fifteen ; l.h.

him

ashton - bless his soul - allowed luke to stay at his house.

"it's to make up for being a crappy friend," the curly haired boy had told him when he refused at first.

upon arriving at the home, luke was immediately tackled by ashton's two siblings.

"luke! we missed your piggy back rides!"

"yeah, ashton's too short!"

"hey, i'm only like two inches shorter!"

"how'd you get these red cuts on your wrists?"

abruptly, the taller boy went rigid and the two children climbed off, sensing something wrong.

luke stood, eyes downcast as everyone that occupied the room eyed him.

"harry...." ashton began to scold.

"no, it's okay," luke stopped him and knelt to harry's level with a sad smile.

"sometimes bad people do bad things to make up for what they did."

"which bad person did that to you?"

the older boy swallowed a lump in his throat. "i'll tell you when you're older, kid."

then he stood, ignoring ashton and lauren - who was old enough to understand - as they gave him sympathetic stares.

"lucas hemmings? is that you?" mrs. irwin hurried down the stairs, thankfully ending the awkward moment, and engulfed luke in a hug.

"hey, mama irwin," he wrapped his arms around her with a wide smile. "how are you doing?"

"wonderful, dear," she held him at arms length. "and you? how is your family?"

he paled considerably. "i'm good. but - uh, my family...they're not really with us anymore."

mrs. irwin gasped and let go of the teen with tears in her eyes. "oh, luke. i'm so sorry. you must feel terrible."

"he's fine, ma," ash cut in quickly. "he actually moved out on his own to a new town. queensdale, i think."

"is that true?" she returned her attention to the boy in question, who nodded. "why don't you move in with us? we'll be in brooklyn for a while; it'll be no problem!"

"um, actually, i kind of need to go back to queensdale. i have someone that needs me and i need her," he admitted softly.

the woman smiled, glad to hear that he had found someone. luke felt the extreme longing he had for noelle at full force. he missed her voice and her smile. her everything.

"in that case, feel welcome to stay as long as you like until you decide to leave. we'd be honored to catch up with you."

and he smiled. because that was all the thanks he could possibly think to offer at the moment.

-

"fancy going for a walk?" ashton had asked the next day whilst the two boys were watching tv.

"sure," luke got up and followed him out the door and onto the sidewalk.

"why'd you leave brooklyn?" the shorter boy interrogated as they approached the park.

"why did you?" he shot back defensively, then sighed. "too much shit was happening. with my family dead and people not letting me forget it, i just needed space."

"what happened to them, anyways?"

luke remained stoic.

"you don't have to answer. i just feel like it's something I should know."