the boxer // lrh au

four ; lukey-pookie

in honor of youngblood releasing and being the greatest work of art to this date. also, i listened to ghost of you on repeat while writing so don't be concerned if you see some mistakes... or random lyrics from the song. 

-

"well uh we'll leave you two to, um..." calum trails off as we slowly walk out. 

this was definitely the weirdest situation i have ever been in. it wasn't a problem that luke was making out with a girl- i had seen that plenty of times considering calum was always over at our apartment and tyler and him both brought many girls back to our place. the problem was that both luke and the unnamed girl completely ignored the existence of the three of us as they sloppily made out in front of us. 

"wait," the girl says, finally pulling away from luke, "there's a party tonight to celebrate lukey-pookie's big night! you guys should come." luke's arm candy was clearly only directing her attention to calum and tyler when offering her invite. 

"uh i'm sorry, but bella here-" tyler starts, but i cut him off. 

"no, you guys go ahead. i'll have michael come to pick me up. he texted me earlier and said he wanted to hang out since he just came back." the words coming out of my mouth were a blatant lie, but i didn't want to shit on calum and tyler's night. 

"are you sure?" tyler asks. i knew that translated to: i really hope you're right because i want to go. 

i nod my head to reassure them. i could just take an uber back. they would never know the difference. 

"great! boys..." the girl whose name i still not have caught trails the three boys along with her.

"actually, you guys go and i'll catch up. i have some important business stuff to take care of. ya know, the cons of being a champion." luke smoothly says, winking at the girl. 

"okay lukey-pookie." the three of them hastily make an exit and i follow behind them, deciding i'll call for an uber once they leave.

"wait, bells." i hear luke call out. 

i whip my head around at the nickname. i haven't been called bells in years. 

"yes?" i meekly question. there should be absolutely no reason for luke to address me considering i barely glanced in his direction since we entered this room. my mind can't help but focus on that i did something wrong. 

"come on, i'll drop you home."

"no it's fine, michael-" i argue, even though i know there's no michael. the last thing i wanted to do was inconvenience THE luke hemmings. 

"i know that you did a pretty good job of lying to calum and tyler, not to mention they were already biased considering they just wanted to go to that party, but i know that you made that up on the spot. i've been maneuvering in and out of lies my whole life. i know when someone's not telling the truth." luke picks up what i assumed were his keys from the table on the far side of the room. 

though i really shouldn't be getting in a car with a boy i barely knew and with someone who could pick out my lies so easily, i couldn't think of a good excuse. 

"but what about that important business stuff?" i ask, "surely i shouldn't hold you up." 

i begin to back out of the door, hoping that luke doesn't notice that i'm hinting that i didn't want a ride home for him. 

"there is none. you think i mess with that stuff? i have a manager for a reason." he scoffs.

"but then-"

"you ask too many questions princess. just follow me to my car alright? and keep your head down, okay? there's gonna be people out there and some might take photographs. the last thing i want is for it to seem like i'm trying to hook up with my best friend's little sister." 

"whatever you say lukey-pookie." i mutter under my breath. 

i didn't know that luke heard it though— so when i hear him laugh— i end up giggling with him. after a few seconds of us laughing, luke clears his throat.

"oh princess, this is so not going to end well."