Runaway

Chapter 5

I follow Luke out of Starbucks and to his car. I am aware of the risk I am taking, and what could happen, but I don't care. To be honest, I don't really have much to live for...

Luke lets me into the front seat before walking around to the drivers. He puts the radio on, and a band I've never heard of before begins to play.

Don't stop,

Doing what you're doing...

'Oh,' says Luke, switching the station, 'you don't want to listen to that band, they're awful.'

'Those two lines sounded pretty good to me,' I say.

'Yeah, well, that's the singer on a good day,' Luke replies, smirking slightly.

'Okay,' I say awkwardly.

'So, tell me about you,' says Luke after a moment.

'What about me?'

'Just, what do you like doing? What do you want to do when you're older?'

'I don't really get to do much,' I say honestly, 'I read. What about you?'

'Oh, I just do what I want,' he says, smiling.

'Well, what about your future?'

He shrugs. 'I'll just see what happens.'

'Don't you ever worry about it?'

'Not really,' he replies.

I shrug it off.

'Just here,' says Luke, pulling up in front of a three-story building.

'Which part do you live in?' I say after we are both out of the car, noticing how large the building is.

'All of it,' says Luke, walking towards the house.

'Impressive,' I mutter, but so he can't hear me.

As soon as I follow Luke into the house, three guys and girls appear in front of us. 'Aww, Luke, you finally found a girl!' Exclaimes a girl with her arm wrapped around one of the boys', with long, wavy black hair and dark eyes.

Luke rolls his eyes. 'She just needs the phone, and maybe a place to stay tonight. Holly, that's Charlotte,' he says, indicating to the girl who spoke, 'and he's Ashton,' he indicates to the guy who's hand Charlotte is holding. I remember what he mentioned about how he lives with three guys and their girls are always over. This must be them.

Luke then introduces me to Izzy, a short, skinny girl with short, brown hair and brown eyes, who must be with Michael, and Lianne, who is with Calum.

'Nice to meet you all,' I say.

'C'mon, we'll take you to a spare bedroom,' says Charlotte, taking the bin bag from my hands.

'Oh, I'm not gonna stay here for very long...' I begin to argue, but I follow all three girls upstairs.

'The boys each have their own room,' says Izzy, 'and there are two spares that we pretty much live in.'

'Yeah,' says Charlotte, 'those two room together, so you'll be in with me.'

'Okay,' I say, 'but I don't want to get in the way...'

'Nah, you're not,' says Lianne, as Charlotte opens the door to a rather spacy bedroom. There is two ready-made single beds, one of which has a pair of pajamas lying upon, and there are clothes hung up on hooks against one of the walls, above the bed. On the other side of the room is the spare bed, above which is another three hooks screwed into the wall. There's a table against the back wall, upon which lies a pot of pens and pencils, a ruler, a notebook and some loose sheets of paper.

'You can move whatever,' says Charlotte, straightening the loose papers on the desk and tucking them under the notebook. 'And stay however long you want.'

'Yeah, finally Luke picked someone!' Exclaimes Lianne.

'Oh, no, it's not like that, he just said I could use the phone -'

'Don't ruin it,' says Izzy.

'Yeah,' says Charlotte, 'he could probably be with any girl on the planet, yet I swear he's had, like, one  girlfriend.'

'I'm not his girlfriend, I just needed a phone call, and maybe a shower!'

'Okay, grab some clothes, I'll show you the bathroom,' says Charlotte, smiling kindly.

'Thanks,' I say, opening the binbag. I pull out the duvet and pillow, and Lianne and Izzy take them downstairs to wash. I take out some clothes, and Charlotte shows me to the bathroom, which is only the next room opposite this one, and hands me a towel.

'Just shout if you need anything,' she says smiling, and turns to leave.