She engulfed Luke in her sexy bad girl vibe, her open mind, and the dirty mixed smell of cheap cigarettes and the bar he was a regular visitor of. He didn't even notice when long recording days in the studio started to be continuously followed by short and steamy nights in her bed, when his wife at home merely felt like a roommate he'd see twice a week, when he started lying to his own band so he could take his newly found girlfriend out of the city for a weekend. He didn't notice all that and he sure as hell didn't see you start to catch on. You felt like a freaky stalker, when you started secretly sniffing his clothes, checking his collar and his pockets, when you got his credit card statements, or when you started randomly 'swinging by' the studio to check if he's ever there. He was, most of the times. But the ones he wasn't, and nobody could tell you where he was, you knew for a fact – your husband was cheating on you.
Luke was too immersed in the soft touch of the young bartender to even hear the doorbell ring and someone walk in until she let out a loud 'We're closed' from underneath him.
"So I can see," Luke heard a voice that felt painfully familiar. He turned around, his naked torso and a throbbing bulge evident in his pants, hair messed up from the way they were just being pulled by the girl's slender fingers, his lips red and swollen from the little bites she took.
You simply stood there, a whole rage of emotions surging through your body. You knew one thing – you wanted to beat the living crap out of the both of them until you beat the image of them together out of your head.
"You're here," it almost sounded like a question, but Luke simply couldn't figure out what else to say. He didn't feel guilty or bad under your burning look with a half-naked bartender by his side. He didn't feel like he wanted to launch himself towards you, wipe the tears off of your face, kneel down and apologise until his knees bled and his eyes dried out of tears.
"You cheating bastard," you started quietly, walking up to the two of them. Luke instinctively stretched out his arm around the girl's waist, as if to protect her from whatever you were about to do.
Your eyes quickly flicked away from his face and to his arm protectively covering his lover. "You bitch," you glanced up at the girl that was clearly neither scared of you, nor confused as to who you were. "You know he's married." It was an obvious statement, but if you would've let it simply flow around in your head any longer, you knew you would've exploded. "You know, I would call you a slut, but you're not even that. You're a home wrecking whore. You can sleep around as much as you fucking want, but make sure the assholes that buy into the stupid image of whatever this is," you gestured up and down her, "do not have pregnant wives-"
"What?"
"Congratulations, you've got him all to yourself. I fucking hope he will cheat on your pregnant ass whenever he'll get a chance and you'll get to feel what it's like to lose a husband and the father of your child. I wish you all the fucking best when your relationship goes down the drain and you're left with a fucking baby sucking on your tits all fucking day." You spat out and were just about to yank the door open, when Luke spoke up again.
"You're not actually pregnant."
"Does this look fucking fake to you?" you lifted up your shirt to show you obviously grown belly. "Did the fucking children toys in the house make no fucking sense in your dumb fucking head? Better have the signed divorce papers by next week or I'll fucking sue your stupid ass so bad, you'll live under your little skank's bed." All Luke heard was the bell on the door ring again, when his girlfriend's soft lips pressed against the skin of his shoulders and he fucked her so good that both of their legs shook for half an hour afterwards, neither of them thinking of you.
- 5 years later -
"We have sweets at home, we don't need any more, now do we?" you asked your little boy, who was now almost 5 years old and holding a packet of gummy bears in one hand and a plush toy in the other. "Let's go get some more apples instead, okay?" you tried again, as he dropped the packet, and ran off to the fruit section yelling 'APPLEEES' throughout the whole store.
You only giggled as you made your way to pick up a little bag for the fruits. "Mommy, look, daddy's here!" You were just about to walk to the nearby vegetable stand, when you heard your boy.
Abruptly, you turned around, your eyes quickly scanning through the store and finally settling on your son, who was hugging his toy close to his chest as he stared at the tall stranger he's seen on TV and in pictures so many times. Your heart dropped as you neared them, the sight of Luke chuckling, looking at his little copy with a soft 'I'm sorry, but I'm not your dad'.
He felt his breath catch in his throat, as his whole body froze in shock at the sight of you, the smile dropping from his lips immediately. Your son felt your presence near them, as he ran up to you, taking your hand and pointing to Luke, "Mommy, look, it's dad, right?" he said with a hopeful voice.
