Izzy's POV
I showered and laid in bed wide awake after Luke left. I didn't actually get to sleep until 5 am. I couldn't stop getting out of bed to analyze the bruise on my cheek or the hickeys on my neck and chest. Temporary reminders. I was just glad that that's all they were, though. Temporary.
I'd never been assaulted like that before. I kept feeling like I was over reacting, but then I'd think about everything that happened and realize that I really wasn't. It gave me some comfort knowing it could have been worse, though.
I woke up at 3 in the afternoon to frantic knocking on my door. I could hear Michael calling for me from the other side and took a minute to gather myself before opening up. He took one look at me and pulled me into his arms, closing the door behind us.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there. I'm so sorry." He repeated himself over and over, bringing his hand to the back of my head as if to protect me.
We sat on my bed, me in between his outstretched legs with my back to his chest, for what felt like hours. He rubbed my upper arms soothingly while I stared off into space. I think I cried enough last night for the rest of the year, and now I couldn't do it anymore. He tried to convince me to come get food with him, but in the end he decided on his own to go grab me something and bring it back. I was never hungry before, though, so I'm definitely not hungry now. But, if it made him feel like he could help I didn't argue.
As he was throwing his shoes back on there was another knock. I looked at the door, wondering who was behind it this time. Michael walked over to it and leaned a hand on the door frame.
"Who is it?" He asked, looking back at me for a second right after.
"It's Luke, Mike. Let me in." He sighed on the other side of the door. Michael looked up at me again to see if I wanted him to open it or not. I thought for a moment before nodding my head. Michael opened the door, letting a very messy looking Luke in.
"I'll be back in a bit." Michael told me, walking back over to me and kissing the top of my head. He pat Luke on the shoulder as he walked by, closing the door behind him. That small gesture told me that Luke filled them in on everything, even the fact that he helped me.
"I just wanted to see if you were alright." He said awkwardly, taking a couple steps further into the room. I stared blankly at the wall on the other side, just barely able to see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye.
"I'm fine. Thank you for helping me." I paused, looking down at my hands before continuing. "I know I didn't get to tell you that last night."
"Last night was a mess, don't worry about it." He said, scratching the back of his neck. I slowly stood from my bed and padded over to my dresser where the clothing he let me use was folded up. I grabbed the pile and turned back to him.
"I can wash them if you want me to. I just haven't left my room. I can have them back to y-" He interrupted me before I could finish my rambling.
"It's fine. I'm doing laundry tomorrow anyway." He said, walking to me and gently pulling the two items out of my hands. When I looked up at him I saw his eyes trail to the now darker bruise on my cheek. I turned my head slightly, breaking his line of sight to it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" I cut him off.
"It's okay." I said quickly. I looked down again, feeling the awkwardness in the air. It was still weird for me to be talking to him civilly. "You don't have to keep checking up on me, it's really fine. I know you don't like baby sitting and-" He threw the clothes in his hands onto my bed and pulled me into a hug. I froze for a second, not knowing what to do with myself while he held me.
When I started to feel his warmth I wrapped my arms around his torso. When he felt my arms his whole body relaxed. I nuzzled my head into his chest a little more, breathing in the smell of cigarettes and his cologne. When we pulled away, we just stood there awkwardly for a minute. Michael walking in is what snapped us out of it. Luke picked back up his clothes and paused in front of me on his way out.
"Knock if you need anything." He quietly assured me, exiting my room right after.
Michael asked me why I was acting off after Luke left, but I brushed it off. I didn't know how to tell him that he hugged me and now I felt weird about it. That his arms were the safest place I'd been in the last 12 hours. I knew it threw Luke, too. I've never seen him so awkward before, he just didn't know how to talk or act around me after.
I was just glad I didn't have class until Wednesday. That gave me 3 days to let these bruises heal and become a functioning member of society again. On Tuesday Michael asked if I wanted to get lunch with them. I covered up the bruise on my face as best as I could with concealer, throwing on an oversized sweatshirt and leggings, as well.
When I walked into the dining hall, I saw Luke standing in line for sushi. I made my way over to get my usual box of it. When I got right behind him, I hesitated for a moment before saying anything.
"Hey." I finally choked out. He turned around and when he realized it was me, I saw a goofy smile quickly take over his face. As fast as it appeared, though, it was gone.
"Hey." He said, looking down at the sushi in his hands.
"Since when do you eat sushi?" I giggled, pointing to the container. He stuttered, obviously having a hard time answering such a stupid question.
"I was grabbing it for you. This is the one you usually get, right?" He said, looking at me with uncertainty. I was taken back a bit, surprised he would not only think to do that, but also remember the roll I like.
"Yeah that's the one." I said quietly. "I can get it, though. You don't have to buy me anything." I felt bad making anyone pay for things for me, let alone the guy who saved my ass. In my head, everything before Friday was disregarded. He did something for me that I doubt I could ever repay.
"It's fine, Izzy." He chuckled. "I'm buying this either way, so you're either going to have to eat two or take my offer." He stepped forward in line and paid for it. "Come on." He motioned for me to follow him as we made our way over to the rest of the guys.
I greeted all of them with a smile. Luke sat down next to Calum, with Michael and Ashton sitting across from them. Like a lost puppy I trailed close behind Luke and sat next to him. He looked at me when he saw me plop down next to him, the look of confusion quickly turning into an innocent smirk. He placed the sushi right in front of me and I quickly opened it.
When I felt 3 pairs of eyes on me, I looked up and saw Ashton, Calum, and especially Michael looking between Luke and me. We all sat there looking at each other like a bunch of idiots until Luke and I both said 'what' at the same time.
