Sorry for the hold up! I had to clean my room for people who may buy our house. If you know me, which none of you do, you'd understand that it's literally a two day process. So, I opted to take the day and clean it, but then it didn't occur to me that I wouldn't really be able to write tuesday because people would be in my house and then I had family dinner after. I know, I know. Always a excuse.
The amounts of reads, votes, and comments is so insane. Like People following me on twitter are so nice. I'll follow some of you and you get all excited. It's nothing like I'm used to! So be sure to use the tag #BroCodeFF on twitter and instagram if you make an edit of hope and luke, or michael and hope! I put them on the story's instagram!
With that said, I have officially picked out a well-known girl to be Hope: @ChrissyCostanza! Someone told me about her and she's a perfect mix of girls I have been picturing! she fits the description just as well as the REAL life Hope. ;)
Twitter: @BroCodeFF USE THE TAG #BROCODEFF
Instagram: @BroCodeFF USE THE TAG #BROCODEFF
HOW ABOUT EVERYONE VOTE! haha. AND 75 COMMENTS = SATURDAY CHAPTER!
I'LL EDIT TOMORROW
Hope's POV
I see the text, and I immediately look to Luke for answers, but the look on his face tells me that he knows just as much as I do, yet I watch as his fingers move across the screen, telling a different story.
"Luke, who's Emma?" ask for the second time. The question lingers in the air as he tries to get an answer together. He's deep into thought, his head shaking from side to side, slowly, almost as if he's eliminating options one-by-one as his brain feeds them to him. "Luke?"
He looks at me. "She's.." he starts but then slowly closes his mouth. "Remember one of the first conversations we had? When I admitted I have a hard time trusting girls?" he asks. I narrow my eyes, unsure of where this is going. I nod my head and silently tell him to continue. He picks up my hands and looks at me with full sincerety. "Remember how you wanted to know, but I told you I'd have to give you a raincheck on it?" Once again, I nod. "I think you better come over tonight. You deserve to know, even if it means that this relationship will only lasts moments," he says. He kisses my cheek and drops my hands.
"Luke, this is kind of weird. What could be so bad?" I ask.
"I'll explain it all later, I promise."
"Okay, I'm trusting you.." I let it hang in the air for him to get a full effect. He stands from the couch and looks down on me, worry is written all over his face.
"I know. And I'm trusting you," he says, breathing deeply. "My family are the only people who know what really happened. I need you to promise me that you'll keep it that way after tonight, okay?" he squats down next to where I'm sitting to look directly at me.
"I promise," I tell him. He leans in and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. When he pulls back, I can still feel his mouth on mine. I let my eyes slowly open, knowing that he is further away than I want him. Fluttering open, I can see a faint smile play on his cheeks.
"I will never get tired of that, girlfriend."
"Neither will I," I smile.
"I think I should go home," he stands back up to his ridiculous height. "I need to talk to my mom about all of this shit. See what to do about it.," he starts to turn away, towards the door, but stand on the couch and grab his arm. He spins back in my direction and I pull him to me, my arms find a home around his neck as my lips meet his once more. I feel him smile into the kiss, so I pull away. With my new height, I'm able to look down on him, but only by centimeters.
"You didn't give me a proper goodbye," I frown. "What kind of boyfriend are you?" I joke.
"One with a cute ass girlfriend," he smiles. He wraps his arms around my legs, just under my butt and pulls me off the couch. I have no option but to sling my legs around him. I laugh as he holds me in his arms, as if I'm a small child, he does it with ease.
"I could say the same, I guess."
"You have a cute girlfriend? Can I meet her?" his lips pull into a smile, twisting my words; he's proud of his stupid joke. I can't help but let a giggle escape through my mouth. It's different looking down at him. His eyes seem so much brighter without the light having to fight through his hair to make them shine.
"No, she's mine."
"Shame, we could've have fun," he leans into me and softly embraces my cheek. I gasp at his remark, half jokinly and half in humor at what he said. "I'm serious! Have you ever tried to build a card house with three people? It's epic."
"That's not what you meant, perv," I laugh.
