gone ✧*｡ luke a.u.

20: august 2 2011

LUKE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2ND, 2011

Luke couldn't find Calum or Ashton anywhere, but he wasn't really worried. Ashton was most likely with Stacy, and Calum was undoubtedly with the newest girl he had chosen to pick up and fuck for the night. He did that at every party they went to, which usually left Luke and Michael alone.

"Why are we always the fucking lone rangers," Michael grumbled, tracing a finger around the rim of his drink. "Can we tell them it's not cool?"

"I sort of feel like we should find Ash," Luke muttered in response, pulling idly on one of his wristbands. "He'll do something he regrets."

"She's totally fucking him up, man." Michael shook his head and took a sip from his UDL. "They're both just screwing with each other, big time."

"True." Luke grabbed Michael's can and downed some for himself before passing it back. Then he buried his head in his hands. "This is so fucking boring."

"Only because we're stuck alone again," Michael said, then started to laugh. He was drunker than Luke was, three drinks ahead, and it showed. "Unfortunately for me."

"You suck." Luke basketball-dunked Michael's head down, then ducked away before his friend could get him back, leaving Michael unbalanced and glowering against the wall. "I'm gonna go find Cal, okay? Don't get too wasted."

"I will, my love!" Michael called after him, cupping his hands around his mouth. "I will!" Then he burst into laughter. He thought everything he said was funny.

Shaking his head, Luke walked away towards the billiard room in the back of the house. Unlike Michael, he could barely even feel the buzz from the drinks he'd downed, when he wanted nothing less but to get lost in it. At least he might not have to listen to his own thoughts if he got too drunk to hear them. Besides, they always went the same way.

Fuck. Ellie. Every time she came into his head he wanted to tear his hair out. He didn't know what it was about her; he didn't understand why she left that night or why she refused to open up. He was torn between wanting to scream at her and wanting to grab her face and kiss her, and that urge was what scared him the most: that he really, really wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to feel her skin on his.

All of this was a first for him, and he had never known it would be so painful. It had never been like this with Anna, or any of the other girls he had been with in the past. The bonds which had lingered between them had never felt so torturous, so intoxicating, so . . .

Desperate for something other than sobriety, Luke downed a shot alone before filling up another cup and heading outside. Though Tiff's house was one of the largest he had ever entered, the amount of people crowding it had turned the air stuffy and cramped. Luke missed being able to breathe.

Besides, he needed to find Calum.

It wasn't difficult. The familiar sound of his friend's laughter drifted towards Luke across the grass, and his gaze followed it to its source. Calum sat beneath one of the trees in the backyard with his legs stretched out in front of him, half his face gilded with the light spilling from the house. Something had made him laugh so hard his head tipped back against the tree trunk. Unsurprisingly, there was a girl next to him, unsteady with alcohol, practically falling over him in her own hysterics. 

It seemed Calum had met their expectations once again. If he wanted to busy himself with another girl for the night, Luke wouldn't interrupt. Intending only to go over and briefly check on his friend, Luke started forward—then stopped as the girl's features became clear.