All Black Everything // Luke Hemmings

Chapter 37

Luke and I were sitting on his couch a this flat one day, when I thought of something.

"Luke," I said, "how come I haven't met your parents?"

His eyes widened. "Do you want some tea?" He asked, avoiding the question.

"Uhm, no, I'm fine..." I replied, sitting up.

"I'll go make some, okay?" He said going I to the kitchen. I followed him.

"Luke, answer me." I said, grabbing his hand.

He turned to me, and sighed. "Look, you don't want to meet them, okay?"

"Why not? You've met both of mine...unfortunately." I replied with a look of confusion on my face.

"They're just not people that...you'd normally want to meet." He said looking down.

"Well I'm sure they're fine." I said, lifting his chin up to face me.

He let go of me and rested his elbows on the island. "Look, Ana. My parents are really ashamed of me. They hate the fact that I threw away a really good career to come here."

I went to stand next to him. "I'm sure they forgive you by now."

"No, they don't. It's not only that." He replied. "I'm a disappointment to them. I could've been a doctor, but I came here because my four best mates were, and I wanted to something other than write down notes of physicals all day."

I replied, "That's brave of you! Come on Luke, they can't be that bad."

He looked away from the table and back up at me. "You really want to meet them?" He asked.

I nodded eagerly.

He took a deep breath. "If I can, I'll have them come up here for Christmas."

I smiled, and hugged him. "I love you" I said, and kissed him.

"Yeah, yeah. Now I do really want some tea." He said giggling.

I rolled my eyes playfully, but went back into the living room. He came back in a short while later with two cups of tea, and sat next to me handing me one of them. We watched television for the rest of the evening.

*****

Luke and I went to bed around midnight, but I couldn't sleep.

"Luke," I said, turning to face him. He was awake too. "Why do you think your parents hate you so much?"

He played with the elastic on the top of my sweatpants with one hand, and he twirled my hair in his fingers with the other.

"They do." He whispered. "But it's okay, because I have you. I love you."

I nodded. "I love you too." I said, and waited a moment before continuing. "But they won't hate me...right?"

He sighed softly. "I don't know. They'll think you're different, because they thought that about me. But I don't know, really." He looked upset, like he'd let me down.

I shrugged. "It's okay. Not many parents really like me. It's like they see scars and automatically think I'm some nutcase."

"Well I guess I am too." He replied.

"Don't say that." I said back. "You don't have a clue what it's like to be given looks everywhere you go because your entire body is covered in cuts." I was frustrated, but I knew he meant no harm.

"No, I'm sorry." He said. "That's not what I meant..." He was at a loss for words.

"I know." I said. "It's okay."

He nodded, and kissed my forehead before kissing my lips again. I closed my eyes and smiled softly.

After a few moments I kissed him back. Instead of letting go, I kept kissing him. He did the same back. He kissed down my jawline and neck softly.

"I love you" he breathed into my neck.

My hands ran through his hair softly. He stopped after a moment and put an arm around me. His other hand was still playing with the elastic around my sweatpants.

We fell asleep soon after, our legs tangled in one another's.