annabelle | hemmings

[7]

When Michael came back down the hall from his shower he could already tell that something was up. Firstly, the pizza had arrived and was sitting in front of Luke on the coffee table untouched and secondly, Luke's jaw looked so tense it could physically injure somebody.

"Luke," He asked, his voice taking on a sing-song tone to lighten the mood, though he stopped when the blonde didn't move an inch. "What's going on?"

"Naomi texted you." Michael shrugged before sitting down on the couch and grabbing his phone, stuffing his mouth with a large bite of cheesy pizza before reading the message. He paused when he'd read it, turning and looking back at his friend.

"Have you read it?"

"Yes."

"And...?" He trailed off, squinting his eyes as he focused on his best friend, sighing when Luke didn't say anything further. "Jesus, Luke. Give me some kind of clue on how you feel about this. I don't know what you want me to do-"

"I'm pissed, Michael. I'm so fucking pissed off right now." He seethed, knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists and let out a deep sigh. "Am I a joke? It's like she wants to know if she's still got me wrapped around her finger, wondering if I still fucking love her."

"Well, do you?"

"Fuck off, Michael." He groaned, standing from his seat and taking a deep breath.

"So, that's a no?"

"You're a dick." Luke sighed, leaning against the wall and slamming his fist into it.

"Fuck, Luke! Calm down. I don't want holes in my walls and I'm sure you don't want a second broken hand." Michael cried, standing from the couch in case Luke tried to take out his anger on any other pieces of his furniture.

"I don't know what to do. Fucking hell. She's a bitch, Michael. She's such a fucking bitch."

"You're getting way too worked up about this." Michael tried to reason as he held both hands up in the air and motioned for him to calm down. "You either need to ignore this altogether or go over there and sort this shit out."

"You know what, that's what I'm going to do." He stated, letting go a dry laugh and making his way into the foyer of the apartment, Michael's footsteps following close behind as he snatched the keys up from the small table in the hallway and started for the door.

"You're what- wait, you're actually going over there?" Michael asked, he slightly regretted snapping the way that he did. For all he knew Luke was going to go over there and make a complete and utter fool of himself, something that he knew Luke would look back on and undeniably regret.

"Yeah. You said that I needed to talk this through with her and I'm going to fucking do that." He said, nodding towards the door and meeting Michael's eyes. "Okay if I borrow your car? Oh, and can you text me Naomi's address?"

"Yeah, whatever. Look, just don't do anything stupid, okay? And don't crash my fucking car!" He called to Luke, though he didn't hear his friend as he was already halfway down the apartment block hallway, taking the elevator down to the main floor before finding Michael's car parked out in the car park.

The drive to Naomi's was slow and stressful. Luke's knuckles were turning white with his forced grip on the steering wheel and his driving was distracted due to the hundreds of thoughts going through his mind.

He pulled up to Naomi's house ten minutes later. She still lived with her parents and their house was this little white number with a red front door and blue shutters, a cream picket fence lining the property as Luke crookedly parked out front and made his way up the cobble stone footpath, taking a deep breath and ringing the door bell after a few silent seconds.