Mute | Luke Hemmings &' Ashton Irwin (Lashton/5SOS)

Chapter 8

The two of us untangle from one another. He insists on getting dressed into his own clothes, so he does before we head down stairs quietly, desperately trying not to disturb the others sleeping.

For a while Luke looked dazed and lost as we both made our descent down the stairs and to the kitchen.

He looked frightened and a bit overwhelmed standing in the middle of the unfamiliar place setting to him.

I had no idea what to do, but within seconds I found myself slowly gravitating toward him. I wrapped my arms around Luke and hugged him tightly as I whispered how everything was going to be okay.

I got no answer in response, but the feeling of his small arms wrapped lowly around my frame with his head tucked into the crook of my neck was enough of an answer for me.

~~~~~~

An hour and many burnt pancakes on Luke's part later, breakfast finally laid spaced out onto our long table.

When we first started cooking, Luke had no idea what we were even doing and the sight was quite amusing. He bit at his lip when he couldn't flip the pancake properly on his own and his eyebrows always furrowed whenever he'd attempt to place the mix in the pan perfectly and fail miserably.

I had been staring at him in awe the whole time, but he hadn't noticed it until about three burnt broken up pancakes in. He turned around, meeting his small pout displayed across his face with my huge grin.

Luke's cheeks began to tint red when I had decided to mock him further and ask if he needed help. He shook his head no, but his eyes were silently telling me yes. So I had stopped cracking eggs and went to assist him.

He's by far one of the most focused people I've ever met. He watched my hand movements intensively the entire time as I whispered what he had to do and when.

From that point on, his pancakes were better, better than I could've ever made and I made sure to tell him that once we finished. The compliment caused his checks to tint red once more and hide himself in the crook of my neck.

My stomach fluttered at the feeing of him in my arms so willingly. I couldn't understand what had gotten into him or if this would even last. He was never this touchy with me and I had began to think he would never be, not this quickly at least. But then something in me ignited and I started to think back at the facial features he possessed when he saw me with that girl. He looked hurt, afraid, lost and scared. Maybe he thought I'd ignore him for her completely. Bradley once thought that and it was the only logical explanation in my head.

Our embrace was cut short at the sight of Richard entering the kitchen.

Luke quickly pulled away from me and I whispered into his ear to go finish setting the table. He looked between Richard and I confused, but obeyed nonetheless sadly, having to be sent to the other room.

"Explain," Richard said, when Luke disappeared from both our eye ranges.

"He's a friend," I reply back, trying to avoid his intense stare by placing the dirty pans and mixing bowls in the sink.

"You don't normally bring friends around. He must be awfully special for you to bring him here to spend the night and if my eyes aren't deceiving me, I would say the two of you were just canoodling in this very kitchen seconds ago," he says softly, no judgment in his voice.

"Well, he's different. He's an exception."

"And Calum isn't? Michael isn't? Your entire football team isn't?" Richard presses further. "He is different. Reminds me a lot of Bradley, innocent."