When I woke up the next morning, Jake still wasn't back, so I decided to call Luke.

"Hey, is everything alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you wanted to go do something with me today. I'm off of work for the day," I replied.

"Yeah, sure. I'll pick you up in like an hour? Ok?"

"Sounds great. I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

Once Luke hung up the phone I went into my bathroom to start getting ready, only to notice the red mark on my cheek. It was hand shaped and would be hard to deny if Luke saw it, so I decided it would be best if I covered it.

As it turned out, covering the mark required more makeup than I was used to, but I knew that was something I was just going to have to deal with today. I didn't want Luke to worry and I especially didn't want any paparazzis to catch the mark. Once I was finished getting ready I had a quick breakfast and finished eating right as there was a knock on the front door.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"It's Luke," he called from the other side of the door.

I grabbed my purse on my way to the door and stepped out when I opened the door. After locking the door I followed Luke to his car and told him I didn't have any actual plans, I just wanted out of my apartment for the day.

Luke nodded at me before he told me he had a spot for us to go. I let him take control of the day and turned on some music as he started driving, finally feeling a little bit more relaxed.

Luke and I sat in comfortable silence as he drove us through LA.

I was contemplating if I should tell Luke what had happened the previous night when I noticed we weren't in the city anymore.

"Where are we going, pretty boy," I asked him as I watched the scenery.

"It's a surprise," he replied.

I gave Luke a half-hearted glare before turning back to the window. It was beautiful wherever we were going. I knew pestering Luke for an answer wouldn't work so I just gave in and let it be a surprise.

My phone buzzed a while later, alerting me of a text message. When I unlocked my phone and checked who it was from, I held back a groan at the name on the screen.

Jake <3

Where are you?

Aspen

With Luke.

Jake <3

Why the fuck are you with him again?

I didn't respond to Jake's last message because, how was I supposed to tell my boyfriend that I was with Luke to get away from him. He wouldn't take that very well.

"Is everything ok," Luke asked as he took in the annoyed expression on my face.

"Yeah it's just Jake," I told him quietly.

Luke gave me a sad look at this before returning his eyes to the road.

"Aspen," Luke started quietly. "Did something happen between you two last night?"

I sighed and looked down at my lap as I contemplated my response. "Yeah."

"I'm not going to pry or make you talk about it, but if you want to talk, I'll listen."

"Thank you, Luke."

Luke nodded in response and kept his eyes on the road as he drove. After about 45 minutes we finally reached our destination, which turned out to be the beach.

"The beach?" I asked as Luke parked the car.

"Yep. Don't worry, we aren't swimming," Luke replied.

I looked at Luke in confusion as he started walking towards the beach. I quickly jogged to catch up to him and his long legs and walked beside him as he led us forward.

"So what do you plan on doing if we aren't swimming," I asked after a moment.

Luke looked at me with a smile on his face before holding his hand out dramatically for me to take. I paused for a beat before taking his hand.

"Eat, shop, walk on the beach, fun things that don't involve swimming," he said while swinging our hands back and forth.

It was adorable really. He looked so genuinely happy for the first time since I met him. He had only looked this happy when he was with his band, and I couldn't help but smile with him.

I was really glad that I could consider Luke my friend. He was truly such a kind and caring person and I felt like we had both come such a long way since first meeting almost 2 months ago.

"What are you thinking about?" Luke broke me from my thoughts.

"I'm just glad you're my friend," I said honestly.

Luke squeezed my hand slightly in response and gave me a bright smile. In this moment I realized how truly pretty he was. From his bright eyes, to his nose and his lips, he was genuinely attractive. His smile made him even more attractive as well.

Luke continued to lead us until we were walking along the beach, the only sounds being the waves that splashed on the shore.

I was just enjoying the peace when Luke suddenly stopped and pulled me off to the side.

"You look sad," he stated, bluntly.

"I'm not sad," I giggled. "I was just content."

Luke reached up and started poking my cheeks, making me scrunch my nose while a smile slowly spread across my face.

"There we go," he whispered, pleased that he got me to smile.

"You're so weird," I smiled.

Luke playfully rolled his eyes at me and then poked me in the forehead.

"Hey!" I exclaimed and chased after Luke as he started to run down the beach.

Luke's long legs carried him quickly down the beach and I ran as fast as I could to catch up to him. Luke slowed down to let me catch up to him and I ran even faster to jump on his back.

