If Luke were home alone he probably would have punched a wall, smashed a window and kicked their bed out of its place. He felt anger flood over him as he heard Maya's heels clicking outside until the sound of a car door closing reached his ears. He had his palms curled into fists as he was leaning against the doorframe, eyes closed, attempting to get his breathing down to at least close to normal. He heard his son happily splash around in the bathtub, so he closed the bedroom door as he grabbed one of the pillows and threw it across the room.
Maya felt guilt rising in her chest as she walked toward Harry's car, but it was fast gone, when she remembered the little bruises someone left on her husband's body. She got in a car with a smile on her face as she greeted Harry. He turned in his seat to face her a little better, 'Can I just quickly point out how beautiful you look tonight?'
Maya shot her head up to look at the man sitting beside her. She wasn't sure if he was joking or if he was giving her a serious compliment, because she kind of forgot how that felt like throughout the months. 'I – thank you, Harry.' She gave him a genuine smile, while she took his image in. He had his hair messily fall down in waves, wore a black shirt with black blazer over it, combined with black skinny jeans and boots. 'You cleaned up nicely, too.' She said with a smirk on her face. He laughed, starting the car and shaking his head slightly, his dimple appearing much deeper in the dim streetlight glow. Maya smiled and turned to face the road, Harry's dimple making a tingling feeling appear in her stomach.
Maya was surprised at how sophisticated Harry could be. She always noticed how polite he was, but she never actually saw the way he treated women when they didn't meet up in a park to walk around a playground. He opened the door for her, he pulled her chair back for her at the restaurant, he asked for her opinion on food and wine instead of making a decision himself, which a lot of men liked to do. She especially noticed that during A LOT of business meetings and work lunch with co-workers.
She found herself flirting with Harry way more than she planned to. But he just brought out that playful, flirty side of her, even though they managed to talk on a bunch of different topics – starting from their star signs and compatibility ending with the way music artists are treated more like a product than a human (she had a lot of experience from being with 5SOS guys throughout their whole journey to the top and he had experience because he was actually making the celebrities).
They spent over 3 hours in that restaurant and when she noticed the time she almost jumped out of her chair. 'Oh my God, I didn't realise it was so late.' She said suddenly, completely interrupting what Harry was saying. He glanced at a watch on his arm, 'Oh shit.' He cursed and she couldn't hold a smile at how inappropriate that sounded after he was so sophisticated the whole night. He giggled a little at himself, 'Sorry. I promised my babysitter I'll be back by 10.'
Harry paid for the meal, no matter how much Maya protested against it. 'You can pay the next time,' he said with a smile and a tiny wink.
When they pulled to Maya's driveway, both of them weren't entirely sure what to do. Should they hug? Should they kiss? Should they simply say bye and leave?
'So, see you around I guess?' she said looking up to him. She could barely make out his features in the darkness of his car. Suddenly she felt his soft finger brush against her cheek as his warm lips gently brushed against hers. She didn't move – she couldn't. And she wasn't sure she wanted to.
When Harry didn't feel her pull away, he slowly leaned in a bit more to press his lips more sternly to hers. She felt herself leaning in towards him a tiny bit, when her hand lifted up to his shoulders and gently took her lips off of his. 'I'm sorry, I don't think I can...'
Harry felt awful when he heard her tiny whisper. 'I'm so sorry – I didn't mean to push you.' He leaned away from her, his fingers longing the feeling of her soft skin against them. 'No, you didn't. I'm just – It's a little complicated.' She sighed as she lifter her eyes to meet his regretful gaze. 'Give me a little more time to process everything, okay?' She said placing her fingers on his knee. Harry smiled at her, 'That's exactly what I plan to do.' And with that she got out of the car.
Luke found himself in his previous position – on the sofa, staring at his hands, waiting for his wife to come back home. He put their son to sleep by singing him a little lullaby and then just sat there watching him sleep for good ten minutes. He was reminiscing the good times he and his wife had before they got so messed up he wasn't even sure he could fix it.
When he heard the car door close shut, he rose from his place and made his way towards the front door, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed over his chest. Maya jumped a little when she saw her husband waiting for her in the hall like that.
'Do you not own a watch?' he asked out of nowhere, while she was still closing the door with her back turned to him. She let her head fall back a little as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, genuinely trying not to tell her own husband to fuck the hell off.
'What do you want from me?' she asked, tiredness clear in her voice as she took her heels off and looked at Luke. He felt a little bad that he attacked her out of the blue, so he let his arms fall by his sides before tucking them into his pockets and looking down. 'I was just wondering where you were for so long.' He asked, his teeth tugging on his lipring – something he did a lot when he felt anxious, nervous or scared. Or just plain bored.
She looked at her husband's face, taking in the scene that had never happened before – her husband waiting up for her late at night, asking where she's been all that time. 'Why?' she asked curiously looking him up and down. Luke shrugged, barely able to keep eye contact. 'I don't know. I guess I just missed you home.' He said turning his eyes away, a little ashamed to admit it to her face.
Maya kept her stare on him, her eyes a little narrowed at the embarrassed boy in front of her as if trying to detect some sort of lie behind it all. She didn't want to fall for another one of his acts.
'It's an awful feeling, isn't it?' She said as Luke looked back up at her. 'The feeling when you don't know if they're coming back home that night or who they are with? It's awful, isn't it?' she said before walking past Luke, hissing the words in his ear as she walked past his side, 'I would know, I've done this a thousand times.' She finished and went up the stairs. Luke felt a pang of guilt hit him so hard he forgot to breathe for a moment.
