The Baby Project. C.H. (A.U.)

Sixty Five // Chaos.

-Two Weeks Later-

The sound of our front door opening and closing gets my attention from the kitchen table. I was currently going over some designs for a possible new client on my laptop because a little working from home never hurt anybody.

"Hello?!" I hear the familiar voice of Luke Hemmings call out. It was odd for him to show up in a way because I hadn't heard or seen from him in what felt like forever. Calum was still maintaining that he wanted some space, too, so it meant seeing him even less.

"Kitchen," I yell out in response, letting him know where to find me.

"Oh hey Genie, how's it going?" Luke appears in the doorway, looking happy to see me. The feeling was mutual, of course. It had been too long since I had seen my dear old friend.

"Hey, stranger! I'm doing good, bit tired," I admit. As far as I know, Luke still didn't know that I was pregnant, and I felt bad about it. However, I was days away from hitting that 12-week mark, and Calum and I had already planned on letting everyone know once we had been to our next scan.

"You know me, same old." Luke replies as he looks around. "Is Cal here?"

"He's actually just out for a run with Walker," Calum had been making more of an effort with his health and fitness lately and had been going on runs throughout the week. Walker usually always tagged along, and of course, he loved it. Any extra time with his human dad was well loved.

"Right," Luke looks somewhat disappointed. "Is it cool if I wait for him to come home?"

"Of course," I frown at him. He had never asked for permission to hang out before, so that was weird. He must notice the look on my face because he awkwardly clears his throat.

"I just don't want to like interrupt or bother you."

"You never do," I reply before pretending to think about it. "Oh actually, there was that one time." I tease, getting a small smirk in response. I save the work I'm doing before shutting the laptop so I can give him my full attention. It felt like a good time to properly catch up.

"Ha ha," Luke fake laughs, crossing his arms and leaning against the bench to look directly at me. Those blue eyes always seemed more intense when they were completely focused on you.

"So what's new with you, hemmo? It's been a minute since I saw you last."

"Like I said, same old," Luke shrugs annoyingly. Surely he had something interesting to tell me, it had been a few weeks since we had last spoken.

"Things at work good? Are there any new artists that are particularly special?" I question, and he seems to think about it.

"Of course and always. I'm sure Calum gives you the low down every now and then."

"Well, yeah, I suppose, but I also know that you tend to have your own artists so," I say, and Luke just smiles. I guess he didn't have anything to add. "What about in the romance department then?"

Luke had been relatively quiet when it came to the relationship thing, especially after Katie. I didn't even know if he was dating now.

"I mean, I'm keeping active, but that's all I have to report." Luke smirks at me once again. I can't say I'm surprised by his answer and power to him. If he wanted to live his best single life for now, then that was up to him. I did always worry about him finding someone, though, because he really deserved that.

"I am honestly so glad that I don't have to deal with the whole dating thing anymore,"

"Yeah, we all know you had your share off bad Tinder dates," Luke teases, and I let out a groan as I rethink on all of the horrendous dates I went on. At least no one could say that I wasn't trying to find the one for me. He was just in front of me the whole time.

"Dating in these times is a whole other ball game." I admit, and Luke nods in agreement. " I mean, Sam has been showing me some of the messages she gets, and it's scary."

"What's so scary about them?"

"You should consider yourself Lucky Hemmo, the amount of unsolicited dick pics that girl gets is what's scary," I genuinely will never understand how or why any man would think that's what we would want to see.

"Okay, true," Luke cringes. "There's nothing wrong with a wanted dick pic, though, right?"

"I guess not?" I shake my head at him as cheekly smile finds its way to his face. "Like I said, I'm glad I'm not in the dating game anymore."

"Well, we can't all be as lucky as you and Calum now, can we?" I know Luke means it in a sincere way, but for some reason, there's a distinct feeling of sarcasm that's coming through instead.

The sound of the front door opening, followed by the sounds of Walker's paws on the hardwood floor, instantly fills me with warmth as I know that my boys are home.

"Come on, boy, let's get you some fresh water," Calum happily says to Walker as they walk into the kitchen. "Oh," Calum stops in his tracks as he looks between Luke and myself. He doesn't seem thrilled that one of his best friends is standing in his kitchen.

"Hey Cal," Luke greets, and Calum gives him a small nod in response. Walker happily finds his way over to Luke's feet, making Luke bend down almost instantly to give him a pat.

"How was your run, babe?" I ask, getting his full attention. He looks tense and doesn't quite know why. Maybe he didn't have a good run?

"It was fine," Calum looks over at Luke expectantly. "What are you doing here?"

"Calum." I scolded because that was just rude.

Luke looks up from patting Walker and shrugs awkwardly. "Just wanted to stop in and touch base, really, You haven't been answering my calls."

"And apparently you aren't getting the message,"

"Am I missing something here?" I look between the two of them feeling confused. There seemed to be a lot of tension here, and I didn't understand why.

"That's what I would like to know." Luke admits shooting Calum a questionable look. "It kinda feels like you're pissed at me for something, but I just have no idea what I've done."

I feel instantly bad for Luke in this moment, simply because of how hurt he looks. I had picked up on Calum being really distant with Luke in the last few weeks, but when I had asked, he just said he wanted some space. I didn't know how true that answer was now, but it seemed like it was his thing to work through, so I didn't push.

My eyes flicker to Calum, who's standing there looking beyond mad. There definitely was something else going on here, and it seemed like Luke didn't have any idea what that was, too, even though it seemed to have something to do with him.

"Remind again. Why did you and Katie break up?" Calum suddenly asks, and I swear I see Luke's eyes briefly widen before going back to neutral.

"We ultimately just wanted different things, and it stopped working."

Calum is literally shooting daggers at Luke from where he is standing and I don't think I had ever seen him look at Luke the way he was now. This was coming from someone who had been witness to a lot of fights and disagreements between these boys over the years.

"So it has nothing to do with the fact that you are in love with my wife?" Calum spits, and I feel my heart drop into my stomach.

What?

A/N: I am so sorry to end it there after the longest time away! But I'm back or as back as I can be. I've honestly missed this world so much, and I'm really going to do my best to make it a priority again. So if you are still here after all this time, then thank you from the bottom of my heart ❤️