"Yes it is, get your head from the gutter." He sets me back down on the couch, but I leave my hands around his neck. "When you come over tonight, I need you to hear the whole story, okay? It's a bigger picture than you think."
"I'm getting worried. What could be so bad? Do you have a secret kid?" I scoff and joke off.
"What?" his serious tone comes back.
"Nothing, I was kidding," I kiss his cheek. "As much as I want you to stay, go home and figure this all out."
"I will. Come over around seven?" I nod and hop off the couch to walk with him to the door. He hugs me one last time before he leaves and heads for his car. I watch as he safely pulls out of my driveway and down the road.
I close the door and look at the television that's still playing Pleasantville. Picking up the blankets, I find the remote to turn it off. As the screen returns to black, I unlock my phone to text Michael. He says he's working with his mom today, but he didn't specifically say what for.
Since Luke and I had our talk, and he was honest about what happened, even with Michael, I feel like I owe it to him to tell the truth. I don't know how he's going to take it, but the more I thought about it, the more absurd the whole thing was. Why didn't my mind tell me that making Michael feel like that is level ten on the bitch scale? Shit, it's probably an eleven. Granted, I was--and still get--pretty pissed when I think about it. The only thing that made it make sense to me was Luke.
I know, Michael telling me should've been enough, but it wasn't. Any girl out there would've thought the same thing I did: he's only trying to feed me more sweet talk. I knew the emotions were real, but I couldn't let myself be think of it like that. He made me feel little, so I made him feel the same. I don't even know what to think. I don't know what I'm going to say, how I'm going to say it; will I even have the courage to face it? Fuck.
To Michael:
When are you going to be home? We need to talk, it's really important.
From Michael:
I may not be home until later. 7:30ish. What's up?
To Michael:
I need to do it soon. Are you super busy?
I make my way to my room and sit on my bed, eagerly awaiting for his response. I want to do it while I still have the nerve.
From Michael:
Uh, my friend Zach said I could have a minute. Do you want to facetime? Next best thing, right? :)
Hitting the little camera next to his contact, I watch myself on the screen until it notifies me that he's connecting to the call. When it finally goes through, I see him walking, so I wait until he's settled and sat down somewhere outside.
"Hello!" he smiles as he runs his fingers through his hair.
I smile back, "How are you?"
"A little bugged out. What about you?"
"I'm fine. So, what are you helping your mom with?" I avoid the topic and move to my window ledge for better light.
"This song thing. I'm in a real recording studio singing. How sick is that?" he says, his face lighting up.
"Wait, why didn't you tell me?! That's so cool! Why aren't you recording right now? Sucking?" I joke with him.
"Wells shit, you're just like your mom, aren't you?" he chuckles. The small screen isn't doing him justice. I can see the top of his shirt, noticing that it's one of my favorites. Red plaid cut-off vest with a black Blink 182 shirt under it. I imagine that he's wearing black jeans and black converse with it. "He said I sounded dead, so he gave me a minute to get a "pep in my step"," he air quotes with one hand.
"That's so cool. He's like your singing boss," I laugh.
"Yeah, it's kinda awesome. So what'd you want to talk about?" he asks. "It's only slightly making me nervous."
"Michael, I.." I lose all my words. I look away from the screen. I can't look at him and do it. There's no way in hell. I can feel my heart pick up, and I know I'm going to word vomit this out. The worst part is going to be not knowing his reaction and not knowing how to handle him.
"Hope, you can tell me anything. We're bestfriends," he says, though I can't see him.
I pick up the phone and look at him, his eyes are narrow and searching for an emotion to get a hold of. Too bad I'm giving off too many for him to catch. Too bad none of them are good. Too bad I did it in the first place. "I know, but you're going to be upset. I just want you to understand how upset I was when I first found out. I'm going to tell you the first part, I know you'll still want to listen to me, but I can only hope you'll listen to the second part," I warn him. My voice is so little.
"Just spit it out, Hope," his voice getting a little cooler, not to welcoming.
