Rochester Avenue // Luke Hemmings

Chapter 26 - 'I Might Just Throw One Of You Off This Balcony'

I woke up in the morning with a mouth as a dry as the desert and a nauseated feeling in my stomach. I kept my eyes closed for as long as possible, but I knew I had to get up. I had my internship to go to. I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning, quickly glancing at Jess to see that she was still asleep. I wished I were still asleep. I was really dreading going to the studio today because I would have to see Luke, and I had no idea how things were going to be between us.

I was about to just shove on some simple pants and a t-shirt, but then I stopped. I was mad at Luke, he was mad at me. I wanted to look cute and make him... I don't know, I just wanted to make him suffer a bit. So I decided to put more effort into choosing my outfit, and in the end I went for a white, skin-tight V-neck dress. It was fairly casual and good for a hot day, which today was. I concentrated more on my makeup, and by the time I was done, Jess was up.

"Jesus Christ, Noelle," she mumbled, yawning widely. "Why do you look so fit?"

I glanced over my shoulder at her, grinning. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do, you little minx." She squinted at me. "Are you wearing eyeliner?"

I merely gave her a mysterious smile and grabbed my bag, stuffing my phone and other essentials into it before waving goodbye to Jess and setting off.

Although I was hung-over and nervous, I was also kind of in a good mood. I wanted to see Luke's reaction to how I looked, and I knew I looked good. But then I scowled to myself. He would probably get all pissy and tell me to put something on over the top. Well, today I was not going to let him tell me what to do.

As I arrived at the studio, my nerves grew, and so did my headache. I was feeling way too nauseated to eat anything, so all I'd had this morning was about two liters of water. George, Jess and I had partied hard last night, and luckily we didn't run into Nathan at the party. He was probably too busy manipulating some other girl.

The moment I entered the room, I could practically feel the tension in the air. I'd only just arrived, though, so it couldn't be because of me, right? All eyes turned to me, but I was only looking at Luke. His eyes widened at the dress and he quickly looked away, clearing his throat.

Fran quickly got up and came over to me, since no one else was. "Hey Noelle. What's with the sexy dress?" She raised her eyebrow. "I feel like you're a woman on a mission."

I laughed. "Of a sort. What's going on? Why can I sense that everyone is very... stressed?"

She glanced over at Luke and Michael, who were glaring at each other. "Why don't you come and get coffee with me?"

Confused, I agreed and we went to the cafeteria. I noticed an increase in stares, mostly from men in their late twenties. Luke would not be happy if he was with us right now.

"So, what's going on?" I questioned as we stood by the coffee machine, filling up cups.

Fran sighed. "All I know is that something went down between Luke and Michael, and now they can't say one word to each other without arguing. When I arrived, they were basically shouting at each other. And..." She winced. "I caught your name."

I closed my eyes for a second. Why did this have to happen to me? "Did you happen to hear what it was about?"

"Not really. I think there was one part about the week you guys had in San Simeon, but apart from that, I just couldn't really tell. They stopped when I came in."

"Have Ash or Calum said anything about it?"

She shook her head. "I think they're just trying to ignore them. The way they're acting is almost as if it's not even a big deal to them, like it's happened before, or something."