"I had the weirdest dream last night," Luke's rough morning voice says idly into the receiver.
"Oh yeah? What about?" I ask, pulling the blanket up to my chin.
"Mm well, you know my friend Calum?" He says with ease.
"Mhm," I hum back.
It's weird now to hear the difference in his tone when telling me things. Before he would have paused and stumbled on how to even say that simple sentence while also not using his friend's actual full name.
I'm still getting used to the knowing about things. Granted there was still some things he hasn't budged on yet, like the name of his band, what he looks like and singing for me. He even refuses to let me hear any of their songs but I'm sure I can eventually get it out of him some way.
"Well I dreamt he had boobs and it was weird because everything else about him was the same except the boobs part," Luke rambles sleepily-amazed with his own imagination.
"Perving on your friend are you?" I tease. He chuckles.
"It was a nice rack."
"Oh god," I scoff lightly.
"What?" He frowns.
"That was such a boy thing to say."
"Well I hate to break it to you Penelope, but I am a boy," he teases right back. I roll my eyes in good heart.
"I know that, obviously. It was just like something you'd say with your like guy friends or something like yo did you see the tits on that girl?" I go for my best Aussie accent.
Luke erupts in the sweetest laugh that kind of starts off with a squeak that of course has me laughing along.
"That is not how I sound and I don't think I've ever used that sentence in my life."
"Sure you have, every boy has. And don't knock my accent it was gold!" I chuckle.
"Gold most have a different meaning in America than in Australia," Luke says through a soft laugh.
"Shut up," I retort.
"Let's hear your best American accent then."
"No," he refuses simply.
"Why not? Because you can't?" I egg him on.
"Because it's terrible and I can own up to that," he chuckles.
"Oh well look at you," I drawl out.
"Oh well look at you," Luke repeats in quite possibly the shittiest accent attempt I've ever heard.
I burst with laughter my hand coming up to cover my mouth.
"That was actually the worst accent I've ever heard. And why was my voice so high?"
"Shut up, I told you it sucked," his words coming out bashful.
I imagine the light shade of pink his fair skinned cheeks must be right now. I briefly wonder if he has any nervous/embarrassed habits.
I find myself slightly upset that I actually have no idea. And I don't know if I ever will.
"No, it was...it was good," I stifle a giggle.
"No," he drawls. "Don't pity me, that's even worst!"
"How's it worst? I promise I'm not-I'm not pitying you." I stumble on my words as I try keeping my laugh contained.
"I know you're lying to me," he mumbles miserably.
"Okay, maybe I am but mines pretty bad too," I cave.
"Ha! I already knew mine was bad I just wanted you to admit yours was too!" He beams into the phone.
I let an exasperated gasp.
"You tricked me!"
"Maybe," he gloats.
"I can't believe you, you sneaky little...kangaroo...?" The playful insult comes out with a question.
"Kangaroo? What? Because I'm Australian? Bit racist if you ask me P," he hums lighthearted.
"That's not how racism works you walnut. And it's not my fault Australia is sold on kangaroos and koalas, it's all I could think about," I shrug.
"We have other things you know," he replies matter-of-fact.
"Like what? Your thongs," I giggle.
"For the last time, that's what we call flip flops!"
I break into a smile. "Whatever you say Lu."
He groans into the phone, this being an on going tease since he used the word a while back. I don't doubt that's what they're called, in fact, a quick google search could tell you it was legit but it was just fun to tease him about it.
Luke yawns which makes me yawn. He finds it amusing and is in the middle of telling me so when there's a knock on his door. I only know because he pauses mid-sentence to inform me.
"Well answer it," I encourage.
"I don't want to. It's going to be someone coming to tell me to wake up," he whines.
"You're already awake," I point out.
"Yeah but they don't know that and then I'm going to have to hang up and actually get out of bed and do stuff," he pouts. Even that I can't see. But I'll settle for the adorable tone in his voice that tells me so.
"Then don't answer. Tell em to piss off," I huff dramatically.
Luke must pull his mouth away from the phone because the shouts a bit muffled but there's a clear 'piss off!' on his end.
"Luke," I scold with a laugh. "You can't actually tell them to piss off. You've got work stuff, we can talk some other time."
"But then you're busy or tired or your friends want you and I get stuck in a room all by myself," he begins his usual guilt trip.
Luke, amongst other things, is actually slightly needy. But needy in the best way. Where it's not overbearing but just enough to get away with being adorably heart warming.
"You're a rockstar right? Don't rockstars usually go out and party?"
"Not this one," he says.
"Please. You're drunk like half the time," I counter.
"That was different I've been on holiday," he hums as if that's a completely justifiable excuse even though he's been back from his vacation for a little over a week now.
"Right, and you were on holiday when you first texted me too then?" I reply smartly.
"That doesn't count either. Just. Five more minutes?" He proposes with a hopeful undertone. I look at the alarm clock on my nightstand as if I had anywhere to be.
"Fine. Five more minutes then you have to get off the phone and do your band thing," I sigh.
"Banding. We call it banding," he informs me.
