the kink club • luke hemmings ✔️

01: the one where the boys leave early.

"Not Ashton."

"Look, we were just playing a game, okay?" he says in reassurance. Since there's quite a height difference between the both of us, he has to bend his neck down to look at me in the eye. "That's all."

"I mean, I don't mind. But if whatever you guys are doing involves any dead bodies, know that my apartment's closed," I joke, and they both chuckle anxiously, scratching the back of their necks.

"We'll... keep that in mind?" Michael mumbles.

To save myself any further awkward tension, I turn around, busying my mind and my fingers with the cleaning solutions stocked high in the cupboards.

The boys settle back on the couches, and a couple more hours pass without any more strange incidents. Ashley says it's boy stuff and that they're probably just talking about how 'big' they are. Chloe doesn't care; as long as they keep it as far away from her as possible. As for me and Bailey, we've had ideas before, but neither of us had the guts to say anything.

"Maybe they're werewolves." she'd said, tossing a ball into the air before catching it again, one-handed. "Or vampires."

"Or just busy all the time."

"I bet they go to secret vampire meetings in the forest. That's why they always leave so early,"

"This isn't Twilight, Bails."

"It could be," she shrugged, propping her head up on one hand. "And who knows? You could be Bella,"

"No, thank you," I pulled a face, and she laughed. "They probably just have other people they hang out with."

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. The guys? The guys having other friends?" she scoffed. "We've been stuck with them for three years now. How have we never heard of these 'secret friends' of theirs?"

"Maybe they like to keep them on the down low,"

"Soph, down low is a celebrity hiding from the paps. High low is leaving someone's birthday party four hours early and disappearing for the rest of the night," she stated, and all I could do was shrug.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm not implying anything, or whatever. I'm just wondering why it is they can't tell us where they're going instead of making it this massive secret."

"You know, we don't have to press on if we don't want to," I reminded her, swivelling around in my seat. "It might be better to just give them some privacy."

"Again, Soph, three years," she emphasized, holding up three fingers. "Best friends who practically live together for three years. And their lives with us suddenly don't exist after 6pm? You can't tell me that's a little weird,"

"A little, but-"

"I'm gonna stalk them." she said out of nowhere. My eyes widened.

"What?!"

"I'm gonna stalk them," Bailey repeated, more confidently this time. I watched her sit up. "You watch. Give me a few weeks, and I'll know exactly why they always skip out on us without good reason."

"Bailey, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Oh, it is!" she said, exasperated. "Come on, Sophie. Haven't you ever been the least bit curious as to what Luke does at night? Why he, or any of the boys, never spend the night, never make it in time for breakfast, never answer their phones past six-"

"Not really,"

"That's a load of bull."

"Okay, maybe-"

"Then it's settled!" she clapped her hands, eyes shining. "I'll put Stalker Bails on. You wait and see, young Hayes, I'll have the answer in no time."

Turns out, "no time" meant never. That conversation happened a little over a year ago and despite how hard Bailey actually tried, she couldn't get a lead or a hint on what the guys did when they weren't with us.

We decided to leave it, spare everyone the trouble. Of course we'd hear strange little conversations from time to time, frantic exchanges of words like the ones uttered about Calum and 'Fifa Kart' earlier on, but we learned that it was so much easier to dismiss them than it was to dwell on the context.

"Soph," I jump, the bottle of bleach slipping from my fingers and falling to the floor with a clatter. Thankfully, all of it's contents stay inside as I breathe out a steady sigh of relief.

Looking up, I lock eyes with Luke. He smiles sheepishly at me. "H-Hi," I stammer.

"Hey," he waves, chuckling lightly. "Me and Michael are just about to head out. You okay locking up on your own?"

Discretely, I glance at the clock. The time reads 05:33pm; the time the boys usually dismiss themselves.

Nodding, I give him a small grin back. "Sure," I bend down to pick up the bleach, suddenly aware of how much I hate ambiguity. "I'll see you guys tonight?"

"Sure. Or, tomorrow," Luke flashes his pearly whites at me and I nod agin, expecting his answer.

"We'll see you, Hayes." Michael calls, exiting the café and letting the door ring on his way out. It's not long before Luke does the same, the only difference being the way he puts his thumbs up at me as a way to make sure everything's okay.

Once they're gone, I can breathe normally again. Damn, I think, as I begin to tuck the chairs back under their assigned tables. I really need to get new friends.

•••

Things are a little bit different to how The Kink Club was before. But don't worry, everything will all make sense soon :) And if you've just come from Daddy's Girl tHEN LISTEN THAT BOOK ISN'T OVER OVER YET THERE'S AN EPILOGUE I LOVE U

Also, yes, I have been very obsessed with the TV show Friends lately (you'd know that if you followed my instagram @fckdolly wink wink) so that explains the chapter title. This fic will be smutty and hopefully somewhat funny bc yaknow Friends so YAH CROSS YA FINGERS

Thank you guys so much for reading. I know I've been putting this story off for a while now but I'm finally trying to get back into writing it and the different plot I have for this makes me happy so I intend to stick to it!<3

I love you all. Take care!
-M xxx