katie's pov
i woke up to my phone ringing, liam's name flashing on my screen. i scrambled to unplug it and click the green button. my voice was groggy and my eyes barely open, but i managed to let out some words.
"kate? i'm probably going to start heading over in five, okay? see you then!" before i could even say anything i heard the click and the line went dead. oh shit. i quickly scrambled out of my bed and went into the bathroom. i brushed through my hair, probably ripping out at least a thousand strands in the process. i made my way into the kitchen clad in my pyjama shorts and tshirt to eat a quick cereal bar. luke was passed out on the couch, sprawled out in just his shorts. calum was on the other couch curled up with a blanket and ashton in a ball on the recliner. i tried to make as little noise as possible while i rummaged through the cupboards. i found a breakfast bar and pulled it out, knocking over a a box of biscuits in the process. they landed on the floor with a much louder crash than i expected. i heard someone, luke i think, saying something from the living room. damn i woke him. i took my breakfast toward the source of the noise and sat down at the end of luke's sofa. he was sitting up and stretching his arms up, his eyes full of sleep. his hair was sticking up in random directions and his back muscles were moving in all kinds of ways. if i must say, he looked pretty damn attractive.
"good morning, sleeping beauty," i said to him, causing his head to shoot over in my direction. he obviously didn't know i was there. i unwrapped my bar and began eating, scrolling through instagram in the process.
"how'd you sleep?" i asked, trying to hold a conversation with him. i enjoyed luke's company, he was a good guy. i could really see myself being good friends with him. usually i never liked michael's friends too much, but these guys were pretty rad.
"alright, i guess. this couch isn't really the comfiest." i nodded along with his comment, knowing just how uncomfortable our couch was.
"maybe tonight you can use my bed instead," i laughed earning a giggle from the noodle. i suddenly remembered that liam would be here any minute and sprung up, running to the bathroom. i brushed my teeth in record time and heard the doorbell ringing as i rinsed out my mouth. shit. i don't need michael answering the door and freaking out on liam, that would not be good. i ran to the door as michael began opening his bedroom door and let liam in.
"hey!" i ushered him inside and he followed quickly. he looked me up and down a little, his eyebrows furrowed together.
"what are you wearing?" i just then realized i was still in my pyjamas, totally forgetting to change.
"when you called you woke me up, i didn't have time to change." my face was red as we walked further into the house, entering the living room. he just nodded at me before his eyes became fixed on something in the room. i turned to see luke still sitting there shirtless on his phone, calum and ashton now gone.
"what the fuck katie?" liam turned to me and yelled, he seemed pretty angry, but i had no idea why.
"what?" i was just confused, he had only been here for a minute and he was already angry with me.
"you're in these shorts with your ass hanging out and this fucking guy is sitting here shirtless? jesus, why'd you even invite me over." luke stood up and started to walk towards us, his face getting red.
"liam what are you even talking about? i'm in pyjamas and luke is michael's friend that spent the night! that's it, i promise!" he just sort of glared at me as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"so you're just her brother's friend then?" liam got pretty defensive sometimes, he was just jealous. luke just kind of looked at him, completely shocked.
"yes, liam, that's it," i told him, trying to get his attention off of luke. michael showed up at that point, snapping liam's attention away. he seemed to drop the subject and led the way into my room, not saying another word. we sat down for a few minutes not saying anything.
"i'm sorry for what it seemed like, i promise nothing happened." my voice was quiet, but liam just nodded and sat back on my bed.
"don't worry about it, he isn't your type anyways." he grabbed the remote and turned on the television, going to some action movie. we sat for a couple hours watching tv and making light conversation. besides the little mishap at the beginning, it was actually pretty nice just relaxing with him. all of the sudden his phone rang and he stood up to answer it.
"hey, what's up?" pause. "nah don't worry." laugh. pause. "i already told you didn't i?" pause. " yeah, easy." long pause. "yeah just give me like ten minutes, okay? sounds good, yeah see ya!" he hung up the phone and sat back down, quickly putting his shoes on.
