Deadline≫hemmings a.u

1.4

"I mean, you have to understand that Luke was a good kid, really good," Michael was saying. "He's still a good person, and I know you might not agree with that."

"Can you blame me?" I muttered.

Michael opened and closed his mouth as he debated on what to say. "Just give him a chance. Don't be so hard on him."

I looked at him incredulously. Me give Luke a chance? More like the other way around. He was the one who was hard on me. It was like nothing I did could satisfy him. I was traveling with them, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was more at his mercy than he was at mine. I opened my mouth to express this, but closed it, deciding that I'd rather hear Michael's point than argue. "Go on."

"As I was saying," he continued, running his hands through his blondish hair. "Luke was a good kid, I didn't even know him. But we both grew up in a bad neighborhood so I guess we knew of each other. Anyways," he shrugged. "Luke was always nice and did alright in school, but he was a little...misguided."

"Misguided?" I raised my eyebrows. "How so?"

"He hung around the wrong type of people," Michael frowned. "No smoking or drugs. But he did steal."

"Figures," I mumbled and Michael shot me a stern look that looked out of place on his face.

"He didn't know better," Michael murmured, shaking his head as if lost in thought. "Luke was good at stealing, I think you already know that."

Michael glanced up from his hands at me and I nodded.

"But there was this one time, one is all it takes you know?" Michael sighed for the billionth time. "I had a job actually, at this tech place. I learned a lot there... So one day, Luke and his mates came in, he was the youngest of them all. Nobody thought much of it. He only stole small things, like stationary stuff or whatever. I never would have guessed that he would have tried for a camera. Fucking idiot."

Michael tried but couldn't hide the small grin that played around the corners of his lips. I looked out the sliding door at Luke's tall figure hunched over the railing. His hood was up, but he was turned just enough so I could see the wild, messy tuffs of blonde hair that stuck up. He looked so exhausted before he went out. And last night, at the hotel... I suddenly found it a lot easier to imagine a younger Luke, still making mistakes and not knowing any better.

"I probably could have handled it better," Michael was saying "but once I realized what he was doing, he already managed to get out the front doors without triggering an alarm system, I just went for it."

"Did you chase him?"

"Hell yeah, I did," Michael chuckled softly. "Even then, I hated running, but I wasn't gonna let some dry piece of corn get me fired, I needed the money," he shook his head, grinning. "He was such a lightweight, when I went to grab him, I guess I overestimated him and we went tumbling to the ground. We fucking sucked at fighting, but I guess we made enough noise to attract someone. That someone being Ashton."

My ears perked up at the mention of the boy.

"It was a wonder how we didn't attract any more attention, but Ash was enough. He hauled us off each other without even trying." Michael rubbed his wrist, probably remembering the scene. "Luke was terrified and I was sure he was gonna get turned in. I kinda felt bad for him. But for some reason, Ashton didn't do that. He asked if Luke stole the camera. Luke didn't dare lie, we both knew there was no point in that, so he told him everything."

"I still don't know what it was that he saw in us, but after Ashton made Luke return the camera, he came around later that week to visit me at work." Michael's eyes dropped back to his lap where his fingers were laced together, his face suddenly solemn. "He offered me a job over at the hotel he was working at. The pay was better and the work wasn't as boring. I needed the job and I guess he knew that too so he wasn't surprised when I accepted without a question. Apparently he got Luke a job there too. We hated each other at first, but Ashton sat us down and talked to us. I can't even remember what he said, but it set us straight. Luke and I still argued every now and then, but as we spent more time with Ashton, we didn't fight as much and soon we had no idea why we ever did."