luke's request sent a dizzying wave crashing over lola, and all she could do was lay back on the mattress and part her lips enough that luke could fit his tongue between them, his hand wandering beneath the soft cotton of her top to feel the even softer sensation of her skin.
they were slow; their kisses were uncoordinated and tinged with alcohol and luke's hands were already pulling lola's top over her head, messing up her hair - but she was too busy pushing his coat off his shoulders to notice.
his lips felt like they were everywhere at once, and lola could barely hear the party anymore, drowning in the sounds of luke's heavy breathing and the way his fingers were working to undo her shorts, and uncontrollable string of soft whimpers and pleading leaving her mouth as luke pulled his own shirt off.
"i thought i told you to be loud baby."
at the sudden feeling of luke's fingers pushing inside of her, a high moan left lola's lips, eliciting a deep groan from luke, partially muffled in the curve of lola's neck; her hands coming up to grip his shoulders as his fingers worked inside of her.
"luke please-" lola's breath caught as luke caught her lips in a kiss, his teeth gently grazing her lower lip and biting down only slightly.
"fuck luke please, please, please." the sound of the most angelic voice luke had ever heard begging made the strain in his pants even tighter, and he quickly unbuttoned his trousers, never once breaking their kiss.
luke pulled his trousers and underwear down, the feeling of his bare erection brushing against her thigh making lola whine in anticipation, her nails digging into the skin of his shoulders and eliciting a low moan from luke.
he tore the condom wrapper open with his teeth, rolling it down onto himself and lining up with lola's entrance, taking a moment to appreciate the already fucked-out look on lola's face; the sight alone making luke feel weak.
"ready baby?"
lola could only nod, her mouth falling open as luke removed his fingers and pulled one of her legs up until it rested over his shoulder, before pushing himself inside of her at an agonizingly slow pace.
feeling lola's nails drag down his back only fuelled the flames that were raging in luke's stomach, and he pulled out slightly before sliding back in, a high pitched moan leaving lola's mouth at the feeling.
luke ran his fingers through her hair, pulling it back slightly and leaning down to attach his lips to her neck, allowing his tongue to roam across the warm skin and feel the disjointed breaths that were leaving his girlfriend's lips as he continued to roll his hips against hers.
lola let her head hang back, cradled by luke's hand, her mind completely overwhelmed by both the alcohol and the feeling of luke inside of her; something she'd been thinking about almost the entire time they'd been dancing and now she had it, it felt like heaven.
breathing heavily, luke continued to move against her, his pace increasing slowly but steadily; his hand resting lola's head gently back onto the mattress and caressing her face, her neck, down to the curve of her waist and back up to her chest, doing anything he could to earn the unimaginably beautiful sound of lola whimpering his name.
"fuck luke-"
"i know you can be louder sweetheart." luke allowed his hand to move upwards and cup lola's jaw, his thumb brushing over her lower lip and gently prising her mouth open as a loud moan crawled up from lola's chest at the feeling of luke hitting her sweet spot.
a light film of sweat covered them both; the party long forgotten and the knots in their stomachs tightening by the second as luke's pace continued to increase, his mind completely clouded over by the sounds coming from lola and the feeling of her thighs wrapped around him.
he could feel lola tensing around him, and sped up even more, gripping her waist like his life depended on it and letting his head drop forward to rest on her shoulder so he could better hear her breathless moans.
"luke, baby i'm-"
"cum for me sweetheart." lola's nails split the skin on luke's shoulders as she felt her climax rolling over her, a low "fuck" escaping his lips as the feeling rocked him over the edge and they both rode out their highs together, lola's grip on luke's shoulders loosening until her hands fell onto the mattress either side of her head.
luke pulled out, his breathing still heavy as he propped himself up better, shifting his weight onto one arm so he could move the strands of hair that were resting over lola's face.
she smiled lazily, reaching up to bring luke's face down to hers and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
"should we get dressed and go back to the party?" she asked, an edge of humour to her tone.
"can we even go back to the party after that?" luke laughed, kissing her cheeks and nose.
lola shuffled upright, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking around the almost empty room, before her gaze fell to the mattress they'd been laying on.
"god i hope he isn't taking this with him."
***
"are we really mean for leaving them?" lola asked, her eyes still closed as she cuddled further into luke's chest, not caring that it was practically the afternoon and they hadn't moved from bed, or even fully woken up yet.
"no baby." luke kissed the top of her head, pulling her even closer to him and wrapping his arms around her like she was a teddy bear. "calum's a big boy, he can clean up his own sick."
