Forbidden (Punk Luke Hemmings)

forty one

Luke

I had stayed the night at Daniella’s the night I had returned, phone calling my parents to let them know. They seemed strangely okay with me staying the night, but hell, I wasn’t complaining. It all felt so surreal having them back in my life. I mean, in just 24 hours I had left rehab, spoken to my parents for the first time in almost 2 years, and I had been reunited with my baby. 

Her dad returned the next morning, saying that he had slept at his friend from works house, but Daniella had begged to differ. Apparently he was dating again, and it made me happy to hear the happiness in Daniella’s voice as she stated so.

He was extremely surprised to see me at first, but then I found him giving me a hug and a pat on the back. “Congratulations, mate” he had said whilst Daniella was in the bathroom.

I don’t think I had ever been so confused as I asked “What do you mean?”.

“You went to rehab, and you got better. That in itself is a big achievement. And also, my daughter loves you. You’re one lucky man.” he had smiled genuinely, and I don’t think I had ever felt so proud of myself. Daniella’s dad could even tell how in love she was with me. Of course, after hearing her say the three beautiful words hundreds of times before, I was aware that she loved me. But hearing her father announce it out loud to me with such great pride held in his voice made it feel ten times greater. Also the fact that he approved of me, made me happy too. I want to marry his daughter, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life receiving smart ass remarks from him. I want to spend the rest of my life inviting him over to have dinner with my wife — his daughter, and our children. 

Isn’t it funny that the boy who once used to cross his heart, saying that he would never get married, and that he would never have kids, was now imagining his future with someone? And not just anyone, the love of his life. I used to spend my days living in the moment, not even considering what would happen the next day. I cared about sex, drugs, and myself. But now, I was in a committed relationship with a girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. If someone had told me a year ago what I would be doing now, I would’ve scoffed and called them delusional.

But now, I was — I am, proud of who I am, and everything I’ve got going for me in my life. I’ve got a beautiful girl at my fingertips, my family supporting me, and the most amazing friends I could ever ask for. Well, at least I hoped I had the most amazing friends.

Speaking of my friends, I was on my way to see them now, for the first time in 3 months.

I had asked Daniella if she wanted to come along, however she said no without any hesitance because I think she understood that I should probably speak to them on my own, and I think she was still a little bit angry from yesterday when Ashton had said what he did. If Ashton had said those things prior to rehab, I most likely would have shown up on his doorstep, throwing punches. But I had learnt to control my anger, and I knew that punching Ashton wouldn’t change anything. I knew that he most likely wasn’t intending for Daniella to go and do what she did, he was probably just sick of seeing her moping around day after day. I understand that, really, I do. But I just think saying those things to her whilst she was clearly in such a vulnerable state, was just plain stupidity. Obviously Dans was going to take his words to wrong way, which lead to kissing some waiter. Like, c’mon Ashton. 

I drove to my apartment first, to see that it had been used whilst I was away. I went into the bedroom, and saw that my side of the bed had been used, and I soon realised that Daniella had been here. Her scent lingered throughout the entire apartment, and I cringed at the thought of her crying whilst cuddling up to my side of the bed, wearing my clothes. I hated the thought of her being alone, I hated to know that she cried herself to sleep at night whilst I was away. It was eating me up inside to know how much pain she had gone through because of my absence.