Photographs (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 39

School had been dragging on lately. Most likely because I was suffering from severe senioritis, and graduation was so close.

Senior year was extremely laid back. Since I already had almost all of my credits, all I needed to do was pass my classes, so even finals week was easy. Yet again, if a teacher made their final hard enough for a senior to fail and not be able to graduate, that would just be cruel. But then again, the world could be cruel.

The final bell of the day rang, and I walked down the hall to meet Casey. She finally got a license of her own, and her parents got her a car as an early graduation gift.

Luke and the other boys had band practice right after school because Ashton deemed they needed to practice more than once a week. Since we had already watched them once this week, Casey and I decided to meet Ally at her house.

We got to Casey's car, and headed to Taco Bell to pick up some food on our way to Ally's.

"Ally?" Ally's mom called as we sat in her room eating our food.

"You can come in," Ally said.

"You got a letter from Longwood," her mom said passing her the envelope.

"Open it," I said with a smile seeing Ally hesitate. She had previously gotten waitlisted, but I knew this had to be her acceptance letter.

Ally hesitated before slowly opening the letter and skimming over it. Her expression was hard to read, because she didn't smile or frown.

"So?" Casey asked.

"I got in," Ally said with a small smile.

"That's great" I exclaimed with a big smile, "Didn't you get in too Casey?" I asked happy for the both of them. They had gotten in the same college, that's all we talked about once we got to high school.

"Yeah," she smiled.

"So you guys are gonna go right?" I asked taking notice they didn't seem too happy. They both gave me a shrug.

"Why not?" I asked confused.

"I want to stay closer to home," Casey said not meeting me eyes.

"I'll transfer after two years, i'll save more money that way," Ally said quietly.

"Guys," I said sternly knowing that wasn't the real answer. If it was the real answer, it wasn't the complete truth.

"What?" Ally asked.

"Go!" I exclaimed, they had really liked that school when we visited. They shouldn't even think about not going.

"I would just rather be close to home for the first two years," Casey said and Ally agreed.

"I know what you guys are thinking, I'll be fine. Go for me," I said. I already knew they both didn't want to be apart from me in the most crucial time of my life. My life was counting down, and no one knew when it would hit 0.

"Luke's going to community college first," Casey argued.

"That's not the same, Luke has no idea what he wants to officially do or where he would go to do it," I said in defense. Luke staying back was a completely different situation, he had more reason to stay than just me being sick.

"We have until July 1st to decide," Ally said. I let out a frustrated groan but decided not to argue any further. We all continued watching Lost in silence before a knock came from the door.

"Yeah," Ally called out, and the door opened revealing Luke and Ashton. I looked at the clock seeing it was already after 4.

"How was band practice?" I asked as they walked in the room.

"Kind of productive," Luke said.

"Not very," Ashton said afterwards making everyone laugh.

"Ready to go?" Luke asked and I nodded, I stood and gathered my backpack. We exchanged our goodbyes and made our way out to the car.

"Hey Luke," I said after we pulled out of Ally's driveway.

"Yeah?" he asked looking over at me then back to the road.

"If you applied to a University, and knew what you wanted to do in life, then got into it, you would go right?" I asked still bothered by what happened earlier.

"I guess, I never really thought about it," Luke said after a moment.

"Casey and Ally both got into the college they have been wanting to, but they don't want to go. They want to stay around and go to community college. I know it's because they don't want to leave me," I said looking out the window letting out a sigh.

"You can't be mad at them for that," Luke said reaching over and grabbing my hand since we had hit a stoplight.

"I'm not, but it's only a few hours away. I don't want to be responsible for holding them back, or feel like I am anyways," I said.

"It's their choice Bailes," Luke said still holding onto my hand even though he had a greenlight. I liked when he did that.

I stayed quiet, and let the music playing fill the silence between us. Luke reached over and turned it down once we turned onto our street.

"How about I make dinner tonight to make you feel better?" Luke asked pulling into the apartment parking lot.

"As long as you don't burn the house down. You don't cook though," I said with a small laugh. Luke's cooking list consisted of: pancakes, cereal, mac and cheese, frozen pizza, and some other basic things.

"Maybe i'll just order chinese food," Luke laughed. I agreed as we made our way up the steps to our apartment. Once we got inside, I dropped my backpack by the door and kicked off my shoes.

"Yeah,i'm just gonna order chinese food, I don't want to risk burning down the house," Luke said sitting next to me laughing.

"Okay," I said with a small laugh of my own before kissing him softly.

-

"What's that?" Luke asked walking into our room as I was placing my journal in the drawer on the nightstand next to my side of the bed.

"Just a book," I said nonchalantly.

"Well, dinners here," he said with a smile.

I got up and followed Luke to the kitchen where he already had plates set out.
We both scooped food onto our plates and made our way to the living room to watch How I Met Your Mother while we ate. After the episode finished, I grabbed our dishes and walked to the kitchen to clean them.

"Thanks babe," I heard Luke holler as the next episode began.

I put the dishes into the dishwasher and put the leftovers in the fridge. I went back into the living room and joined Luke on the couch. He pulled me closer to him, and put his arm around me. He pushed a kiss to my temple making me smile.

"We should go to bed, we have school tomorrow," I said looking at Luke. It was dark in the room, the only light was coming from the tv screen. I could see the reflection of the tv in Luke's eyes.

"One more episode," Luke said with his classic pout.

"No," I said with a chuckle, I couldn't help but laugh. He was so cute.

"Bailey," he whined.

"Come on Lucas," I said picking up the tv remote and turning it off. He stood up and followed me to our room with a pout on his face.

I walked into the bathroom to wash my face and do anything else I needed to before bed. When I opened the door, Luke was standing in front of me with a pout still on his face.

"You're so cute," I mumbled as I pressed a kiss to his lips making him crack a smile. He pulled back and smiled at me, and I hugged him tightly.

"You okay?" he asked hugging me and rubbing his hand along my back. It always made me melt into his arms.

"Yeah," I sighed, "I just wanted a hug."

"Glad I could help," he smiled as I changed into comfy clothes.

A minute later Luke walked out of the bathroom and pulled his shirt off, dropping it to the floor.

"What's up with you always throwing your shirts on the floor? We have a laundry basket right there," I said pointing to the basket holding our -mainly my- dirty clothes.

Luke shrugged and climbed into bed next to me. I flipped on my side so I was facing Luke. He kissed me, letting his lips linger on mine.

"I love you," he said pulling back.

"I love you too," I said as he kissed the top of my head. I leaned into his chest and stared into the darkness of the room.

-
A/N


There was a lot of dialgoue in this, i'm sorry. It was kind of a filler, but a lot is going to be happening soon! I am super happy with the response to this book and I hope you guys all like it! Thanks to all of those people who tell me they like it because you guys make me smile a ton :-)
The next update will be wednesday and it will be longer, promise!
Twitter: @Procrashtonates

PS: If you're looking for another fanfic, specifically michael, check out @Cliffords420's story forget! I have it under my "Michael" reading list! you guys won't regret it, it's great :)