Remember to Forget

Chapter 27

Delilah's POV

After much contemplating, I decide to go to Luke's to talk about everything that's happened the past few days. The project, what Ashton told me, and basically everything else.

Whatever we even are, whether it's friends or just neighbors, I can't keep wondering anymore. I hate all the confusion involved with Luke. When I think I have a piece of him figured out, it seems to turn out to be the complete opposite.

I hesitantly knock on his front door, and his dad answers.

"Hey!" he says cheerily, letting me inside.

"Is Luke here?"

"Yeah, in his room."

I walk slowly to Luke's room. I'm not sure what I'm going to say, or what it will even be about. I'm regretting come here in the first place.

His door is slightly open, and as I'm about to knock, I hear someone talking.

"Hi, Luke, it's me."

It's a girl's voice. I stand outside the door, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. It sounds like a phone call, but through the crack from his open door, I can see Luke holding his phone in front of him. Maybe he's video chatting someone. He's sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with his legs pulled close to his chest.

"I was on my way to your house, but I got in a little accident. I'm okay though," the girl continues.

Who was coming over?

"I, um, I just really wanted to talk to you and I-"

The girl stops talking, and I see Luke toss his phone onto the carpet. He puts his head in his hands, and I think I hear him crying.

That's when I realize who was talking. It must not be a phone call, but a voicemail.

I think it's Delia.

I debate turning around and giving Luke some time alone, but he stands up and sees me in the hallway. He quickly wipes his eyes and slowly opens his bedroom door.

"Hi," I say quietly.

He nods slightly.

"I can go- I'm sorry, it probably isn't a good time right now, I just-" I stammer.

He grabs my wrist and pulls me into his room, shutting the door. He sits down on the floor and taps the spot beside him, gesturing for me to sit there, so I do. He twiddles his thumbs, and he won't look me in the eyes, like always.

"Was that from Delia?" I ask after a long silence.

He slowly nods his head.

"Have you listened to it before?"

He shakes his head no, which I expected.

"I can leave if you want to listen to it."

He shakes his head and reaches over to grab his phone. He puts it in my hands and points to the play button.

"You want me to play it? Are you sure? Don't you want to be alone?"

It seems unlike Luke to want me here when something like this is happening. Whenever Delia is brought up, he shuts down. I thought he'd be doing that right now too.

He keeps pointing to the play button, so I finally press it. It starts all over again.

"Hi, Luke, it's me. I was on my way to your house, but I got in a little accident. I'm okay though. I don't really remember getting into it, I just remember driving to your house, but I don't remember how I crashed. I, um, I just really wanted to talk to you, and I'm about to go into surgery. I wasn't supposed to call you, but a nice nurse is letting me." She laughs, but it's quiet and sounds nervous. She talks slowly and gets her words mixed up sometimes. Some of the things she says are pronounced wrong. It's evident that she's suffering from the accident. "I wanted to get some things off my chest, in case it's a long time before we talk again. I heard the doctor say I'm in rough shape. My head is hurting right now, but I'll try to get my thoughts out. I was coming to your house to say I'm sorry. These two weeks have been the worst two weeks. I miss talking to you and laughing at your stupid jokes." She laughs again. She coughs a little this time. There's long pauses between her sentences because she continuously has to take deep breaths.  "I made a huge mistake. I should have never broken up with you." There's muffled talking in the background, I assume it's doctors. I notice the faint beeping of machines. "The doctors are coming right now. I'll see you later, I promise. I'm not gonna say goodbye because I don't want to." Her voice cracks. "If I don't make it, because by the looks of things, I'm pretty scared, but I want to tell you I love you, Luke. All I want is to make you happy. I hated seeing you so sad the past few weeks, it broke my heart. If anything happens, please do that for me. Do what makes you happy. Don't be sad. I'll see you soon. Bye. I love you."

The voicemail ends, and I don't say anything. I look over at Luke to see how he handled it. He's staring straight ahead like a frozen statue. Tears are streaming down his cheeks. I reach over and put my hand on top of his in an attempt to comfort him. He looks over at me slowly, and his bottom lip is quivering.

He slowly shakes his head and looks down at my hand on top of his. He puts his other hand on top of mine and brings it onto his lap. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wrinkled piece of paper. He gently tucks it into the palm of my hand, and he closes my fingers around it.

I open it up, and it's the picture Lucy drew of Luke. I wonder how long it's been in his pocket.

He flips the paper around, and on the back side, Lucy had written "Happy Prince Luke." She drew smiley faces, hearts, and flowers all around it.

"We all want you to be happy," I tell him.

He bites his bottom lip, and it looks like he's on the verge of a whole new set of tears. He picks his phone off the ground and types for what feels like forever. I've never seen him type so much. Whatever he has to say, must be important. When he's done, he passes the phone over to me.

I read everything he wrote. He explained what really happened to Delia, not leaving out any details. I start crying half way through. I didn't realize this much had happened. He had told me she died instantly, but that's not the case. The event is tragic to say the least.

He also wrote what he had gone through after the accident. He didn't immediately stop talking. It happened after the funeral. At first, it was just because he didn't want to talk to anyone. But then, after a few days, he didn't want to ever talk to anyone. He felt guilty, and in a way, he was punishing himself. He wrote "If Delia didn't get to talk, I didn't want to either." So he hasn't.

He went to multiple therapists, he had a new one every few weeks. No one could figure him help. He was forced to go to group teen therapy sessions, which he hated, because he didn't talk, obviously. He had nothing to say, so it didn't help much. After three months, he was sent to a facility in Sydney that was guaranteed to help him. All it did was make him feel more different and alone. After almost a month there, he went back home. Nothing changed. He progressively got worse.

That's why they sent him here. It's apparently his last chance to get improve. Doctors say there's nothing else they can do for him. Luke has to make his own choices for himself in order to get better. They wanted to separate Luke from everything that was making him upset and anxious. Moving here with his dad was one of the best options. I guess it's his last hope.

I didn't know Luke had gone through this much in such a short amount of time. His whole world was flipped upside down. He lost someone who was clearly very important to him, and he's now living on the total opposite side of the world.

He's had to adjust to so many new things. I can't imagine what it's like for him.

I never thought Luke would open up this much to me. I'm shocked that he's told me so much about what's happened to him. I guess at some point, everyone has to let out their emotions. They can't hold them in forever.

When I'm done reading, Luke lets out a shaky sigh. He wipes the tears from his cheeks, and he also wipes off mine. I laugh lightly, reaching up to dry my cheeks too.

"Look at us, we're both crying," I tell him. "We need to do something that makes us happy now."

He points to me.

I tilt my head to the side and furrow my eyebrows.

He points to me again then to himself. He smiles cheesily and points to his smile too.

I make him happy.

HEY GUYS TWEET THE LINK TO THIS FANFIC WITH THE HASHTAG #wattys2014 AND TAG ME @singsongash AND I'LL FOLLOW SOME OF YOU :) IM TRYING TO WIN A WATTY

ALSO I MADE AN 8TRACKS PLAYLIST FOR THIS. MY ACCOUNT IS AER98

S/O TO CORN AKA @fourliam ON TWITTER FOR PROOF READING THIS AND HELPING ME. AND TO ALLY @radishash FOR ALWAYS BEING SUPPORTIVE ILY BOTH.  <3

ok i'll stop screaming in caps now

bye ily

-ashley