Your heart shattered in your chest at how excited and hopeful he felt to finally see his real father. So many times you told him that the person he was pointing at on the street was not his dad, because his dad was away and couldn't come home to them. Not even on a special occasion like his birthday or Christmas, which you knew was always your son's wish while blowing out candles on a cake.
"Honey..." you started, your voice soft and gentle, like every other time you had to disappoint your son by informing him that his dad was not standing in front of him. You could feel your son's mood fall immediately, as his hand let go of yours and he pressed his toy closer to his chest, dipping his head down knowing he was wrong again. "I'm sorry," he muttered to Luke before walking away to hide behind your legs in shame.
Luke could see all of that, and at first he had his eyebrows knitted in confusion, but it was washed away in mere seconds, as he stared at the little copy of himself, realising that he in fact was this kid's father. "It's -" Luke breathed out, grabbing your attention, his eyes lifting up to your face, "He's mine. He's actually -" Luke felt his head begin to throb with the idea of meeting his son, he'd abandoned before he was even born. "He's actually my son?" you could barely hear him stutter out under his breath.
"Luke, don't -" you had barely started as he took a step towards the two of you. "I don't expect you- He was just excited -" you tried explaining that you were doing just fine without him. That his son was excited to see Luke simply because he was seeing him on TV constantly – 5SOS was huge all around the world and thankfully, nobody tried to bother you or your son ever since the divorce. Especially, because Luke kept seeing a different girl every few months and that was enough material to gossip about.
"I want to meet him. I want to -" he gestured to the boy with a sigh. "How old -" he whispered, his eyes flicking between you and the boy. "I don't even know his- What's his name?"
"I'm Theo," your boy responded from behind you.
You noticed a little smile on Luke's lips as he recognised the name both of you decided to use for your firstborn. "Hi, Theo. I'm Luke."
You felt awkward and uncomfortable with the whole situation. You didn't want your boy to grow up without knowing his father, but at the same time you despised Luke and you never wanted your son to feel the dull ache of abandonment that had settled in your chest years ago. "Okay, honey, we have to go or we'll be late," you said, softly running a hand through the boy's hair, earning a nod from him. "Excuse us," you faked a small smile to Luke simply out of politeness as the two of you walked away, apples being the last thing on your mind. Theo was beaming with joy, he was so happy, running around the shop and jumping around you. It made your heart ache thinking about the cause of his happiness, but you smiled and joked with him nevertheless.
You were walking through the parking lot, when you heard a familiar voice yell out your name. Instinctively, you turned around only to be faced with Luke. "Emilie, I-" he breathed out, "Can I call you sometime? I want to -"
"Theo, honey, can you please get in the car and play the radio?" you asked him, as you watched him climb in, staying silent until you heard music come out of the car.
"Don't do this, Luke. I know it's sweet how he reacted to seeing you, but it's just that. He watched you on TV for years and he was just excited to see you in reality, he doesn't have any connection or relationship with you. He met you once and that's enough. I really don't need you to get involved or anything, don't take his reaction the wrong way."
"But I want to," Luke asked, his pleading eyes staring into yours.
"No, you don't. If you actually wanted to, you would've found me the second you found out he was born. You just liked that he was excited to see you, perhaps you feel a little guilty. But frankly, I don't care for your feelings. I will not allow you to play my son like some toy until you get bored, throw all you had away and find someone new to play with." You checked the car to make sure your son wasn't listening, but he was happily jamming out to some song on the radio and playing with his toys on the car seat.
"Don't make this about you. I'm sorry for what happened with us and I'm sorry I didn't contact you, but it was hard for me, too, you know..."
"Do not pretend to be a fucking victim here," you lifted a finger to point at him. "You were the cheating asshole, you did not give two shits about your child and you disregarded me completely the second someone younger and more stupid came into sight. You do not get to be the victim here." You hissed, your finger still sternly pointing at him.
"You're completely right. I'm so sorry, Em. But I beg of you, give me a chance to at least get to know my son. Come on, you saw how happy he was when he recognised me. Please, just one chance is all I'm asking," Luke bent down slightly to make you see him clearer in attempts to get you to give in.
You bit the inside of your lip as you watched your little boy in the car for a minute, contemplating if it was a good idea. "Fine. Call me, maybe you can come over for a coffee or something," you sighed handing him a card with your number. "But if you fuck up once, I swear to you, you will never get the slightest glimpse of him ever again," you threatened, putting the shopping bag in the boot of a car and driving off.