hide // muke

10

| m i c h a e l |

During the whole sound check, Luke was off. He was forgetting words, forgetting guitar chords, and at one point he forgot where to stand. Luke would have to be pretty stupid to forget where to stand.

We went out to eat after that. We got chick fil a. We all had chicken nuggets, but he just sat there with a lemonade. "Luke. Eat something." Ashton said, but Luke shook his head. "I feel sick." He mumbled. "It's guilt." Courtney added, but I just nudged her side. "It's guilt." Luke repeated quietly.

We all looked at him skeptically after he said that. "So you did really do it?" Calum asked, and we waited for the answer. "If I tell you I didn't, you guys wouldn't believe me anyway." he whispered. "So are you saying you did it, or..?" Ashton asked. "You guys already believe I did it, so even if I try to convince you I didn't, it wouldn't change your minds. You guys won't believe a thing I say unless I tell you you're right." He said, and moved to a table by himself.

I saw a girl nervously approaching our table. I smiled at her, and she seemed a little less nervous. "H-Hi.." She whispered. "Hi-" "Not now." Courtney snapped at her. I expected the girl to say something back but she just looked embarrassed. She nodded, and walked away. I saw Luke get up and walk after her.

--

| l u k e |

I chased after the girl and lightly pulled on her arm. She turned around, and I saw makeup running down her cheeks. She was obviously here alone, but she only looked like she was fifteen or maybe sixteen. I wiped the makeup off, and frowned. "Don't cry." I whispered, and hugged her. "That was really embarrassing." She whispered, and I nodded. "I know. But don't listen to anything the bįtch says. She's been giving me a hard time for about two days." I said quietly, and she laughed. "I'm Alyssa." She said quietly as we pulled back.

"Nice to meet you Alyssa. Are you coming to the show tonight?" I asked. She shook her head. "I can't afford tickets." She said quietly, and I frowned again. "We have extra tickets in the van if you want them." I said. "You don't have to do that." She said, and shook her head. "C'mon. I don't want them to go to waste." I said, and she smiled. "Thank you, Luke." She said, and I grabbed her hand. "No problem." I said, leading her towards the door.

As we were walking out of the almost empty restaurant, I heard Courtney's voice. "You might not wanna go with him. He might ràpe you." She said. I glared back at her, but smiled at what Alyssa said. "Sorry, but he told me not to listen to anything the bítch says."

We laughed, walking from the building, to the car. Our driver was still in there, but he unlocked the door for me. I pulled out the money box from under the seat, and unlocked it with the key in the dash. "How many?" I asked. "Well. I don't really have many friends, so I guess just me." She said quietly. "That's fine. I don't really have any friends either." I said, handing her a backstage pass too. "What about them?" She asked, referring to the guys and Courtney.

"They're all about as fake as Courtney's boobs."