GOLDEN, luke hemmings

XIV: EXTRA MINTY TOOTHPASTE

the gif does things to me man. and whoo, another update i am on a roll.

chapter fourteen: extra minty toothpaste

Luke opened the door and was spared for no longer than approximately 7.5 seconds of mercy before all hell broke loose onto his presence. Outbursts of yelling had begun, coming from different directions, making his head spin. Somehow, his friends had gotten together a tiny search party while he was gone. Becca, Calum, and Ashton must've been waiting in the living room of his apartment because they all seemed prepared and beyond furious. Luke listened to their act of pointing fingers until Becca got up close and personal and started jabbing her finger in his chest.

"Where's Ava, you bastard?" Becca accused. "I know that you're somehow involved in all of this crap. It's not just a coincidence that Ava pulls a stunt and just out of nowhere, you do too!"

She wasn't playing Mrs. Nice Girl (though had she really ever played nice?) and she was pissed. With each word, she poked a long manicured nail into the fabric of his damp jacket, peering at him coldly. He didn't even get a chance to explain before the door opened. Ava cautiously padded in, like there was broken glass everywhere and she was barefoot, and the room's atmosphere completely changed. Becca backed away from Luke, wanting an explanation (or even just an amazing cover-up story) from someone she trusted.

Everyone shut their mouth as they watched Ava's every move like she was a bug under a microscope, making her way towards Luke. It was weird, even for her, to act like this. It was like she didn't notice the room full of people goggling at her, she just cared about making it back safely into Luke's arms. Her eyes were still red and swollen, casted downwards to the floor. She grabbed Luke's arm and put it around her and soon, Luke got the gist of what she was trying to do. She was using his arm as barrier or protection of some sort and she wanted to escape confrontation. He understood perfectly and even took a few steps backward and hugged from behind so it was easier to embrace her.

The three others across from them shared glances with each other. What was going on? They all knew that Luke and Ava had obviously and clearly known each other and had a fuçked up mesmerism for the opposite (seriously, what other two people are so obviously in love, but are completely oblivious?) but they didn't know just how close they were. Sure, there were times of teasing and jabbing at the two of them, but more often than not, there was no real reason, that they knew of, to suspect that Luke and Ava were romantically interested or involved with each other.

"Where have you guys been all night?" Ashton asked, nearly above a whisper. "You had us all worried sick, you know that? You guys can't keep leaving in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, guys. You have to tell us what's going on," Calum supported, shaking his head. Calum was regularly the authority figure when it came to his friends, though he was still quite a child himself, whereas Ashton was like the mother who spoiled their venial child (who was in this case, Luke).

"Wait, keep leaving? He's done this before?" Becca asked, connecting the dots and Luke sighed at all the information that may or may not come out. If she figured that out, she could probably figure out the rest.

"Well, yeah. Due to certain reasons," Calum explained, leaving out a lot of information from his partner, "The latest one was my fault, but I was still concerned nonetheless. He left and went–wait a second, where did you go that night?"

The spotlight was back on Luke. He gulped nervously and felt Ava move to look up at him. She gave him a lost expression and he bit his lip. For all she knew, Luke had told his friends all that had happened, but he didn't. The text he sent that morning a couple days ago just simply stated that he was unharmed and relatively okay. It's not like he was the only one who didn't tell. Telling from Becca's face and attitude, she hadn't known about the pair's sleepover either.