Across The Street // Luke Hemmings

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Before I left to go see Luke, I packed a little bag full of a few things I knew I would need. I owed him an apology for ending things without an explanation. I owed him an apology for avoiding him. I owed him an apology for a lot of things, so I had to pull out all the stops.

After jogging across the street to the guys' house, I knocked on the door hesitantly, bracing myself for drunken madness.

Instead, Ashton opened the door, just as sober as when I last saw him.

"Hey, I need to talk to Luke." I looked over Ashton's shoulder to see Calum, Michael, and Katie all sleeping on the couch. Katie was probably exhausted from driving, because we all got to sleep in the car a little bit and she didn't. Calum and Michael were obviously passed out for different reasons.

"You're a fickle little pickle, aren't you?" Ashton smiled as he stepped aside so I could come in.

"Is he mad at me?" By the way he was acting when I saw him outside, I wasn't exactly expecting him to be jumping for joy when I came over here.

"I don't think it's anything that can't be fixed." He gave me a little wink and nodded towards Luke's room.

I slowly walked over to his door and gave it a quiet tap.

"I'm going to bed, Ash!" Luke yelled from inside his room.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. Wearing sweatpants and an old band tee, Luke was facing his dresser so his back was towards me.

"I told you, I'm going to-" he stopped mid sentence as he turned and saw me standing in his doorway.

"Can I come in?" My voice was quiet as I was stared at by beautiful blue eyes. Wow, I forgot how blue his eyes are.

Luke nodded and sat down on the edge of his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair while I shut the door behind me and leaned my back against it.

"Are you gonna leave in the middle of this conversation, too?"

His words caught me off guard and stung a little, but I deserved that. I had made a habit of abruptly leaving Luke, forcing him to question what the hell was wrong with me.

"No, I'm not," I said, still leaning against the door. He looked down at his feet, and I took that as my cue to continue talking.

"I came over here because I owe you an apology. Actually, I owe you like, ten apologies."

Luke lifted his head to look at me, then patted the spot next to him on his bed. "Wanna sit?"

"Yeah," I said as I scurried over to sit next to Luke. Now that my adrenaline had worn off from the phone call with my mom, I was coming to terms with how nervous I was to talk to Luke.

"I'm really sorry that I haven't been honest with you lately. I was in kind of a dangerous situation before, but I'm okay now." I brought my legs up and sat crossed-legged facing Luke.

"What kind of dangerous situation?" The look on his face told me he wasn't convinced of the severity of it. Was it even worth it to tell him?

"Um, it doesn't matter." I shook my head.

"Well, I mean, clearly it does matter if it was serious enough that you felt the need to just end things without any warning. What, do I not even warrant a simple explanation? That's kinda fucked, Chels."

He was clearly not happy with me, and I was choosing to ignore the fact that he called me 'Chels'.

"Remember when that girl knocked me out at your concert because she was jealous that I was with you?" I picked at my nails as I spoke, afraid to look at Luke. I hated that he was mad at me. I know I deserve it, but I so badly just want him to hold me in his arms.

"Obviously I remember."

"Well, that was set up by my ex boyfriend. He somehow found out we were seeing each other, and he got that girl to hurt me." I built up the courage to meet Luke's stare, and his eyes were intently focused on me.

"What?"

"He used to hurt me sometimes while we were dating, and when we broke up, I guess I was stupid enough to think that he would stop." I tried to smile to lighten the mood, but there was no point.

Luke was still staring at me, not saying anything.

"So, um, he just threatened me. If I dated you, or anyone really, he'd find a way to put me in pain. I didn't want to get hurt, and more importantly I didn't want you to get hurt. I thought if I told you the truth, you might not understand."

I looked to Luke for any sort of verbal response, but he just continued to sit there silently, his eyebrows knit together. Did he think I was totally pathetic?

"I guess I was just scared. It's stupid, I'm sorry.. I'm really sorry about all this drama. You honestly don't need this in your life.." I let out my famous awkward laugh as I grabbed my bag and scurried back over to the door.

Just as I was about to leave, I felt Luke grab my arm.

"He hurt you?" His voice was quiet, yet firm as he looked straight into my eyes. It was almost as if he was searching for something.

"Honestly, it doesn't matter anymore," I said as I turned back to the door to leave Luke's bedroom.

"Well it matters to me!" He raised his voice, which scared me.

I backed away from him, not wanting to talk about any of this anymore.

"No, fuck. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Fuck, I'm sorry." He dropped his hand from holding my arm and brought it up to run his fingers through his hair.

"Where is he?"

I cleared my throat a little. "What?"

"Where is he now?" Luke had such a serious look on his face, squinting his eyes to solely focus on me.

"Jail." Relief immediately washed over Luke's face. "That's why my mom was trying to call me. And apparently, she called you as well."

"I don't even know what to say. Fuck, Chelsea. You came over here to apologize?" He rubbed his forehead with his hand as he took in all of this new information. "You don't have to apologize for anything. Do you know.. do you know what he got jail time for?" He looked as though he was afraid to hear the answer.

"Seven additional cases of sexual and physical abuse." I didn't mean to, but my answer came out as a whisper.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Luke immediately pulled me into his chest without even thinking and held me close to him. "I wanna kill him. I actually want to kill him," he said with his mouth pressed to the top of my head.

It felt so good to be wrapped up in Luke's arms again.

I chuckled a little as I listened to him get all worked up over Cam. It amazed me how different these two boys are.

"No, you don't wanna kill him. We forgive, and we forget. Otherwise, we drive ourselves crazy." I smiled as I pulled away to look at Luke.

"Yeah, well, you're a way better person than I am." He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, and I immediately felt at ease.

"Hey, I don't want any more secrets between us. Okay?"

Luke nodded his head as he traced my jawline with his thumb. "No more secrets."

I smiled then bent down to my bag to take out what I had packed: A blanket and two juice boxes.
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