04 | Luke Hemmings

25 | Maddie

I'm outside. That was the message I received from Luke less than 10 seconds ago. I rolled my eyes. I walked downstairs and to the front door before opening it.

"Hey, Lucas" I said and he looked up from his phone. He smiled and walked over to me.

"Hi" He said. 

"Are you alright?" I asked him. It was rare for Luke to turn up at my house unexpected these days. He looked like he had a lot on his mind.

"Can we talk?" He questioned, ignoring mine.

"Um, sure. Want to take a walk?" He nodded and I told him to wait a minute whilst I grabbed my keys, phone, some money and pulled my cardigan on. I went back downstairs from my room and met Luke outside where I left him. "OK, I'm ready" He nodded and we started to walk, god knows where we were going. We walked in silence which was unusual. It was awkward. Luke was one of the most awkward people I've ever met yet he was rarely like it around me. We were normally comfortable with one another. We ended up in town and Luke stopped outside Starbucks.

"I'll get us some drinks. You can wait here if you want" I nodded and watched him go inside. Five minutes later he came out carrying two takeaway cups. "Caramel frappuccino with extra caramel and cream" He said, passing me the drink.

"Thank you" I smiled at him. He never failed to remember my favourite order. "Shall we head towards the park?"

"Sounds good" He said. As we walked past the second Starbucks window I noticed Kayli, Calum and Michael sat at a table.  I wonder if that's the real reason Luke didn't want me to go in with him and actually wanted to go in and buy us drinks. I didn't bother asking him about it. I knew there was a reason behind it. We continued walking until we reached the park. We walked over to a secluded part. Luke sat down under a tree, me copying him. As I sat down I saw initials carved in the tree trunk. Mine and Luke's initials. I remember the day we carved them. It was on Luke's birthday two years ago. It had been our tree since.

"Are you alright?" I asked him.

"I don't know any more, Maddie. Lately I've had so much on my mind"

"Care to share?"

"It's you, Mads. You're all that's on my mind. I don't know what to do anymore. It's so hard to focus. All I think about is you or everything will link back to you"

"Luke-" He cut me off.

"I'm fed up. I'm fed up of this"

"What are you on about, Luke?"

"I can't be your friend anymore. I need to be more than that. Every time I look at you I can't help but smile but then I remember that you're not mine. Maddie, I don't think I can keep pretending to be just your friend. You're amazing and any guy would be lucky to have you. I want to be that guy, Madison. Please let me, Maddie, please let me be that guy" He finished. I hesitated but leaned in closer. When we were only a couple of inches a part, I looked up at him. His Adam's apple moved as he swallowed. I leaned in again and placed my lips on his. He kissed back after hesitating himself. I pulled away after not too long.

"I love you, Luke Robert Hemmings. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, apart from being born of course because otherwise I'd never have met you and we'd never be in this situation and you'd be dating another girl who would be so much prettier and why do you even like me? Look at all the other girls at our school, you could have-" I was cut off by Luke's lips being pressed onto my own. He pulled away.

"You were rambling"

"Sorry"

"It's fine. It gave me a reason to kiss you anyway"

"You don't need a reason to kiss me. Just do it"

"If you insist" He pressed his lips onto mine again and pulled me onto his lap, deepening the kiss. We pulled away.

"I love you, Luke, so, so, so much"

"I've always loved you, Madison. You've always been the girl for me" I smiled, leaning my head on his chest whilst he wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close. "So, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course I will" We both tried to contain our smiles but couldn't. He stood up dragging me with him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me slightly, spinning me. He put me down still holding my waist.

"I can't believe you're my girlfriend. I wish I could go back and tell my 12 year old self that one day we'd get together no matter how friend zoned he is, to stick at and that it would be worth the wait"

"You're a dork"

"But I'm your dork"

"Yes, yes you are" He smiled down at me and wrapped an arm around and pressed a kiss to my forehead before we began to walk again, sipping our Starbucks as we talked about nothing. There were long pauses between. I was still trying to process everything. Luke was my boyfriend. Luke Hemmings, captain of the football team and my best friend for seven years, was my boyfriend and I couldn't be happier.

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It's nearly over now. About four more chapters and an epilogue to go sadly but...... I have started writing another story which isn't the one I previously posted about. Just wanted to let you know that. Please comment and vote. Thank you :)