vanilla // lrh

sixteen

The next two mornings I was woken up by the same mischief.

Ashton and Luke, who for whatever reason were at Michael's, screaming their faces off at each other.

I tried to sleep through it, or even just make out what they were saying, but neither was working.

By the third morning, I was growing sick of my familiar alarm clock turning into two men fighting violently with their words.

I sat awake in my bed, aggravated, attempting to focus on what they were saying.

Though I couldn't figure out any words, my body jolted at the crashing of glass against the opposite side of my wall.

What the hell were they doing?

I quickly left my apartment, the shouting growing louder as I inched near Michael's door, until it was at it's full volume, and I stood amidst Luke and Ashton.

The tension that laced the room grew even thicker as their angry eyes fell on me, the yelling quickly coming to a stop.

"Eloise," Ashton breathed, releasing the hot breath that he had built up.

I felt Luke's eyes heavy on me, but I chose to ignore his glare. I knew it would make my confident words shrink as I said them.

"I'm trying to sleep," I said quickly, trying to make it sound as nice as possible. "You guys have been going at it every morning."

"We wouldn't be arguing if you'd just-"

"Oh, hell! Would you just drop it?" Luke hissed at Ashton, throwing his hands in the air.

"Luke, could you, uh, help me with something, please?" I asked, before Ashton could rebuttal.

Luke diverted his eyes to me, with a cold and confused stare, but he ultimately agreed and stepped out of Michael's apartment after me.

"What do you need so desperately?" He teased, crossing his arms over his chest, like a child.

"For you to stop arguing with Ashton every single morning!" I huffed. "You guys don't even live here! For Christ's sake it's 4:30 am and I have to work at-"

Luke stopped my harassment with swiftly bringing his hand up to my cheek.

"Have you ever been out of the country?" He spoke, softly. His eyes were gentle, and his entire demeanor had adjusted without transition.

"I've never even been out of the state." I said, barelt above a whisper, my pupils dilating due to my restlessness and at the sight of Luke's purity.

He let out a small smile, shaking his head slightly.

"What else haven't you done?"

I tried to collect my scattered thoughts, thinking of where I had been, and the things I had seen, and nothing exciting seemed to come to mind.

I grew up plainly. A small school, a quiet family, the same diner job since I was 16.

I shrugged simply, causing him to shake his head in response once more.

"Come with me, would you?" He said, and I was suprised he gave me a choice of whether or not I wanted to follow his demands, instead of insisting on doing whatever he wishes.

"It's nearly 5 in the morning, where could you possibly take me?"

"Sweetheart," He chuckled. "Just because you're sleeping, that doesn't stop everyone else from living."