Ain't It Fun

"Dev! Devin!"

Coming to a halt in her trek across campus, Devin let whoever was calling her name catch up to her as she checked the time on her phone. She had plenty of time before her next class to get a few things done but if she didn't hurry she would lose all of that precious study time and have to pull an all-nighter.

"Hey," Michael greeted, coming into her peripheral vision. His purple hair was a mess as usual and he was wearing his normal outfit of a band tee with the sleeves cut off and black skinny jeans. The other three boys all dressed similar to this so it had become a typical thing to Devin. "Where are you going?"

"The library," she replied, shortly, walking again. As she assumed he would, Michael followed. "I have a shit ton of work to do."

"I'm headed there, too. We can go together."

For some reason, Ashton's friends had basically adopted her into their friendship circle. Even though she had only known them for a few weeks, they had taken it upon themselves to keep her company most of the day. Calum always ate lunch with her in the campus cafeteria. Luke would sit next to her in the classes they found out they had together. If Michael saw her walking through campus, he would usually accompany her wherever it was she was going. And then there was Ashton, who spent ever free minute he had at her side.

Devin didn't mind it at first but when it started happening more and more, she started to get uncomfortable. She was an introvert and not used to this attention. When it was just Ashton, she didn't mind as much but now that there were four people constantly at her side, it felt exhausting. She only had really two friends in high school and they weren't even that close, but that never prepared her for this kind of thing. She no longer felt like she could have a minute alone and it was really stressing her out. Devin never said anything, though. They were her friends and she didn't want to hurt them already.

----

"So," Michael spoke up, breaking the silence at the table they were occupying in the library. He usually did most the talking and was good at keeping up conversations. He also knew when to keep quiet, which Devin liked about him. At that moment, Michael could tell that she was getting frustrated with the English essay she was currently finishing and needed some distraction. "You and Ashton, huh?"

Devin pulled her attention from her laptop and gave him a confused look. "What about us?"

"You have a thing for each other, don't you?"

The younger girl rolled her eyes. Michael, Calum, and Luke were constantly asking this question. They couldn't seem to grasp the concept that the two were just friends.

"No, Mike, we're just-"

"Friends, yeah, yeah," Michael cut off her typical rant, waving his hand to dismiss her. "You both keep saying that but I can tell you fancy each other. Everyone can."

Devin let out a huff and shook her head. Of course she had a huge crush on Ashton but she was sure the feelings weren't reciprocated. She had seen him flirting with plenty of other girls who were ten times prettier and nicer than her. "Will you just be quiet, I have an essay to finish."

Michael raised his hands in defense with a smirk on his face. He knew he was right by the way he had flustered her and that was enough to satisfy him.

----

"Do you want to go to a party tonight?" Ashton asked as they sat in Devin's dorm later that day.

Devin had decided that she wasn't going to get any work done in the library, especially with Michael sitting with her, constantly getting on her nerves. She went back to her own quiet dorm only to have Ashton knocking on her door fifteen minutes later. She was never able to turn him away. He usually stayed quiet while she worked on homework so she didn't mind his presence. His body heat radiating against her as they sat side-by-side on her bed always made her feel a little less lonely.

"Um, no," she replied, bluntly. She didn't look up from her computer as her fingers flew across the keyboard. She had finally gotten inspiration to finish the essay she had been working on earlier.

"Why not? It should be fun."

"I'm just not into parties. They're always way too crowded and smell disgusting. I don't even really like drinking, either."

Ashton nodded his understanding. He uncrossed his legs and stretched them out in front of him, his thigh pressing against Devin's. "That's fine. We can just chill here. Maybe get a pizza or something and watch a movie?"

Fingers stopping mid-typing, Devin snapped her head up to give him a shocked look. "What? No, you wanted to go to that party. You should go. Don't be bored just because of me."

"I didn't really want to go anyway. It sounded like it might be shit. I just wanted to see if you might want to," Ashton replied with a simple smile. Devin's heart swelled at the thought of him thinking of her to make a decision. She stared at him for a long time with a small grin on her lips and a blush creeping up on her cheeks. For a minute she forgot all about those other girls.

"What should we watch?" Ashton asked not realizing she had been staring. "I was thinking maybe 'Mean Girls' because that's always a classic. Or anything with Will Smith in it."