"yeah but will he?" lola groaned at the memory of last night, where calum threw up all over the kitchen floor at three in the morning, scaring away the last few party guests - including the girl ashton has desperately been trying to seduce all night.
"ashton will make him. as payback for scaring the girl away." luke assured her, completely unwilling to surrender their embrace to help clean up calum's sick. seeing it leave his mouth was all the exposure that luke could take.
lola understood without him having to tell her - truthfully the last thing she wanted was so go over and help clean up; she was just so used to it that it felt strange the one time she wasn't.
instead, she enjoyed the warmth of luke's skin and the tightness of his arms wrapped around her waist, acutely aware of the fact that that night would be the last night she spent with luke for a week.
it was the last time she'd be able to stay with them for more than a day until christmas; when she got back her schedule would be filled with back to back training and practice for their winter showcase. and although she couldn't wait to see her parents, it suddenly felt much harder to leave. she didn't know if it was too soon to invite luke - of course she wanted him to meet them, but she wasn't sure if he was ready.
so she pressed a kiss to his bare chest, before pulling back a little so she could see his face; concentrated and sleepy as it always was after he'd woken up, the sight never failing to make her smile.
luke's eyes narrowed further as a smile stretched across his face, and he brought one of his hands up to cup lola's face, stroking his thumb back and forth over her cheek.
"i'm going to miss you this week." he said softly, admiring the way the sunlight hit lola's eyes, seeming to highlight a different fleck of gold every morning he woke up with her.
"i'm going to miss you." lola dragged her teeth over her lower lip, trying to build up enough courage to say what she wanted to say. "you could come? if it's not too soon and if you wanted to?"
a warm feeling spread across luke's chest at the invitation - he'd never met a girl's family before, he'd never got that far.
but he couldn't.
"i'd love to sweetheart. but i've got some matches to do - my rent is due and i haven't had any in a while." he said sadly, rolling onto his back and bringing lola with him so she was laying on his chest.
"that's okay baby." lola said, kissing the tip of luke's nose. "take a box of the pink plasters with you before you leave tomorrow, yeah?"
"i will baby. call me when you get to your parents'?"
"i will if you call me after all your matches?" luke agreed to her conditions easily, and watched as lola played with the curls that fell over his forehead, something clearly still on her mind.
"and maybe next time i go to my parents you could come?" she asked hesitantly.
"i'd love to meet your parents sweetheart." luke said truthfully, watching as a shy smile spread across lola's face. "do you think they'd like me?"
seeing the vulnerability in his eyes, woven into the soft baby blue tones of his irises, lola bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from letting the words slip out, instead saying honestly "they'll love you."
and as she watched the way luke's face lit up in a smile, lola really wished she had the confidence to say the three words that were lodged in her throat.
***
luke's arms were aching, and he was sure his knuckles were going to be completely destroyed after this match; his fifth one in a row, and his fifth without lola in the crowd.
his opponent was tired and confused; a burly man who was uncoordinated on his feet and had tried to rely solely on his strength - a tactic that wasn't working in his favour now they were in the fourth round and he was stumbling around the ring.
calum, ashton, michael and bella were cheering for him, in their same spot right beside the ring, the spot that they were at every match, making sure that they were there for luke while he boxed and so lola could relax at her parents, knowing that somebody was there for luke while she couldn't be.
using their encouragement to drag the last bit of energy out of himself, luke swung, his fist hitting the side of his opponent's jaw with a crunch that echoed throughout the small arena, followed swiftly by the man's body plummeting onto the floor and the count of ten letting luke know he could finally go home.
"luke hemmings everybody!" the referee dropped luke's hand, and he stepped out of the ring, suddenly noticing how heavily he was breathing.
"you guys go ahead, i'll wait with luke and bring him." ashton said, waving at his three friends before turning and making his way through the lingering crowds to the small locker room he knew luke would be in.
ashton pushed the door open, poking his head into the room, a large grin spreading across his face at the sight of luke clumsily sticking pink plasters all over his knuckles; two already on his cheekbone in a criss-cross shape, the same way lola always did it for him.
"well." luke looked up at the sound of ashton's gleeful opener, watching as his friend closed the door and strode over to him, a knowing smile on his face.
"even when lola isn't here you're completely whipped." ashton ruffled luke's hair, laughing as his friend ducked to the side, carefully placing his last pink plaster over a particularly long cut.
