I smiled softly at Anthony before slipping out of the taxi. He smiled back, more hesitant than me as he watched me close the door and walk away.
I stood at the hotel door for a minute before finally pushing it open. I pulled out my phone, double checking the number to Ashton's room.
I went up to the sixth floor, stepping out and reading a sign before heading down towards their room. My fist softly patted against the wood. It swung open seconds later revealing a widely smiling, half naked, Luke Hemmings.
Keep your eyes on his face, Bella.
"Good morning," He said huskily, like he'd just woken up.
Face, Bella, face.
"Um," My eyes widened. I quickly put one hand over my mouth, waving with the other one.
Luke chuckled, moving to the side to let me in. "I assume you do that a lot? You know, accidentally talk. Its okay though, the lads aren't here, but if they were would you talk to them?..."
I stepped inside, glancing around the messy room.
I wondered how messy their house must've been now, I used to clean it up for them a lot, they weren't very good at the whole cleaning thing. Still aren't.
My eyes fell on to the wide open window, I assumed that's what woke woke up to since the sun was shining in so brightly. Although, it was actually terribly gross outside today.
"I wouldn't," I mumbled, able to talk now since it was just Luke and I really, really just wanted to talk.
Luke carefully grabbed my hand and lead me over to a small couch in the middle of the room, gesturing for me to sit before he sat next to me.
"Why not?" He frowned, rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand before he met my gaze and let my hand fall alone on the cushion.
I sighed, shrugging my shoulders. "The less people I talk to, the better."
"Don't you get tired of not talking? Don't you have things that you want to say to people?"
I nodded briefly, "Of course I do, but I'd have too much on my mind if I told people stuff anyways, I'd just get hurt. No body stays forever."
Luke's eyes showed a lot of emotion, the usual crystal blue wasn't nearly as bright as it had been three minutes ago when I stood at the door.
"We're still here, Bella." He sighed, "We came back and we always texted and called you, but you just didn't answer...I kinda thought you wanted to just forget about us."
Actually, that was partly true. I wanted to forget about the boys...I really, really did. The sad part was, I never could.
"Have you ever taken this off?" He questioned, his pointer finger softly running over mine which had a silver ring wrapped around the bottom.
I blushed slightly, shaking my head no. "Anthony doesn't like it, honestly, but I-I don't know...I just like to have it by me all the time."
Luke couldn't hold back a smile, showing off his teeth and dimples.
"Where's everyone, by the way?" I asked to change the subject.
"Dunno, really. I woke up and the room was empty." He shrugged. I nodded, my eyes falling over to the blank television. I could see Luke through the screen, but I was too angled to see myself at his side with his hand cupping mine.
I didn't actually realize how tired I was until the room was completely filled with silence, the only thing I heard was the air blowing out of the heater and once in a while there would be someone walking by the door. My eyes fluttered closed a few times and I felt myself leaning to the side, but I kept pushing myself to be awake.
"You're eighteen." Luke whispered softly, almost like he was talking to himself.
"You're twenty one," I mimicked, just as quiet as him.
It feels like only yesterday I was fifteen and in a complicated relationship with my guardians band mate who is exactly three years older than me. But it wasn't yesterday, it was a life time ago and a lot had gone on since then. There was no way things would ever be the same.
Ever.
"Can you tell me a story?" Luke asked quietly.
"A story about what?"
"Talk to me about the past two years. Fill me in. Talk to me." His fingers were slowly intwined with mine, nothing has ever felt so wrong yet so right in my entire life. "Tell me about everything, right from the time you left."
I closed my eyes for a second, thinking.
"That was probably the saddest day of my entire life. Actually no, it wasn't...But it was close. Nothing really clicked in until my second day and I remember getting yelled at because I was hogging the phone, but Luke, I just wanted someone to call me, tell me that I was coming back home and everything would be okay. No one called me, not even a text." I looked down, remembering how I felt so alone, the boys were just letting me go so easily, they didn't even call.
"By my second week in it had struck that everything was over. They sent me to school, but I realized the best way to get through everything was silence so I stopped talking, a lot of people hate that though. You guys finally started trying to contact me by the time a month had reached, at some point Ash called and I picked up the phone...he said hi a few times, but when I didn't respond he hung up; it was nice to hear his voice though."
"Don't cry," Luke said, quickly wiping a tear from my face, "I'm sorry we didn't call, but after the whole child services thing management was tough...Awe, I love you to much to see you like this come here."
I let myself fall forward into Luke's open arms, trying hard to hold in the sobs and tears. If I just never had to leave this would have happened.
"What's wrong?" A voice gasped from behind me. I let go of Luke, turning around to see Calum, Ash, and Mikey with hands full of McDonalds bags.
They put down their bags on a counter and came rushing over to us.
"What did you do?" Ashton sharply asked Luke, a hint of anger in his voice.
"I didn't do anything, why would she have been hugging me if I did something?!" Luke seethed.
I shook my head, wiping my eyes and giving the best smile I possibly could as if to say: see, I'm fine.
Ashton sighed, hugging me quick before standing up.
"Want some food?"
