Across The Street // Luke Hemmings

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Right as Sam was about to knock on the door, it swung open, scaring the daylight out of us.

"AH. Woah, sorry. That's my bad. My bad," Ashton said as he held the door open for us.

"Come on in ladies. Welcome to our party pad."

This place was way nicer than the condo Katie and I were staying in.

We walked in and Michael, Luke, and Calum were all sitting on the couch. They looked surprisingly nice! I love when boys give a shit about what they wear.

I could see the kitchen from where I was standing. If only they could clean that up as well as they could clean themselves up.

"How are you guys?" Luke asked as he stood up.

"Here, sit down," he said to me as he motioned to where he was sitting on the couch.

It took all I had in me not to melt into a puddle right there in front of everyone. He seems like a nice guy. In my mind, that's a rare species.

"Oh, nice man, make us look bad," Michael said as he and Calum also stood up.

The guys sat on the other sofa and arm chairs. They had put some chips and dip on the coffee table. We were all settled in.

And silent.

Cue Katie.

"Why the fuck is your condo so big?"

The guys laughed, thank God. I made a mental note to get Katie a muzzle.

"We're, uh, in a band. We're from Australia, but we're here in Los Angeles for a few months to do some writing and recording," Ashton said.

"Yeah, we're called 5 Seconds of Summer," Calum added.

"Never heard of it," Sam said as she shoveled some chips into her mouth. Again, thank God the guys found that funny.

Brooke and I exchanged a look.

Brooke quickly said, "Well I think that's so cool! Going after your dreams like that. Seriously, that's awesome. So are you trying to get signed by like, a U.S. record company? Why come all the way to L.A.?"

Michael replied, "No, we're already signed with a record company. We actually just toured with One Dir-"

"WAIT, HOLD UP. I've totally heard of you guys!! My cousin is obsessed with One Direction and she totally went to their concert and gave me a full re-cap of the concert and she totally mentioned 5 Seconds of Summer. Okay. I totally am putting this all together now," Peyton said as she had her embarrassing epiphany.

"You said 'totally' like, a hundred times in that little speech of yours," Michael said.

We all started laughing, even though I still had no idea who these boys were.

There was some very obvious flirting going on between Michael and Peyton. You could practically see the sparks flying.

"Oh, we have like, tons more snacks! I'll go get some!" Michael said, gesturing for Peyton to follow.

Once they left the room, everyone started to form their own little conversations within each other.

Luke and I locked eyes, and I quickly turned away.

Damn nerves. He was so cute. But I could tell he was the shy one of the group.

I thought I had him all figured out, when all of a sudden he tapped my knee. "I can tell you're not from L.A." He smiled when I raised my eyebrow in question.

"You're like, naturally pretty, not fake pretty. Okay, that was not supposed to come out as creepy as it did. Hold on, let me start over. I like your blonde hair. Well, dirty blonde hair. I don't mean it's dirty, it's just, it's like golden. You have golden hair. I like the hair. I mean your hair. It's golden."

At this point, everyone had stopped talking and just stared at Luke.

Silence.

"Duuuude," Ashton said to Luke as he shook his head, seemingly embarrassed for him.

"HA! What was that? I don't even know! Okay. Does anyone want drinks? I'll get the drinks!" Luke said as he awkwardly laughed, then practically tripped over his own feet while heading to the kitchen.

"Do you always have that effect on guys?" Calum jokingly asked me.

I laughed, still a little puzzled, then I caught Katie's eye. She signaled for me to go follow Luke. So I did.

"Need some help?" I asked Luke as I entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Luke replied, avoiding eye contact. "Cups are in that cabinet," he said.

I reached up to grab the cups, and as I took them down, I felt hands on my hips.

Luke swiftly but gently spun me around by my hips so I was facing him.

"Hey," he whispered.

"I, uh, I meant what I said. That you're pretty. I think you're gorgeous. I guess I fumble my words when I'm not sure of what to say. But I'm not fumbling now. You caught my eye as soon as I saw you and your friend moving in. And I hope you're not planning on moving out anytime soon," he said with a hint of a smile.

Before I could even catch my breath or collect my thoughts, he had swiftly moved out of the kitchen, drinks and cups in hand.

Okay, where the hell did all this swagger come from? Isn't this the same kid who, just moments ago, couldn't even put a sentence together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: thanks for reading! please don't forget to comment and vote for this chapter.. thank you :)