daddy's girl ❥ luke hemmings ✔️

17. "kiss me"

LUKE

I need a job.

No, I worded that wrong. I want one. I know I have one already, but I mean one where I won't have enough free time to daydream about things I shouldn't be daydreaming about.

I'm at my job now and I'm actually expected to work longer than discussed. I've been with Holly for the whole day and we were supposed to part ways four hours ago.

Unfortunately, she caught sight of a high street filled with things for me to spend my money on, threw a fit when I refused to do what she said, and ended up dragging me along with her.

I sigh. She's holding up two shirts now and I can't tell the difference, no matter how many times she tries to explain it to me. I don't really give a fuck about what she's saying yet I nod tiredly away. I've made a silent agreement with myself that anything, anything is better than this. Anything.

"I like the blue," she says. I've learnt to adjust myself to the nasally tone of her voice, so thankfully, it doesn't affect me as much now.

I rake a hand down my face, sighing yet again.

"Yup."

"Do you like the blue?" it doesn't matter what I think, she'll go with what she wants, so I just shrug. "Lukey."

Lukey. My shrug is replaced by a cringe.

"Holly, I don't know much about clothes." I say apologetically. It's true. The majority of my wardrobe belongs to the guys and the very few things that I actually own were hand picked a while ago by Sophie herself.

Holly raises an eyebrow at me, placing a hand on her hip. "You don't need to know about clothes to tell me I look good."

"You look good," I deadpan. She narrows her eyes at me, and I resist the urge to roll my own. "Very good."

"That's more like it," she grins.

I never thought a publicity stunt would be this much work. I know Ashton had to do it a while back to create some drama nobody's talked of since, but I always thought that I was safe from it all. Now I need to keep her happy in order to keep management happy. Nothing makes me feel guiltier than lying to the very people who got me where I've always wanted to be.

I know I should tell Sophie about all of this but I'm not sure how she'd take it. She wouldn't like Holly and vice versa; they're just so different that it'd be unrealistic to think otherwise.

I'm better off keeping my work life and my private life seperate. When the problem arises and Sophie finally finds out before I can wriggle my way out of this stupid agreement, I'll deal with it then. Not now, though. Not when my mind has been thinking things that are far from normal and I've been feeling similar gut-wrenching urges towards this little girl I've been trying so hard to protect all these years.

Holly finally finishes whatever she needs to do and my credit card is handed back to me with a halfhearted hug. I almost roll my eyes again. I'm ordered by Modest! to bear with it all and that whatever expenses Holly may spend will be covered- keeping her 'provided' means keeping album sales up. Not that I care about the money. All I care about is time; precious time that I'm missing away from my baby, but I'm not supposed to tell her that.

We pass a few more stores, most of them visited by Holly alone as I stand outside, waiting for her to swipe my credit card dry before finally emerging with about a dozen different bags. Words aren't exchanged very often, unless it's to confirm what my PIN number is and if I want anything to match. I always recite the numbers and I always say no.