chapter eight: did you dress up for me?
TUESDAY EVENING. As I sat in my car in the parking lot of Luke's apartment, I began to have the smallest of freakouts.
What was I doing? What had I gotten myself into? Although I still fully believed that there was no way I could possibly catch feelings for Luke, what if something happened that allowed for this decision to hurt me in the grand scheme of things?
The longer I waited in my car, the more I felt like I should just text Luke that we were making a bad decision and leave. I didn't know if I felt morally opposed to the idea of having this kind of relationship, or if I felt strange about it being with someone of Luke's status. I had only just started thinking it could be a bad idea but wasn't sure what was actually making me hesitant.
With a change of perspective, I started to think about how I was a woman with needs... and how it wasn't so bad that Luke Hemmings was the one that currently wanted to fulfill them. There was nothing wrong with sleeping with someone, and I genuinely enjoyed Luke's presence. We could talk without it being awkward and I felt as though we would become closer as we carried on.
There was no rule book that said Luke and I would have to lose contact once he left. We could become close friends after all this... and we'd be having plenty of fun in the process of doing so.
After convincing myself I wasn't going to regret going upstairs to Luke's apartment, I got out of my car and started walking to the doors of his building after locking my car.
Barely five minutes had passed before I was in front of his door and raising my hand to knock. Luke had told me to just come over once I was off work, so I hadn't texted him I was here. I was suddenly worried that I should have given him a head's up, but I figured it wouldn't be a big deal and finally let my knuckles tap against the wood.
"I'll get it." I heard a voice that wasn't Luke's and my eyes widened. I thought about making a run for the elevator, but the door opened within seconds. "Josie?"
"Calum!" I said, surprised to see Luke's bandmate. "Uh—hey."
"What are you doing here?" Calum asked, laughing through his confusion.
"Oh, Josie!" Luke said, rushing up behind Calum. "Sorry, Cal... I forgot she was coming over to grab her wallet. She left it last night." I was incredibly thankful for Luke's quick thinking and I began to nod at his words, trying to convince Calum that Luke was telling him the truth. I took in Luke's appearance and smiled to myself; he simply looked good. I was beginning to learn that he always did. "You can come in... I'll go grab it." I stepped inside and Luke left the two of us by the door. I was guessing Luke was going to hand me his own wallet, which hopefully Calum wouldn't pick up on.
"It's good to see you again," Calum told me with a smile as he closed the door behind us.
"You too," I told him, smiling as well. "You guys will be back in the office tomorrow, won't you?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'm guessing we'll be seeing you?" he asked me, seeming excited to come in with the possibility of seeing me.
"Actually, no," I told him, shaking my head. "I currently don't have anything else scheduled with you guys. You might see me in passing."
"Oh," Calum said, seeming disappointed. "You think you'll get to work with us again at some point though, right?" Calum seemed hopeful, but a shrug was the best I could give him.
"I really don't know yet... I'm thinking I'll be roped back in at some point, but so far there's nothing in the plan. You guys are going to a really important meeting tomorrow—it's the blueprint-schedule meeting. It's basically the scheduling of the month ahead... so, you'll know if I'm involved with anything special by the end of that meeting."
"I'll make sure that you'll have to put up with us some more," Calum promised me, which caused me to laugh. "Sorry if you thought us tweeting at you was dumb—"
"What? No! It was cute," I told him, laughing quietly. "I appreciated it, honestly."
"I was happy to see you interacting with a couple of people that had tweeted at you... and I knew the fans would like it if the band interacted with you. I just thought it was a fun idea."
"It was a fun idea," I assured him, which caused him to smile.
"Here you go, Josie." Luke walked back into the room and handed me a light blue wallet and I tried to hide my surprise.
"Uh—that's the one! Thanks, Luke." I sent Luke a semi-forced smile and subtly cleared my throat before placing the wallet in my purse. I was careful to keep my purse closed enough so that my actual wallet wasn't visible. "I guess I'll see you two around?"
"We hope so," Calum said, sending me a charming smile that caused my heart rate to increase.
