Dedicating this chapter to Lujoca for the sweet cover on the side. I love the tag line used in this. :) <3 Love is you and me... what we have. <3

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CHAPTER - 25

LOVE IS... TROUBLE

“This is love, and the trouble with it: it can make you embarrassed. Love is really liking someone a whole lot and not wanting to screw that up. Everybody's chewed this over. This unites us, this part of love.” - Daniel Handler

After staring at Ashton, for what seemed like some hours but were probably a few minutes, I established the fact that I was a terrible drunk. Oh, and a shamelessly horny one. In short - a terribly shameless horny one!

How in the world could I forget him especially after the one of a kind encounter we had had four months back? How could I not remember the only random stranger I had ever made out with; a very hot stranger at that? How was it possible for me to not recall the one person who had succeeded in making me a non-believer of love, especially after he had been in front of my eyes since last ten days? I was quick to blame it on the strong, cheap liquors I had consumed that night.

Ashton, unlike of his normal behavior, patiently waited for me to say something; for me to give any kind of reaction. He was staring at me with those unnerving, gorgeous eyes. And I realized why his eyes had always looked familiar to me. Even in my wasted state, I had told him that his eyes were beautiful.

Idiot! I was an idiotic drunk as well.

He raised an eyebrow at me, probing to me to say something. And I did. "We should get going." His eyes widened at the most unexpected words that came out of my mouth. But he was quick to narrow them at me. I looked at him with wide eyed innocence and told him, "We're getting late. I don't like to be late."

I didn't wait for him to react as I walked towards the passenger door of his car, opened it and settled down. My unexpected reactions probably confused Ashton as he took about a minute to enter his car, and I utilized those sixty seconds to calm my racing heart a bit. I gasped in need of some air and ran my hand over my face, probably spoiling a bit of my make up in the process. I tried to appear as nonchalant as I could with him sitting merely inches away from me. The 'no music' environment in the limited area of his car was not helping the uncomfortable silence that had settled between us.

That dreadful silence made me recall everything that had happened that night, once again. I was pretty sure that I was hallucinating. No, not pretty. I was definitely hallucinating. If that guy was Ashton then why didn't he ever mention that night to me? Maybe he himself didn't remember me. I mean, I was quite a mess that night with my puffy eyes, dark circles, running nose, slurred out words, the uncommon swearing that was not uncommon that night, and my 'not so uptight' personality.

But who was I trying to fool with this thought because I could clearly see in his eyes that he remembered me. He was waiting for me to say something, to react or maybe to snap at him for making me look like a fool, because I was the one who had been fooled in this entire ordeal.

Just as I thought of putting my thoughts in form of some bitter words, I remembered the kiss... the kisses that we had shared that night; the kisses that I had kick-started shamelessly and he had shown no qualms in following.

'Oh my God! I had kissed Ashton! And we almost had sex.'

With that thought, I welcomed all of the great Avengers to create havoc in the pit of my stomach. It was anything but fun. I was not sure what the reason of my disappointment was - the fact that I couldn't remember that night until now or the fact that there was presence of the word 'almost' right before 'sex'.

Shameless! Seriously, shameless!

Just as I was about to dive in the sea of shamelessness and high awkwardness, Ashton saved me by playing the radio. A sigh in relief escaped my lips and I hoped that it had gone unnoticed in the loud music.

Ashton, unexpectedly, started saying, "Why-"

The loud ringing of my phone interrupted whatever Ashton was about to say and I was grateful for that. But this time, I threw my manners out of the window and answered the phone without apologizing to him for the interruption. "Mom!" I answered with way too much enthusiasm.

"Who was your hot date on Seth's wedding?" She fired the question at me without bothering with the greetings.

A defeated sigh escaped my lips at her question; so much for being grateful at the interruption. "Very hot, Mom. Very hot weather." I, not so swiftly, changed the topic while fanning my face with my hands even though my cheeks burnt at her question. "How is Dad?"

