"You're actually upset right now? Look at everything the world has given you, Luke."
"And that's great, but I'd rather have you."
• the story before "count on me" by sircalyum • book 1
// smut included //
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WEDNESDAY MORNING. I walked into the doors of the office about an hour earlier than I normally would. I knew today was going to be a long day with the guys and I wanted some time for myself to effectively prepare.
Only about two other people were in the office this early, and I delved into small talk with them as we passed one another.
I made it to my office and immediately started to make myself coffee. As it brewed, I sent a text to Madalyn—asking if she would be home tonight. After texting her, I went to my home screen and found myself hovering my thumb over my Twitter app.
I hadn't looked at it all night; I had gone to bed really early, so I hadn't seen any feedback for the video. I decided to let myself browse for a while, so I pressed on the app and took a deep breath in to prepare myself.
Immediately, Luke and I were everywhere.
I saw that the guys had retweeted Celebration!'s tweet about the video and I retweeted it as well. I checked all of their accounts to see if they had said anything—Michael and Ashton had sent out tweets about the video, and I liked both of them.
I went to my mentions and started reading through the chaos. The main gist was that even more people thought that I was Luke's mystery girl after the video. Many people were tweeting at me and asking me to speak out about things, but I simply scrolled past.
I saw a couple of people that were genuinely expressing excitement for my involvement with the guys and I decided to like those tweets.
I saw another one of those video edits of Luke and me—this time it was a dramatic slow-down of each time Luke touched my arm or looked at me during the video.
These people really knew what they were doing.
The sound of my coffee brewing brought me back to reality and I decided to close Twitter in hopes of clearing my brain. I grabbed my coffee and walked to my desk. I set down the mug and immediately began getting out my makeup; I hadn't given myself time to do it at home, so I brought it instead.
I set up a mirror and quietly played music as I started to get ready. About thirty minutes later, the door to my office opened and Emma peeked her head in.
"Good morning," she said, cheerily. "I was not expecting to see you here so early."
"I finally got a good night's sleep," I told Emma, smiling wide as she walked in. "You look nice today."
