It's Okay || l.h [completed]

Epilogue

It had been three days since Luke's attempt at suicide. Ashton and Calum had driven an unconscious Luke back to their house, and Michael had driven an unconscious Lily back to her house.

She remembered how kind and sincere he had been to her.

"Oh, you're awake." Michael said, glancing at her from the diver's seat. They were in her car, and she was sitting in the passenger seat.

"What happened?" She murmured, rubbing her forehead. Vague images flashed into her mind.

Water. Rocks. Pain. Luke.

"Lily. You saved Luke's life. There is nothing I can say to thank you. No words are strong enough." Michael replied, his face the very image of happiness.

"But... he's not alone right now, is he?" Lily asked, suddenly full of worry. She reached for the button to undo her seat belt, even though she had no idea where he was right then.

"No. No way. Ash and Cal are looking after him." Michael replied, his forehead crowded with distressed lines.

Lily nodded and relaxed in her seat. She worried too much about this boy. The last few days she had dedicated every single moment of her life to him.

"Michael, you'll look after him, won't you?" She said to the red-haired boy.

"Of course I will." He nodded as they pulled over in front of her house.

"Good." Lily said, undoing her seatbelt and opening the car door. She sighed and turned her head to face him. "Goodbye Michael." She said with a weak smile and stepped out of the car.

Lily hadn't called Luke since that day. She had so many missed calls from him, even text messages. She also had a couple of missed calls and texts from Michael.

But she had decided that if Luke was in good hands, she wasn't going to worry about him any more. She was going to focus on her family and new life at her new house.

However, thoughts of him had always been at the back of her mind. The worry was always prodding at her heart, she couldn't ignore it.

She sat at her desk in the study with her English homework in front of her. She hadn't written one word on the blank sheet of paper.

Suddenly, her phone started ringing, startling her with its tuneful guitar riff. She sighed and looked at the display name.

It was Luke.

This time, she was so torn whether to answer it. She must have been getting his hopes up; normally she declined the call after the first ring. But this time, she wasn't so quick.

She needed to know how he was, whether he was okay and how the other boys were treating him.

Slowly, she slid the green button across her phone's screen, accepting the call.

"Luke?"

"What the hell, Lily?! Why have you been ignoring me?! You saved my life for Christ's sake!" His raised voice sounded from her speaker, making her wince. She had never expected him to raise his voice at her.

"I'm sorry." She answered simply and truthfully.

Luke sighed. "It's fine. I'm sorry for shouting at you." He muttered. "I just needed to talk to you. I always need to talk to you. Especially now, especially after I tried to kill myself."

Lily nodded. "I know, Luke. I'm sorry." She repeated, biting her lip.

"Just get over here, Lily. I'll text you my address and we can talk for hours. I need to talk to you." Luke said, and he hung up before she could dismiss the offer.

Her phone buzzed with the address and she ran out of the house, telling her parents she was going out for the night.

During the drive, she tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, turning the music up to drown out all of her doubtful and fretful thoughts.

When she arrived at the address, Luke immediately ran out of the house, his arms open wide. Lily giggled and stepped out of the car, running to him as well. She enveloped him in a hug, and he hid his face in her shoulder.

It was only then that she noticed he was quietly sobbing, the tears wetting her cardigan.

But he had sounded happy-ish on the phone earlier...

"Luke, Luke, shhh it's all okay. I'm here now." Lily murmured, reaching up to stroke the back of his head with her small hand.

"It's okay now you're here." He mumbled into her shoulder quietly.

"Yes, yes I'm here and I'm going to make it all okay." Lily assured him, smiling as she buried her head into his chest.

"Let's go inside." Luke suggested, pulling away from the hug but keeping his arm wrapped around her as they walked inside the house.

"Hi Lily!" The other boys called from the kitchen. She waved at them, but Luke dragged her away and up to his bedroom. He sat on his unmade bed and pulled her down to sit next to him, nestled under his arm.

She glanced up to his face and saw tears running down his face as he looked at her, taking in every tiny detail of her face. Her rosy cheeks, pale shiny eyes, soft hair, and full smiling mouth.

He glanced away, turning his face away so she wouldn't see the tears.

"It's alright to cry." Lily told him, reaching towards his face and turning it with her fingers so he was facing her.

He wiped his tears away. "No it's not, I'm a coward."

"Tears remind us we're alive. Don't wipe them away." Lily smiled at him.

He smiled weakly back, closing his eyes and pulling her up against him.

"Luke, why are you crying?" She asked, closing her eyes as well and just basking in the feeling of being close to her best friend after the trauma of three days ago.

"Seeing you, Lily, reminds me of everything I've buried inside me. You've read the story of my past, you've seen into my soul, and that just... you're a walking reminder of it all." Luke confessed with a sigh.

"I can leave, if you want me to." Lily offered, although she wanted to stay next to him forever.

"No, it's good for me. I can't keep it buried forever." He said, kissing the top of her head.

They stayed in silence for a minute, just enjoying the feeling of being there together, no interruptions. Luke was sitting next to his saviour, the girl who was there to save his life when no one else was. He couldn't believe he had almost dragged her to death with him.

"Why did you try to kill yourself, Luke?" She asked him, her eyes staring into his.

There was a moment where he just stared at the wall in front of him, and she almost forgot the question.

But then he took a deep breath and met her eyes again. They were filled with the shiny, familiar tears. "It's the only thing I hadn't tried." And his whole body began to shake with sobs,

"You have me. I'm going to help you through the rest of it, but you're already past the worst. You have your friends back." She said to him, putting her hands on either side of his face and promising to do the thing she had been promising him she would do since the beginning, even before she called him that first time.

He nodded. "I know, I'm not going to give up again. I'm going to hold on." He promised her in turn.

Lily smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Now don't worry me like you did three days ago ever again. Just promise me that."

Luke nodded and pulled her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, closing her eyes.

"Don't ever let me go." Luke whispered to her, squeezing her tightly as if he wanted her to stick to him like glue so she could never pull away.

Lily breathed in his comforting scent and sighed. "I won't, Luke. I promise."