Don't

Three

"Ouch, be careful with that, would you?"

I wince taking the cold, damp towel, pressing it gently to my right eye.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you" Luke crouched down in front of me as I sat on the backseat of the car, facing him.

"Are you calling me a ball magnet?" I raise my eyebrow at him, and laugh at his shocked face. "I'm kidding. Thanks for bringing me back to the car, the cold water will help, not as good as ice but hopefully I won't have a bruise, the ball didn't hit me that hard."

"Are you saying I throw like a girl?"

"I'll punch you like David Hayes if you make a comment like that again" I push him back slightly, causing him to laugh.

He raises his hands in defense, "I don't doubt that you will" he reaches up to the towel against my face, "let me see"

I pull the towel away, "does it look bad?'

"Not too bad, just red, I don't think it'll bruise"

"My eyebrow hurts, I have a painful eyebrow. Welcome to Australia!" I raise my arms up like the cheerleader that I'm definitely not. "Hey, how far are we from town? Walking wise. I can't be arsed to go back to the beach now"

"Sometimes you say things that are so English" he chuckles, "must go back there soon, but in answer to your question, we're about an hour and a half away, if it's like a relaxed pace, less if you're one if those weird speed walker people."

"Would you like to walk with me at a relaxed pace, Luke Hemmings?"

He groans, "but I hate walking" I smile patting his head and get up throwing the towel over him. "Hey, where are you going?" He pulls the towel off quickly.

"I'm bored. I'm going to probably get lost in the outback somewhere because I have no idea where I am, or where I'm going" I say looking down at my phone sending a text to Dee, telling her that Luke and I are walking home, I knew he wouldn't let me go alone. "Oh, and I'll probably be eaten by drop bears, so tell my family I love them." I walk off towards the road.

"Hey, wait" he closes the car door, locks it then places the key under the front bumper. "Can't have you being eaten now can we? Plus, I don't know your family" he bumps my shoulder lightly.

~

We'd been walking for almost an hour before even getting close to anything resembling a town, actually whatever this was, it was no town. It looked like it was home to no more than 100 people, if that.

Luke and I had been talking about random things. The weirdness of calling flip flops 'thongs', why does the word 'jandles' even come into the equation? His dislike of the show Friends, which one of us is a bigger Goofey Goober, it was totally me. Why Nutella is best eaten out of the jar with a spoon and of course, the Vegemite vs. Marmite debate.

"What do you mean you've never read Roald Dahl?" I question a little too loudly in the coffee shop we're now sitting in, in the supposed town, village, thing. It was peaceful, just the two of us, an old man in the corner that looks like he could be Santa Claus and the mean looking lady behind the counter.

"I'm not a big reader" he sips his coffee just as I do mine.

"Ew, this coffee is gross" I whisper pushing the mug to the center of the table. "Hey, do you think that guy's Santa Claus? I bet he's on holiday after the Christmas rush"

He turns to look at the old man then turns back to me smiling "you're kind of different"

"Different good, or different bad?"

"Well, I like it, if it's good or bad I don't know, but it's nice to meet someone who knows who you are but doesn't act like they do, like because of the band thing" he takes another sip of coffee then slyly spits it back into the mug, placing it next to mine.

"Okay, that was disgusting" I point to his mug, "and yes, I'm a fan of yours, I'm not going to lie but you guys have always reminded me of my friends so I honestly just wanted to meet and get to know you all one day." I lean in and motion for him to come closer, he does, "can I tell you a secret?" He nods, "a couple of years ago, one of my goals was to party with Cake" I giggle making him laugh, "come on, let's get going, the sun is starting to go down"

We get up and I thank the lady before we leave.

~

The walk back to the flat was nice, the heat had started to die down and there was a nice breeze. We kept up the small talk, I told him some jokes, he didn't really find them funny, he said I reminded him of Ashton because I'm the only one that laughs at my jokes just like he does, rude much, I'm funny, dude! What's up with that?

"PENIS!" I shout randomly

Luke looks at me like he's about to die as we're only just around the corner from the flat and there are some people around.

"Smile, Luke, it's just a word" I grin pinching his cheeks and begin to skip off towards the flat, "PENIIIIIISSS"

"You're so fucking WEIRD!" He yells catching up with me and I stop turning to him.

"Say it, it feels good. I saw it in a film. It's actually very... Refreshing"

"Yeah, I'm not saying penis at the top of my lungs because you saw it in a film"

"The film was annoying apart from that bit actually but it works, like saying dick, or fuck"

"No"

"Penis"

"No"

"Penis" I take a step closer to him

"No"

"Peniiiiiissss" I take a couple of steps to close the gap completely, look up at him in his snapback and shades, wow, I think to myself but shake it away just as quickly going back to the task at hand, "penis" I boop his nose

"No"

"For me" I tilt my head slightly giving him an innocent look "you did hit me in the face with a rugby ball"

He sighs and shakes his head, "the guilt trip, really?"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe..."

I raise my eyebrow at him and smirk at my impending triumph "go on Luke, scream it"

"PENIS" as soon as he yells it, his face goes bright red and he puts his face in his hands, resting his head on my shoulder.

I tap his back in a caring way saying sweetly "there, isn't that better?"

He looks at me, the embarrassment fading, "why the hell does that work?"

"I don't think it matters what you say as long as you scream it" I tap his cheek lightly and we make our way to the front door

"So fucking weird" he giggles at what's just happened as we walked through the door.

Everyone is sitting around the living room, just talking, when Ashton turns to us from his chair, "have a nice walk?"

I sit on the arm of the chair, "very much so" I smile at Luke who sits next to me on the floor.

"Do anything exciting?"

"Not really, found a place with the worst coffee in the world" Luke leans forward to look at Ashton, "Santa Claus was there though" he says sarcastically

"Hey, he's allowed to have a holiday too" I slap him on the arm.

"So much violence to my person" he rubs his arm, pouting slightly

"I thought the end of our walk was the best though" his eyes widen at me

"Oh really, why's that?" Ashton says putting an arm behind me and I rest my arm on his shoulder, smiling widely

"I got Luke to scream penis"