"Don't try to change the topic, Liana. Tell me, who was he? Your Aunt told me that you both looked perfect together. And now, I regret not attending Seth's wedding."

I rubbed my forehead at the stress of too many questions that were burdening my mind. "Yeah, Dad and you should have been there. It was a beautiful ceremony," I said, dodging her questions.

"And so was your date according to my sources," she finished, making me want to face palm myself at the terrible timing of her phone call. "What was his name again?"

A light groan almost escaped my lips but I decided to answer her as I knew that she would not stop pestering me with her many questions.. "It's Ashton, Mom," I answered laughing lightly while I tried to calm my nerves, hoping that she would stop questioning me any further. "Mila Kunis' partner. Ashton Kutcher," I added for the sake of Ashton's questioning gaze that had suddenly fallen on me upon hearing his name. 'Mom loves him,' I mouthed at him and laughed lightly while he rolled his eyes at me. Grimacing, I asked her, "Why would he be there, Mom?"

"What is wrong with you? What are you babbling, Liana? Are you okay?" she asked, clearly confused with whatever I was saying.

"Of course, you can follow him on twitter, Mom. But, I'm not sure of he follows back." I laughed, looking at Ashton with humor in my eyes. By now, he had lost all interest in my foolish conversation with my mother as he shook his head at me and focused back on the traffic ahead.

Mom sighed on the other end and I tightly shut my eyes, praying that she would put a full stop to this interrogation now. But, apparently, the stars were not in my favor. "Are you drunk? Don't tell me you're taking drugs, young woman!"

I flinched slightly at her scolding but tried to keep my cool. "Justin didn't deserve Selena, Mom. I ship Zelena. Yay!" I grinned even though I wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible. But then again, I could do anything to avoid Ashton and the thick silence that had suddenly developed between us. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being happy that he had played me so well.

Mom was speechless for the next few moments and I hoped that she would get the cue of things. But all my hopes proved to be futile as I heard her yell on the other side. "Richard! Our daughter is taking drugs!"

A loud gasp escaped my lips and my eyes widened at the misunderstanding. "Mom, no!" Ashton's head snapped towards me because of my outburst and I quickly added, "Not Justin. Zedd all the way. Yayy!"

"How f*cking old are you?" Ashton asked incredulously.

Just as I was about to tell him to shut up, Dad shouted at the other end, "I'm coming down to New York first thing in the morning, Liana!" And with that, he cut off the phone.

This time, I didn't stop myself from slapping my forehead at the mess that I had just created. Wasn't telling them that I was busy at the moment and would talk to them tomorrow an easier option? But then again, Ashton was rubbing off on me. I had stopped going for easier options. I was more inclined towards the mess.

My eyes went and roamed on Ashton's face for the next few seconds - his perfectly chiseled jaw that had a scar making him look more real, his pointed nose, his dark brown hair, his kissable lips that had touched mine more times that I had thought, and his mysterious grey eyes.

Yes, definitely inclined towards the mess!

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After thirty minutes of uncountable sighs, continuous feet tapping and pretending to play Temple Run, a game that I had never played despite of it being in my phone, we reached The Parker Residence. The numbers of cars in the parking area made me widen my eyes. The huge mansion called The Parker Residence made my eyes pop out of their sockets. It was glorious.

I noticed that Ashton didn't stop the car where everybody was handing over the keys to the valets. One of the valets approached Ashton's car, but he just glared at him sending across a message which the poor valet clearly got and started looking uncomfortable. A frown etched on my features as I watched the exchange and Ashton drove towards the parking, finally parking his car at an empty spot.

The moment the car came to a halt, I opened the door and got out of the suffocating limited area for much needed breaths and let out a few audible sighs. I huffed as I tried to calm myself. If given a choice, I would happily run away from this place. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been all this time. How could I start liking him of all the people in the world? Why did he have to be the one to make me believe in his quote 'Love is bullsh*t'? Why, Liana, why?