"who was that?" i asked as i turned down the volume. liam didn't hear me at first so i repeated the question, causing his head to turn.
"just my dad. he wants some help setting up a new tv or something. i gotta go." he stood up and began leaving the room and i quickly began following him. michael and his friends were all sitting in the living room with their instruments. they got silent when we entered the room and just observed us. there wasn't very much to observe, though. liam was flying out of the house at lightning speed and i was following after him.
'um i'll talk to you later, i guess?" it came out more as a question, but it must have been enough to stop him from whatever pressing matter awaited him. he turned around quickly in the doorway to look at me.
"yeah, i'll text you. bye, katie." without waiting for a response he closed the door behind him. i heard a car pull out of the driveway and just like that he was gone. liam was like that a lot of the times, he was come and go very fast. if it weren't for my encounter with lauren at the bowling alley i probably would have assumed that's where he was off to. should i trust his story about his dad? it could be plausible, i guess. i'll probably find out sooner or later.
"what happened?" i turned around to see calum standing a couple feet away, leaning against the wall. he seemed almost concerned, but my brow just furrowed in confusion.
"what are you talking about?" i asked him, crossing my arms over my chest. before he even responded luke wandered towards us, standing near calum.
"well i mean he did just kind of storm out of here as if you guys got in a fight so one can only assume." i began walking into the living room and sat down, both boys following suit. calum sat on one of the couches with ashton and luke plopped down next to me.
"we didn't get in any fight, he just had to go. he's pretty fast with everything is all." i shrugged the exchange off, but luke was obviously confused.
"i thought you guys got into a fight over me being shirtless this morning?" his head was cocked to the side almost like a puppy as he asked and his comment immediately got michael's attention.
"and why exactly were you shirtless with my sister this morning?" he didn't seem very angry, just a bit defensive. it was actually quite entertaining to think of michael being the protective older brother in this situation considering who we were discussing. i understand his protectiveness when it comes to liam because of prior events, but with luke? i mean please, has he ever seen his friends in comparison to me? let's be realistic here, mikey.
"you made him sleep on the couch and i was getting breakfast. liam got here and assumed some things. no big deal, mikey." ashton ignored the conversation as much as he could, seeming a bit annoyed with the whole thing. it was almost as if it was too childish for him. crystal paid attention to what was going on, but she didn't add anything to the conversation.
"the guy that cheated on you that you aren't actually dating anymore got mad at you for being in the presence of a shirtless guy? a little hypocritical if you ask me but alright."
"calum!" luke yelled, leaning over and swatting calum on the thigh. even though he did have a point, it still hurt slightly. i just met this guy this week, so who is he to judge my life? not wanting to deal with it i rolled my eyes at him and went back into my bedroom. whatever show liam was watching was coming to an end so i changed the channel. i ended up watching the food network, not paying too much attention and using the sound as background noise. sometimes the people around me just got to be too much and i couldn't deal with the criticism at that moment, so i needed to sit and relax. i sat on my phone for what felt like ages before there was a small knock on my door. as i looked up i saw luke walking over to my bed.
'hey how's it going? sorry about calum, he can be kind of a dope sometimes." he rubbed the back of his neck some more, he seemed to do that all the time.
"it's okay, i get where he was coming from, i guess." and that was true, i understood why he made the comment and i could see the truth behind the statement. i knew that it was a hypocritical thing for him to do, but for some reason it didnt bug me as much as it should have. it was about liam being jealous, something i'd grown quite accustomed to over the year we dated for.
"if you get where he was coming from then why are you going back to this kid?" for some reason it didnt bug me coming from luke. if michael had asked me the question i would've kicked him out. i would have yelled and gotten angry and pushed him right off the bed. but with luke it's different. he isn't my big brother, he's luke. he seemed genuine and it felt like he cared about me. he was a curious kid that just wanted some answers. and aren't we all?
luke's pov
"we were together for a year. i've given up a lot for him, i guess." oh god, why am i getting into this conversation with her. i wanted to be anywhere besides sitting on this bed with this girl. actually, that's a lie. i love the idea of sitting on this bed with this girl. in any other circumstances i would be thrilled to be in this situation. the problem is the reasons i'm sitting on this bed with her.
