don't you go // lrh

/fourty six/

/you took my breath away so now i can't suck in my stomach around you anymore/

/amara/

I woke up, hungover, at around six o'clock in the morning. My head was spinning and I dry heaved over the toilet for what felt like ages until Luke came to the rescue. He rubbed my back in the dark, early morning hours. I felt disgusting about myself, but he kept saying it was his turn to take care of me now. I was too preoccupied to fight him. So I just gave in to him.

Luke, in typical Luke fashion, ordered pizza for breakfast, to soak up all the alcohol in my stomach. He barred all our friends from coming in to the room until I felt a little better in the headache department. My heart nearly bursted at the seams. I didn't have to ask him, he just knew.

And I knew he was feeling sick too, but he made my hangover the priority. Not his.

For maybe an hour or so, we just laid in bed. Suffering together. Absolutely quiet.

We had enough time today to maybe go for breakfast and soak up another slice of Melbourne while we still could. But nobody suggested it. We were all just too tired and left it all on the city streets last night.

But we lazed around for too long. And it was soon mid day and we still had a flight to catch. It took us way too long to get repacked up after exploding in four consecutive hotel rooms. It sort of brightened my afternoon though, to watch Maddie and Jesse scramble between rooms down this one hall, grabbing shoes there, jackets here, purses over there, running back and forth.

We did final checks of every room to make sure absolutely nothing was left. Luke had to sit on my suitcase so I could get it zipped up all the way. It made me laugh for the first time all day.

At the airport things didn't seem to get that much better. We hid the boys faces in hats and sunglasses and hoodies. We got lucky last night. Nobody really took any photos of everything as it went down. But we were still mobbed by photographers, and Luke did his best to keep them from getting too close. He yelled at them to get out of the way. So did Ashton. And it was out of pure kindness. But it still made me nervous. Especially after what Luke said. About the media training stuff.

It was miserable. And way too hot. And the flight felt like ten hours. Not two. And I somehow got in the air motion sickness. Luke and I must've looked like the biggest assholes ever. Sunglasses on during a flight. Jesus.

I couldn't decipher what exactly I was feeling when we landed back in Sydney. I was so relieved. And thats the good part. But also, it sort of felt like coming home. And that's alarming. Because I've got two and a half days before I leave here all together.

❖ ❖ ❖

"A dip should fix you right up." Luke says.

I don't bother with a shower to cleanse the sins of last night or the discomfort of the flight back. I change as fast as possible into a swimsuit and cut offs. I don't grab my sun hat. I don't put Birkenstocks on. We don't grab snacks or even water. We don't grab towels. I barely even care to bring sunnies with me.

"How do you feel?" Luke asks me once we're in the water, deep, it's all the way up to my chest.

"You were so right about this. Good call, Luke." I say, feeling my eyelids go heavy.

"How good do you feel?"

"So good." I promise.

"Yeah?"