I remembered the way his eyes had widened when he had seen me standing at his doorstep on the first day of this assignment. I had dismissed that look with a look of surprise, but never thought that it might have some deeper meaning - a meaning that was the result of a one night history that we shared.

Every word that he had said to me, the meanings of which would have been crystal clear if I had remembered that night, came rushing back to my mind with realizations of the true meanings of his every word; the true motives of his sentences.

"Every day for the next twenty days, you've to tell me what love is. One definition per day, that's all. The day when I'd be fully satisfied with your given definition would be the day you'd succeed in this assignment."

Of course, he had kept this as a condition because he probably knew that he had made me a non believer of love in just one night.

"Finding it hard to make me believe in love when you yourself don't believe in that sh*t, huh?"

Yes, he definitely knew how hard it was for me to come up with a definition and he was aware of the fact that I didn't believe in that sh*t.

"Are you in a relationship?"

He wanted to see me lie that's why he had asked me this question or was he curious to know whether I had gone back to my cheating boyfriend after that night?

"I must say, nice pictures. Way too much love for my taste in them, but still nice. Nolan and you look nice together. But why are all your pictures of either five months back or earlier than that? Didn't get any pictures clicked recently?"

He knew what Nolan had done to me and yet he had acted like he didn't know anything, like he didn't know me.

"You mean like the lies you tell yourself and to the world?"

All this time, he had caught all my lies. He knew I was lying about my ex-boyfriend and about my non-existent faith in love.

"You're living in an illusion, Ashton. Why do you want to prove that I am lying? Why do you want to prove something that's completely wrong?" I had asked him in my apartment, and he had answered with, "Maybe because you are lying."

Each and everything was being replayed in my annoying head and I just wanted to shut it all down. Whatever it was, he had lied to me all this time. Not exactly lied, but hidden a very important fact which in the eyes of law was equivalent to a lie.

'You had lied to him, too but he never overreacted like you,' a voice from inside me hissed at my hypocrite ways, but I paid no heed to it.

All I could think about was the fact that I had made a fool of myself by thinking that he had bought all my lies when he clearly hadn't. Every time I had given him a stupid word for the definition of the day, he must have had a good laugh at my back. Embarrassment took over my thought process and my jaw clenched in frustration and anger; anger at myself for falling for a sadist jerk like Ashton.

I noticed that Ashton still hadn't come out of the car yet and a frown covered my face at that. I stepped back to look at him through the window panes and saw him staring ahead with a tightly clenched jaw. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that even in the darkness of parking lot I could see his knuckles turning white. He was staring at the wall ahead, and his eyes looked so tired and tensed as if he was staring at his sworn enemy.

I knocked on the window, making him snap his head towards me. "What's wrong?" I asked, trying to not show any kind of concern towards him.

He stared at me for a few seconds; at the end of which he shook his head and rested his head on the head rest with closed eyes. Something snapped inside me and my legs started moving towards the driver's side of door. I opened his door and his hard gaze fell on me. But it didn't take even a second for his gaze to soften and for his tightly clenched jaw to loosen a bit. His lips curved up in a very small but forced smile. It was enough for my heart to do somersaults.

And once again, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about his words as he stared at me with his piercing grey eyes - eyes that looked vulnerable for the first time ever; eyes that wanted to convey so much but he didn't let them follow their wish.

"You don't know me at all."

"I hate you." I had told him in a playful voice before meeting Tiffany in the park, to which he had replied in a serious tone with, "That's a lot better than loving me."

"You don't look like someone who handles this well," he had commented and drank the drink I was about to have in one go.

His memory served him fairly well as he remembered that I, most definitely, couldn't handle alcohol well.

"Maybe we should get some alcohol and drink that incident down," I had suggested before narrating my past to him. He had shaken his head and declined my offer. "I'm interested in hearing this from a sober Liana."

Of course, he wanted to hear it from the sober Liana as he already knew the version of the drunk Liana.