Handsome guys saying sweet things really did something to me.
"Bye, Josie," Luke said as I began to reach for the door. "Thanks for purposely leaving your wallet here so that you'd have to see me."
"Shut up, Luke," I told him, laughing quietly as I sent him a small glare that didn't last long. "Bye, Calum. It was very nice to see you."
"You as well, Josie." I waved to them both before stepping out of the apartment and closing the door behind me. Holy shit.
I walked down the hall to the elevator and decided to go back down to the car lot. I was guessing I would wait for Luke to tell me the coast was clear before trying to go to his place again.
Once I had made it back to my car, I got inside and pulled my purse into my lap. I pulled out the wallet and opened it out of curiosity.
Whose wallet was this?
After a quick inspection, I found very little information. The wallet had a couple of random receipts in it, but there were no cards of identification. I knew this wasn't Luke's.
As I was sitting, still confused as to why Luke would have this wallet lying around his apartment, my phone buzzing brought me back to reality.
/ Luke /
I am so sorry about that. he showed up
out of nowhere and I forgot to warn
you. he's leaving in about ten minutes
if you're okay to wait?
I'll be waiting
I sighed quietly before setting my phone in my cup holder and sitting back in my seat. Maybe this was the universe telling me I shouldn't have gotten out of my car in the first place.
However, as I thought about how Luke had looked, there was no way I could convince myself not to go back up there to see him.
About seven minutes had passed before Luke texted me again, telling me that Calum had just left his place. He advised me to wait for another five minutes or so, just for good measure. I had turned my car on to listen to music, so I allowed myself to listen to two more songs before getting out of my car.
I had been listening to some of 5SOS's music, just to educate myself on the band as I got to know them better. I had Madalyn make me a playlist of all the songs she thought I would especially like, and so far they were all really good.
I locked my doors as I walked away from my car and took the same route up to Luke's apartment that I had taken twenty minutes before. I knocked on his door as I stepped in front of it. It hardly took Luke a full minute to come to the door.
"Hey, you," he greeted, smiling widely as he opened the door for me. "It's good to see you again." I smiled up at Luke and playfully rolled my eyes as I walked inside his apartment.
"Uh—I guess I should give this back." I pulled the mysterious wallet out of my bag and held it out for Luke to take.
"Oh—thanks." Luke took it into his hands before placing it down on the nearest surface. "Could we talk a minute?" I nodded my head and Luke gently pulled me along with him as he walked into his living room. "I thought maybe it would be a good idea to talk about not telling the guys."
"I mean, we already decided we wouldn't," I said with a shrug. We both sat down on his couch, with plenty of room left between us.
"I know... I guess I just want to make sure that we're both doing our best to keep it hidden," Luke clarified and I nodded slowly at his words. I had a guilty conscience but knew there was no way I could come clean about the people I had told. "I don't think it would matter if they knew... but I wouldn't want them giving us a hard time about it. It's just better if we keep it to ourselves because then we can carry on without having to worry about what they might think."
"I promise we're on the same page," I told Luke as I let out a quiet laugh; it wasn't forced but was laced with nerves. "I'm sorry for coming up before texting you—"
"No, you don't need to apologize," Luke told me, shaking his head. "It all worked out, so it's not a big deal."
"You don't think they'll find out... do you?" I asked Luke, now finding myself sort of nervous about how they'd react if they did.
"Let's not worry about that, okay? I'm sure they won't, as long as we're sneaky." Luke sent me a playful smile and scooted down the couch, toward me.
"I guess that's what I'm worried about... being sneaky."
"I believe in you," Luke told me as he placed his hand on my cheek. "Seriously, don't worry about it. We know to be a little more careful now... yeah?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding my head as I looked into Luke's crystal blue eyes. "Did you have a good day?" I asked him as I glanced down at his lips.
"I annoyed you all day... so yeah, it was fine." I laughed breathily and Luke brought his face closer to mine. "Did you have a good day?"
