Mpreg/Life after the band

Untitled Part 2

"So you’re up," Aleisha sounds exhausted and looks about as bad. She is stretched out on the couch, still in the figure-flattering red dress she wore to their farewell party last night.

Luke wonders if she was here when Calum snuck out.

"Was it everything you thought it would be?" She asks and Luke doesn’t wonder anymore.

He’s tried to be subtle over the years, tried to keep his need for Calum hidden away so he doesn’t rub it in Aleisha’s face. It’s useless effort. She is perceptive and they’ve known each other so many years now. It is impossible that she wouldn’t pick up on it.

But Luke doesn’t know what can make this less painful. “I’m sorry,” he says, not addressing her question because they both already know the answer.

Calum is everything Luke has always wanted and never let himself have before. First, he tried telling himself it was because of the band, then it was the fear of rejection because Calum would never say yes. Then Aleisha came back in the picture and every time his heart beat faster around Calum, Luke wanted to bury himself in the ground with guilt. But last night, under the mounting pressures of their rapidly changing circumstances, all the excuses vanished.

She nods. Luke collapses against the bedroom door, his long legs stretching out in front of him. Aleisha slinks over to sit next to him. 

"I’ll let go if that’s what you really want, Luke," she promises softly as her head rests against his shoulder. Luke can hear the pain in her voice and the guilt comes back so strong.

"I don’t want you to let go."

He intertwines their fingers together. Her engagement band glimmers on her ring finger and he sighs. It isn’t the one his grandmother gave him 4 years ago. That ring is still tucked away in his childhood bedroom. It did not even occur to Luke to propose to her with that ring. Once he decided to pop the question, he roped Michael into going to Tiffany & Co. one afternoon. The one on Aleisha’s finger is a much more expensive diamond in what the salesman called a square-cut.

Aleisha looked so happy when he took her up to the top of the Eiffel Tower to propose two days ago. It felt contrived and hokey to him, but he had guessed correctly she would love it. And he had never seen her look more in love than when they announced at the 5SOS’s farewell party last-night that they had gotten engaged.

Luke wishes he could remember her beautiful smile in that moment. But all he noticed after the announcement was Calum downing his drink and then walking away from the party, pushing past Ashton and Michael when they tried to talk to him.

"He will never be as sure about you as I am, Luke," Aleisha reminds him softly. "So can you finally let him go?" There’s hope in Aleisha’s voice.

Luke takes a deep breath. “Yes,” he answers, steeling his heart when it clenches painfully. He has got to make a choice. And there is an undeniable truth to Aleisha’s words.

Because Calum left him. After everything they’ve been through, all the years of denial, all the obstacles they overcame last night… Calum still left. No matter how real it felt, Luke has to face the harsh truth. Nothing’s changed. And Luke is tired of chasing.

He kisses the top of Aleisha’s forehead and tells himself to accept.

That afternoon, they post a picture of their hands clasped together on Twitter. The Tiffany’s ring glitters on Aleisha’s left hand.