The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

44. Getting Ready

I was peacefully walking through the corridors to my dressing room when (You probably already guessed it) someone pulled me into a room. I saw a quick flash of blonde hair and blue eyes. Luke. He turned the lock of the door slowly before lifting his head up and looking at me with a grin. I knew he was just messing around but it was actually kind of creepy. And then I saw the purple and blue marks on his face. "What the hell happened?" I asked while walking towards him and lightly touching the bruise on his cheekbone. His grin dropped and he shrugged. "Nothing to worry about." He said and I raised a brow. "Yea, awesome if you're on live television with a huge bruise on your face." I said sarcastically. "Don't worry. They'll use makeup to cover it. Don't worry about me okay? I'm fine. Really." He obviously didn't want to tell me where he got the bruise from so I decided not to press him any further. This better not be something important I had missed. Did I punch him in his sleep last night...? Nah, I don't think so. He didn't have it this morning... "Anywaayss...." He dragged out. "Here are your keys." He said while holding them up. I reached my hand out to grab it but he held his hand higher. "That's not fair! Come on!" I said while trying to jump for the keys. He chuckled and held the keys higher. "You make me feel like I'm a midget." I said. I stood on his toes not, still not being tall enough. "A kiss first." He said and looked down at me. The hand where my keys weren't in slipped around my waist to keep me in place, on his feet. Even though I stood on his feet, I still had to stand on my tippy toes to even come close to his face. His head dipped down and placed a tender kiss against my mouth. I responded immediately and my hands were around his neck and going through his hair, tugging at the ends. His hand with the keys lowered and I smiled into the kiss, slowly taking the keys from him. He let them go quite easily. His tongue ran over my lower lip and I opened my mouth a little bit, for his tongue to slip in. He leaned down some more and tapped the back of my thighs, indicating I had to jump. I pulled away before I jumped up and he caught me, his lips immediately on mine again. He sat me on the table, after shoving a couple things off and we continued our make out session. After a while I pulled away and we just stared at each other. "Thanks for the keys." I cut our whole 'moment' thingy off with a grin and turned away from him, walking to the door. Suddenly there was a hand on my wrist pulling me back into Luke's hard chest. He kissed me on my lips before releasing the grip on my arm. "See ya later." He said with a grin. I smiled, turned around and walked back to my dressing room.

I plopped down on the couch and grabbed the can of pepper spray. What did pepper spray do again...? I quickly read it and my eyes grew wide. Fucking... I really get why this is illegal in some countries. But whatever. Elliot still deserves it. I tossed the can into my bag and laid down, humming a random tune. What the hell am I going to do now? It's still a couple of hours until the show... Perfectly timed, my stomach grumbled. I sighed deeply before standing up, towards the kitchen.

I guess Charlotte had just finished her rehearsals and had the same idea as me, because we met in front of the kitchen. "Yoo, how did it go?" I asked and she shot me a thumbs up. "Good. You?" She asked and I nodded. "Yea, good." We walked into the kitchen and I looked into the fridge. Only some fruit... Guess they wanted us to stay healthy. Nope, not going to happen. Charlotte groaned when she saw there was nothing in the cupboards too. "Let's order some pizza." She then said and grabbed her phone out of her pocket. "Pepperoni?" She asked and I nodded. "A large one." I said with a grin. She dialed the pizza delivery place and I got some coke for her and me. I put it on the kitchen table and sat down. When Charlotte was done with the delivery she sat in front of me. "Which song are you going to sing?" I asked. "Zombie by The Cranberries." She said and my face lit up. "That's amazing. I don't really like Dolores' voice, so I think it will be awesome." I said and she shrugged. "Her voice is fine. But I hope my version will turn out better..." She said and I smiled. "And you?" She asked. "Never Been Hurt by Demi Lovato." I said and she grinned. "I love that song! It's really like... With Demi Lovato you think of a really pop song but that one is more... You know... Rock." She said and I nodded. "Yea, exactly. That's why I love it so much." I took a gulp of my coke and sat back in my seat. "So... Nervous?" She asked and I shrugged. "Not really... I mean... Still a little bit, but not too much. I'm enjoying it more than I'm being nervous." I said and she nodded. "I think I'm going to go to the entrance, waiting for the pizza guy." She said and I nodded. "Don't wanna miss him..." I mumbled and walked to the coffee machine to make some coffee for myself, to be able to stay awake the whole night. Even though I just drank coke, coffee helps a little bit a lot more. When half of my cup was full the thing stopped working. Like... Why?! Why does it decide to stop in this moment of weakness?! I slammed the thing a couple of times and a few seconds later coffee was filling the cup again. Hell yea, I'm like an engineer. Almost. Okay, maybe not. When the cup was full I put some sugar and milk in it and sat back at the table. I heard someone coming towards the kitchen and really hoped it was Charlotte with the pizza. I quickly downed my coke before grabbing the cup of coffee tightly, warming my hands. Someone walked into the kitchen and I looked up. It was Tessa. She didn't see me, since the door and the table were separated by a curtain. Don't ask me why. She walked towards the fridge and opened it. After a while she threw her hands up in defeat of not finding anything eatable and opened the cupboards. When she found nothing there she grabbed an apple from the fridge. I opened the curtain and smiled at her shocked face. "Charlotte just ordered pizza... If you want some?" I asked. She frowned and seemed to think really hard before nodding. I pulled out the seat next to me for her to sit. She sat down and gripped her apple tightly. Woa, she was really shy. And nervous to sit next to me... I have no idea why. "You want some coffee?" I asked while raising my cup. She shook her head. Okay then. "You're Team Katy right?" I asked and she nodded. "Are you a fan of hers?" I asked and she shrugged. "I like her music. I'm not that much of a fan." She said quietly and I nodded. "So, which song are you going to sing?" I asked. "Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey." She said and I nodded. "Ah, nice. I like that song." I said and she nodded. A silence filled the room. What the fuck am I supposed to say to someone who doesn't even make eye-contact? You don't just let and awkward person talk to a shy person. Everyone knows it's terrible for the both of them. We heard someone run towards the kitchen and we both looked up to who it was. It was Charlotte, holding a large pizza box above her head like a prize she just won. She walked towards the table and carefully laid the pizza on the table. "Tessa is joining us on our eat fest." I said. "Oh no! Less pizza for us!" Charlotte said dramatically and I chuckled. Tessa looked at me unsure and I shook my head, saying she didn't have to worry. I took a large slice from the pizza and took a bite out of it. After that I took a big gulp of coffee. "Wow, pizza and coffee. Great combination!" Charlotte said sarcastically and I tried to keep a neutral face. It was terrible, she was right. Just like drinking coffee after you brushed your teeth. Or drinking orange juice after you brushed your teeth. It was terrible. I took another bite and made some small talk with Charlotte and sometimes Tessa said something too.

