"You're birthday is this month" I tell Luke, as if he didn't already know that. We were on the couch at his place, watching Anchorman and I was playing with his fingers, like usual.
"I know" He says, smiling, but only faintly. He looks like something is bothering him.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask, changing my position so I was facing him.
"I just miss my family, is all" He shrugs, acting like it's no big deal but I can see straight through him.
"You should ring them, or something" I suggest.
"You know, I've been considering that. I am way too nervous" He sighs.
"How about we go back to their house. You and I. You can see them again, and I'll be right there, next to you. You'll have the entire car trip there to talk yourself into doing it" I offer and he thinks for a minute. "It's only 12:00"
"I better go pack my bags then, bub" He smiles, and it finally looks genuine. He presses a kiss to my lips and I smile into it, then he jumps to his feet and walks into his room, flashing a smile at me on his way.
I watch the rest of the movie, not really being able to concentrate because of thoughts of Luke that keep crawling back. But I don't mind, it's far better than the things that used to run around inside my head.
"Ready?" He asks, coming out with his bag in one hand, and mine in the other.
"Are you?" I ask him and he shrugs.
"Not really, but oh well" He purses his lips and puts our bags down on the floor, just as Calum walks in.
"Woah, where are you guys going?" He asks, raising his eyebrows.
"I'm gonna go home. Like, home home. Just to see if they want me yet" Luke says sadly and I resist the urge to get up and hug him, because Calum does instead.
"Good luck man, I'm sure it'll be fine" Calum mumbles into their tight embrace.
"Thanks, Cal" Luke sighs, and they let go of each other. "Say bye to everyone for me"
"Sure thing, burger ring" Calum says, cracking a smile in an obvious attempt to lighten his best friends mood, and he succeeds, a smile breaking onto Luke's face.
"Bye" I say, and Calum gives me a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before I grab my bag and Luke grabs his, and we walk towards their door. I hold my hand out for Luke and he takes it in his, so I squeeze lightly, letting him know that I was there for him.
"This is gonna be one hell of a weekend" He huffs, and I reach up to kiss his cheek to try and calm his obvious nerves.
.
.
.
.
"Here we are. Home sweet home" Luke groans, hitting his head on the steering wheel of the van. We had pulled up out the front of a white, two-storey house with a cute garden lining the footpath.
"Hey, it'll be fine. Just, be yourself, show them what they've been missing. Okay? You'll be fine, don't overthink it" I try to reassure him, and I squeeze his hand for what feels like the 20th time, and I pull his lips onto mine, and they linger for a minute, and Luke sighs, squeezing his eyes shut.
"God, you're perfect" He whispers, and I peck his lips once again.
"Come on, don't psych yourself out" I tell him, and I pat his shoulder before jumping out of the car, and he does the same. His sweaty hand grabs onto my smaller one, clinging onto it for dear life, and his face is slightly paler than usual, and his legs shake while he walks but I don't call him out on it. I just let him hold onto me, pressing a kiss to his shoulder when he reaches up to knock on the door. But he stops.
"I can't do it" He says, shaking his head. "I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't"
"Luke, deep breaths babe. It's okay, I'm here. You can do it, it's only your family" I try my hardest to help him, and I press a kiss to his forehead and that calms him down a little bit. So I hug him tightly, until his shallow breaths get a little more normal, and his heartbeat that I can feel pulsing against my chest slowly returns to its normal pace. "I believe in you"
He nods and turns back to the door, quickly knocking on it before he can back out.
"Fuck" He mutters, running his spare hand through his hair. His other, very sweaty, hand is still gripping mine, and he is squeezing a little too hard but I pretend not to notice because that is the last thing he needs to worry about right now.
The door opens to reveal a short blonde woman, with an apron around her body. She must be cooking lunch.
"Luke?" She says in disbelief and he nods.
"Hey mum" He says quietly.
"What are you doing here?" She asks him, and they both look like they don't know what to do.
