“God, if I knew that the two of you would be all over each other all the time, I would never have allowed you to date.” Calum groaned as I sat down at the lunch table. I frowned at him. I hadn’t even done anything bad—only given Luke a kiss on the cheek as I took up the seat next to him. Luke merely shrugged, and Taryn smacked Calum in the shoulder.
“Ignore him, Dae. He’s just jealous because he wishes it was him who had a girlfriend.” She assured me, causing Calum to let out a snort.
“I certainly am not jealous. Who needs to be tied down like that anyway?” He scoffed. I rolled my eyes, glancing over at Luke. He met my gaze and smiled.
It had been a little over a month since Luke sort-of asked me out. We’d gone on five dates to various places since. He took me to the pier we first kissed on the first date, telling me that it was a really good spot to watch the sunrise. He was right. The second two were your typical dinner-and-movie dates, but we had a lot of fun (except for when he made me go see ‘House At The End Of The Street’ for the second one. not okay.) On the fourth date, Luke and I simply went for a walk in downtown Sydney. We found a cute little café that served wonderful tasting pastries. Luke, despite my protests, bought an entire box of them to bring back to the house because I liked them.
The last date was my favorite, though. I set the entire thing up, telling Luke we were going to see a movie. Instead, I took him to a music festival downtown that he’d been complaining about not being able to attend. He about died. I ended up buying him a necklace at a small kiosk there as well. It had a little lego man on the chain, and for some reason I just felt like it fit Luke perfectly. He laughed when I turned and handed it to him instead of putting it around my own neck, but put it on none the less. If I’m being completely honest, it looked really good on him. The music festival also happened to be the first time Luke and I properly made out. We’d just finished eating some fair-type foods, and he was apparently in a mushy mood, because he was thanking me for taking him to the festival and buying him the necklace and everything. I kissed him, originally to just shut him up. But it turned into a little more than an innocent kiss. Luke’s hands snaked their way down to rest on my ass for the first time. We had to stop when some drunk guy yelled at us to get a room. Luke only laughed, but I was beyond embarrassed.
Of course, good things aren’t meant to last forever.
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“You’re upset.” Luke sighed, looking up at me from his position on the couch. I shook my head even though I was a bit upset.
“No, I’m not. Luke, I’m really, really happy you guys have this opportunity!” I assured him. I glanced around at the other three boys in the room. “Really, I am super pumped for you all. I know you’re talented enough to do this.” My voice shook slightly as I finished my sentence, and I looked down at the floor. “Fuck.” I hissed under my breath, trying desperately to keep the tears from spilling down my cheeks.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Luke called me out. I looked up, meeting his gaze. He was right. I wasn’t upset that they had this opportunity. There was a different reason.
The boys had received a call the other day from some record company. Their videos on YouTube (the ones I helped record and edit for them) had suddenly gained tons of hits, likes, comments, etc. They were offered a deal to sign with the label. Which was awesome. Except, the label was based in London, and they’d have to go there to settle the deal and record.
I wasn’t even upset that Luke was leaving, which sounds bad. It’s not that I don’t like him, because I do. Oh, God, do I like him so much. I trust him to the moon and back when it comes to other girls. Heaven only knows how many times in the past few weeks he’s had girls come up to him in public, asking if he’s the guy from that YouTube band, and if he was looking for a girlfriend. He was so polite, always pointing out that he already had a girlfriend that he was very happy to be with (which never failed to put butterflies in my stomach). After about the fifth time girls stopped him for a photo, I suggested he and the boys make twitter accounts for themselves and the band. Luke, of course, insisted I have one as well. I didn’t think I’d use it as much as I do. Anyways, I wasn’t upset Luke was leaving. No, it was the fact that Liz was going with him that upset me. Her being gone meant I would have to go back home. To my dad. To the man I hadn’t seen or spoken to in over a month and a half.
And that scared the shit out of me.
Would he be better? Consuming less alcohol? Most likely not. He was probably still the same. I was actually surprised he was still managing to pay all the bills. At least, I assumed he was paying the bills. My cell phone service hadn’t gone out yet. And merely thinking about the fact that my dad was most likely still getting drunk daily made my blood run cold. It was one thing living there, knowing Ashton was just a phone call away. It was going to be a totally different ballgame without that lifeline.
“It’s only going to be a few months, Dae.” Luke said gently. I nodded, attempting to reassure myself I would be okay as much as I was trying to reassure him.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m just nervous, you know?” I said, looking between all of the boys. They all knew what I was talking about. In fact, once the five of us became really close, we ended up sitting down and pouring out life stories (granted, that wouldn’t have happened if Ash hadn’t brought the alcohol, but still). Ash talked about how his dad was never around, Michael complained about the damn cat that scratched him once, making him hate cats forever, and I talked about my fucked up life.
“I’ll go with you when you to help you move some things back home.” Luke offered. I smiled gratefully.
“We’ll go too.” Calum piped up. I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
“I love you guys so much.” I whimpered. Luke was up from the couch immediately, his arms finding their way around me. Soon, I was engulfed in a big group hug. “You’re going to have so much fun in London.” My voice was muffled due to the fact that my cheek was pressed up against Luke’s chest, and Michael’s shoulder was pressed against my nose.