"I heard you on the phone that day. You claimed me as part of your bro code," I start. I try to keep my voice as smooth as possible. "I was mad. You thought just because you were here first, you could do that to me. It made me feel little, like you didn't respect me enough to let me think for myself. I didn't kno-"
"I don't understand where you're going with this.." he cuts me off.
"Just listen. I'm getting there," I silence him. His head is slumped between his shoulders, looking at me from under his fallen hair, waiting for me to continue. "Like I was saying, I didn't know who you were on the phone with, but you were so rude to them. Then, I got on twitter and you kept tweeting things about winning, and I knew the whole time it still was about me. It was about you winning me before the other person could. That's when I got most mad."
"If this goes where I think you're taking it, I don't know if I can listen to the rest," his voice is cold, hurt.
"Please listen, don't hang up!" I plea. "Remember! I didn't know who was on the other line. I only found out when you and Luke started yelling at eachother in my driveway. But, that same day, when I came and got your phone, I took Luke's numer. I had a plan to make you jealous as payback," this whole thing sounds so much worse aloud. I can feel a tear start to form in the corner of my eye, but I blink it away.
"You broke my heart as..as payback?" his slow, cold, calm voice sends chills up my spine.
"You don't understand!" I try and defend, but before I can say anything else, he disconnects the call.
I stare at the ground, ashamed of myself. I should've told him from the beginning. Throwing my phone to the ground, I take my face in my hands and let whatever self-pitying tears I have flow. It's my own fault. I treated him like a rag-doll.
Luke's POV
"Mom, I can't meet up with her. She's a psychopath!"
"Honey, you don't really have a choice. Something tells me that if you don't agree to it, she's going to show up unexpectedly, so you might as well do it on your own terms," my mother tells me, her small body sitting at the dining room table. I was too worked up to sit. My arms are gripping onto the back of one of the chairs. I take notice of the blood draining from my knuckles, but I don't loosen the tension.
"Are you not listening to me?! You know what happened the last time I was within five feet of her!" I'm becoming irritated with my mom. She doesn't understand. Well, she does, but she won't understand what it felt to be me that night. Stuck, at the mercy of another person. Completely helpless.
"Lower your voice or you're going to be grounded. You're going and that's final. If you'd like me to come with you, I will, but you are going and that's final," she says, using her mother voice. Pushing in her chair, she walks to the kitchen to start dinner, despite the early time.
"I'll go alone then. It'll make me feel less guilty when I tear her whole life to peices," I tell her, walking from the room.
"Lucas! Get down here right now!" she yells from the kitchen. I pay no mind to her and continue up the stairs.
To Emma:
You can have twenty minutes, not a minute more. Meet me at the park in ten minutes. I'll be by the tables.
I tell her. She needs to know that this isn't some kind of joke. I'm older and she can't treat me like she did. (follow @brocodeff on insta and twitter, cus half you bitches don't read the author's note. lolololololol)
Ignoring her reply, I slide into my shoes and take my keys off my dresser. I choose not to look at the message because this is the only chance I'm giving her. She doesn't come, it's her own fault. I run down the stairs, skipping one everytime and blow past my mom before she can say anything.
I open the door to my rusty car and hear it roar to life. The park is only minutes from my house, but for all I know, it's hours from her new house. Well, at least I hope it is. I play in my head all the stupid fucking things this girl could want to talk about, each time I slam her with insults. I'm working myself up, and she could want absolutely nothing. What if she's apologizing. I laugh at the thought. Emma? Apologizing? What a shitty joke. Comedian of the year..
I pull into the park and pick a spot closest to the tables as I can. I don't want to have to walk far after I'm done being an asshole to her. Or maybe I should. I could park further away to give myself time to steam off.
Ah fuck it. I'm only parking twenty feet away.
I turn off the car and make my way to the set of picnic tables set under the pavillion. The green paint is chipping away in more spots than one. Looking around, I see sets of mothers and children playing and laughing, even some fathers are scattered amungst them. I smile as I hear a baby laugh in the distance. I scan over to the swingset and find the cutest baby floating through the air in a swing. I guess he's not a baby, more like a toddler. His blonde hair is shining in the sun, making it hard to tell if it's really as bright as it looks. He's cute, really cute. I can't see the mother's face, but I notice she checks her watch and slowly bring the baby swing to a stop.
