neighbour ➢ luke hemmings ✔️

34 | Daddy Kink

Neighbour
34 | Daddy Kink

Fast forward two painstakingly slow weeks later and we're sitting in Luke's backyard, the cold January air hitting our faces as rays of sunlight act as a contradictory base. There's music playing in the background and Corey's running around with a water gun, chasing Ashton as the older boy scurries over his own feet, tripping and falling and stumbling and laughing. And I'm laughing at the scene, too, laughing because I'm at my happiest and there's a guy sitting right next to me, looking at me like I'm the best thing in the world.

The Christmas hangover has long since faded, but some meagre decorations are still scattered around the house. The odd Christmas ball. Bits of an open Christmas cracker. They sit on the windowsills, sweep the floors. No matter how much we clean they always find a way to pop back up.

Luke's laughing at something next to me and I smile to myself, snuggling deeper into his arms like a penguin seeking warmth in the Antarctic. He places a soft hand on mine and squeezes it as a gentle reminder, and a kiss is placed on my forehead. "You okay?" he murmurs with the slightest hint of a smile.

I smile too, regardless of whether he can see it or not, a ring around my finger that holds a small, yet visible, diamond. It's on the middle finger of my left hand, sparkling and beautiful with the elegant cursive of an infinity sign in the middle. It's not an engagement ring. It's not a piece of jewellery that someone's supposed to slip on for you at the altar. It's something that holds an equally as deep meaning; it's a promise ring. One given to me by Luke on Christmas day, and one I repeatedly cried out of happiness over.

"You didn't have to get me this," I told him truthfully, once everybody had settled down with their gifts. Calum got a new amp, Ashton a lifetime membership at the chocolate milk factory, Michael a bunch of different wigs and Ashley a brand new hammer. There was more, but it was only 9am in the morning and nobody wanted to rip every single thing open at the same time. "A simple 'I love you' would have done the trick."

Luke just shook his head with a laugh, placing a kiss at the end of my nose. "I know that. But I wanted to get it for you," he said. "Just so you'll never forget how much you mean to me. Ever."

I was blushing at that point, reaching upwards to plant a lingering kiss on his lips. The ring truly was beautiful, and I felt guilty for him spending so much on me, but Luke insisted that it was money well spent and that I shouldn't have spent so much on him.

"It wasn't that much," I said with an eye-roll later on, as we were talking quietly in his bedroom. Everyone else was downstairs watching some Christmas film, probably Home Alone, but we were upstairs with quiet music playing and our bodies pressed up against one another under the sheets.

"Are you kidding me? You got my guitar back," he said in disbelief. "I can't believe you got my guitar back."

All I could do was giggle and rest my head on his chest, hearing the steady thump of his heart go on and on and on. I could listen to it all day. It served a purpose, and it also reminded me that Luke was real; living, breathing, walking this earth and leaving so many great impressions in his wake.

It wasn't easy to find his Christmas present online, though I'd never tell him that. I went through countless websites, called way too many people and even ended up having to wake up at 5am on Christmas morning to avoid the doorbell from ringing too loud and waking him. The guy he sold it to was, apparently, an impulsive buyer, and agreed to sell it to me for four thousand and not the full six grand he'd listed it for online.