"I- I miss you so much" Luke whimpers, his voice cracking slightly and I look up to see tears collecting in his eyes and it breaks my heart.
"Oh Luke, I missed you too" His mum, he had told me her name is Liz, wraps her arm around his torso and I quickly let go of his hand, watching as they hug each other so tightly I'm surprised both of them can breathe.
I hear sobs coming from both of them and a man suddenly pops up behind them.
"Lizzy? What's going on?" He says, and I recognise him as Andrew, Luke's dad, from a photo Luke had showed me the other day. "Luke" He sighs, and joins his wife and son in their big group hug. I stand there awkwardly and watch on, switching my weight from foot to foot. After about 5 minutes, they break apart, and Luke is wiping tears from his eyes, as are both his parents. And then their attention turns to me.
"Who's this?" Liz asks.
"This is my girlfriend, Katie" I thought I was used to him calling me that by now, but dear God was I wrong.
"No Natasha?" Andrew asks and Luke shakes his head.
"No Natasha"
"Wooh!" Liz cheers, high-fiving Andrew and Luke laughs at them, wiping off his last few tears and looking at me with a smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Katie" Liz says, holding her hand out to me and I take it.
"You too, Mrs Hemmings"
"Call me Liz. This is Andrew"
"Hello" I smile, shaking Luke's dad's hand as well.
"Well, come inside, lunch should be ready, we have a lot to catch up on!" Liz says, and I take my shoes off at the front door, letting Luke lead me through the house and into the kitchen. Bacon is sitting on a plate, and another is piled up with cooked eggs.
"Ben will be coming around in about half an hour" Andrew tells Luke, and I remember that that is one of Luke's older brothers.
Liz hands Luke and I a bread roll each, and Luke piles mine up with bacon and egg before doing the same to his own. One of his hands holds the burger while the other rests on my knee, rubbing small circles on it with his thumb, his touch sending shivers throughout my body, just like it always does.
"So, Luke, tell us everything!" Liz exclaims, she looks so happy that her son is back in her life, and there are still tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"Well, I'm still living with the boys. Still in the band, with a gig here and there. I'm working in a music shop, selling instruments and stuff and sometimes doing guitar lessons. I'm just saving up to go to TAFE, I haven't really decided what I want to do yet" He explains, squeezing my leg gently as if he's nervous about their reaction.
"How are the boys?" Andrew asks.
"They're great. Still as immature as ever" Luke smiles, relaxing a bit when he talks about them and I laugh quietly.
"They get along with Katie?" Liz asks, and I know that the boys didn't really like Natasha, so I guess that if the boys like me, hopefully Luke's parents will, too.
"They love her" Luke says and my heart warms.
"That's great. So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened with Natasha?" Liz asks, and it seems like the name tastes bitter on her tongue.
"Uh, we broke up about, a month and a half ago, she was pregnant with another guy, so..." He says slowly, and I know it still holds a bit of pain for him.
"Oh Luke, I'm sorry," Liz said, reaching over and rubbing his arm.
"That girl was always a bitch," Andrew sighed, and Luke and I laughed while Liz scolded him.
"Andrew!" She mutters, smacking his arm.
"How long have you and Katie been together?" Andrew asks, rubbing the arm that Liz whacked.
"A few days" Luke tells them with a smile.
"How did you two meet?" Liz asks.
"Well, about 2 months ago, she was at a bar with her best friend, Chloe, the night we had a gig there, and Chloe and Michael really hit it off, so I guess we kind of met through them" Luke shrugs and Liz smiles, nodding her head slowly.
"Listen, Luke, we are really sorry for our lack of involvement in your life lately. We were pretty sure you hated us for what you did, and we are very sorry. We all regret it so much, but it was too late and we didn't want to make things worse. I know it was cowardly of all of us, and we are so sorry. We hope you can forgive us" Liz suddenly blurts out and Luke gives her a sad smile.
"Mum, it's okay. You're my family, I forgave you on day one" He says.
