hide // muke

9

| m i c h a e l |

"Yeah. And he totally disrespected me. First we were fighting over the bed, then he was getting ready to räpe me." She said, and crossed her arms, laying down in the bed.

This doesn't sound like Luke at all. Luke is sweet, and sensitive. He had trouble touching me when our secret relationship got to that point. I thought I knew him. I thought I loved him.

"I'm sorry, Courtney." I whispered, laying down behind her.

"I hate Luke. I always have, but now I have a reason." She said and I rolled my eyes. I never understood why she hated Luke before.

I pulled the blankets over us, and I scooted closer to her. I slung an arm over her, but she didn't do anything. She never was a cuddler, which is kind of a bummer, because I'm the biggest cuddle bug you can find. I was fine with it though.

I always wanted Luke, so I never thought of Courtney as a serious girlfriend. She doesn't even know that I'm bisexual, but after this, I feel like I need to stay with her.

I kissed the back of her neck once, and snuggled my head into her neck.

I heard a knock at the door, and I sighed, getting up, seeing Courtney was already asleep.

Once I opened the door, I saw Luke standing there like a little kid, with a stuffed penguin in one hand. His eyes were brimmed red, and he looked at me pitifully. i stayed silent while he stood there. "Ashton and Calum won't believe me when I told them I didn't do it. You would trust me if I tell you I didn't do it, right?" He asked quietly. I let out a breath and looked down at him. "Luke. We know you did it." I said, and he looked at the ground.

"You can believe that I did it if you want, but do you still love me?" He asked, and his voice cracked. "I dont know Luke, but after what you did, it's gonna be pretty easy to get over you. Were done." I said, and he looked up at me. "I though we were already done." He said, but I shook my head. "We are, but no more stupid kisses when nobody's looking. No more making out at 3 a.m. No more sneaking into an empty bunk to cuddle. Everything between us is done." I said a little harsher than intended.

His lip began trembling, and he backed away slowly before running down the hallway. I sighed, a little sympathetically, but finally closed the door.

I crawled back into bed with Courtney without a trace of Luke on my mind, for once.

--

The next morning, we all got in a van and were driving to the venue for a sound check.

Me, Courtney, and Calum sat in the back. Ashton and Luke sat in the two middle seats. We were all talking about the place we were playing tonight. I couldn't help but notice Luke wasn't talking to anyone. He was just staring out the window, and chewing on his fingernails. That was something he always did when he was thinking.

I think Calum noticed it too, when he asked Luke if he was alright. Luke nodded, but didn't say anything else. I took my mind off of him, and listened to Ashton continue talking. We got off of that topic, and got onto a more serious one I guess, when we heard the news of four people being ràped and kílled in Chicago, on the radio. I could tell Luke was uncomfortable by the glances he knew he was receiving. "Isn't it a coincidence, Luke, that this just decided to come on?" Ashton asked.

"Please stop." Luke whispered, not looking back at any of us. Nobody listened to him though. "There are some horrible people, and some of them can turn out to be your friends." Calum added, and Luke looked back at him, clearly hurt by that comment. "Luke. You could end up in jail, you know if anybody finds out about this." Ashton said, and he looked over at him. Luke looked so small and helpless, but I guess that's what he deserves.

The rest of the way, we talked about Luke, not caring that he was sitting in the car with us.