Lines // hemmings

Chapter 24

LUKE

“I want to meet her.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? You’re not meeting her.”

“Oh c’mon dude! I’ve let you meet my mom so why can’t I meet one of your visitors?” Ashton pouts at me. 

We’re currently at the gym, he’s holding the punching bag while I, you guessed it, punch it. I had started doing boxing more frequently and it felt good afterwards when my body was all tired. Also, I fell asleep pretty early in the evening and I didn’t need to listen to the noises by night.

“Because,” I say and punch the bag, “your mom and Abby are two different people and I don’t want you to scare Abby away.”

“Are you afraid she might think I’m hotter than you? Is that it?”

I decide to kick the bag, making Ashton move a little to the side.

“No, definitely not,” I mock him even though we both know he’s good looking. “It’s just that I’ve only met her twice and I’d really like for her to keep coming here and-”

I never finish the sentence, I just leave it in the midair while continuing kicking the bag and Ashton is focused on helping me. We switch places after a while and I can feel the hard hits he does through the punching bag. I try not to wince every time his fist or leg connects with it.

“Can you at least ask her if she’d like to meet me?” 

“Do you two know each other? Have you been writing to her?” I frown but he shakes his head, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Please? I will give you cookies again.”

“So you have been hiding them?”

“Guilty,” Ashton smirks.

“Fine,” I sigh. “I’ll ask her but if she says no-”

“It’s a no.”

And with that we walk over to the showers, leaving the boxing gloves on the floor for someone else to pick up. We’re not very tidy here.

“Hemmings, you’ve got a phone call.” 

Not even five seconds after putting on my clothes again after the shower, am I tugged out of the changing room by one of the bigger guards. His grip on my arm is hard and I wince because of the pain. I bet it’s going to leave a bruise. I turn around just to see Ashton shooting me a confused look and I try to shrug, but the grip is too hard.

Ashton had been extra nice to me lately. Actually, he’s been extra nice to me since I sent Abby that letter explaining everything. He’s stood up for me multiple times and for some reason it’s just him and me now. The Evans’ have stopped sitting by our table. I nod at them whenever I see them, but other than that, we don’t talk. Not that I talked much to them before, but they were two of those people who I could actually stand. 

I see Ashton as an older brother which is really weird ‘cause I already have two of them. One that I haven’t seen since my birthday, the other who I oddly have gotten closer too recently. The times Jack has been here, both through telephone calls and in the visiting center, he’s given me a quick update on what’s new back home. Ben is quite busy with the wedding and I understand nothing when Jack tries to explain wedding terms. I only understand bride and groom.

Mom and dad are the same as before according to Jack. They haven’t mentioned my name and Jack haven’t told them he had visited me. He told me they haven’t touched my room either, it’s still closed, locked – all thanks to Jack. He had cleaned the room after the police turned it upside down and he had locked it just after that, keeping the key. Our parents didn’t notice. They didn’t care.

Jack even asked me why I still kept calling them mom and dad. At first I was confused over why he’d even ask me such a question. They’re still my parents even after everything I’ve done and they haven’t done. But I guess it’s because I still love them and that I deep inside hope they will forgive me one day.

The guard drags me into the phone room where a couple of other inmates are talking with their guests. I wonder who my mystery guest could be. Probably Jack even though he was here the other day. He might have forgotten to tell me something. I’m just glad he’s chosen to start talking to me more. I’ve missed him a lot. We’ve always been closer than Ben and I. 

The guard stops at one of the phone, losing the grip around my arm and gestures for me to sit down while he stands back against the wall, overviewing me and the others. I shrug a little to myself before sitting down, taking the phone receiver in my hand, still not having seen who my guest is.

Then I look up and see one of the last people I ever thought I would see here.

-

Who do YOU think the mystery guest is? Comment :)

I just realized how short this chapter is so I'm gonna fill it out with some talking.

First of all, I kind of finished writing Lines today. *gasp* But I'm not sure. What I mean is that it's either going to be a sequel OR a second part (so I'll keep writing on this book instead of creating a new one). However, I'm still not sure what I want to do except for the fact that I want to keep writing. So I will probably do a voting in one of the following chapters. But don't worry, there are still like 14 chapters left of this book (unless I delete some parts or add something) and then there's either a part 2 or a sequel. More about that later on...

Have you heard LIVESOS yet? I know it's not out everywhere but believe me - IT WILL BE WORTH THE WAIT. IT'S AWESOME. I LOVE IT SO MUCH :D

"Next song we're gonna play is a cover of Barbie girl."