ten years. [lrh]

twenty-two.

a/n - yo this REALLY sucks lol heads up sorry

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It was Fratelli Street, for Lacey's information. Luke drove well under the speed limit, as if to slow down the seconds it took to get to Amanda's driveway. After a honk or two from behind, he swerved close to the curb, parked in someone else's spot, and decided to walk the rest of the way.

His hands, fisted up in the pockets of his jeans, were drenched with cold sweat. Amanda was four blocks away. Four blocks.

That's about two minutes away, Luke thought. Dropping his head, he noticed the gap from one foot to the other with each step. He shortened his stride, slowed down his pace. Two and half minutes. More time.

More time for what? Luke wasn't prepared to talk. What the fuck was he supposed to say? Amanda wanted explanations. Luke didn't know how to give it to her. Now, he had two and a half minutes to figure shit out.

According to Lacey, Amanda's place was the first block of the street. He crossed the road. Luke's tongue went stiff as he tried to form words that his mind no longer knew the meaning of.

This was the first time Luke had knocked on so many doors at once. He wasn't usually like this; people ran after him, not the other way round. And women, God. Luke never went after women. He wasn't desperate like that. Clara wasn't hard work when he first met her all those years back. He barely moved a muscle.

And here he was, in front of another door, running. Running for the first time in ten years and running because hell, Luke was desperate. He wanted a Happy Ending. Did he deserve it? Probably not. But the world around him was a sickly grey and Amanda's door was yellow and his Happy Ending was on the other side of it.

So he knocked. Again, and for the last time.

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Amanda looked different.

"Can I help you?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

Luke simply stared in response, his hand still suspended in the air, clenched. Last time Luke checked, Amanda wasn't taller than him. Last time he checked, she definitely wasn't a male.

"Hey, mate, you lost? Can I help you?"

"Uh-" Luke tried peering past the stranger. "Who are you?"

The man scoffed, and fell against the doorframe. "Who are you? You look familiar."

"I- I asked... I asked first." Luke dropped his arm, pinning it by his side nervously. He was in the wrong place, he had to be. God damn it, Lacey.

"Henry," the man replied. "The name's Henry."

Luke froze. His next words came through as barely a whisper. "Amanda's Henry?"

Henry scratched his chin and nodded, clearly confused. Luke took a step back, unsure of what to do next.

He was so sure Amanda made him up, when they ran into each other first. To make him jealous, or whatever. He was there, though. Henry was there and in the flesh, and Amanda was living with him.

This was a mistake.

"I'm sorry," Luke started, tugging lightly at his hair. "I'm in the wrong place, I think. Yeah, I'm sure I'm in the wrong place. Different neighbourhood, you know." He forced out a laugh. "I'll just get going, then-"

Henry gasped.

"You're from that band!"

Luke sighed, and nodded frantically. Let me leave, for fuck's sake.

"You're Luke! Luke Hemmings."

"I am, thank you." Luke smiled, balancing on the balls of his feet. Amanda didn't seem like she was home. Luke wanted to leave, hide, before she got back.

"Why is Luke Hemmings knocking at my door?" Henry pushed himself off the door, standing straight again. Oh, did Luke hate this. Very, very much.

"Once again, must be lost. I'm sorry, hey? I'll leave you to it."

Before Henry could say another word, Luke whipped around and examined the stitches on the front of his left shoe as he made his way down the stairs. The stranger's eyes burned into the leather of Luke's jacket.

This couldn't have gone worse. If things went his way, Luke would've been with Amanda right at that moment. Things would have been okay. He would be sitting on her bed, with one hand on her knee. The other hand would be on her cheek. It would have distracted Amanda enough to forget about the underlying questions she had for him. He planned that much out, at least.

Couldn't think to tell me could you, Lacey? Couldn't think to mention that she had a man. Real great, Lacey, just swell. Really fucking-

"What the fuck?"

Luke jolted to a stop in surprise and broke his attention from the shoes to the image in front of him.

She had dropped the carton of milk. Luke could see it, all over her feet. The plastic bag lay floating in the small puddle before her, but she wasn't paying attention. Either she was just as surprised as he was, or he had something on his face.

Luke dragged a hand over both cheeks, just in case.

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i'm really sorry this was so disappointing

hi long time no see but here's an update

i'm sorry it's so shitty, writer's block is being a bitch and i've got no creativity flow- i will be rewriting this chapter the minute i force things back into place

also sorry for the boring filler chapter but I had to update somehow 🤷‍♀️

thank u for 7.8k+ reads, i appreciate y'all so much thank u goodnight

- epihphany