“Luke, meet Isabel and Kat.” I said when the two of us finally made it to where I had been standing prior to running up to greet him. After we had parted from our initial embrace, the fans decided it was time to flood in and demand pictures. Some even wanted my picture, which I had found a bit odd. At first, Luke struggled a bit to get his bags back onto his shoulders, but I’d taken one, and that made it a bit easier.
The blond girl and her friend seemed frozen in shock. I giggled quietly and gestured to the phone clutched tightly in Kat’s hand.
“Would you like me to get a picture of you guys?” I asked. Her gaze shifted to me before she nodded vigorously, no words coming from her mouth. Luke and I shared an amused glance before he stepped between the friends and turned to face me. I held the phone up and snapped a few pictures, just in case one was blurry.
I was finally able to step back away from the mobs of fans after I handed the phone back to Kat. My alone time wasn’t destined to last forever, though, because suddenly a pair of arms was wrapped around me from behind. I tensed for a moment but relaxed when a very familiar voice sounded in my left ear.
“It’s my Dae-light!” Ashton practically shouted, rocking the two of us from side to side. He let me go, and I turned around to face him.
“You need a haircut.” I pointed out, looking at his unruly sandy locks. Ashton’s smile morphed into a pout as he looked at me.
“I’ve been gone for three and a half months, and all you have to say to me is ‘you need a haircut’?” He complained. I opened my mouth to say something, but another very familiar voice beat me to it.
“She’s not wrong, Ash. You are looking a bit scruffy.” Michael quipped as he slung an arm around Ashton’s shoulders. My eyebrows lifted when I saw his hair.
“And your hair is darker. What happened to the light brown?” I asked. I hadn’t noticed it when he first walked through the doors into the main part of the airport (probably because I was more focused on trying to see where Luke was), but Michael’s hair had been dyed a good five or six shades darker. It was still brown, but no longer light. He shrugged.
“Wanted a change, I guess. I’ll probably dye it again soon. Dunno what color though.” I laughed.
“Well, don’t dye it too often. Wouldn’t want your luscious locks to all fall out.” Michael laughed as well, but before he could give me a reply, another voice piped up from behind me.
“I thought I was the one with luscious locks!” I turned to see Calum standing there. He smiled cheekily before pulling me into a hug. “Missed you, Daeyna.” He murmured as we pulled away from the embrace.
“You too, Cal.” I agreed.
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Liz had set up a small coming home party with everyone’s parents. I couldn’t help but smile when the boys walked through the front door of the Hemmings household and found their families standing in the living room. Shouts erupted from both the boys and their loved ones. I stood back and watched each one of them greet each other.
Ashton’s brother was probably the most excited out of the entire group. As soon as Ashton walked into the living room, Harry’s arms were wrapped around him in a tight hug. I couldn’t help but smile was the six-foot drummer crouched down in order to talk with his brother on the same level. When he stood up, his mother and Lauren stepped in for hugs as well.
Calum’s mom came in at a close second in terms of excitement. For a moment, I thought she was going to tackle Luke out of the way when he came in between Calum and her. Luke, however, quickly realized he was in Joy’s way and moved so she could gather up her son in a tight embrace. Just beyond her were Mali-Koa and David, both with large grins on their faces. As soon as he took a step away, David pulled him in for a hug, then Mali did the same.
Michael’s mother burst into tears as soon as her eyes landed on her son. He laughed and hugged her tightly, rubbing a hand on her back soothingly. I could hear him murmuring something to her, but I couldn’t tell exactly what was being said.
After all of the initial greetings, Liz announced that she would be making food for everyone. I almost offered to help, but a hand clasped over my mouth before I could do so. I recognized Luke’s cologne almost instantly and smiled slightly before sticking my tongue out and licking his hand. He retracted it immediately.
“You’re gross.” He hissed into my ear. I giggled, but said nothing as he ushered me towards the stairs leading to the basement. The other three boys (and Harry) followed suit, clambering down the stairs after the two of us. Once in the basement, Michael immediately flopped onto the couch, letting out a loud groan.