"Do you want me to be honest?" Ashton laughed, waiting for us to give him the go ahead. When we both nodded, he put his sandwich down. "This." He started, pointing between Luke and me. "This is weird."
"Yeah, I'm having a hard time with it, too." Calum said, leaning over the table to look at the two of us from the other side of Luke's body.
"Same." Michael added his two cents in, as well. Well, shit.
"I already went over this with you guys." Luke sighed, beginning to unwrap the sub he grabbed before getting in line for sushi.
"Yeah we know, it's just different to actually see it." Ashton joked. I knew they were all just giving us shit, but thinking about Luke and I being on good terms only made me think of how we got there.
"Get used to it, I guess?" Luke said, unsure of what they wanted us to do about it. I looked down at my lap, trying to hide the small smile that I couldn't stop from showing itself. It was a weight lifted off my shoulders to hear him say 'get used to it'. That just meant I wouldn't have to dread his presence anymore. We were actually going to get along from now on.
We didn't continue on the topic for much longer. Ashton's attention span was the size of a penny so he quickly brought up something about some girl he was talking to. I was sad to see them all go when everyone but me had class again. Calum left first, knowing his class was a decent walk away. Michael and Ashton left together since they had some kind of world cultures class together.
I stood up to throw my trash away, Luke doing to the same. "Good thing you didn't get another." He laughed. "You didn't even finish one."
"I just haven't been hungry." I said, not meaning to get so serious.
"Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen you finish one." He said, turning to look at me while we kept walking. He gave me a strange look, making me look away immediately. I didn't want him reading into that.
"Yeah, I get full pretty fast." I said nervously, trying to laugh it off. I felt him give me a look, so I just kept eyeing the ground. "I'll see you later?" I said, sounding more like a question than a statement.
"Yeah." He suddenly stopped walking, so I stopped and turned to face him. "I'll see you later." He shot me the same innocent smirk as earlier, making me smile like an idiot. I started walking away but did a double take, looking back at him a few times to see him still standing there smirking at me.
I walked back to my dorm alone, not knowing what to do with myself for the rest of the day while everyone had more classes. I watched Netflix for a couple hours until I remembered the pre-lab I had to write for tomorrow. Instead of doing it alone, though, I thought I'd take a chance and see if Luke still needed to do it, too. I sent him a text, but when I didn't get an answer within a half hour, I put shoes on to go knock on his door.
"Who is it?" He asked, quite aggressively in my opinion.
"Izzy." I answered, hearing a loud thud and a string of profanities shortly after. I heard his footsteps until they were at the door, him swinging it open once they stopped. I couldn't tell what was up with him, but his hair was a mess and he only had a pair of gym shorts on.
"What's up?" He asked, looking like he was highly uncomfortable.
"Um. I just wanted to see if you did your pre-lab yet." I said, my eyes analyzing his expression as I spoke.
"I haven't. Why?" He just looked like he was itching for this conversation to be done, which almost hurt my feelings. That was until I heard a girl's voice behind him.
"Luke! I have a night class soon hurry up!" She raised her voice just enough for us to hear her. A wave of heat washed over my cheeks, now realizing what I interrupted. He threw his hand over his eyes, cringing at how she threw him under the bus.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry." I spit it out faster than I thought was humanly possible.
"Izz." He started, but I started backing away slowly. My awkward ass not being able to handle the situation. He knew how embarrassed I was, too, I could tell by the smirk on his face.
"It's okay I'll see you later." I said, looking back at him a couple times before ducking back into my room, leaving him standing in his doorway. Shirtless and chuckling to himself.
When I shut my door I spun around and fell back against it, letting out the breath I was holding in. I can't believe I just did that to myself. And I can't believe he's hooking up with someone at 5 pm on a Tuesday? It's just so random. And me being the clueless idiot that I am, I didn't even put the pieces together.
After a half hour of cringing over myself, my phone vibrated. I picked it up to find a text from Luke.
Luke:
Do you want to work on that prelab?
I put my hands to my forehead, not knowing what to say. This was how I was, though, a socially awkward piece of shit who avoids situations that make her uncomfortable. I don't think I could sit in a room with him right now after that. I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow.
Me:
I actually just went to the library to do it
Luke:
Bullshit. I can hear your music playing
"Fuck." I said to myself.
Luke:
Heard that too
I slammed my head on my desk, groaning in embarrassment.
Luke:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm betting that was your head hitting the desk
Me:
You made your point dipshit
Luke:
Can you let me in now then
I jumped up from my swivel chair and opened the door, revealing Luke looking the same as he did when he opened his door a half hour ago. Messy hair and no shirt. I rubbed my forehead as I waited for him to say something.
"You didn't do your pre-lab." He said, leaning in the doorway as I kept my hand on the door.
"No." I said, defeated. He smirked at me before shaking his head.
"Grab your shit and come over." He said, the smirk on his face growing bigger. With that, he just turned around and walked back into his room.
A/N
Hello to all 45 of you! I just wanted to shout out each and every one of you for reading because I just saw that we're ranked #4 in the punklukehemmings tag. I'm screaming, just so you know. My friend who said they're reading this got a way too over the top facetime call when I saw the banner so when you read this a/n you know who you are😭 lysm.
Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. Luke's finally not being a prick and that little text sequence make my heart swell just writing it. Drop some guesses on how long you think that's going to last though lmfao. I'll probably update again in a few hours so keep an eye out. Thank you my cherubs for bothering to spend your time reading my nonsense!