Again | Luke Hemmings

xxvi

"My parents are probably going to kill you." I laughed, observing the fucking hickey Luke gave me earlier today. "They almost saw it during dinner, but luckily, I was able to hide it with my hair."

"Well," Luke shrugged, a big smile on his face. He looked proud of what he has done. "And that was probably the longest dinner in my whole life."

"We had dinner for thirty minutes." I stated.

"Still long!" He defended, whining like a child.

"And I can't believe you only stayed in your house for ten minutes and came back here. What are you? A free loader living off of my parents' money?" I laughed.

"That's what you're doing right now." He smirked.

"I pay for my rental."

"Still." He replied.

I thought of a good comeback but found none because he was right. It's the break anyway and I have my own apartment to pay rent for so I basically deserve this free life right now.

It was past 9:00 pm and we are currently bored in my room, nothing to do at all. Luke has been going through my baby albums for the past hour— which I desperately tried to take away— and smiling every time he flips the page.

"You were so cute!" He laughed, never looking up from the album.

I scoffed and messed up his hair. He didn't mind and I found it weird. He hated it when people touched his hair.

"Look at this!" He showed me a picture of baby me in a tiny pink dress, laughing with my mum and ketchup all over my face.

He held the picture beside my face and raises an eyebrow. "What happened?" He asked seriously.

I squinted my eyes at him and slapped his arm. "Shut up."

He bursts into laughter, letting go of the photo and slapping his thigh multiple times with his free hand while the other was clutching on his stomach.

"You're not funny." I rolled my eyes and leaned on my pillows.

He wiped a fake tear off his eye and finally gets himself together, looking at me with his head tilted to the side. "Don't be sad." He pouts, moving close to me.

"I'm not sad." I rolled my eyes again, crossing my arms.

He sits beside me and copies my position, the same pout on his face.

I cracked a smile, but stopped it.

"Smile, Joey." He continued to pout, his eyebrows etched together and arms still crossed. He really looked like a little boy.

I giggled, "You're cute." And poked his dimple.

He finally smiles and pokes my cheek too. We end up having a poking war and I was winning. I was getting sweaty and the room was getting hot. We ended up laughing on the floor. How did we go from laughing at baby me to laughing on the floor?

Luke's cheeks were red due to laughing so much and we were catching our breaths. From the sounds we were making, my parents might think we were having sex.

We fell into silence and just enjoying the company of each other. I haven't had this much fun in a long time, especially with Luke. We could be doing community service and it would still be fun and exciting.

Behind his new physical appearance and cocky attitude for the world to see, he is really charming and very comfortable to be around with. I am letting my guard down for him because he makes me happy again and he didn't have to try. He only needed to be himself. His true self. Not the guy who goes out with girls like Chloe.

My head falls on his shoulder and he moves closer. I yawn and become more sleepy.

"Can you come over my house tomorrow?" He whispered.

I hummed in response, tired.

"Goodnight." Luke whispers and I felt him kiss the top of my head gently. I wanted to say something but sleep already took over me.