"shut up." luke objected weakly. he couldn't exactly argue against ashton, because ashton was entirely correct.
if he didn't have the pink plasters, luke really didn't know how he would've made it through the past five matches without his girl in the crowd - in fact, the only thing that got him through the matches was knowing when he got home he'd be able to hear her voice, soft and slightly static through the phone, making sure he'd won and he'd cleaned his hands.
"yeah, yeah, whatever man." ashton threw himself down on the old sofa adjacent to luke's chair, watching luke as the boxer stood up to pull his t shirt over his head and get his bag together.
"you miss her?"
"obviously man."
ashton grunted as he heaved himself off the sofa to follow luke out onto the street, the cold air hitting them like a slap in the face and painting matching shades of pink across both boy's cheeks.
"you've been killer in all of these matches by the way man." ashton stated as he jiggled his key in the ignition, trying hard to find some life in his almost decrepit car.
"thank you man." luke smiled tiredly.
truthfully, the last week had made him realise that boxing wasn't the same adrenaline rush that it used to be.
luke had started boxing when he was only fifteen, and back then he had what felt like an inexhaustible supply of anger that fuelled him through every match he fought and every training session he went to; an anger he really never expected to go away.
now, there wasn't much thrill in winning his fights. now, all luke wanted to do was forget about the cuts that littered his knuckles and wait for his girlfriend to come home, and forget all about boxing until he next needed the money from it.
luke knew he wasn't qualified to do anything else; he'd never held down a proper job and he didn't even have his high school diploma. he just wasn't sure he felt overly qualified to be a boxer anymore. and he wasn't sure he wanted to be.
"you good?"
ashton's question pulled luke from his thoughts and he nodded, smiling at his friend to reassure him.
the streets that were flying by outside of the window were starting to feel more familiar to luke, and he realised ashton was driving them to his flat with calum; something luke didn't know he'd wanted until it was already happening.
it was lonely being in his own flat. everything was too quiet and empty, and being with his friends made luke feel a little closer to lola, and a lot less alone.
"i'm good man."
"when's lola back?"
"tomorrow." ashton caught sight of luke's soft smile in the rear view mirror and grinned at just how in love his friend looked.
"from that look on your face i don't even need to ask if you're looking forward to her coming back." ashton teased, taking one hand off of the wheel and poking luke's cheek, making the blonde boy laugh.
"you guys are so cute man, i love it."
"yeah." luke mumbled in agreement, his gaze falling to the pink plasters that littered his hands. "i love it too."
ashton side eyed luke with a scrutinising look, a playful smile tugging at the edges of his lips.
"you love it?" he prompted carefully.
"i mean-" luke grazed his lower lip with his teeth, a whole continent of butterflies taking flight in his stomach. "i love her, of course i love her."
"dude!" the high pitch of ashton's squeal made luke jump. "that's so fucking cute! have you told her yet?"
luke shook his head.
"no, but-but i want to."
"so tell her man."
luke shook his head again, the thought of saying the three words he had only ever said to one other person in his whole life feeling so terrifying that luke couldn't even begin to think about how much he'd be laying on the line if he told her.
it was like admitting just how much he had to lose.
"it's not that simple."
"why?" ashton asked genuinely.
he knew all about luke's past, but he refused to let it keep luke from being as happy as possible. there was no one in the world he could think of that deserved love more, and ashton just wanted luke to let himself experience it properly.
the simple question had the exact effect ashton had intended, knocking through the haphazard defences luke had set up.
he loved lola and he really wanted to believe she loved him too. if he complicated it, all he was doing was hurting the both of them. it wasn't protecting her and it wasn't protecting him, so there was really no reason he couldn't tell her.
"i'm sorry i never tell you guys." luke said suddenly, eliciting a confused frown from ashton.
"what do you mean?"
"you guys say it all the time. that you love each other." luke turned his head, leaning back on the headrest and watching ashton as he drove. "i hear say it to michael and cal all the time. you've all said it to me before and i don't think i've ever said it back."
"that's okay man." ashton said kindly, turning for a second to smile at luke. "you don't have to say it, we know."
luke stayed quiet for a moment, before opening his mouth to speak again.
"i love you."
ashton just smiled, pulling up to the curb and parking his car in front of their flat.
"i love you too."
having sex doesn't make writing smut easier lmao
this took AGES but i'm getting closer to getting the regular updates back on track wooooooo!!
also this chapter made me realise how touch starved i am lmao
PLS give feedback on the smut i'm so so unsure about it and i want your guys' input for as much as possible
stay safe & love always