“Not as much fun as we’d have staying here with you.” Ashton mumbled from behind me, where his nose was pressed into my hair.
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“Please make sure you keep up your hygiene. And make tons of videos for little ol’ me to watch. Don’t get stains on Ketchup there.” I rattled off my last reminders as I followed the boys out to Liz’s car. Luke laughed, turning to take the duffel from my arms and stuff it into the trunk of the car. Ashton had called shotgun, and was already seated in the car. I piled into the backseat with Luke, Michael, and Calum, and Liz pulled the car out of her driveway. She had offered to at least drive me to my house before they left for the airport, and I didn’t turn the offer down. Any extra time with everyone was perfectly fine with me. The car ride was almost completely silent, save for the radio playing softly. I couldn’t help but feel like it was because of me and where they were about to leave me for over two months.
We were at my house in less than five minutes, and everyone, including Liz, hopped out of the car. We went through another round of goodbyes, even though we’d done the same at Luke’s house.
“Be safe, honey. We’ll be back before you know it.” Liz assured me as she pulled out of our hug. I nodded as she kissed my forehead and climbed back into the car. I turned to the boys, who were standing side-by-side looking sad.
“Hey, now. Don’t look like that, guys.” I said quietly. “It’s only two and a half months, okay?” Ashton was the first to move, his arms wrapping me up in a tight embrace moments before the other three followed suit. I had to choke back a sob as the reality of the situation hit me. I wouldn’t see them in person for at least ten weeks. Four out of the six people who kept me sane living in this country were going to be gone in less than an hour. And on top of that, I had to live with the man who had almost broken my bones twice before.
“I’ll miss you.” Ashton mumbled, kissing my forehead before pulling out of the hug. I lifted myself up and kissed his cheek, muttering the same words back to him before he walked sullenly back to the car. I repeated the same actions with both Calum and Michael (both of whom made cheeky comments about the kiss on the cheek before getting back into the car). Finally, I turned to Luke. The two of us looked at each other for a moment before he finally spoke.
“Stop looking at me like that.” He said, his voice cracking ever so slightly. I sniffed and wiped my eyes as a few tears escaped them.
“I’m not looking at you any different than I usually do.” I protested weakly, dropping my arms back to my sides. Luke held out his arms, and that was all it took. I let out a small whimper and charged into his arms, wrapping my arms around him and holding on to him tightly. He did the same.
“Only ten weeks, Dae.” He whispered hoarsely. I nodded against his chest.
“You’ll call as often as possible, right?” I asked. He nodded. “And make videos for the fans? And please keep out of trouble. And sing on point, like you always do,” I began listing things for him to do as we pulled out of the hug. “And don’t lose the necklace, and if you meet any celebrities or anything, please get a picture for me. And—“ I was cut off when Luke’s lips met mine mid-sentence. Unlike any of our previous kisses, this one wasn’t light and happy. When he pulled away, I let out a shaky breath, determined not to cry. At least, I wasn’t going to cry until he could no longer see me.
“Ten weeks.” He said simply. I nodded, pecking his lips once more.
The car was only just out of my driveway when I shouted after it. I couldn’t help it. The tears couldn’t wait any longer.
“Please don’t leave me!” The car stopped, and Luke was out and running toward me in an instant. He pulled me into his arms tightly, and both of us simply cried. “I’m sorry.” I repeated the words over and over again as Luke pulled away from me.
“Don’t be.” He said quietly, reaching out and wiping the tears from my face, only to have more take their place.
Of course, Luke did have to leave eventually. I definitely did not want to make him miss his flight. No matter how badly I wanted him to stay in Australia, this was a humongous opportunity for the band, and I would rather die than be the one who made the boys miss out on it. After the car was out of sight, I went inside, passing my dad on my way to the basement. He wasn’t drunk, luckily, but I didn’t acknowledge him anyways. I thought I had used up all of my tears, but was proven wrong when my phone lit up with a notification from the boys’ band twitter account.
@5SOS: Goodbyes fucking suck. –Ash
Attached to the tweet was a somewhat blurry picture of Luke and I. He was cupping my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping the tears from my cheeks. As soon as I saw the picture, another round of tears began. I hated being this torn up about a boy. We’d only been officially together for almost two months. And if you counted it from the first time we kissed, only two and a half months.
But in the span of those two months, I’d fallen for him.
Hard.
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Look at the timeliness of this update! Man, I'm good. =)) Anyways, please let me know what you guys thought!
A bit of clarification here-- I'm not following the true storyline of how the real life 5SOS became famous. I was going to originally, but then I realized a bit too late that ages and timing and all that jazz wouldn't have matched up, so now I'm sort of winging it! Hope that's okay with you all!
Love you all to bits, and I really do hope you enjoyed the chapter! OH. P.S. you should all go check out my Calum fic.
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Bully // l.h. // Book 1 of Bully Series
Fanfiction(I'm editing this. Slowly, but it's being edited)
