A/N: OKAY I SAW THIS PICTURE & THOUGHT IT WAS PERFECT FOR THIS CHAPTER OMG JUST PICTURE LUKE'S FACE EXACTLY LIKE THIS I'M DYING
- A
Every bone in Luke's body felt alive, like he'd just been lit on fire in the best possible way.
The way his limbs were tingling wasn't particularly a comfortable sensation, but it sure as hell was exhilarating.
Luke knew he was caught up in a daydream, a fantasy. She was a fantasy. But she was his fantasy.
And he loved every minute of it.
He was such a daze that when Anna walked away from him, he didn't realize it at first. Still reveling in the moment before, he unknowingly spared himself the hopeless "wait, where are you going?" questioning that drove every girl even further away.
Now he just stood alone, hopelessly staring after a girl who disappeared faster than lightening.
He might've been clueless as hell, but he did know that girls were fucking confusing.
One minute Anna was with Luke, laughing and joking like she'd known him for years. The next minute she was running off in a hurry for some unknown reason.
He didn't understand girls (that already was clear), but it was more than that.
Luke didn't understand her, and that was the most perplexing.
But, somehow, he felt like he did. Maybe it was all the interviews he'd watched or the pictures he'd seen of her.
Or maybe it was something else.
Either way, he knew something was wrong. He just didn't know what.
Why else would Anna run away so fast? Was Luke really that unbearable? Or was there something else going on?
Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw a brunette figure, roughly Anna's height, headed towards the staircase. Anna? Or was that Eva? It was one of the two, that was certain.
He didn't intend to get involved, but somehow Luke's long legs dragged him out of the ballroom. Now away from the dance floor, his blue eyes scanned the hall. He couldn't see Anna anymore, but something inspired him to continue his search anyways.
Near the staircase, Luke recognized reporters from radio stations, gossip blogs, and famous tabloid writers. They were all atwitter about something, but he didn't understand why until he saw who was at the center.
No, not Anna.
Drew Roggenburk.
Luke knew all about famous movie-star/Hollywood 'heartthrob' Drew Roggenburk. They'd met a couple times at awards shows and such--and, in fact, Luke hated Drew. It wasn't anything personal; they just happened to like the same girl.
And one of them (not Luke) had more luck with her than the other.
The time of "Drewanna" was around the time 5 Seconds of Summer first began to take off, touring nationwide. This was the time when people started to recognize Luke and the rest of 5 Seconds of Summer in the streets, thanks to touring with Hot Chelle Rae and getting ready to tour with One Direction. It was the famous beginning of 5 Seconds of Summer, and the rest is history.
But also, the time of "Drewanna" was around the time Luke's obsession with Anna got slightly stalkerish. Slightly.
Anna and Luke were both seventeen at the time; Drew was eighteen. Luke, from reading all the tabloids, knew the whole "Drewanna" story: how he met Anna, how long they dated for, how they broke up.
At least, he thought he knew.
But now he was back? It didn't make any sense. Drew always seemed kind of creepy to Luke, but maybe it was because he was roughly the same height and about ten times more muscular.
In other words, Luke couldn't see why Anna dated him in the first place. He must've had a killer personality or something. (Sarcasm. There was nothing wrong with Drew, as far as Luke could tell, which is why he hated him so much.)
Luke slowly edged his way towards the center of the hall, searching among the crowd for Anna. He knew she had to be there somewhere.
And she was. A couple feet away from Luke, Anna was desperately trying to catch up to her brother.
"Nathan!" Anna tried to yell above the crowded masses, but it was no use. Nathan was already three-fourths of the way up the marble staircase, and Anna wasn't even on the stairs. In addition to the fancy, dressed-up crowd, at least ten reporters, cameras and all, were blocking her way.
How did they all get in here? She thought her family only invited a select few. Why were reporters from radio stations and gossip blogs here?
Anna tried to push past them, but it was no use. As she crept closer, the camera flashes began to blind her. She slowly lost sight of her brother and nearly gave up. Nathan was too far ahead of her; she would just catch up with him later.
"Anna! Anna Rihvalsky!" One of the reporters called out to her. Breathless, Anna had no choice but to turn her attention to them. "How do you feel now that you're back with Drew Roggenburk?"
"What?" Anna asked, clearly caught-off-guard. Drew Roggenburk was her boyfriend from the summer of 2013, who was of course set up by her management company. She never had anything against Drew, but didn't particularly like him either. He was too shallow and superficial inside, despite his casual, cool-boy exterior.
More reporters began chipping in, interested. "It's not true? Rumor has it that he came all the way back from Bali tonight to see you!"
"He's here?" She asked before she could stop herself. "I had no idea."
Sighs from the crowd and "Aw, how romantic!"s came from the eyewitnesses. But they didn't realize how unromantic it actually was; it was actually quite scary.
Luckily and unluckily, the reporters changed the subject. One in particular looked her right in the eye and said, "Is it true that Harry Styles is dating your sister? She got so skinny; is she trying to diet for him?"
Anna ignored this. It was just plain rude.
Her sister's weight was always discussed nowadays; everyone wanted to know how she looked "so good". It sickened Anna; they were basically ensuring that Eva would never, ever eat again.
In Anna's mind, telling a girl she looked amazing when she has been starving herself was the worst thing you could ever say.
