Untitled | Luke Hemmings

Untitled pt. 5

Maya was sitting on their large living room sofa, watching the clock on the wall above the TV. It was almost 3 am and her husband not only didn't seem to be coming home that night, he did not come home the one before either. She was picking at her nails nervously – he never did this. Luke would come home in the early mornings or late at night, but he would never be gone for more than 24 hours. This time everything seemed different, though.

She had attempted to call him – stupidly not noticing his phone on his bedside table. She called his friends, his parents, his brothers, everyone she could think of. Nobody has heard from him or seen him in those two days he was gone and Maya was on the verge of having a panic attack.

She was replaying their last moments together in her head as if she could change anything. And she felt so bad for telling him to leave, when he was pulling her to him so tight. She felt so bad she pushed him away, when he was reaching out for her that afternoon. She swore to herself not to say or do anything she didn't mean ever again, she couldn't stand her husband not being home. Even their little boy was starting to wonder where his daddy was – he said wanted to play the guitar, which he wasn't allowed to do unless Luke was there to supervise.

She buried her face in her palms as she tried to brush off the worst scenarios that were taking form in her imagination. Just then, she heard a key in the front door lock and she jumped from her seat, sprinting to the door. Luke had barely taken a single step inside the house, when she launched herself towards him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, as she heard herself sigh into the material of his leather jacket.

Luke was surprised to have his wife press herself so strongly against his tired body. He wasn't sure what was happening, but when she pulled away, he noticed tears in her eyes. 'Where have you been, Luke?' she said taking a sudden step backward, as if realising that she's actually mad at him for not coming home. Luke turned his head to close the front door, not replying back.

'I was worried, you didn't even take your phone. Where have you been, Luke?' she pushed, crossing her arms over her chest, her face furrowed in worry.

'Not home.' He replied blatantly, as if it wasn't obvious enough.

'I know.' She said through her teeth, trying not to lose her patience. She didn't want him to leave again, so she just took a deep breath. 'I'm asking where have you been?'

Luke didn't even lift his eyes up to look at his wife. He took off his shoes and hung his jacket with a sigh. 'Just go to bed, Maya.' He walked past her towards the kitchen, not giving her the tiniest of looks.

Maya's eyes followed her husband on his way to the kitchen, when she noticed something that made her heart audibly break. 'What is that on your neck?' she asked, her voice shaky, not completely sure if she actually wanted to hear an answer.

'What?' he said brushing his neck with his left palm. She walked to stand next to him on her tip toes, her eyes examining little marks on his neck, her fingers pulling at his shirt, to see how many more of these he had on his chest, on his shoulders. There were so many, Maya felt her breath catch in her throat, her head start spinning.

'These are hickeys, Luke.' She whispered barely audibly, but her body was so close to Luke's, he had no way of not hearing what his wife was saying. Luke licked his lips, his left-side teeth slightly tugging on his lipring. 'Yeah.' He said as if it was nothing, even though the feeling of her trembling fingers on his neck sent daggers to his chest.

That moment he felt some woman's lips sucking on his skin felt so good that his wife was the last thing on his mind. He only wanted to cause her heartache and show her she's not the only one who can start 'sleeping around'. But now Luke was feeling heartache himself from his wife's shaky breaths on his neck.