Going Nowhere [5 Seconds of Summer AU]

Everything

It wasn't much but it was love that cool September night.

But to him it was everything.

"Luke," Hali mumbled, blinking up at him through her pale lashes. He could feel her lips moving against his chest.

"Yes love?" His fingers combed through her newly lopped blonde pixie cut. He missed her old hair, which had fallen in soft waves down to the small of her back, a soft cushion for his hand and he guided her through the hallways at school, but she had wanted something different. Things are different now, she had said. We are different.

It scared him to hear her say that, because all he ever wanted was for the world to stop spinning around, and for them to lay in his tiny backyard forever. But that wasn't what Hali wanted. Hali wanted bigger things, grander things: red carpets, and cherry red gowns, and bestselling books with her name on the cover, and of course, she wanted Luke, though he had no idea why.

"I love you," she sighed, her hands fluttering over his chest before wrapping around his neck. She pulled herself up, her body pressed flat against his chest, sliding until her nose was bumping against his, and her freckled cheeks and brown eyes were all he could see. All he ever wanted to see.

"I love you too," he chuckled, as her lips pressed softly against his. And I always will.

"Luke," she whispered, pulling away for a moment to gaze at him with large, sad eyes.

"What's wrong lo-" he began, but he was cut off by her lips smashing against his and her hands sliding up under his shirt, higher, and then lower.

"Hali, no." He disconnected her hungry lips from his, sliding her hands up, away from their destination, and gently pushing her off. "Hali?"

She wouldn't meet his gaze, staring down at their checkered picnic blanket.

"Hali." He reached a hand out, tilting her chin up to study her reddening cheeks. He shook his head, eyebrows knitting together as he gazed at the one person he knew more than anyone else in the world, yet couldn't begin to understand. "Why?"

"I don't know," Hali muttered, biting her lip. "I just wanted to, that's all." Her voice cracked. "I'm sorry."

"No," he said, pressing a finger to her lips. "Don't be sorry. I just don't understand, that's all. Two years we've been together, and you said you wanted to wait until marriage. And I came to terms with that a long time ago, though it was difficult, I assure you." His lips pulled into a wry smile. "But I respect that, I respect that part of you, and every other part. So I just don't understand, why?"

Hali's brown eyes creased in the corners. "Because things are different now."

"What things?"

"Everything."

"How? I don't understand." A strange pressure was forming against his chest, against his heart. He hated when she said things like this, mostly because he wasn't quite sure what she meant.

"We are graduating in one week, Luke. And then real life starts."

"But Hali." He reached out, capturing her hand and pressing it against his chest, though this time a layer of cotton prevented skin from touching skin. "This is real."

A strange look flashed across Hali's features. She looked, disappointed? He was always disappointing her. "It's high school, Luke," she sighed. "How can it be real?"

"Because I love you. And you love me. Is that not enough?"

"It is now," Hali said. "But what about when we are on separate sides of the country?"

"You mean, when you leave me for college," Luke frowned.

"Yeah." Hali looked away. "That."

"When you go to college," Luke said. "We'll make it work. We can do it, if we both try. Promise me you'll try Hali."

"Of course I'll try," Hali murmured.

"Okay, good." The weight on his chest was gone. It was going to be okay. "But you never answered why you want to, you know, do that."

"It was just a spur of the moment thing, I guess," Hali shrugged. "Forget about it. It didn't mean anything."

But it did mean something. To Luke, it meant everything.