04 | Luke Hemmings

04 | Madison

"Hey, the party is here" The recognisable voice of Michael shouted as he walked into Luke's house. Ashton was also coming to our movie night. Michael and Ashton were good friends of both of us. Ashton had left school now and was working at the local video shop after being fired form KFC for well, he never told us. He told us about working at KFC plenty of times just not why he's no longer there. And Michael, he dropped out last year.

"Michael Gordon Clifford, please shut the hell up" Liz, Luke's mum, told/yelled at him from upstairs as he came into kitchen, followed by Ashton, where Luke and I were making popcorn and getting drinks.

"Hey" I said to them as Michael ran over and hugged me. "I haven't seen you in like three days" He hugged me tighter.

"Yo, Clifford, can't breathe" I told him and he let go. Ashton then hugged me and we went into Luke's living room.

"Can we watch Mean Girls?" Luke asked.

"Such a white girl" Michael said 'quietly'. Ashton and I laughed while Luke gave Michael the middle finger.

"Maddie, I thought you couldn't make it tonight? That's what Luke told me the other day anyway"

"Yeah, Kieran said he was going to take me out but he couldn't. Some family thing"

"Family thing? That's the shittiest excuse I've ever heard" Luke said.

"Lucas Robert Hemmings, mind your language" Liz shouted, appearing at bottom of the stairs which led into the living room.

"Sorry, mum" He mumbled as she walked through to the dining room.

"Hi Maddie, Ashton" We both shouted back a hi to her.

"What about me?" Michael asked.

"I believe we already said hello, Mikey"

****

"So, guess what I heard" Michael said, whilst looking at his phone.

"What?" I asked. "And this better not be like the last time you had 'juicy gossip' for us and it turned out to be how you shouldn't gossip and it was bad"

"I thought the last time was how Michael beat Calum at FIFA and Calum got feisty" Ashton said.

"Speaking of, where is the Hoodmister?" Michael asked.

"Well, Maddie's here so" Luke answered.

"You still haven't told him?" Ash asked. Luke shook his head. "You need to tell him. He deserves to know"

"But he has the power to kick me off the team. I've nearly got a scholarship to UCLA"

"But he's your best friend"

"I know" Luke continued, "He knows I'm seeing a girl. He wants to meet her. He also knows she's called Madison"

"Wait. He knows that much?" Luke nodded. "I didn't know he knew my name"

"It's barely anything. Trust me, it'll be fine"

*******

"Are you doing anything today?" Luke asked. We were just getting some breakfast. Michael and Calum were still asleep.

"I've got to look after my brother. You can come help if you want"

"Sure, sounds fun"

"Fun?"

"Yeah, I love your brother" Ashton and Michael soon woke up which allowed Luke and I to leave after saying bye to his parents.

****

We arrived at my house and walked in, the door was already unlocked. We went into the living room to see my mum sat there with my brother watching some cartoon.

"Oh hi, Luke"

"Hi, Lisa" He said and hugged her. I'm pretty sure Luke saw my mum as a second mum just as I did with Liz.

"Hey sweetie" She said to me and I smiled.

"So, when are you going out?"

"About half an hour. You guys going to be alright here with Ben?" We nodded and she went upstairs to start getting ready.

***

"Luke, you won again" My brother, Ben moaned. Another thing Luke and I bonded over when we first met. We both have a brother called Ben. We were currently all playing FIFA in my brother's room.

"Well, what can I say?" I hit Luke's arm playfully. "Maybe I should just teach you my tactics but then you'd beat me"

"Please, Luke. You're so good. I need to be able to beat my friends"

"Fine, come closer. I'll show you my best move. It always works, not even Michael can beat me"

"He's like super good as well"

"My point exactly" I sat back on the bed and watched as Luke showed Ben what to do. I smiled at Luke as he turned to look at me.

"Thanks, Luke" He said, hugging him, making me smile even more.

"It's cool" He replied with a shrug.

*****

"Maddie?" My brother asked, appearing at my bedroom door.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure" I patted the space next to me on the bed. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I think Luke likes you"

"What? Don't be silly, we're best friends"

"Yeah, but have you seen the way he looks at you?" I shook my head. "He looks at you the same way I look at Jane"

"Who's Jane?"

"She's in my science class but that's irrelevant. I'm sure Luke likes you"

"Luke can have any girl he wants, he definitely doesn't want me"

"Don't say I didn't warn you" He said as he got up and left my room.