Between You & Me || Luke & Jai Brooks

Chapter XVIII - "I Shouldn't Have Come"

*Luke's pov*

"Yes! Suck it, cunt!" I crow as the ball leaves the foot of my player and smacks into the back of the net. Both Jai and I watch the Fifa logo flash up before the replay, through which I cheer again. Jai looks pissed off.

He presses continue and we launch into the final few minutes with even more enthusiasm, Jai fuelled by his hate to lose, me on my cloud. Beau wanders in and stands by the door. "Oh, Luke's winning for once? It is playing with Meghan that helped, wasn't she the grand champion?"

The mention of her name rips a hole in my chest all over again. "Fucking shut up about her!" I yell at Beau. I know I can't avoid her forever, but it's too hard to discuss her this soon. I can't deal with it already, everyone's noticed how different I am, how much more reserved, because there's only half of me. She has my other half, I left it with her when I came here. I can't help being touchy, I don't know how I'm still alive, honestly. It's so hard not to fly back and see her, but I'd have to leave her all over again and I don't think I could do that. We were told no girlfriends. Family is all we could bring, and family is all we could keep in contact with. Relationships were not allowed. And I figured it would be better if there was no particular breakup, just a cut communication.

But I can't stand it. Every mention of her name tears me apart. I've cried every day. I don't interact the same, the fans have noticed a difference. It's been 9 months. I don't know if we'll ever be the same again. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again.

"Boys! Come here!" Mum's voice rings out down the hall frantically and the three of us jump up and run out to the hallway.

"Are you okay? What is it?" Beau speaks for us like usual and Jai and I just turn our heads to see her reaction.

"Yes, I'm fine, it's Meghan!" Both of the boys' heads snap to look at me and I blanch.

"What is it? Mum, what is it?!" I ask anxiously, tugging at my hair. Her fingers are darting across the keyboard on her mobile.

"Hang on, I'm phoning Casey!" She says sharply, bringing the phone to her ear. She stands there motionless for a little while, but for me it seems like forever. I can't stop fidgeting and all the worst scenarios come to mind. Death. Disability. Rape. If that Bruno guy came back for her while I was over here, and she was vulnerable... I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

"Hello!" Mum says into the phone and all of our heads snap up.

The wait while Casey is talking is painful, and mum's serious, grave expression is absolutely killing me. I know Jai probably feels similar to me, and Beau also to a certain extent.

"But she's in a stable condition?" Mum asks and my eyes widen in horror.

"Uh huh. Okay, I'll ask Miranda if we can fly over." That fucking bitch.

"Our music production manager." Our fucking evil stepmother.

"Yeah, she's really just in charge of everything."

She laughs, and I relax a little. "No!"

"Okay, bye. Hopefully see you soon. Send her my love if I can't."

"Will do. Buh bye!"

Mum turns to us now, serious face still there. "Okay, so here's what you need to know. Last night, Meghan was involved in quite a nasty car accident. As far as we know, she's broken an elbow and some of her ribs. They're unsure of any spinal injuries. Right now she's in a stable condition. I'm going to phone Miranda and ask about flights over there." She dials on her phone and puts it straight to her ear.

"I'm going." I tell the boys straight away. "Whether I'm allowed or not, I am going to go. That Miranda bitch can't tell me shit."

Jai nods. "I want to go too." He says quickly.

"Same goes for me." Beau adds.

I smile at them. "Okay. So we'll all go."

* * * *

*Meghan's pov*

I blink hazily and the bright light hits my eyes. Everything's just starting to come into focus. Where the hell am I?

"Meghan? Meghan!"

Luke? What the hell? I try to speak aloud but no words come. Where am I? What happened?!

"Are you okay babe?" He squeezes my hand. I can't remember anything. Except that this is Luke. And I love him. "How are you feeling?" He asks me.

Better, now that you're here. I want to say, but I can't make the words come out. He grins and the smile lights up his eyes.

The room is all white, and beside each of the beds are two clear bags, one filled with a red liquid and one with a yellow tinted one. Oh, holy crap. I'm in a hospital. The realisation hits me, and now I notice the pain in my ribs, and my left elbow. Memories flicker, just out of reach, until I remember the car crash and everything starts coming back. Gym, the crash, the pain, and more. Jai and Mel, Ms Lewis, Luke leaving... Luke left. He went to America. He didn't talk to me. And now he's here? For me?

"I love you." My voice is weak and quiet but I heard it, and so did he. Tears glisten on his eyes and he blinks hard to get them away. He doesn't answer, and the pain in my heart is worse than the pain of the car crash.

"I shouldn't have come." He says, almost to himself, his voice hoarse and quiet. He looks away from my eyes and straightens up.

There's a loud sound from the door opening that interrupts our moment, and a tall lady walks through. She walks as if she owns the place, but her neat pencil skirt and acrylic nails don't belong in a hospital. Luke smiles at her, and if I didn't feel so numb, I would be in a lot more pain right now.

"This is Miranda. She's our head of musical production. She's helping us plan out our album." Luke introduces the tall brunette with the pink talons. I smile politely but it surely couldn't pass as a real smile, to anyone.

Miranda extends one bony hand and I take it stiffly. "Pleased to meet you, Ms...?"

"Just call me Meghan." I try to match her pleasant tone but can tell from Luke's expression that it wasn't up to standard. Or maybe he's unhappy with her. Miranda nods, tilting back her head to look down at me.

"Meghan." She finishes her prior sentence, rolling my name around her mouth as though testing it out, getting used to it. My top lip curls a little. "So, Meghan, what's your connection with our lovely Luke here?"

"He's... He was my boyfriend. And I've known him for my whole life." I reply and sense Luke's disapproval. At my attitude? Well, I'm sorry, but I owe nothing to him. And if he's expecting me to be nice to this foul woman, he's got another thing coming.

"He was your boyfriend?" She looks between like she's checking if she approves and she's starting to piss me off more and more as we go on.

"Yes."

"How... lovely. The two of you must have been simply adorable."

I shrug, and it hurts my ribs. "So people said." I hate how my voice sounds, rusty from not being used. I wonder how long I've been unconscious. If Luke had time to find out, to fly over and get to the hospital, it must have been a few days. And where's Jai?

"Where's Jai?" I ask, and Luke's face crumples a little before he controls it.

"He's in America. He couldn't manage to get here." Luke replies shortly, and my throat tightens. Jai's my best friend, maybe my only friend now. And he couldn't make it to come see if I was okay. If Luke doesn't care about me, and Jai couldn't be bothered to visit me in hospital, who does care about me? Not my dad. And where's my mum? I find myself wishing I'd just died in the crash. It's not like there's anything left for me here.