HANDLE WITH CARE
22. The Comments.
ANNIE
Annie wasn't actually too bothered about the fact she walked in on Luke in bed with some woman; the reason she left was because of her innate awkward nature as she had no idea how to handle what she had seen.
She didn't know who the girl was, she didn't really care either, if anything, it was good that the girl intruded on Annie and Luke. Thinking about it, Annie was glad the girl had intervened, because if she didn't they Annie and Luke probably would have kissed at New Years, and who knows, maybe something more would of happened.
Annie couldn't have anything more happen, she didn't want to lose her job and every time she was with Luke she would have the dreadful thought of the repercussions that came along with him.
It was good that he was seeing someone else, kissing some else, liking someone else. Annie felt her chest tighten up and a water droplet fall from her eye, she felt like an idiot. She wasn't going to cry, that would be stupid, she'd be crying over a boy she never had, and never will have.
Checking in the mirror by her front door, she wiped under her eyes and took some deep breathes. Today was her first day at the clinic after New Year's, Christmas time was normally the only time the whole clinic would get a break, otherwise they would take turns throughout the year when necessary. Annie didn't go on holiday, she didn't feel like going alone and she liked her job, she liked helping people.
Today was also Luke's first session this year, and she just hoped he didn't bring up New Years, she'd rather just ignore it all together. Annie got up extra early this morning to make sure she could take Bow and Happy on a long walk, as she wasn't too sure what time she'd get home tonight. Nina often checked in on her lunch breaks to give them a little company and food, Annie was always grateful for her best friend.
Annie got an Uber to work, an hour before her first session so she had time to organise her files, tidy her room and turn the heating on. Maggie was always there bright and early, she liked spending time at the clinic, mostly because she loved meeting new people and making them smile, even if it was for just a moment.
Her time went by routinely, client after client who told her how they spent their holiday, most of them were joyful and a step in the right direction, yet some were lonely and filled with melancholy.
As soon as Annie's digital clock hit 4:00, Luke's familiar knock was sounded from the door. She stood herself up, brushing off the crumbs of a snack she just had before opening the door and inviting him in.
"Can I please explain?" He begged, eyes big with worry as he watched Annie make her way to her chair. Luke sat himself down at the end of the couch, raising his eyebrows at her as he hoped she would give him the time.
"You don't have anything to explain, that wasn't why I left Luke. Whatever you do is your business, you don't have to think about how I will react." She shrugged, placing her hands on her knee, her ponytail swishing to the side as she tilted her head.
"I- Well, I want to just say anyway, she was an old friend, who I forgot to contact again. She was annoyed at me for just 'disappearing from the face of the earth', in her words anyway." Luke cleared up, breathing out a sigh of relief.
"Ok, well, how have you been?" Annie changed the subject. She noticed how he was slightly nervous, she thought it was because of the first session coming back but clearly not.
"Well, I kind of did something." He spoke slowly, chewing on his bottom lip.
"That doesn't sound good... is everything ok?" Annie asked hesitantly, raising an eyebrow. She was starting to grow bored, not in the sense that she was bored of Luke but at the fact that she wanted to get up and run around for a few hours.
She had a lot of energy at the moment, it's different coming back from a relaxed holiday to going back to a somewhat desk job. Annie actually wanted to text Nina and ask her if she wanted to go out to a club tonight, but now wasn't the time.
"I don't know yet..." Luke mumbled, pulling out his phone before looking back up at Annie. He patted the seat next to him, motioning Annie to sit there in which she was hesitant. "I posted a photo."
"Yeah?" Annie decided to sit next to him now, not too close but enough to see his phone like he intended.
"Mmhmm, I haven't checked how it's doing since I posted it. I'm kinda scared to look at the comments, that's why I wanted to do it with you now." He explained, clicking on the Instagram app before taking his eyes away from his phone.
"That sounds like an amazing idea, did you want me to read them to you?" Annie offered, just in case he found it hard seeing the flooding of comments.
"No I should be ok to read them, I just- just wanted to do it with you." He mumbled, clicking on his recent post and seeing it had nearly 2 million likes. That's the most amount of likes he had ever gotten on a post, maybe even more than a post on the band account too.
"Jesus fuck," he was more than shocked at the numbers increasing below his pretty simple post, he didn't expect people to miss him this much, let alone the hundreds of thousands of comments still rolling in. Most of the comments were from his devoted fans who continued to stick by him and believe in him although out the tough year he had put them through.
@thequeenof5SOS: we missed you too!
@5SOSbabes: so happy you're back! I hope you're happy and healthy and I love you!!!!!
@Mrshemmings98: OMG YES KING YOU LOOK SO GOOD
Annie couldn't help but giggle at some of the thirstier, more explicit comments which Luke tried his best to ignore. His fans never failed to inform him and the rest of the world of how attractive he was, and at first he was completely embarrassed, but he didn't care too much now.
Annie was still laughing at one particular comment that had a few too many emojis and explicit language that really sent her into a laughing frenzy.
"It wasn't that funny," Luke smiled, shaking his head at his therapist that was laughing at him, continuing to scroll as he came across a few comments from his 'celebrity friends' which Annie called them.
@NiallHoran: Hope you're well brother x
@juliamicheals: looking healthy and hopefully happy! Hope to see you soon! Xx
@5sos: all the love x
Luke smiled to himself, wondering which one of the boys was on the band account to comment that, but he assumed it was Calum as that was normally the way he spoke and text.
"Everyone's being so supportive," he smiled, still scrolling and skimming over the comments.
"Was it what you were expecting?" Annie had her therapist voice back on, and Luke just wanted to shake it out of her. He didn't want this to be another session, he just wanted to sit and chill with her.
"I don't know what I was expecting, hate I guess." He shrugged, turning his phone off and sliding it back in his pocket.
"Why's that?" Annie furrowed her brows, she didn't think Luke would be the type of person to receive any hate, he was always so kind and gentle with his words and actions. She didn't know how he was online, some people acted differently when they were behind their screens, so maybe he did to.
Annie rarely went on social media, she probably went onto Instagram the most as she enjoyed wasting her time on the search page looking at irrelevant things that entertained her.
"I'd been away for so long, I thought they'd be annoyed." He shrugged yet again, he was always clueless at the reactions of his fans who would constantly drown in him love and affection.
"I doubt they'd get annoyed or mad at you for taking time to heal. You're only human, some of them can probably relate to the type of pain you've been through and they understand that time is the only thing that can help you." She informed, placing her hand close to his that was resting on the couch. Luke was partially speechless for a moment, he needed to take a moment to process what Annie had just told him.
"You're helping me too," he turned to her, placing his hand on top of hers with a small smile as he spoke.
The rest of the session didn't consist of much, but Luke was trying to plan another adventure for the two of them to go, but Annie wasn't really feeling the suggestions he was giving.
"A casino night! Please, please can we go to Vegas for like a weekend and go the casino's? I've never been and I'm starting to feel lucky." Luke rubbed his hands together in excitement, smiling widely as if he came up with the idea of the century.
"Definitely not," Annie shook her head, laughing a little as she saw Luke begin to protest, "and before you try, I'll tell you now, you won't be able to convince me on this."
"We'll see about that." He winked, standing up as his session came to an end, getting ready to leave.
Before leaving he was tempted to give her a kiss on the cheek, but he decided against it today, maybe next time. He was already planning on how he was going to successfully persuade Annie to come to Vegas with him and the others who he was planning on bringing.
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SONG OF THE WEEK:
Real Life - Imagine Dragons
About not looking at damn phones all the time 🙄
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a x