flipped :: lh [UNDER REVISION]

19.particles of the universe

It’s always been about the girl, or so Luke has always believed: Every small incident, every envious gaze, bloody knuckles and equally bloody lips, every line trodden too close, curses thrown haphazardly, and one year of Luke’s life down the drain.

Luke can feel the aches that shoot through his body like a shock from electricity, he recoils and tries his best to keep inward on himself. Luke can hear his shallow breathing, the horrible wheezing when he inhales too much – it hurts to even breathe, he knows something is wrong. He doesn’t want to show how badly injured he is, how much blood is smearing onto his hands when he wipes his mouth – he really tries not to think about how Aries had looked at him before she ran off.

There’s a harsh jerk that brings Luke back on his feet, someone pulling him up with enough force to knock him back over. And Luke’s here, head bowed and chest heavy from forced breathing and mouth numb – swiping away at the smallest of blood droplets that hangs off his lip like dew off a flower – the parking lot is spinning, turning on its axis. Luke can almost feel the way his body sways, back and forth, back and forth again. There’s a blur between the lights of the stadium and the lights he’s sure aren’t actually there. And fuck, honestly fuck his mouth hurts. There’s blood, too much he thinks, too much to the point he shouldn’t still be upright. Maybe he’s exaggerating he thinks, it’s not as bad as he seems to feel.

He’s ready for the force of impact, another fist thrown in his face. He’s sure that this time he won’t be able to recover quickly enough. Calum’s truck is right there – Luke almost made it. The rusted colour inviting, almost mocking for an inanimate object.

Then there’s the sudden yelling and cursing, he hears the brash cluttering of two people fighting. He’s tired and worn like a ragdoll, and he’s here. Michael is there, crimson like rose lining his outer jaw, and honestly he’s never looked so intimidating before and he’s here. Luke wants to laugh at that. To take all the dry humor left in his system and laugh at the fact he never thought he was there, and yet, here he is. Defending Luke like he had all those years before when Luke was too shy to face the people who talked behind his back. Michael was always there.

Like he is now.

Michael is standing there, his fists balled at his sides and stance grounded despite the fact he’s breathing harshly from his mouth. He’s glaring, and there’s sweat dripping down his brow which Luke’s sure is mixed in with a few splotches of blood that’d come from an open cut on his forehead. Carver flinches a bit at where he’s standing, he’s holding his arm up against his shoulder wincing at every motion. Michael doesn’t move either, even when he’s standing right next to Luke he keeps his ground – not once glancing back at the blonde haired boy.

There’s that moment of indescribable tension, tense glares that have everyone else around them on edge – hell, even Luke is keeping his distance without actually moving out of the way. He takes a few steps back toward the direction of Calum’s truck and wonders briefly if Calum is oblivious to the commotion happening just outside of the stands. Wonders if Calum is singing along to a playlist he made a few days prior to his and Arie’s fight. Suddenly his mind is wandering in the direction of Aries. He wants to find Aries, always his first thought is Aries. He cannot believe himself sometimes, especially when they weren’t talking. Yet he still never could quite get her off his mind. And no matter how many times Calum had prodded him about it, Luke never once budged.

She was here too Luke remembers. She was the one who had seen him first off – before everything went to hell, spiraled out of control so quickly. He wonders how many times she’s been there when he thought she wasn’t. Maybe she was there all along, maybe Luke realizes, maybe he’s just not that good at looking at the bigger picture. Maybe he’s always too focused on that one detail, that one word left unspoken replaying in his mind like a record that he never looks at anything face value.