"Alright. Five minutes then you're off to do your banding."
-
Of course because he's Luke, five minutes turns to ten which turns to fifteen and eventually Ashton is in the room asking him why he isn't ready and giving him an earful.
There's some rustling before I hear him say you're not getting it back until we're in the car then the phone is hung up. I listen to the whole thing in amusement and let out a small laugh when the line disconnects. Luke texts a sorry and lets me know that Ashton was the one who hung up on me.
We texted for a while on his car ride but he was apparently writing for the day so he said he was probably going to be gone for a while.
Which left me in my bed, still in my pajamas at a little past noon on a Thursday. Haley had classes and Sean was at work so I was left on my own with nothing to do. Lucky for me, I had already planned to get coffee with Kail who was visiting some family not far from where I was.
Normally this wouldn't have been a thing, planning a coffee date, but honestly I hadn't stopped thinking about that nude picture and the blonde boy on the cover. I need to know more. Plus it'd also be nice to catch up.
I'm ready and out the door an hour earlier than we decided, giving me time to pick Haley up from her last class of the day and bringing her along.
Haley's great at small talk, it's probably why she can get any guy she sets her eyes on. She's a good buffer, asking Kail all the boring life stuff like how she's liking San Fran and about the sorority she's in at the University she goes to.
Eventually there's a gap of silence which is where I swoop in, casually noticing the shirt she's wearing. Which coincidentally was a shirt with a familiar face on it. I clear my throat.
"Five Seconds of Summer, is that like, a band or something?" I play dumb. As if I don't see her thousands of tweets about them. She grows a small smile. "Yeah, they're a band. I saw them up here last year actually," she says with a certain brightness in her gaze.
"Really? How cool. They must be good then yeah?" I say maybe a bit too perky. I just want her to feel comfortable telling me about them. I can feel Haley's eyes on me from her seat to my left.
"I mean yeah, I like them. And they're so good live, I know you were always a fan of live performances," she gushes. "Yeah. Still am. What do they sing? Anything I've ever heard?" This is around the time my nerves start to settle in a bit.
"Um, probably. If you listen to the radio, I'm sure you might have heard a couple of their songs," she nods. "Hm, do you have anything of theirs on your phone?" "Are you kidding?" She rushes to get her phone out of her bag. Haley nudges me, sending me a curious look.
"They have a few EPs and two actual albums, this is probably what you've heard on the radio," Kail says, pressing a song and adjusting the volume. The song starts with a guitar, moves into some 'hey's then a voice. It's a bit of a stretch but something in my stomach does a flip.
She cuts the song. "But that's their old stuff. This is one from their new album I know they play this one on the radio a lot." She puts on another song.
This one starts with a guitar as well, it's more acoustic though, a small beat and then the same voice. The one that makes my stomach do cartwheels. This time it's much more obvious; more his tone than the other song. I can feel my breath hitch in my throat as everything I had been speculating starts falling into place.
"Those are the naked dudes?!" Haley finally announces putting that much together. Kail breaks into laughter. "Yeah, these are the same guys." Of course they were. I swallow down the lump in my throat tightening my airway. "What's uh, what's their names again?" I try to sound less distraught than I was currently feeling. "Like, each of their names?"
She stops the music and taps the screen on her phone. I nod. Here it was. The final puzzle piece to all of this.
She holds the phone in a position where she's showing us but she can also see. It's a different photo than last time, one where they're actually clothed.
"Michael, Ashton, Calum, Luke." She points to each one and hands Haley the phone when she reaches for it.
Why I never put two and two together before was beyond me. It's all so painfully obvious and clear now. Maybe I was being naive? Not wanting to actually see it? I don't know. But this morning I woke up to one of these boys and at the time I don't think I had really thought about what he said or what it actually meant.
I didn't fully register that this was real and he was actually some famous rockstar who had thousands of people screaming over him and Kail- she'd absolutely die at the chance to be able to speak to him. And here I was telling him to shut up and calling him a walnut.
"Look Ellie, your blue eyes is even cute with clothes on," Haley teases, all but shoving the phone in my face. I give an awkward chuckle, taking the phone and trying desperately to keep a poker face at the zoomed in photo of the blonde boy with blue eyes.
It starts to settle in more, faced with the picture and reality of things. My heart flutters and I bite down on my lip.
Luke.
There he was. The boy I had been talking to for months now. And man was he a looker. I can feel my ears heating with the thoughts I'd had about him over the naked magazine cover.
And then it hits me.
Oh my god.
The things I must have said to him while I was drunk!
I was unbelievably mortified. I hand Kail her phone back and as coolly as I can, quickly searching for my own.
P: Don't think i'll be able to chat tonight sorry x
I sigh, running a hand through my hair, my head flooding with a cluster of thoughts as I try my hardest to focus in on Haley and Kail's conversation.
--
Gahhh lemme tell you, it is killing me to not skip all this in-between storyline and just go straight to the meeting & knowing part. D:
Also, I actually didn't take a week to update I think that deserves some comments & votes! (;