POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING
"Well I expected this meeting to be longer." Luke admits as released me from the hug. I immediately missed his muscular arms around me and the smell of him which was mainly washing detergent and vanilla.
How punk rock.
"We have another hour and a half till we have to leave." Ashton informs with a sly smile. "Pizza?" He asks suggestively and without even having have to reply, we all race to the doors. All except Stacey who had disappeared, crying, after the meeting.
Unexpectedly, Luke grabs my hand and interlaces his fingers with mine.
"Don't let go." He orders with a shy smile, blushing as he looks at our intertwined hands.
The security guards open the door for us and the one who refused to let me in earlier have me and embarrassed look which I responded to with a smile.
"Luke why are you with her?" One girl yelled through the chorus of screams and squeals. Luke shot her a glare and pulled me closer. Just like an overprotective boyfriend would.
"She doesn't even like you. She cheated on you with a nobody. Remember?" The same, bleach blonde girl accuses. Like lets go of my hand and I feel a wave of disappointment at the loss of contact until he wraps his arm around my waist protectively and holds the other in front of him to clear a path.
A few more rude remarks and disgusting names were called by the same blonde girl until Luke stops in the middle of the crowd.
"Kat did not cheat on me. It was a misunderstanding and we are dating. So if you were an actual fan and cared about my happiness you would leave her the he alone and get your nose out of my girlfriends business." He snaps and continues walking, leading me with him.
"Kat, huh?" I ask after we climb into the black van and tell the driver where to take us.
"You don't like it?" He asks worriedly, his blue eyes wide and staring right back into mine.
"No, I like it. A lot." I respond with a sincere smile feeling as though this was the first time in centuries I'd actually smiled a real smile. Just staring into his beautiful blue eyes I feel the sudden and unexpected urge to kiss him.
"Don't get sentimental with me, babe." He teases putting on a 'douchey boyfriend' face. Even though he was joking, the fact that he called me babe made my heart do some funny thing.
"Oh so we're onto pet names now?" I ask jokingly.
"Only manly ones please. I'm a very manly man incase you haven't realized." He plays along flexing his biceps. Now that's just unfair. You can't just do that infornt of a girl and expect her to be emotionally stable after it.
"Oh really? How about honey bunny then?" I joke and he tickles me making me squeak and squeal obnoxiously. Immediately clasping my hand over my mouth afterward.
"That was adorable." Luke laughs, hands still on my stomach. I remove them with my own and he states at my wrist.
"We never had time to discuss that." He whispers taking my hand moving some of the bracelets up to reveal my scars.
"Uh it's whatever." I shrug off and try to pull my arm away. Damn why does he have to be this strong?
"Kat talk to me." He orders in a sweet voice, somehow managing to remove all of my bracelets. I felt exposed. Vulnerable. By this time all the guys had turned around and all four pair of eyes were glued to my wrist. Some of the scars were still pink. Like the one going vertically from my wrist to mid arm. It looked fresh. But it wasn't. It was just deeper.
"Kat you can trust us." Luke whispers softly stroking my cheek as if I was a fragile piece of art he was trying to protect.
"I know I can, but I can't. I physically can't" I mumble, my eyes welling up with tears.
"I have trust issues. The last person I told, told the entire school and she also said I could trust her. I know I can trust you but I can't break down the walls I've been trying so hard to build up. I want to, but I physically can't." I explain only then dating to look at them.
They all had unreadable expressions on their faces along with tears in their eyes. An unbearable silence fell as they all stared at me. Until my phone rang.
"Hello?" I ask not bothering to look at the caller ID.
"Kate! We just got a call from a modeling agency and they want you to model for some magazine!" My excited mother yells into the phone. My face immediately lights up and I shoot up into a straight sitting position.
"Oh my gosh! Really? This can't be real!" I gush and my mom chuckles from the other end of the line.
"They asked if they could meet you next week Saturday and I said I'd ask you first." She informs still ecstatically.
"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!" I confirm and she giggles again.
"I'll call them back right now and tell them you say 'yes yes yes yes yes'." She laughs and hangs up.
"I just got a modeling job offer!" I yell excitedly, the weight and of the previous conversation completely gone as all the guys attack me in a group hug and I break into tears.
"Don't cry Katie!" Ashton yells seeing my state.
"Happy tears!" I yell back laughing.
As soon as the van pulls to a stop, we all bolt out into the pizza place full of energy and excitement.
"Michael wants another slice, Michael wants another slice, Michael wants another slice. PIZZA PIZZA." All four of them chant and Michael responds to the 'song' with an enthusiastic 'Hells yeah!'
Before I know it I'm on my last slice of pizza. Even tough I only had three... We head out of the pizza place blasting the lyrics to 'Jasey Rae' by All Time Low. As I laugh at their faked terrible singing, I catch a glimpse of something or rather someone I'd wished to forget about completely.
