Love In Perpetuity | l.h

Chapter 3

Luke's POV

"Seriously, Ashton? Just after I told you not to say anything embarrassing about me?" Groaning, I rub my hand down my face. Ashton has a lot to learn - which reminds me of the time I tried to flirt with a girl in sophomore year in which he had to ruin it on purpose. Ashton came up to us and accused me of cheating on him, and obviously the poor girl - who I forgot the name of - became shocked and asked if I was gay. That was the most embarrassing day of my life, to say the least. 

"Sorry, I forgot about that. Please don't kick my balls." he says before shrugging, "I really need these."

Screwing my face, I say, "That's disgusting." I jump off the couch and start making my way to the fridge to take out a can of soda. I pop it open and chug it down my throat before going back to sit on the couch. "I swear if that's going to happen like last time, I'm not gonna just kick your balls but I'll also cut it off." 

Confused, he takes a moment to refresh his memory from sophomore year. When he finally remembers, he bursts out laughing and slaps his knee. "Oh my god, that was the funniest thing that ever happened that year." 

"She dumped me like a minute after you left," I state, my mouth set in a hard line. 

He nods, "Oh! So that's why she didn't end up going to that party with you." 

My expression dulled before I said, "Because she thought I was gay." That was a terrible thing Ashton ever did, and telling someone that we're gay for each other is absolutely wrong. Just wrong. 

"Yep," he says, emphasising the P. 

"Gay for you," I grimaced. Ashton grabbed the gaming console from Calum as it was his turn to try and beat Michael. 

At Michael's basement, we played video games while stuffing our faces with pizzas that Michael ordered. I can't help but think about Katie and how weird it is that she moved to my school - the girl who I met at the beach the other day 

The first time I met Katie, I didn't know what was really captivating about her until today at school. I finally realised it was her smile. Her smile that seems to be contagious as I always find myself smiling whenever she does. And when she does, it highlights her brown eyes, making it look like her eyes are smiling along with her lips. 

"Luke, are you going to eat that?" Michael asks, pointing towards the pizza I'm holding. "You haven't taken a single bite from that."

I blink and shake my head, "I'm seriously starting to question your obsession with pizza." I push my hand forward and he takes it from me, before taking a bite and fluttering his eyelashes shut in pleasure. 

"It's not called obsession, Luke," he winks. "It's an addiction." 

"They're the same thing," I impassively state. 

"Not really," he shrugs, chewing loudly. "I feel satisfied when I eat pizza and enjoy it very much. It's yummy for my tummy. So clearly, it's not an obsession." 

"What? You know what, nevermind. Enjoy that pizza," I mumble before getting up on the couch and throwing on my flannel. The boys look up at me and I pick up my soda from the table. 

"Where are you going?" Calum questions after he paused the game. 

I shrug and run my fingers through my hair to fix it, "I have to do some homework." That's not a lie because I haven't even done any homework for the past week and I'm being called out for it. 

Michael's nose crinkled, "Ew, what even is homework." Then he laughs and shakes his head, "I'm kidding, I finished that ages ago." 

"See ya," both Calum and Ashton say in unison before I nod and walk up the stairs. It is 4:30 pm and I'm feeling extremely worn out since I woke up too early this morning. Ugh, why can't school start in the afternoon? That would be much appreciated. 

Opening the front door of Michael's house, I step out into the summer sun shining a brilliant amber. I place my hands in the front pockets of my jeans and start the 10-minute walk to my house. 

I look down on my feet while I walk slowly, not caring about my surroundings. However, I could hear vehicles passing by and trees swaying from the wind.

I think I was too busy engrossed in the random things that I could hear, that I didn't even care to watch where I was going. When I finally look up, there is a presence in front me and I didn't have time to move as they were too close to my body. The person yelps and stumbles forward while my hands clutch onto her forearms before they could fall. 

I also heard something fall onto the floor with a loud crack, but I keep my attention on the person in front of me. 

The brunette looks up and for some reason, I'm not even surprised. 

"Katie?" 

She bites down onto her lips before blushing and looking away from me, "We really need to stop meeting like this." 

"Hmm, I don't know," I smirk, still holding her arms. "I find it quite amusing if you ask me."

She rolls her eyes playfully and her eyes move away from mine and down to my hands, "Um."

I laugh before letting go of her arms, "Just in case you fall." 

Her mouth curved into a smile before looking down. Her smile then changed into an 'o' shape and bent down to pick something up off the ground. 

"Oh my god," she gasps, fear overtaking her voice. Just when I was going to ask what happened, she stands up straight and held out her hand to reveal a cracked screen. "My mum is going to kill me." 

I squint and take her phone to scrutinise the damage that was caused, "Oh, that's bad." On the top of the screen of her iPhone 6s, there is a white visible crack that sort of looked like a spider web.

"This is more than just bad, Luke, I just got this phone three weeks ago and that's not even the worst part," she pauses, rubbing her temples. "I had to earn  it." 

"Earn it?" I question, holding her phone out. She takes it and shakes her head before pressing on the button home. Thankfully, the phone lights up and reveals the Blink-182 lock screen photo and she sighs in relief.

"Basically, I had to get straight A's in 11th grade in order to get a phone," she explains. "Which I did."

I blink, "Oh wow... that's, for the lack of a better word, tough." 

She shrugs and looks down, fiddling with her bracelet. "Well, it's understandable since I lacked in sophomore year. I didn't really care about school that time... um there were other things that clouded my mind." 

"What happened?" I ask slowly, mindful of my words. 

She stiffened, "I don't really want to talk about it." 

I nod my head and about a minute later of us just standing there in awkward silence, an idea came to my mind, "Hey, what about we go the mall right now and get your phone fixed?" 

She lifted an eyebrow and shakes her head, "It'll be too expensive and I haven't even received my paycheck yet. I'll just have to confront my mum." 

"What if I say I'll pay for it?" 

"What?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

"I'll pay for it," I shrug, raking my hands through my hair. 

"Luke, you're crazy. You don't have t-" 

"I insist."

She hesitates then lets out a breath she was holding, "Alright fine, but I'm going to pay you back." 

"Katie, seriously, you don't have to," I smile, tapping my foot on the floor. 

"But why?" 

I smirk and bite down onto my lip ring, "Perks of being a male stripper."

-- 

A/N 

Thank you so much for reading!

Please vote, comment & share this story with your friends :) 

- Alyssa