"is that how a relationship should go, though? i mean the giving things up part." katie just kind of stared off into space for a little bit, not saying anything else. i felt like a jackass for questioning her at this point.
"i'm sorry for bringing this stuff up, i know it's not the kind of lecture you want to be getting. you're a smart girl, you'll do the right thing for yourself." i saw her head turn slightly, but she still didn't make eye contact. we sat like that for a few more minutes, neither of us saying anything. i couldn't see her face, but as soon as i saw her shoulders shake slightly i couldn't take it anymore. i wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to me. without hesitation she wrapped her arms around my neck and i could hear her sobs as clear as day. i held onto her as tight as i could, not letting go until she calmed down and pulled away. she immediately wiped away at her face, trying to hide any evidence of tears.
"i'm always here if you need me katie, i hope you know that." seeing her smile at me killed me. she was really beautiful. in every sense of the word, really. two weeks ago i had never met her and my life was totally fine, but this feels different. i dont know how i could sit there and watch her ruin her happiness for this scumbag. and so it slipped right out and i shouldn't have said it, but it just came out in the moment.
"you deserve better, katie." i saw her rolling her eyes and moving away from me slightly, so i had to fix it and fast. "but i'll still be here for you with whatever you choose to do." i could see her relax a little, which made me give myself a mental pat on the back. nice save, hemmings. she rested her head on my shoulder and i couldn't help the smile on my face. this was heaven. i knew it would be over in a few seconds, but living in this moment did everything for me.
"luke? it's time to practice, let's- oh i see i'm interrupting something." fucking calum. i sent him a short glare as katie sat up and walked towards the door. i followed behind her like a lost puppy into the living room where everyone else was all ready to go. i sat down next to katie and grabbed my guitar, making sure it was tuned. i strummed a few chords along with everyone else as we sat around getting ready.
"what song are we doing?" ashton asked us. we all looked around and shrugged and without thinking i immediately turned to katie.
"any suggestions, katie?" i saw calum whisper something to ashton and chuckle a little, but michael just sat on his phone. katie thought for a second before pulling out her phone. she went into her spotify and scrolled through a playlist until stopping on a song.
"will you guys do year 3000 by the joe bros?" i said "yes" at the exact same time calum groaned a loud "no." i gave him a bit of puppy dog eyes and he sighed before strumming a few chords on his bass. katie squealed with excitement as everyone looked up the chords and lyrics to the song. we divided up who would sing what parts and warmed up a little before starting. katie was so happy, man you should've seen her face. i saw a couple notifications on her phone from that douchebag liam, but she turned the sound off and shoved the phone into her pocket. we started singing and we actually sounded pretty good, katie sure seemed to think so at least. i loved making her happy, it made butterflies go off in my stomach. we continued the song, only messing up a couple of times. i was actually pretty proud of us, we sounded decent. we finished off the song with a few strums and katie clapped for us. it made me feel good inside knowing she approved or liked what we did. god what is wrong with me.
"you guys are actually really good. i was worried i would have to pretend to like it." she pulled out her phone and frowned a little before someone started calling her. i glanced over and saw rose's name right before she answered the call.
"hey, what's up?" pause. "of course you are. yeah one sec." katie hung up the phone and went to the front door, pulling it open. rose thanked her as she walked right in, saying hello to everyone. katie sat back down next to me, scooting closer to give rose room to sit. she ended up pressed right next to my side so that we could fit everyone on the little couch. i could feel my heart rate going through the roof being this close to her, it was insane. actually, it was pretty lame of me, but i'm ignoring that. we shared in some lighthearted conversation before ashton started standing up.
"guys i think we better start heading to melbs now." i hated that sentence. everyone nodded with him besides me. they started packing up their things and getting ready to leave, but i didn't want to. i wanted to stay right here with katie pressed up against my side. what was i supposed to do back at school for next two months? hopefully this is just a stupid crush, then i'll stop thinking about her by the time the year is over and everything can go back to normal. hopefully.