Stolen Moments (l.h) - SLOW UPDATES

~twenty-one~

We live in a world built on empty promises. We believe them because it's what we want to hear. We believe them because the people we love wouldn't lie to us. But everybody lies; some people are just better at it than others.

»Michael POV«

I run into the smoking lounge and see a familiar body curled up in the corner. He hugs his rucksack tight to his chest and blood drips down his arms.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt yourself again.” I say. My voice cracks and I stand stock still in the doorway. I can’t will myself to move properly.

People in the smoking lounge turn their heads to me and I know that I’m about to cry.

“Luke..” I croak. “You promised you’d come to me.”

Luke looks up at me and his puffy red eyes glance at me. “Yeah, well.”

“Is that it?” I ask, tears falling down my face. Why is he so apathetic?

“Shit happens.”

“No, Luke, shit doesn’t just happen. You make it happen! This didn’t have to happen!”

“Shit happens, Mikey! Shit happens to everybody! Because life happens. And life screws everybody over!”

“That’s not true. Shit doesn’t happen to me.”

“Yeah, right.”

“What?”

“Don’t you get it, Michael? Shit happens to you. It’s happening to you right now! You’re crying, for god’s sake!”

I suck in a sob. “You promised..”

“Yeah, well maybe I’m not up to keeping promises right now. Maybe I lied to you.”

The smokers in the lounge now look at me as though I’m about to shatter. I think they’re expectations are right.

“You think that promise was for my benefit?”

“Uh, yeah.” He raises his eyebrows. “You said, and I quote Mikey, ‘I’m not going to let you do this to yourself, Luke. It really hurts me.’ Isn’t that for your benefit? You were just being selfish.”

“I’m being selfish? Have you taken a look in the mirror lately? Have you thought about how much extra problems you’ve just piled onto (y/n)? Have you thought about what Ash is gonna say? Have you thought about what Cal’s gonna think?”

“That’s all I am, Michael! I’m a problem! A burden! A disappointment!”

“That’s not what I-“

“Yeah, but it’s what you meant.”

“No, Luke.” I sigh. I don’t want to argue with him. “I’m sorry.” I exhale. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry for being so selfish. I just- I just can’t sit back and watch you break.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. You’re not going to break, Luke.”

Not only does he laugh, but he knocks his head back and lets it out in hysteria. I frown.

“I’m already broken!” He simmers through the tears that threaten to fall, but he still grins at me. “And you didn’t even sit back and watch. You just turned away. Ignored it. Because it was a problem you didn’t want to face. Because I was a problem you didn’t want to face.” His smile drops after that sentence and he looks at me like a sad puppy.

He looks down at his feet. “I want to go home.” He mumbles.

His sudden change in mood was perplexing, but I just walked over and took a seat beside him. “Okay, here’s how thing’s are going to go, alright? I’m going to take you to get cleaned up, and then I’m gonna call Ashton and get him to organise getting us a later flight. Once we’re all done, we’re gonna meet in the food court and you can choose what we get to eat, and we can all have a nice meal together. You’re going to call your mum and then we’re going to go through security and baggage to the terminal. We’re going to wait and sing and we can make Cal dance around the room and listen to (y/n) singing purposefully out of tune to the songs on the radio. And then we’ll get on the plane and you can sleep because lord knows you’ll need some rest. When you wake up we’ll be in Australia. We can go home and I’ll go to your house with you and we can tell Liz about things.”