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After he calmed down a little, Luke went upstairs and got into bed. He laid on his back staring at the ceiling, listening to his wife's calm breathing next to him, for some reason being very aware of her presence by his side. She laid on her side with her back turned to her husband, staring at the wall and imagining Luke's long arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer to himself, nuzzling his nose into her hair right behind her ear.
Suddenly she felt an exciting rush go through her stomach as her thoughts come to life – Luke timidly put his arm around his wife's body, as if silently expecting her to smack it away. But she didn't and he wasn't sure if it was because she was asleep or because she actually enjoyed it, but he decided not to question it and pull himself a little closer to her so that he could feel her warm body in his embrace. She pursed her lips, her eyes pooling with happy tears from the warm feeling of his chest brushing against her back.
It must have been a really comfortable position for them to sleep in, because when their son entered their room and started jumping on their bed screaming 'Wake up! Wake up!' they both didn't want to get up and leave each other's sides. They spent the whole night sleeping in the same position and it felt like their dirty little secret, something they should never have done and something they should not talk about or even acknowledge.
But when they both sat up in their bed and coincidentally looked at each other at the same time, they both felt the same longing feeling of their skin touching in the darkness of the night. If Luke was more awake, he would probably be blushing like crazy, because by the way he shyly looked at her, Maya knew that this was something Luke wanted to do over and over again.
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Maya saw Harry quite a few times in the next couple of weeks, but he didn't dare kissing her, as he didn't want her to feel pressured into anything, but one evening in the park she looked so beautiful that he couldn't help it. He softly took her face in his tattooed hands and leaned in to barely touch their lips together. Their kids were still playing in the playground, but there weren't many people around and the sun was barely out anymore and he just couldn't stop himself.
'I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.' He whispered against her lips, their foreheads touching, noses brushing against each other. She bit her lip wanting for more, but she knew she couldn't do it. Her and Luke were finally moving forwards in only tiny baby steps, but still. They were at least sleeping together in one bed, hugging each other at nights, no matter the fact that they didn't really speak to each other during the days. He was home almost all day everyday, only going out to the studio or to buy some groceries. They were on their way of fixing it.
'It's okay,' she whispered back, 'But I still need time.' She said and after a while they went their separate ways.
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Later that night the three of them were watching a silly film, one Maya and her son could make fun of, while Luke was just basically eating all the popcorn he made for the them all to share. When two characters started kissing on the screen, Maya playfully covered her son's eyes saying something along the lines of 'you're too young to see this' with a smile on her face, making Luke giggle. But her son quickly removed the hand from over his eyes laughing, 'It's okay, I've seen you and Darcy's daddy do that.' He said as if it was nothing and Maya could feel her lips curl up inside her mouth, her heart dropping to her heels.
Luke was watching them with a smile, his mouth full of popcorn, but when he heard his son talk about his wife kissing someone else, he froze. His eyes slowly lifted up to her face as she turned around to look at him, her lips pursed together, a sorry look in her eyes. 'Luke...' she started, but he didn't let her finish. He put the popcorn bowl on the sofa as he rose from his seat and slammed the door shut to their bedroom upstairs.
Maya finished watching the film with her boy and put him to bed before walking to their bedroom to try and talk to Luke. But she found herself surprised, as Luke appeared to be getting ready to go out. He had a black shirt on, his black jeans tight around his legs, as he was fixing his hair in the mirror. He smelled amazing and the whole room was filled with the smell of his deodorant and perfume. 'Luke, come on. Let's talk about this.' She tried before he pushed past her and went down the stairs.
'Luke, don't start this again...' She said, a sigh leaving her lips as her husband pulled his leather jacket over his shoulders, took his keys and left the house.
He thought that for once he was doing something right – he and his wife weren't angry at each other anymore, he spent so much more time with his son and helping her out around the house. He thought he was being a good husband, a loving father. He thought he was fixing it, but oh what a fool he was. He could slap himself across the face for being so naïve and thinking his wife would never cheat on him, that she still loved him, that she had long forgotten about the divorce.
When he got home before 4 am, he found his wife asleep on a sofa. He went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, as he always does, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his wife in the kitchen doorframe, her hands crossed over her chest.
'Jesus fucking Christ,' Luke grumbled under his breath, taking a sip of his water after a moment.
'Luke, why are you doing all this again?' she demanded. 'What are you trying to do with these stupid nights out? It's not like you drink a lot or anything there. Just tell me what results do you expect from acting like this?'
He put his glass down, shooting Maya a hard look. 'Just leave me alone, okay?' he blurted out, not really a question, more like an indirect way of telling her to get out of his sight.
'What are you trying to do, Luke? Tell me. Are you trying to push me away? Make your son forget what it's like to have his father home again? Ruin this marriage?' she said not being able to control herself anymore. ''Cause if you want a divorce, let me tell you – you're one stupid act away from it.' She said rather aggressively straight to his face.
'No,' Luke said before his brain could even comprehend what his mouth was doing. 'I don't want a divorce.' He said looking into her eyes.
Their faces so close yet contorted with two completely different expressions – her features were twisted in an angry and frustrated way, like she just had enough; his bended in a sad and tired look like he was begging her not to stop fighting.
'Then get your fucking shit together, 'cause I'm done.' She said as she turned on her heel to walk away, but Luke grabbed her by the elbow, turning her around and causing her to bump against his chest. He lifted her chin up and crashed their lips together, an overwhelming feeling filling both of their bodies like they were teenagers again kissing for the first time. He pulled away a tiny bit just to give her a chance to catch her breath.
'I love you,' he said quietly, words vibrating against her lips, their foreheads still touching. Her eyes closed, his blues gazing at her plumped lips before she opened her eyes and looked into his. 'Do you?'