Between You & Me || Luke & Jai Brooks

Chapter V - Not A Pretty Sight

I find Luke on the floor in a pool of his own vomit.

What a romantic setting.

I roll him onto his side first of all so he won't go drowning on me, then run out and grab some cleaning stuff. It's not the first time I've cleaned up a drunk person. I think I've helped out each and every Brooks brother at some point in time. I remember cleaning up Beau when I hadn't even hit double digits.

Luke wakes up when I start to clean around his face, wiping away the dribble of vomit coming from his mouth. "Hey babe." He slurs.

I purse my lips, trying not to smile. "Hey Lukey Pukey."

"So will you go out with me now?"

I almost laugh out loud I'm so confused. Especially with the 'now', as if finding him lying in vomit will have impressed me more than I was ten minutes ago.

"I think I'll have to wait till you're a bit more sober." I giggle. Not that he'll remember any of this.

He seems to consider, nodding a little. "Okay, yeah, yeah, sounds good to me, sure."

I grin again, and begin to lift him up. "Okay, Luke, let's get you into bed."

"Your bed?" He asks with an overexaggerated wink.

I burst out laughing. Drunk Luke is my favourite Luke. Well, when he's not angry and drunk. "No, honey, I reckon we'll give you Hunter's bed for the night."

He shrugs a little and lets me lead him.

* * * *

I sleep on the floor beside Luke because he demands that I stay there. He drifts off to sleep as I pull back the covers and drops onto the bed. He's never been able to handle his drink well.

When I wake up and check that he's still in bed, I catch his brown eyes alert and watching me.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" he asks softly. I shake my head.

"Did I ever tell you how much I loved you?" I ask. He smiles weakly.

"So you don't now?"

"I think I love you even more now." I correct.

"More than Jai?"

"In a different way to Jai."

"That's a terrible answer."

"It's the best you're gonna get for now, until you prove yourself to me." I reply smartly, and he reaches over to pull me to him, burying his face into my hair, kissing my head. We stay like this for a while, Luke swaying just slightly, his fingers playing with my hair. It's awkward still, for me at least, but now that I know what he thinks about me, I'm beginning to feel differently. And it's nice, just being held.

"We should go grab breakfast or something now." he says awkwardly after a while.

"I don't want to." I say automatically, and he laughs. His laugh has always reminded me of Jai's, but it's different at the same time.

"I thought you wanted to do all this planning." he says, linking hands with me. I try not to question it, intertwining my fingers with his. Because I've missed him, a lot. And part of me just wants to sit here and listen to him tell me everything I've missed in his life. A happy feeling fills my stomach, thinking about the way he was looking at me when I woke up. I can't help it. I feel like I'm home.

"Well, it's screwed for now anyway. It's almost 12 and we'd have to catch a train down to the city. This time of year it'll be dark by 6. We'll just have to put it off." Somehow it doesn't feel like I'm missing out on anything though. And old saying mum uses to use comes to my mind. I lost a cent and found a dollar. I look up at Luke to see him already looking down at me. "You're gorgeous." he tells me, and I duck my head.
"Stop being so cute." I demand and he laughs again. His laugh makes me want to keep telling jokes, just to hear him laugh more. It just makes me happy. He just makes me happy. How did I ever forget how he makes me feel?

"I didn't even realise how much I missed you." he says quietly, his voice cracking.

"How much did you miss me?" I ask curiously.

"Well I thought I missed you a lot, but I missed you more than that. It hurts now, to think of everything I've missed with you. Everything you've done with Jai. If I hadn't assumed, or been such a fucking pussy, we could be as close as you and Jai are. I guess that's what's most painful. Knowing how close we could have been, but aren't."

"We will be." I say.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

*author's note*

Sorry this is pretty boring still right now but I promise that it gets better :*
Please vote and definitely comment what you want to see happen in this book (and dm me if you wanna be featured) xx