The Bet || l.h.

- 24 -

"It's official," Michael announces as he plops down into a chair at our usual table. "All of you little shits are coming with me to the lake for spring break!"

Kayla looks confused. "What?"

"Mike's uncle owns a lake house a few hours away," Ashton explains. "He's been trying to convince him to let him take a couple friends there for two years."

"Corey just renovated it and he says he needs to take the upgrades for a test run before he rents it out, so he's letting us stay there during break," Michael says as he leans back in his chair, casually slipping an arm around Natalie's shoulders. 

She blushes dark red.

"I hope your uncle doesn't have any neighbors because we're about to blow that joint up," Calum says, earning a grin from Ashton.

Lindsay raises her water bottle. "Leave the alcohol to me and we'll be wasted the entire time."

Luke winces but quickly covers it up. "As fun as that sounds, we still need someone to stay sober to drive."

"Good thinking, Lucas," Cal says as he taps his forehead. "You always were the smart one, no matter what you have everyone believe."

Luke rolls his eyes as he slides his arm across the back of my chair.

"When are we leaving?" Natalie asks, her gaze nervously flickering to Michael every other second.

"Friday after school," Michael informs her, dropping one of his green eyes into a wink, causing her to blush harder. "And there's only four rooms, so we're gonna have to share."

"Well, Luke and Emmy can share one, so that leaves six of us with three rooms," Ashton says as he pops one of Kayla's grapes in his mouth. She swats her hand at him half heartedly.

I duck my head, ignoring the way my face heats up at the thought of sharing a room with Luke, just the two of us.

"I can room with Lindsay," Calum suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever, Hood."

"I'll save Natalie from Michael," Ashton says, earning a relieved look for Nat as Michael had already started to turn to her.

Kayla grins. "Nat's mine, Michael, back off."

"Meanie," Michael complains, pouting.

Calum dramatically takes a piece of paper from his backpack and starts writing a list on it.

Lindsay frowns. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Writing a list of things I'm gonna need for our lake trip," he replies. 

Reading aloud what he's written so far, he says, "Bathing suit, sunscreen, condoms in case Lindsay wants to fuck, noise canceling headphones for when Luke and Emmy do fuck-"

"Oh shut it," Luke grumbles, throwing a balled up napkin at Calum.

"Have you guys even had sex before?" Kayla asks. I love her, but I wish she would just shut up.

"It's Luke Hemmings, did you think he would wait?" Ashton says. After a second, he adds with a frown, "Wait, did you wait?"

Luke is tense beside me. "Do we really have to talk about this? I'm sure there are lots of other interesting topics-"

"I like this one," Michael grins and Luke gives him a dark look.

"Michael," my boyfriend warns.

"It's fine," I say, setting a hand on his arm. Turning to everyone else, I say, "No we haven't had sex. Happy now?"

Calum looks at Luke in confusion. "I didn't know you could go for so long without sex."

Luke scowls.

"Well, I'm proud of you, mate," Ashton says, patting his friend on the back. "For finding out what matters most to you."

I shift uncomfortably in my seat and Luke clears his throat, as eager to escape as I am.

"Um, I have some homework I should get done before my next class," I say, getting to my feet.

"I'll go with you," Luke murmurs as he follows me toward the cafeteria door, placing a hand on the small of my back as we walk. 

"That was terrible," he says to me as soon as we're in the hallway.

I hum in agreement. "I think that was worse than the time I saw my parents making out on the couch."

Luke laughs as we walk toward the back door that leads to the football field. "Really? Cuz it's really hard to top walking in on your parents kissing."

I hear the insecurity hidden in his words. Is it really so terrible to have sex with me?

"It's so awkward talking with your friends about whether you and your super hot boyfriend have had sex when him and his friends are also sitting right there," I say. "It's not that I don't want to... with you, Luke, it's just that I never have before."

He almost stops walking, tripping over his feet. "You're a virgin?"

I nod shyly. "I don't want to unless it's with someone I love. I don't want to lose something that valuable to someone I'm not even going to see again."

He frowns. "I get that," he says slowly as we keep walking. "You know I don't want to pressure you into doing anything you don't want to. If... If you do decide that you want to, you do know that I'd never hurt you, right?"

"I know," I say. "And it's not that I'm not up to doing other things," I say, blushing as I remember all the things we've done in the darkness. "But I just want to hold off on that. Just for now. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I even have a boyfriend."

Luke chuckles, shoving his hands into his pockets. "If you want me to beat up the next person who asks us whether we've had sex yet, I will," he teases. "Just say the word."

"Maybe just Michael," I say with a grin.

"Finally something fun." Luke rubs his hands together mischievously.

"Maybe you beating up someone will finally convince me to change my mind," I tease, skipping ahead of him.

Luke's easy smile disappears. "Wait!" he calls after me.

I giggle as I start to run.

He catches up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and swinging me around.

"You're terrible," he laughs as he sets me down, keeping his arms around me.

I grin, stretching up to kiss him. "Only for you," I tease as I pull him closer to me.

A/N:

Thanks so much for 2k, you guys rock! <3

Sorry it took me so long to update, I got a bit distracted by Halsey's new album

Hope you liked this chapter! :)

-A