I find my self string at an all too familiar pair of brown eyes almost identical to mine, dark glossy just like mine and a smirk that has haunted me for years. I freeze in my complete shock and fear as the figure approaches me. By now the guys had stopped dancing and singing and were staring between me and him worriedly.
"P-peter?" I stutter, terrified. Millions of suppressed memories flood into my mind making in pound with pain.
"Sweetheart. How good to finally see you again. It's been what, ten years? And I'm your father. You can call me dad." He asks rhetorically knowing the answer as shown by his devilish smirk.
"Y-you can't be c-close to me." I try to sound strong but it comes out sounding like a squeak. He chuckles his bone chilling chuckle and takes a step forward, to which I take one back. Instinctively he four guys step in front of me, Luke holding me behind him, like a protective wall.
"What're you gonna do? Call the cops? You're a coward just like your pathetic mother." He spits and I yank my phone out of my pocket. Insulting me is fine. But if you insult my mother, you're not making it out alive.
I speedily dial 911 and start speaking after the line connects.
"M-my father is intentionally within 50 feet of me and I have a restraining order against him. And he's speaking to me threateningly. " I explain, my voice fueled by anger and disgust.
"Well dispatch a squad car immediately ma'am. Stay calm and collected whole you wait." The lady on the other line speaks. Getting a genius idea, I throw a quick glance behind my father and just to my luck the police station was in sight.
"Oh okay thanks." I reply with my best fake disappointed voice. My plan had begun. I hang up the phone and look at the ground to stall him as long as I could.
"So what are they gonna do about the little damsel in distress?" He asks evilly but there's a hint of worry in his voice as if he was scared to be arrested.
"Nothing." I lie and he laughs. My plan is working perfectly.
"I told you nothing could help. You're as ignorant as your bitch of a mom." He snaps and in the close distance I hear sirens. I have to force myself not to smile about my plan working out but I manage not to. My father starts spitting insulting comments about my mother and I but I block them out, only listening to the sirens getting louder and the police car getting closer. I stop right behind my father and a man jumps out immediately handcuffing him.
I allow myself to smile at his confused and furious expression as he is forced towards the car.
"This isn't the last you'll see of me, Kathleen. I'll finish what I started. I'm coming for you and your pathetic mother." He yells as the police officer forcefully shoved him into the back of the police car.
There's a long silence as the car dashes off, back to the station.
Only then so his words hit me.
He's gonna come back. He'll finish what he hadn't done ten years ago.
"That's... You're dad? I thought we already met your dad?" Ashton asks confusion clear in his unsteady voice.
"You met my stepfather." I admit. My eyes filling with tears at the realization that my mother isn't safe.
"What's wrong with him?" Michael asks motioning towards the police station.
"He was very..." I begin but don't continue as memories kept flooding through my pounding brain. "He isn't a good person." I add and instinctively rub the scar on my side, thinking of him.
"What'd he do?" Calum pushes and I stay quiet for a while before feeling Luke's arm snake around my waist protectively reminding that I could trust them. They cared. I take a deep shaky breath and begin.
"Ever since I could remember, he was very abusive against be but only when my mom wasn't around. When she was he pretended to be a normal father." I start shakily thinking about the story I was about to tell them.
"The first incident I can remember was when I was about two years old." I swallow down the lump in my through that had formed at the mere memory and continue.
"I know it's weird to remember something that happened when I was so young. But the incident had a huge affect on me. So we had a kitchen island in the middle of our kitchen and there were chairs around it. And at two years old I didn't know what was right or wrong. I didn't know what was gonna hurt me and what wasn't. So I climbed onto the chair and then onto the island and stood up. My dad was looking after me at that time and I guess my mom was at work. So when I stood up, I slipped. I hit my head, really hard, on an open drawer which had a screw sticking out and I hit my head on it. And then I landed on the ground, again on my head." I go on and their faces are shocked and they look like they're in pain.
"I cracked my skull and I still have a dent in my head from it. I remember lying there, screaming and howling in pain, helplessly. I remember my dad standing there, leaning against the doorway and just smirking at me as I cried for hours. When my mom came back she saw me still on the ground but my dad heard her come in so he quickly picked me up. Pretending to care. My mom was the one who took me to hospital." I finish. Their expressions were still the same but with tearing eyes.
"There's more, isn't there?" Luke asks. And there was.
"From then on he'd always physically abused me. My mom was gone on business trips more than she was at home. And when she was gone, my dad would come home drunk and with a different girl everyday. After the girl would leave, he'd beat me up, telling me not to tell anybody. It was almost like he was trying to beat the memory out of my head. Sometimes it worked and I was knocked out. But when I wasn't, he'd tell me that if I told somebody, I'd ruin the family, I'd be sent to a foster home and my mom wouldn't love me." I go on letting out a shaky breath.