The truth was that he had never actually lied nor had he tried to hide the truth. In fact, he had said things pointing towards that 'dreadful night' way too many times but I was too naïve to understand anything, or in this case to remember anything.

So could I really blame him for everything when he himself had his demons to fight with? No, I couldn't.

It was just my way of putting aside the heavy weight of being embarrassed. And no matter how much I tried, I couldn't pass this weight on Ashton's shoulder.

I was already too deep in trouble...

"I'm sorry."

I blinked at the unexpected apology he had whispered while staring in my eyes.

"Messy childhood, messy relations, messy party, and messy life."

His words echoed in my head and I stated in a whisper, "They are not your parents."

I watched as his jaw clenched again and I cursed myself for the saying something terribly wrong at the worst time possible. This was so not a reply to an apology.

"They are not." He nodded, running his fingers through his well combed hair, thereby messing them. I watched as his adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Throwing caution to the wind, I lifted my hand and trailed his now shaven cheekbone with light fingers. Surprised at my actions, Ashton stared at me, unclenching his jaw in the process. My thoughts went back to that night when I had kissed him. And just as the dark blush was about to travel up to my cheeks, I smiled at him and commented, "You clean up well."

His lips, too, twitched up in a smile and he tilted his head slightly. "Are my eyes still as beautiful as they were that night?" He was teasing me, and that made the blush that had travelled half way, reach its destination - my cheeks.

I wanted to give a smart reply, to say something sarcastic, but all I did was whisper the next two words, "Even more."

His smile faltered at my reply and he took my hand that was still resting on his jaw and removed it. Clearing his throat, he said, "We should get inside. We are already late."

"Um... yeah. Of course," I mumbled and took a step back, making space for him to step outside the car. Once he was out, I said, "You know, I've never skipped school." He looked at me with raised eyebrows at the random topic while I continued, "I never even skipped any class in college. So boring, right?"

He started walking towards the mansion, leading me by a step or two. "Uptight." He snorted.

My lips twitched up in a smile at how fitting this adjective actually was on me, but I continued saying, "I want to know how it feels to skip something important. I want to rebel."

He turned around to look at me with raised eyebrows, not understanding where I was going with this and said, "Oh-kay."

Fidgeting with my fingers, I shrugged my shoulders in what I wanted to appear as a 'nonchalant way' and suggested, "Let's skip this party."

His eyes widened at my suggestion and when he was sure that he had heard right, he started laughing. I smiled at his laughing face, and he said, "As appealing as that sounds, Liana, we have to attend that party."

I shrugged my shoulders again. "As you wish."

He smiled and stared at me with his warm eyes, making me squirm under his gaze. "Let's go." I nodded my head and took a step towards him. Before he could turn around and start walking towards the doors of the mansion, I threw caution out of the planet Earth and snaked my arms around his torso, embracing him in a hug as I rested my cheek on his shoulder.

My empathetic instincts told me that he needed a hug. Everyone needs one from time to time.

I was proved right when I felt his arms reciprocating my actions reluctantly.

My mind was shouting and telling me that Ashton couldn't be that guy. Of course, he was not that guy. That guy was supposed to be nothing but a stranger; a stranger whom I was never supposed to meet again. Our paths were not supposed to cross. And most importantly, we weren't supposed to care about each other's sob story. We weren't supposed to remember each other after that night.

But, here we were doing each and everything that we were not supposed to do.

Suddenly the reasons of some of his actions became obvious as the way he hadn't shown any kind of recognition upon seeing Nolan and Kelly, flashed in front of my eyes, the reason of his indifference towards my sob story dawned in my head. He was pretending all this time. He was pretending because he didn't want me to feel humiliated in front of Nolan; because he didn't want to show to Nolan that he held even slight importance in my life; because he wanted to tell Nolan that he was nothing but 'past', a past that he had helped me get over from. And he truly had in every sense, despite of not being there with me physically for the last four months. His words from that night that had managed to get engraved in my head were enough. Truly