alumni ➢ luke hemmings [DISCONTINUED]

3.6 ➢ Michael Clifford.

SOPHIE HAYES

"Michael," I say, my breath baited, eyes locked on him despite the fact that he's not looking at me whatsoever. He's looking at the man behind me, the one person on this campus he despises, yet the only person on this campus I seem so close to now.

"Let's go, Sophie." Luke says once more, but I shake his hand off. I thought it would be easy to cut off all ties between me and the boy in front of me, but now that I think about it, it seems almost impossible.

"I'm sorry I bumped into you," I say. I sound pathetic. "I didn't see you coming-"

"Yeah," Michael cuts me off, his voice harsh, breaking almost. "It's fine. Don't... Don't worry about it," his words are weak, eyes wandering. I want to hug him. Seeing my best friend-
my older brother in a sense- so torn and completely drained of energy, is not a very nice thing to be confronted with.

"How have you been?" I ask. I feel Luke let go of my shoulder. I don't look back to see if he walks away or not, but all of a sudden Michael's shoulders release the tension they'd been holding and he finally locks eyes with me.

"Not the best." he admits.

I want to talk to him about it, but what could I possibly say? No words are good enough for the apology that I owe him.

"Sophie," he says, and I give him a look to let him know that I'm listening, to absolutely every single word that he has to tell me. I want him to know that I wish things were back to how they used to be, before all the crazy stuff happened, before the kiss, before the frat party, before Luke.

I want it to be a year ago today, when I was lining up my college choices and asking him over the phone for help and guidance on the best one. I want it to be six months ago, when I was on FaceTime with Michael at the early hours of the morning, having him talk to me about terminals and boarding gates and how to get through security as fast as possible. I even want it to be three months ago, when he was showing me around the campus and indirectly introducing me to all of the people who have now heard my name interlocked with Luke's whenever he's mentioned.

But I know now that that's all nothing but a distant memory, an unrealistic notion to repeat, and I keep my mouth shut.

"Can we talk about it some other time?" he mutters.

I'm stunned; he'd been trying to reach me everyday leading up to the fraternity party. And now, it's as if he doesn't even want to look at me.

"I... I can't be around you right now. I'm sorry."

➢

LUKE HEMMINGS

I twirl the car keys around my pointer finger, back pressed up against my car. It's parked on the curb and although other college students stare at me and raise their eyebrows, I make no effort to move it. They can walk around, surely.

Sophie comes out of the main building not too long after I leave, and a small smirk creeps it's way onto my face as I realise she probably didn't even speak to Michael, opting to be with me instead. And as childish as that is, the thought makes me feel triumphant inside.

But as soon as she gets into the car and doesn't start up her bubbly chatter like she usually would, I can tell something's wrong.

"You alright?" I ask, steering the car into the main road. All I want to do is take her home and have some alone time- not that kind of alone tme, no. Maybe a kiss here and there, but the rest can just consist of movies and snacks and talking to each other if that's what she wants.