"Continue." Luke said. How did he know there was more? Did he know me that well to see I was hiding more?
"That went on from the age where I could properly walk and talk until I was seven. Then one knight, my mom was at her colleague's house who lived next to us and she said she'd be gone for a while so I went to my room and played. Then my dad came in and he already reeked of alcohol. He told me to do things that I didn't want to do. Mostly telling me to... touching him. After I'd refused, he tried to take measures into his own hands." The boys all gasped slightly at the confession and I continues.
"Tell me he didn't." Luke urged, still holding me close.
"After I realized what he was trying to do, I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could and he didn't like that. He slapped me across the face but I just screamed louder. Then he... he pulled out a knife and stabbed it into my side. My mom rushed into the room just as he did that and immediately called the police. The only time I saw him after that was on court when he was sentenced to ten years in jail and was forbidden to see me. I hoped I'd never see him again." I finish, only the realizing that I was in tears.
"Kat." Luke cooed as he pulled my into his strong protective arms and the others joined the hug.
"It's okay Katie. We won't let anything happen to you." Ashton reassured but I knew they couldn't do anything g about it. Especially when they're on tour.
"How about we get you home so you can get some rest. LA is on the way to our next venue anyway." Luke suggests and I chuckle.
"LA is four hours away from here." I tell him and he shrugs.
"Looks like we're going on a road trip." He smiles, taking my hand and leading me back to the van.
"But I came with my car. I can't leave Jessie here. Yes I named my car Jessie." I say before they can laugh and question the name.
"Give your keys to one of the guys who's coming with us and he can drive it home for you." Calum suggests and I
snort.
"I can't do that! I can't just ask somebody to drive my car home for four hours." I complain and Michael smirks.
"You maybe can't but I can." Dangling from his hands are my car keys. How..? That's sneaky son of a biscuit.
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Half an hour later and we're in the lobby about to leave. The boys stand with their duffle bags, ready to leave. As we approach the door, Luke sneakily snakes his free arm around my waist again.
The guys take some pictures with fans on the way to the black van. As we get settled in, a question pops into my mind.
"Don't you guys usually take a jet?" I question and Michael's the first to respond.
"No that was just that one time because the van broke down because Luke was too fat." He explains jokingly and everybody chuckles.
"Excuse you. I think you meant to say that my abs were too hard." Luke said in the douchey voice again. He pulls up his shirt exposing his slightly toned stomach and I try not to stare. It doesn't work. Why does he have to be so unfair?
"Somebody likes what they're seeing." Calum mumbles cheekily, wiggling his eyebrows at me. My face heats up to a thousand degrees and I snort really unattractively in an attempt to seem not-so-awkward. Doesn't work either.
"What? No. Me? What are you talking about?" I blush furiously as all the guys laugh. "You suck." I grunt covering my face with my hands just for them to be removed by the blonde idiot.
"No. It's cute when you blush." He admits supposedly without thinking judging by the fact that his eyes widen and he turns away, red faced. This just makes the others laugh harder.
"I hate this band." Luke and I mumble at the same time and state at each other weirdly before joining the laughter.
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We're about three hours into the ride and we're just talking about everything and nothing. My eyes are starting to feel droopy just as the song Missing You by All Time Low starts playing. I lie down on Luke's shoulder and wraps his arm around me, starting to play with my hair and humming along to the song. I close my eyes but and still awake for about fifteen minutes just enjoying the happiness.
"Goodnight my angel." Luke's sweet voice whispers and he places a soft sweet kiss on the top of my head. With a content feeling I slowly doze off the sound of Luke's soft singing and the other guys' laughter.
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I wake up to the feeling of somebody picking me up. Sleepily I open my eyes and look up at Luke smiling down at me.
"Go back to sleep Kat." He whispers and I smile tiredly and close my eyes, slinging my arms around his neck. He walks a couple of steps and I hear a doorbell ring.
"Oh hi." The familiar voice of my step dad who has grown to be seem as my dad to me.
"Do you guys wanna stay over? It's late and y'all seem kinda tired." He asks casually and there's a couple of mumbles 'yes please'. I am carried up a flight of stairs and laid down on my bed. Somebody takes off my shoes and I curl into a ball.
Luke gets up but I grab his hand before he can leave me.
"Stay." Is all it takes for him to lie down next to me and wrap an arm around me.
"Goodnight Lukey." I say exhausted taking the hand he had draped over my side in my own. He giggles adorably making me feel sort of giddy.
"Goodnight babe." He says teasingly but for some reason I wished it was serious.
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Hello there fellow humans,
Long-ish chapter because long car rides are BORING😫
I hope you liked this chapter💕
Don't forget to vote/comment🙈
~Lisa