youngblood ▷lrh

prologue

When June Summers (who, ironically, was born in December) was eight years old, she prayed for a prince in shining armor to appear at her doorstep and sweep her off of her feet.

Instead of a handsome man, she got a Luke Hemmings.

From the moment he had peeked around his mother's legs, June had been obsessed with the blue-eyed, blonde-haired little boy.

It wasn't entirely because he offered to play Barbies with her, which, at the time, was detrimental to an eight-year-old boy's social life. Nor was it because Luke would occasionally skip dinner when his mom made lasagna so he could bring her his portion because he knew how much June loved his mother's lasagna. That stopped after his mother realized what he was doing and patted her boy on the head, telling him to just invite her over the next time.

Quite possibly, though, it was the way he would sneak over to her house in the middle of the night when there was a thunderstorm and hold her until she fell asleep.

It was the way that he always knew what she needed, no matter when or where the pair was.

Luke and June were inseparable from the moment their mothers had introduced them.

But as it goes with many close friends, feelings became tangled up in their once simple friendship.

At thirteen, June noticed Luke but Luke only noticed video games and sports.

At fifteen, Luke made friends with a couple of other boys, Calum, Michael, and Ashton. They, alongside Luke, discovered their place in the world making music.

June got over her crush as soon as she met seventeen year old Ashton Irwin.

But, of course, that was when Luke realized that seeing June brighten up as he walked into a room made lions roar in his stomach (butterflies were too tame for what he felt).

Luke held onto those feelings even though he knew June did not feel the same way. He didn't think they'd ever stop but he would take a friendship with her over nothing. He listened to her go on and on about Ashton and how cute his giggle was and how she found his jorts endearing.

But there was a point where Luke couldn't stand it anymore.

"June," he interrupted sternly, "stop talking about him."

June stopped abruptly, sitting up from her position on the bed next to Luke.

"Sorry, was I talking about him too much? Geez, you should've stopped me earlier," she said, brushing a strand of light brown hair out of her blushing face. "I know he'd never look at me like that but--"

"I like you."

"--maybe you could set us up?"

The two friends froze, staring at each other with wide-eyes.

"What?" They asked this at the same time, both of their faces paling as the seconds ticked by.

"You go first," Luke said, trying to salvage what was left of his dignity.

June shook her head profusely. "I really think you should go first."

They awkwardly argued for a couple more moments before they (June) decided Luke would go first.

"Uh, well, you see," Luke stuttered. He'd never been this nervous before, not even before he had to do a presentation on the human anatomy last semester.

"Luke, get on with it," June urged him.

"June-bug," he sighed, grabbing her hand. "You know I love you, right? And that I'd never do anything to ruin our friendship?"