turned - muke - the distortion trilogy 2

1.2

LUKE'S P.O.V.

After another stressful day at school, I finally make my way into the hospital visiting room, with Calum and Amber right behind me. Seeing my baby boy seems to be the only eventful part of my day, the only thing I look forward to. I never realized how much I relied on him for my happiness until it was taken away from me.

Nevertheless, I grin like a fool when I see him.

He stands with open arms, and I walk straight into him. I don't think he's even noticed that Calum and Amber are present because right now the only thing that exists is the two of us.

His arms around my waist, mine around his shoulders. His head buried in my chest, my cheek resting on top of his head. I can't help but think that I wouldn't mind staying like this forever. He must be thinking the exact same thing, because neither one of us pull away until Calum awkwardly clears his throat behind us.

Chuckling, I pull apart from Michael--keeping an arm slung around his shoulders--in time to see Amber hit Calum with their joined hands. "Shut up, they're having a moment!" she hisses.

Michael breaks out in a fit of giggles, pulling away from me so he can briefly embrace Amber.

"I missed you," Amber coos at Michael, ruffling his hair. Naturally, she's only a few inches taller than him, but with her heels she's towering over him and is almost the same height as Calum. She's intimidating but radiating, the exact opposite of Michael.

Amber demands attention, whereas Michael rejects it. Amber's beauty is upfront and extremely prevalent. You have to dig deeper with Michael, to get past his ruby blush and his stutter, to really see him as he truly is. And he is truly beautiful.

"Lukey?" Michael asks, bringing me out of my head with a jolt. "You were staring."

I reach for his freshly-bandaged wrist--as in, they changed the bandages to avoid infection--and tug him into me, hugging him again. "It's because you're so goddamn beautiful," I mumble into his hair, kissing the top of his head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Amber turn to Calum. She jokingly teases, "Why don't you treat me like that?"

He laughs uncomfortably.

"Let's sit down," Amber suggests, leading our group over to a set of couches facing each other. Amber and Calum on one, me and Michael on the other. Calum rests his hand on Amber's thigh. Michael is so close to me that he's practically in my lap.

Amber starts to talk about something irrelevant, and it doesn't take me long to notice that something is a little off with Michael. He's watching Amber intently, so intently that I don't even think he's listening. His hands are messing with the hem of my shirt, twitching slightly. I frown.

"Are any of you even listening?" Amber asks, and it's only then that I realize that no, none of us are.

Michael, Calum and I all look at her, guilt scrawled across our faces.

"Sorry?" I try.

She rolls her eyes. "Men," she huffs, before directing her attention to Michael. "So how are you doing here?"

He fidgets uncomfortably, shifting impossibly closer to me. I grab his shaking hands in mine as he says, "G-Good. Yesterday was r-really good."

Amber beams at him, "That's great to hear!" she says, but I can see in her eyes that she's wondering the exact same thing as me: why is today not really good, too?

Michael gives her a small smile. "It's not as b-bad here as I th-thought it would be," he admits. "And the f-food is good."

"Thank God, right?" Amber laughs.