"Emma was back today... so being at work was much more fun," I told Luke as I nodded my head. "You'll like Emma... I'm excited for you to meet her."
"I'm sure she's great," Luke said just before ducking his head into my neck and beginning to leave kisses. I closed my eyes at the pleasing feeling and bit my lip gently as he continued. Eventually, Luke trailed his kisses up my jaw and looked at me before placing his lips on my own. I kissed back and my hands instantly flew to his cheeks as I kissed him back. He started to tower over me and I leaned back until my back was pressed against the cushions of his couch.
I stopped Luke as he placed his hands on the end of my shirt.
"Everything okay?" Luke asked, seeming surprised that I had stopped him.
"Yeah—sorry... where did that wallet come from?" I asked Luke after realizing I hadn't stopped thinking about how strange I found the wallet to be. It was stuck in the back of my mind, and I just wanted to know.
"Oh... uh—I ordered the wrong thing online," Luke told me, but I didn't believe him. He started to kiss my jaw and I sighed quietly; I didn't know what I had expected him to say or what I had expected him to admit, but I wanted a genuine answer.
I didn't know why I cared... but I did.
"Josie, why does it matter?" Luke asked, pulling away as he heard me sigh. "Seriously, I just ordered it without thinking."
"Okay," I said, deciding to accept his answer—whether I believed it or not. "Have you used it?"
"Why are you interrogating me about some wallet?" Luke asked me, genuinely seeming amused as he sat up, kneeling in between my legs that were on either side of him.
"I'm not interrogating..." I told him, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter, okay? Forget I said anything." I pulled on Luke's shirt in hopes he'd come back down to me, but he resisted. "Luke."
"Are you mad about the wallet?"
"No," I told him, now wishing I had never said anything about it. "I was just curious, okay? It was a good cover-up... I guess I'm glad you had it lying around." I tugged on his shirt again, and this time he leaned back over me.
"Does it make you jealous to think that it might have been left here by some girl?" Luke asked me with a smirk playing on his lips. My eyes rolled as I scoffed and I began to shake my head at him.
"Obviously not—"
"I didn't take you for the jealous type, Josie."
"Luke, I am not jealous," I told him, wishing he wouldn't give me a hard time. "Don't start with me, okay? I don't want to hear it."
"Now she's angry," Luke narrated, still smirking to himself. He had taken my wrists in his hands and placed my hands on either side of my head. "How could I possibly make it up to you so that you could find it in your heart to forgive me?" Luke asked as he brought his face down closer to mine. A small smile slowly made its way onto my face; I couldn't stay annoyed with Luke for very long, especially not in my current position.
"I think you know a thing or two about how to make it up to me, Hemmings." A look of excitement flashed in Luke's eyes and he sprouted a grin. Luke took his hands from my wrists and slowly maneuvered his way off the couch. He held out his hand and I took it just before he began to pull me up off the couch. We began to walk and he led me through his apartment, to his bedroom. I started to walk past him, planning to get on his bed, but he spun me around and pulled me back to him.
Luke's hand found my cheek and he leaned down as he placed his lips on my own, kissing me hard. I kissed him back, immediately becoming numb to my surroundings as I felt my mind become totally enthralled by the idea of Luke. His free hand slowly guided one of my arms to his neck, and I took the cue to wrap my arms around his neck. In seconds, Luke had lifted me up and my legs found their home around his waist.
He took me to his bed like that, pulling away as he threw me down onto the soft surface. He towered over me instantly and I felt a tingling sensation rush through my body as he lowered his face into my neck, leaving kisses against my skin. He trailed down to the top of my shirt and kissed along the fabric. He pulled away and sat up, sitting back as he looked down at me. His hands found their way to the end of my shirt and I assisted him in taking it off my body.
"Did you dress up for me?" Luke asked as he admired the bra I was wearing. My eyes rolled playfully, but I shook my head.
"No, this was for me," I told him matter-of-factly as I thought back to my decision earlier that day to wear a bralette instead of a real bra.
Luke leaned down and gently kissed the mark on my chest that he had made the night before.
