car. I tried to block out anything they were saying but keep a polite expression on my face because I knew that these pictures were soon going to be everywhere. Luke opened the car door for me when we reached the car and I quickly got in, slamming the door shut and effectively muffling the noise. I breathed out slowly as Luke got in the other side, switching the car on and carefully pulling away from the crowd. Finally we were on the road and far away from the paparazzi.

The only noise for a moment was the sound of the engine and our breathing. Luke was looking ahead with an unreadable expression on his face, but the tension was clear in his body. His hands were gripping the steering wheel too tightly and his jaw was clenched. I realized he must have to deal with this all the time. I'd experienced it once – not counting the time outside his apartment – and I'd hated it. I couldn't imagine being him.

"Noelle," Luke said finally, his voice tight. "I'm–"

"Don't even think about apologizing," I interrupted, looking over at him. "It's not your fault. At all."

He sighed but kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah, but–"

"Luke," I said firmly. "Don't."

He bit his lip, still not looking over at me. There was quiet but then he spoke again. "I just... I feel bad, okay? I don't like that you have to experience that shit as well."

"Yeah, me neither, but so what, Luke? If you can deal with that, I can too."

"That's not the point," he argued. "I fucking know you can deal with it. I'm just saying I don't want you to have to. It's not fair on you."

"It's not fair on you either!" I said in frustration. "I don't get why you're making such a big–"

"Exactly. You don't get it, Noelle." He was frowning but still not meeting my eyes. "You getting involved with us is going to cause shit. People are going to want to know who you are, and you are not going to be left alone. Sometimes it really fucking sucks not being able to go out without people recognizing you–"

"You didn't worry about that before," I pointed out in annoyance. "You know, when we went into LA together and stood on a fucking rooftop. What happened to living on the edge?"

Luke groaned and banged his head on the back of the seat. "Reality hit me, Noelle. That's what happened. When you have my life you can't 'live on the edge'."

"You're being dramatic, Luke," I stated, folding my arms. I was getting pissed off. "You don't– ugh, this is stupid! I don't even know... this is not something to be arguing about."

"You're right. It isn't. We shouldn't go out in public together again," he said tiredly. For a moment I just stared at him.

"Are you fucking serious?" I demanded. I wasn't just angry, I was hurt. "What, so the only time we see each other is going to be in that goddamn studio? What happened to being my best friend, because I could really use one of those."

Luke pressed his lips together in annoyance. "Don't, Noelle. Don't you think I really fucking want to be able to do shit that's not in the studio with you? Of course I want to but I don't want you to have to deal with this–"

"Luke, it's too late!" I exclaimed. "What's the point in–"

"We're here," Luke said shortly, pulling up beside the entrance to the university. Finally he looked over at me, and there was a sort of bitterness in his eyes. "You do realize I'm saying all this shit because I fucking care about you, right?"

I clenched my jaw. "Whatever, Luke. I'll see you on Monday." I swiftly got out the car and slammed it shut behind me. As I walked up the path, Luke didn't call out anything but I also knew he was still there, and he was watching me go. Finally I heard the sound of his car pulling away.

Jess wasn't back when I arrived at our dorm, so I quickly changed into some comfortable clothes before going on my phone.

Luke's fans had already found me. Him following me on Instagram was definitely not a good idea. They wanted to know who I was, and what I was doing with Luke. Some of the messages and comments were nice, some were sort of... neutral, I guess, and some were just downright nasty. I chose not to read those ones and clicked off my phone before lying on my bed and breathing out slowly. As I stared up at the ceiling, I thought about tonight. I'd wanted to see Luke, and I'd got my wish, but now I realized I shouldn't have gone with him. What had started out as a fun night turned into me feeling like shit. I groaned and turned over, burying my face in the pillow. I guessed I was really tired because I fell asleep only to be woken a bit later by Jess as she came back from the party.

"Noelle? You okay?" Her soft voice woke me up as she gently placed a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked over at her, sighing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. How was the party?" I asked, sitting up and running a hand through my hair.

"Uh, fine, I guess. But what happened to hanging out with Luke? I thought you might go back to his place or something," Jess said, furrowing her eyebrows at me.

"Well, we hung out, but then we ran into paparazzi," I explained. "And... he got kind of, annoyed, I guess."

"Understandably."

"But then he said that basically we couldn't go out anywhere together in public, because he didn't want me to have to deal with it, even though it's sort of too late for that. We argued and I just... ugh. He pissed me off," I grumbled, folding my arms. "And it kind of hurt, you know, because it was like he didn't want to be seen with me. I get that–"

"You like him," Jess interrupted, a sympathetic glint in her eye.

I sighed and took a moment before answering. Finally I said, "Yeah. I do."

And that was the problem.