"I love you so much, Luke" Liz gushes, reaching over the kitchen counter and grasping his hand in hers.
"I love you too, mum" He smiles, and he looks so happy it makes my heart hurt.
The front door opens, and we hear footsteps coming towards us, and a boy who looked older than Luke but not quite as tall walked in. He stopped in his tracks when he saw his brother.
"Hold on" He said, putting his hands up in the air and squinting at Luke.
"Holy fuck" Ben mumbled.
"Ben!" Liz exclaimed.
"Come over here and hug me. Right now" Ben demanded and Luke jumped out of the bar stool and him and his brother shared one of those manly hugs that men always do. "Jesus Christ, you and your hair got taller"
.
.
.
.
.
"Well, we better head off. We'll come by again tomorrow" Luke told his family, and he stood up, so I followed his movements.
"Where are you staying?" Andrew asked.
"Not sure yet, we were just going to try and find a motel or something to crash in" Luke shrugs.
"Nonsense. Stay here. Your old room is free" Liz told Luke.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Liz says, laughing lightly.
"Righto, well we are gonna go to bed then, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight" Luke said and he hugged the three of them, and we all said goodnight, before Luke picked up both of our bags and lead me up the stairs and down a hallway, to the last door on the left. He put down the bags and opened the door, and he laughed when the room was in full view.
"They kept it how I left it" He says, walking inside and putting our bags on the ground next to his cupboard. "It's still a little messy from my quick escape" He says and it sounds like the words are painful to say. He must be relaying that day in his head. He wasn't wrong.
There were clothes hanging out of his drawers, and the bed was still unmade. There were a few things scattered all over the place, and a few cupboard doors were hanging open. A few posters were on his walls, and they were all quite tattered. It looked exactly like you'd expect from a teenage runaway. We were definitely a lot more common than we had both originally thought. Running away from our parents who both created and made our lives a living hell. Well, mine did, anyway.
Luke and I got ready for bed, changing into our pyjamas and brushing our teeth, before climbing in next to each other. I rested my head on his chest and he rubbed my arm with his thumb while I drew random pictures on his chest with my finger.
"I'm so proud of you, babe" I tell him, talking into his chest.
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you"
"What made you agree to come here so quickly?" I ask him, it had been eating away at me ever since he said yes to my idea.
"I felt selfish. I mean, my situation isn't half as bad as yours, and I felt so stupid because I had the chance to have my family back, but I never took it, and ever since I met you, I've learned to stop taking things for granted, so when you offered, I sort of just agreed, because I want to start making changes. You make me want to be a better person, and I can't thank you enough for what you have already helped me accomplish"
"Stop, I have cried enough in front of you" I laugh.
"I hope you never cry over me, ever again" He says, playing with my hair.
"I don't know, you're pretty special" I say into his warm chest.
"As are you"
"You know, I've only smoked once since the hospital. This is the least amount of cigarettes I've smoked in such a short amount of time. And I haven't drank for any reason other than for fun, rather than turning to it as an unorthodox escape. And I haven't even thought about self-harm. I'm eating normally, and I actually want to wake up in the morning, and I have you to thank for that. So, before you start telling me about all the things I've helped you do, just remember all the things you've done for me"
"I guess we just make each other better" He chuckles and I kiss his vibrating chest.
"I guess so"
"You do make me very happy" He admits.
"As do you"
--------------------------
not sure how I feel about this chapter??
oh well :--), hope you guys didn't mind it too much. And if anyone's confused, this is the weekend after their week at the beach house. So, they would've came home on the Friday and it's now the Saturday, so they're back home now.
Remember, I'm still in need of a Katie!!
Or do you guys prefer to just picture her as you want to picture her?
Oh, and does anyone know any good apps to make covers with? I'm in need of a decent one :-D
My snapchat is hiorhemmo so come and talk to me, id love to 'meet' some of my lovely readers!! xx :--)
love you all. I can't believe this has 13k reads, I still remember crying when I reached 100 reads!!
thank you all so much, you're all
too kind :-*