The mother's brown hair flings over her shoulder, in my direction. At that point, my heart is nearly falling from the pit of my stomach. Those eyes are the same ones that ruined my life only a couple of years ago. She set's the kid on the ground and holds his hand, walking slow enough for him to keep up with. I keep praying that they change direction, go anywhere but to the pavillion. Once they step onto the concrete slab, I pray even harder: any table but mine. Let my eyes be deceiving me. This isn't her. This can't be them. Don't do this to me.
"Luke," she says.
"Emma," I say through clenched teeth.
"I thought maybe you'd like to talk about some things. I owe you a never-ending apology, but I know you don't want to hear it," she says, sitting on the bench across from me. The little boy is pulled up on the seat next to her, his fingers immediately start tracing the pealing paint on the table.
"You're right. There aren't enough things you could say that would ever make me feel any better about any of this," I let my voice drip with hatred.
"I know, so I didn't come here to apologize."
Her response catches me off guard, but like I figured, an apology is utterly outrageous on her behalf. She only took away my teenage years and filled them with worry and sadness."So why would you contact me after these years? Why not just let me be happy? Come to take more?"
"I'm not going to let you sit here and disrespect me in front of my child. I'm not the same person I was three years ago. I actually came here to lift a little weight off your shoulders," she says, pulling the kid onto her lap.
"Please, enlighten me." Literally.
"The night that everything happened, I was with two guys: you and my boyfriend, Ben. I came here to let you know that there's a fifty percent chance that he's not your's," she tells me. I feel my chest become half lighter, knowing that he may not be mine. Looking at him though, I feel like there's not way he isn't. Everything about him looks like me. Hopefully this Ben guy resembles me in the slightest.
"So where's this Ben kid at?" I ask.
Her arms wrap a little tighter around her son and kisses him on the head. "He left just after he was born. It's just us," she says, smiling down to the kid as he reaches his fingers up to her face.
"Why would you wait all this time to tell me? Why would you let me spend years worrying about things like this?" I find myself more mad than relieved at then news.
"I knew it was enough for you to handle, I didn't want to pull you in for testing. If it was yours, I didn't want you to feel as if he was ruining your life. I know you wouldn't have ever been happy, not with me nor with him. I didn't want someone to half love my son. He deserves the world and I give him nothing less. Do you understand where I'm coming from?" she asks.
"What's his name?" I ask, reaching for his tiny fingers as he pounds on the table.
"Lincoln Tyler Ryans," she says his full name.
"Hey there, Lincoln," I smile at him, holding his hand.
"Who are are?" his little voice asks.
"My name is Luke Hemmings," I tell him.
"Are you my mommy's friend?" he asks.
"Honey, he's just a nice stranger," Emma fills in my silence.
"But we don't talk to strangers," he looks up to Emma.
"That's right, sweethear. But mommy needed to talk to this one," she kisses his cheek. He's cute, that's for sure. His voice is adorable and it's nice to see that she turned her life around. He seems to be being taken care of well.
"I think I better go," I tell her.
"If you ever have any questions or anything, you can call me. I won't hide anything," she says.
"Yeah, okay," I mumble, in an asshole tone, under my breath. I walk off in the direction of my car, my mind spinning from every possibility there is. What am I going to do. Nothing. I look back once more. Emma has Lincoln laying down on the table and she's tickling his stomach. I can faintly hear his laughter fluttering against the wind as I walk away. Again.
-----------
Follow @BroCodeFF on twitter and Instagram! Use the hashtag #BroCodeFF for feedback!
Next chapter will contain lokey and more lokey. and michope. i have finally decided a father for Lincoln and I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to start writing about it. ALSO!
I have picked a celebrity cast list!!
Hope- Chrissy Costanza
Emma- Chloe Moretz (when she has brown hair)
Casey- Anastasia aka Stass (Kylie Jenner's best friend)
I hope you enjoy this long chapter. Next chapter and the next ones after this shall start heating up!!
TELL ME YOUR OPINION ON THIS!
-Madison