"Hey, I'm going to my dressing room again. I'll see you at the shows!" I said while standing up with my coffee in my hands. The whole pizza was eaten and my stomach was happy again. I walked through the corridors until I saw Elliot walking in the opposite direction, towards me. He had the hood of his jacket far over his face. Was he doing that to be even more creepy, or... But when I took a closer look I noticed. I stopped him from walking past me and pulled the hood down. "What the-" She said before my eyes widened. His face was all bruised up. Just like Luke's. Not like I cared if someone had beaten him, but I quickly put two and two together. "Yes, your boyfriend did this to me." Elliot said, catching me off-guard. "What? Who? Calum?" I asked. "Is he here?" Thanks to my mom who made me go to theater lessons when I was young. "No idiot, Luke." He said and I frowned. "He's not my boyfriend. Calum is." I said. "Are you sure? Because I don't think that's what he thinks." I looked at him confused. "What do you mean? Luke is Calum's best friend and he knows I'm taken." I said. "Guess that doesn't bother him." He said. I gripped my hair tightly. "This will totally mess up their friendship, oh gosh." I said with my eyes wide. He shot me a dirty look and walked away. I quietly walked the other way, even though it wasn't the direction my dressing room was in. Immediately I opened a text to Luke on my phone:

Me: Come to my dressing room asap

Luke: What's up?

Me: You fighting with Elliot, that's up.

Luke: Look, I'm sorry, but he was saying really inappropriate things about you and I couldn't just let him.

Me: Can we not discuss this over the phone? I'll see you in my dressing room.

Luke: See you then :(

I sighed and walked towards my dressing room. Maybe Luke was already there. I gave him a key a couple of days back, so he wouldn't have to wait in front of the dressing room and act suspicious. I shook my head at the thought of Luke fighting with Elliot. I know Luke probably started physically, but I guess Elliot had it coming. But still. He almost knew Luke and I are together. And that could mess up both of our lives. His more than mine. A lot more.

I silently opened the door of my dressing room and closed it after me. Luke was standing with his back at me, and he didn't hear me coming in. I silently sat down on the couch and waited for him to turn around. He was just staring at the wall. He let out a frustrating groan and turned around, his eyes widening. I just looked at him with a neutral expression while sipping from my coffee. "Look, Sky, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to do that, but he was just really pissing me off. Nobody should be allowed to say things like that about you. And to be honest, I'm not sorry for him, but I'm sorry for you. I know you're the one who has to lie the most to keep this secret a secret." He said and I averted my gaze elsewhere. "You can't just beat up everyone who says bad things about me! I'm a contestant at the fucking Voice! Have you ever looked on my Twitter page? I get hate. A lot. You can't beat all those people up. Elliot is just another hater, but he knows me personally. That's the only difference between him and the Twitter haters." I raised my voice while I was talking. I didn't mean to, but I really wanted Luke to know that we could be in deep shit because of this. Luke threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. "Elliot is much worse than all those Twitter people. Elliot has the nerve to say it straight into your face. He has the nerve to share with me what's going on in his psychotic sexuaI head. You don't know the things he said about you in my face. Horrible things he said about my girlfriend, in my face!" By now he was yelling too. "But now what? He said to me that you were my boyfriend, because 'It's really obvious'. Of course I lied my way around it, but what if he didn't believe me Luke? We'd be both kicked off the show and I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to. These past few weeks have been the best ones of my life. Not only because of the show, but also because of the people I've met. Hayley, Charlotte, the boys, Alex, you... Luke, auditioning was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not just because my dream of singing became true, but because I met you again. But you can't screw that all up. Just ignore fucking Elliot." In the middle of my short speech my voice cracked and my eyes watered. I really didn't want to cry and tried to blink the tears away. Luckily they didn't start flowing. "I'm really sorry, but I won't change my mind. He deserved it." I chuckled lowly. "Just ignore him from now on okay? Or just walk away." I said and he nodded before pulling me in for a hug. I hesitated for a second before giving in. "I love you." He muttered. "I love you too. But I'm still mad at you."