Anna couldn't handle it anymore. She couldn't deal with the snooping, prying, hazing of the media. So she did what she had to do to get out of there. She put on her best fake-smile for the cameras, then excused herself. She was about to start her trek upstairs when a hand on her back stopped her.
"Oh, you shouldn't have done that, sweetheart." Said a thick accent from behind her.
Drew Roggenburk.
Anna turned, almost dreading. But she was so upset that she ignored her gut to run away and confronted him instead.
"Drew." Anna stared at him. He had the same suave, heartthrob image as he always did, except she knew it was plastic. Fabricated. "Why does everyone think we're dating?"
"Wait. Carte Blanche didn't tell you?" Drew looked genuinely surprised. In contrast to the photographs, his gray eyes looked ghostly. Shadow-like. "Jerry struck up a deal with Carson last night. And, uh, they want us to kiss at midnight tonight, too."
Management. She should've known.
Carte Blanche was the Rihvalsky family management company, but they also managed twenty-year-old movie star Drew Roggenburk as well.
Drew's manager, Jerry, was a cold, heartless, and manipulative man. He worked for the same company, Carte Blanche, as Anna's personal manager, Carson.
Carson seemed harmless on the outside, but when it came down to it he would do anything to preserve Anna's image. It was kind of inspiring, how dedicated he was--but at the same time, quite intimidating.
Anna didn't know what he was thinking, signing her off to date Drew again. Dating the same guy twice was something they agreed Anna would never do; there was too much history, too much to remember, too much acting involved.
Carson knew that it was a bad idea to have Anna date the same guy twice. After all, he was the one whole told her that going back to someone suggested weakness. He wanted her to be a strong, independent role-model who didn't need a man to be happy.
Why, all of a sudden, was he going back on his word?
"Drew, I'm not going to kiss you!" Anna exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. Inside she was furious, but outside she made it seem like she was shocked. Pleasantly, of course. "I haven't even seen you in two years. Where were you?"
He waved it away, shrugging. "All you have to know is that I was in London in winter of 2013, filming a documentary. Then after that I was filming an action movie in Bali in 2014. Now I'm back. We broke up due to the distance, not because we didn't love each other."
Love.
What a word.
Love had absolutely no meaning to Anna nor Drew. Her life strictly forbid love, and so did his. She knew the truth about him--instead of being the innocent good-boy everyone thought he was, he had about five side hookups and quite possibly a child. Anna wasn't sure; it had been awhile since she'd seen him.
"Well, you know what you can tell Jerry?" Anna threw her hands in the air, flabbergasted. But she made it look like she was the happiest girl in the world, reunited with a long-lost friend. "I'm done. With all of it. I'm not doing it."
Drew chuckled, playing along. "You know he won't accept that, sweetheart. You see, a contract has already been signed."
Anna was so close to rolling her eyes at him, but she knew she couldn't. "On what premise? I sure as hell didn't sign that."
"Yes, you did. You signed yesterday."
"No, I didn't. I swear, I didn't." Anna insisted, smiling. Bitterly. She really had no recollection of signing anything--at least, nothing involving Drew Roggenburk.
"Believe me, you did. Or someone who has your handwriting did." Drew laughed like Anna had said something seriously funny. "Just kiss me. Please."
At least he was polite enough to say please. But she still wasn't going to give in.
"Drew." Anna said seriously, trying to find the easiest way to reject him without causing a scene. "I'm not going to kiss you over a stupid contract that I didn't even sign. I'm sorry, but I won't."
"Well, you know what? You don't have a choice!" Drew said, exasperated. He took a step closer. "You see, Jerry's about to sever ties with Carte Blanche. He has all sorts of dirt on you and your family. How your father spends all his business trips with prostitutes... How your mother filed for divorce... We know it all, sweetheart, and we have proof."
This struck a nerve.
"Leave my family out of this." She whispered, shivering. Drew's words didn't affect her that much before, but this did. "They didn't do anything wrong."
"Ah, yes, but they did. I know your whole life's a lie, and if you break this contract we're ready to expose you." Drew whispered back, smirking. He knew he won.
"Expose us all you want. None of it is true." Anna lied. It was the only thing she could do at this point.
"Why so defensive, then?" Drew whistled. "I know you're lying to me."
She resisted the urge to slap him. She wanted to, so bad. Extremely hard.
Beneath his cocky exterior, Drew knew this. But he just smirked. "Really, Anna? Not even one pretty little kiss for the cameras? That's not like you. You always knew how to make a pretty picture."
But Anna didn't care anymore. The fact is, she was lying. But she was too distracted by a certain ear-shattering noise to care.
It was coming from upstairs, where her brother was. She knew this sound like the back of her hand, similar to one of a mirror shattering.
Except fifty-times louder. Like fifty mirrors shattering all at the same time.
The New Year's Eve "ball".
"Excuse me. I have to go." Anna said forcefully, pushing Drew out of the way.
Drew was too busy smirking to push back; he'd won the argument.
This round, at least. Anna still had no intention of kissing him; in fact, she intended to be out of sight, out of mind, and out of this place long before midnight tonight.
But where and with whom was the real question.
A/N: LUCAS YOU ARE LITERALLY RIGHT THERE HOW DO YOU NOT SEE HER
haha jk Luke sees all so ;)
ANYWAYS what do you think so far?
comment/vote/fan please!! It helps so much :) thanks for reading!
- A