“I’m so tired.” His voice sounded muffled due to the fact that his face was smushed into the cushions of the couch. Calum plopped himself right on top of Michael, causing a giggle to erupt from Harry, who was standing just beyond Ashton, who had crossed to the beanbag in the corner of the room. Ash let Harry take up most of the beanbag, only using his portion as a sort of pillow. I turned to ask Luke where he wanted to sit, but found that he’d already sprawled out on the floor at my feet, his eyes closed. I sighed and lowered myself to the floor, thanking God that it was at least carpeted. Luke’s arms immediately wrapped around my middle, pulling me to him. I flipped around so I was facing him, and found that he was looking at me.
“You tired, too?” I asked quietly. He nodded before kissing my forehead and closing his eyes. I shifted closer to him and closed my eyes as well, and soon fell asleep.
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“I feel bad waking them all up. They look so comfortable.”
“Well, I don’t.”
I heard the second sentence only moments before I felt the cold water hit my face. My eyes flew open immediately as I sat up with a gasp. Luke had about the same reaction I did.
“What the—“ I heard Calum and Michael let out shouts of surprise as they too were presumably hit with cold water. I looked up to see who had so rudely woken me up, but only saw their retreating back, Luke following close behind. He looked particularly murderous. I decided to let him chase our attacker and focus on myself for the moment, wiping water off my face and wringing some out of my hair.
“It’s time for dinner. Mum says you all need to get up.” I turned to find Mali standing over Michael and Calum, a slight smirk on her face. Lauren was by Ash and Harry, though neither of them looked like they had been doused with water like everyone else had. I figured it was probably because nobody wanted to be mean to Harry like that.
“You couldn’t have been a normal sister and just shaken us awake?” Calum grumbled, swiping water from his cheeks. Mali shrugged.
“It wasn’t my idea.” She quipped.
“Whose was it, then?” Michael asked. Mali opened her mouth to reply, but a commotion from the other side of the room cut her off.
“—don’t even know who you are really, but you need to apologize to my girlfriend, you prick.” Luke was grunting out insults as he dragged another boy into the room. The boy was wearing a plaid button up with a grey t-shirt along with jeans and white socks. If the very familiar plaid shirt didn’t give it away, the laugh he let out did. I stood up in record time, my jaw dropping.
“Oh my God.” I breathed out. Both Luke and the boy froze, turning to me with different expressions on their faces. Luke seemed concerned, probably having thought something went wrong. The boy, however, was excited. And for good reason.
“Hey Daeyna.” At his captive’s words, Luke let go and took a step back. His previously concerned expression morphed into one of surprise.
“You’re not Aust—“ I didn’t wait for him to finish before I launched myself at the boy, squealing.
“Oh my God! How are you here? I’ve missed you so much!” My sentences seemed to melt together as I rattled off question after question.
“Dae-bird. Calm down or you’re gonna choke the poor guy.” I whipped around at the sound of another very familiar voice. As soon as our eyes made contact, the two of us began squealing uncontrollably. It took a second for everyone to calm down. Once the squeals and shouts subsided, Ashton spoke.
“Um, excuse me, but may I ask who you are?” He questioned. The boy stepped forward, reaching his hand out to my shaggy-haired friend.
“Yeah, sorry man. I’m Wyatt.” He gestured to the girl whose arm was still around my shoulders. “And that’s Kendra.”
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Okay, so how did one week turn into three weeks? I'm so sorry it's taken so long for me to get this chapter up, guys! Anyways, I really hope you liked it! I actually had to re-write most of it because my computer turned off and for some reason didn't save the work I'd done (I ended up ragequitting for a day or so after that happened btw).
Only like two or three more chapters left in this story! I WILL be doing a sequel, though it's not going to come out right away once this one is done. I want to start a new fic and give this one a bit of a breather before I continue on with the story. When I post the last chapter of this, I'll give you an exact date that the sequel will be coming out so you can mark your calendars!
Anyways, I really hope you liked the chapter! Wyatt and Kendra are in Australia WHAT? What do you all think of that? Bet you didn't see it coming, did you? Did you? Hm?
Have a wonderful week and Halloween if I don't post before then! Love you all to bits!