"malani!" made me stop thinking about last night , looking to see miles jogging to me.

"miles."

he smiled , standing next to me now.
"wanna hangout? after school.."

i looked behind him , seeing ashtray talking to one of his friends. should i?

"uhh.. yeah , sure. where?" i asked before he had a chance to turn around and see that i had been looking at ashtray.

"i don't know , my house? or we could go to the movies or something. it's up to you." he nodded , looking behind him.

fuck. hopefully he doesn't think i looked at ashtray for any specific reason.

both of those options don't seem right , you know in movies where that goes.

"or we could just walk around." he added another option , and i chose that one.

"okay , see you later mal!" he shouted , walking away with a smile on his face.

i gave him a small smile , immediately feeling bad.

why did i look at ashtray before answering? it doesn't matter what ashtray thinks..

"see you later?" hazel asked , pointing to miles down the hall.

"he wants to hangout later." i told her , now walking with her since we have the same class.

"what?!" she jumped , grabbing onto me.

i rolled my eyes playfully , pushing her off.
"i told him yes.. but i don't know. should i?"

she answered so fast , "yes! why are you second guessing it?"

i didn't know the answer , at least.. not the right answer. "i don't know."

"are you thinking about someone else?" she smirked , turning and i knew who that "someone" was.

and she was exactly right , but it's wrong. right? yes. no.. maybe.

"no." i answered anyway , not wanting her to be right.

"yes you are! oh my god."

when she smiled , "just saying.. i still ship you and ashtray."

and basically my two other friends said the same thing , which wasn't much help considering now i didn't know if i actually wanted to go with miles , but i already told him yes and backing out would make me feel even worse.

so after telling ashtray i was hanging out with my friend , i was walking with miles.

i didn't tell him exactly what friend , i really didn't want him to know. but i'm sure miles will end up telling him , if he hasn't already.

"wanna go get ice cream?" miles asked , walking very close to me.

"sure." i responded , following wherever he walked.

"soooo" he spoke , trying to make small talk.

"soo" i copied , not knowing what to say either.

but after a minute we made up some sort of conversation that lasted until we got to the ice cream place , it wasn't that long of a walk.

"what flavor do you want?" he said , looking at all the flavors.

"vanilla." i answered , getting a weird look from him return.

"vanilla? out of all the options?"

i playfully rolled my eyes , "yes."

and after that he told the guy what him and i wanted , after a couple minutes he gave us our ice cream and miles paid.

"wanna eat outside? at the tables over there." he pointed to them , and then turned to me to wait for the answer.

"sure." i shrugged , and followed him outside.

once we sat down and started eating our ice cream , neither of us said much.. just kinda let the sound of cars passing and people occasionally walking by , or in and out of the ice cream place , be the sound.

"miles?" i spoke up , deciding to ask the question that's been on my mind all day.

"what's up?" he turned to look at me.

"after we kissed.." i started , making him raise his eyebrows.

"did you tell ashtray?"

his eyebrows dropped and he looks sorta confused , i couldn't really read his expression.

"that we kissed? no.. why?"

i don't even know myself , why i asked.
"i was just wondering."

after that he looked like he wanted to say something , but he was quiet.. and didn't say anything else about it the rest of the night.

-

thirty minutes to an hour passed , miles walked me halfway home and then made his way home.

and once i was inside , faye was passed out on the couch , and ashtray and fez weren't in the living room so i'm guessing they're in their rooms.

i took off my shoes , and walked to my window.

i don't have the greatest view from my window , considering all i saw was roads and half of an alley way. but in a way , it was pretty.

the water on the roads from when it rained , shining with the street lights. i don't know.

"what are you doing?" i jumped , turning around fast.

"why do you keep doing that?" i asked , moving from my window.

"doing what?" ashtray squinted his eyes , leaning on my doorway.

"coming in here." i answered , looking at him for a quick second before looking back out my window.

"ion know." he shrugged , moving from my doorway to sit next to me.

silence filled the room , him looking around as i looked outside my window.

"so , did you sell at the store today?" i started a conversation.

he kept looking around my room , as if he hasn't seen it over a million times. "some."

i nodded , turning from the window to look at him.
"you still have that?" he pointed to a picture of me and him when we were baby's.

me and ashtray didn't get along , yeah. but i've had that picture forever , i wouldn't throw it away because of some petty argument.

"yeah." i chuckled , remembering ashtray used to hate that picture.. unless he still does , i don't know.

i laid down on my back , ashtray copying my actions shortly after. this gave me like deja vu from a couple nights ago , when we were in this exact spot , sitting in silence.

"are you dating miles?" brought me out of my thoughts , immediately looking at him , only to see him already looking at me.

"no. why?" i answered almost too quickly.

"that's who you was with today. huh?" he squinted his eyes , talking calmly.

i turned away , looking up at the ceiling.
"yeah."

i talked too quiet , almost a whisper. it probably sounded as if i was guilty , like i regretted it.

"mm." he hummed , laying there for a couple seconds more before standing up.

"i'm going to sleep." and he didn't give any last look , just walked out.

AUTHORS NOTES:

i've read so many stu macher books i'm starting to write differently.. and not even sounding like something ashtray would say 😭 pls tell me y'all haven't noticed

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