"Don't you think about making another," I warned Luke, even though I had told him at least ten times after he made the one.
"I'm just appreciating my work," Luke said, trying to calm my nerves. "I still don't get what the big deal is."
"I only have so many shirts for work that hide it," I told him, glancing down at the mark.
"I could leave one in a place nobody will see," Luke smirked as he looked down at me and although his words caused my stomach to flutter, I tried to act as if I wasn't interested.
"No, Luke—"
"C'mon, Josie," Luke said, closing the space between us as he sent me a sad look. "Live a little."
"I am living just fine, thank you." Luke laughed softly as he placed a kiss on my neck; the feeling caused me to giggle. "Luke—don't you think we're kind of crazy for this?" My words caused Luke to stop what he was doing and I bit my lip gently as I tried not to regret bringing up what was playing in my mind.
"What do you mean?" Luke asked me.
"Our little agreement... don't you think it could be a bad idea?" I asked him, sort of worried he'd be offended by my words, but also wanting to talk about it.
"Josie, if you're not comfortable—"
"No, it's not that... obviously I like what we're doing," Luke smiled at my comment and I rolled my eyes playfully before continuing, "I just haven't done something like this before."
"You've never fucked around with someone before?" Luke asked me and I slowly shook my head as I took my lower lip between my teeth.
"Not for more than one night."
"Oh," Luke said, seeming surprised. "You're sure you're okay with this?"
"Yes, Luke... I just thought you might share some of my anxieties, but never mind." I sighed quietly and began to wish I had never said anything. Luke sighed too and that's when I knew I shouldn't have said anything; Luke pulled away from me completely and sat up in his bed. "I didn't mean to ruin the moment, pretend I didn't say anything—"
"No, you didn't ruin anything," Luke told me, shaking his head to emphasize that everything was fine. "I just want to say that I do know what you're saying... I guess I'm just trying not to overthink this."
"Overthink?" I asked Luke, wanting him to elaborate. I propped myself up with my elbows as I looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"I wasn't lying when I told you that I was interested in you from the start, but... I also wasn't lying when I kept nagging you about being friends. This is going to sound weird, maybe, I don't know, but... I don't want to mess something up just because I'm horny. I don't want to plan to mess around with you and then just leave, acting like it was nothing." I was both surprised and pleased by Luke's words. "I've never done something like it, but I really want to become better friends during all this. I know we met three days ago," Luke laughed as he realized how briefly we had known each other, "but thinking that I might have the pleasure of hanging out with Josie Culley when I'm home on breaks seems very nice."
"You just want someone to have sex with," I joked with Luke and he pushed my shoulder, causing me to fall onto my back. I let a laugh leave my lips and Luke towered back over me as I stayed lying on my back.
"Don't you get the feeling we could be really good friends?" Luke asked me, his eyes scanning my face as he waited for me to reply.
"Yeah... I think we've got a chance of being pals," I told Luke as I shrugged my shoulders. "Being friends with you makes me much more interesting."
"Of course you're going to use me for clout," Luke said, rolling his eyes playfully as he glanced away from me.
"You know I'm kidding," I told Luke, laughing at myself. "Let's make an agreement, okay? Since we both want to be friends... how about if either of us ever thinks this is getting in the way of that or that this is keeping us from being able to become friends, we'll stop? And we'll actually be just friends?"
"I think your pretty head's got a pretty smart thinker," Luke said, gently tapping on my head as he smiled. "It's a deal."
"Okay," I said as I firmly nodded my head. "But that's not the case yet, so... I'm waiting." I jokingly became serious and Luke laughed breathily.
"Aye aye, captain."
"Luke—don't call me that. We're about to have sex... you're supposed to be turning me on."
"What—you don't have a pirate kink?"
"Shut the fuck up."
"Aye aye, matey."
a/n:
hehe i love this story oop !!
don't forget to comment !!! i wanna know how you're feeling !! what was your fav line from this chapter??? or just fav part??
i just wanna have some convos w/ u guys 🥺
ok thanks for reading !!!
much love
jill