Luke grabbed a hold of my legs as I jumped on his back with a laugh.

"Alright, what do you want to do first?" Luke asked as he walked us along the beach.

"I don't care, as long as you carry me there," I told him.

"Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure."

Luke continued to carry me as he made his way to a few shops by the beach. I let Luke pick where we eat as I played with his curls.

"You gotta get down now," Luke said as he walked up to a restaurant.

"Fine," I whined and hopped down from Luke's back.

"I feel like I'm babysitting you right now," Luke laughed at me.

"That's a really weird thing to say to someone who's supposed to be your girlfriend."

"It wasn't weird until you made it weird, Aspen."

"Excuse me," a shy voice said from behind us.

Luke and I turned around to see two teenage girls standing behind us, both looking very nervous.

"Are you Luke Hemmings?" One of them asked.

Luke nodded at them with a slight smile on his face.

"Can we get a picture with you?"

"Yeah, of course," Luke said to the girls.

"Do you want me to take it?" I asked them.

One of them smiled at me and nodded before handing me her phone. Luke posed with the girls and I took a few photos for them before handing the girl her phone again.

"Thank you!" the first girl said excitedly.

"Wait a minute, aren't you Mystery Girl?" The other girl asked me.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," I responded to her.

"You totally are, this is so cool. Can we get a picture with you too?"

I looked at the two girls in total shock for a second before looking at Luke. He smiled at me and gave me a small nod.

"Sure," I said to them, confusion lacing my voice.

The girls smiled at me and stood on either side of me as they had done with Luke. Luke snapped a couple photos of us before handing the phone back to the owner.

We continued to talk to the girls for a few minutes before they said goodbye to us and wandered off again, leaving me and Luke alone once more.

"Does this mean I'm famous now?" I asked with a joking voice.

"Apparently, mystery girl," Luke chuckled.

"Literally shut up, oh my god," I said and gave Luke a slight push to his shoulder.

He laughed at me and then led me into the restaurant he had picked out for us to eat at. It was a cute little tourist type of restaurant, but Luke looked happy to be there so I said nothing.

I knew deep down that coming here with Luke would eventually end up biting me in the ass, but for once I didn't care. I was here with Luke because we both wanted to be here. For once it wasn't a PR thing, we were just hanging out as friends.

Once we were sat by the hostess, Luke and I started to talk about anything and everything that came to our minds. Luke talked about growing up with his bandmates and how they had all been friends back when they went to school together in Sydney.

I told Luke about the falling out with my ex-best friend that caused me to move to LA in the first place.

And we didn't talk about Jake or anything that had happened with him recently. It was a nice meal between two friends.

Luke also invited me to come hang out with his band again, and promised to actually play me the album this time. I was excited about seeing his bandmates again, as well as hearing his new album.

Halfway through dinner, my phone started buzzing and when I looked at who was calling me, I rolled my eyes to see Jake's name on my screen. I showed the screen to Luke before answering the call.

"Yes?" I said when I answered.

"Where are you?" He demanded.

"I told you, I'm with Luke."

"Right, why?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you, but if you must know, I just wanted to hang out with my friend. You know, be with someone who doesn't treat me like absolute shit."

"You have some nerve talking to me like that."

"I'm not arguing with you while I'm trying to have a nice evening with my friend, Jake. I'm hanging up now, I'll see you later."

"Aspen, don't you fucking da-"

Jake was cut off by me ending the phone call, and he immediately started trying to call me back. I powered my phone off so I wouldn't have to deal with his calls.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm just annoyed now," I told him. "No more about Jake, I don't want to think about him today."

"Since we're done, let's go find something else to do," Luke offered.

I nodded and we both got up and left the restaurant. Once we were out of the restaurant, Luke bent down a little bit so that I could jump on his back again.

"Such a gentleman," I teased as I started to play with his curly hair.

"Can you stop messing with my hair, you're going to mess it up," He whined.

"Quit whining, pretty boy, your hair is fine."

Luke shook his head violently in retaliation, causing his hair to shake in my face.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop!" I shouted as he continued to shake his head.

"Thank you," he said and finally stopped.

I laughed at him and let my arms dangle off his shoulders. Luke continued to walk the both of us down the beach as we continued to talk about everything and nothing at the same time.

For the first time in my life, I felt truly happy.