Fire on Fire [L.H]

eight

     Luke has been so high maintenance today and only because I was driving. For the past half hour, he was complaining about being hungry when we just finished our coffees, a half an hour ago. So, to get the boy to shut his hole, I took him out to some salad restaurant we came across called North Fattoria Italiana. 

      As I parked, Luke stopped me from leaving. "Cameras," he said. I looked in my rear view mirror and groaned. 

      "Ugh! Why can't the world just go away?" I cried. Luke rolled his eyes as we stepped out of the car. Cameras went nuts just like the first time before we entered the store as I walked around my car. 

      Luke grabbed my hand and my breath got stuck in my throat again. Every time he holds my hand, I get butterflies. Why do I feel like this? 

      We walked up the the doors as the photographers asked us questions but Luke told me to ignore it. I mean, yeah I've been mobbed my paparazzi tons of times. And sure I've gotten questions like the one's they were asking. But Luke was used to this for him living here in LA longer than I have. I've only been here a month or two and I've been bombarded a few times. More than I did in New York. 

       We entered the restaurant and got seated rather quickly. We took a seat ordered some drinks. "Have you been here before?" Luke asked me. I nodded. 

       "Once. My brother used to work here before he got stationed to the military," I explained, looking around the restaurant, trying to avoid Luke's eye contact, which it seemed like he was fighting for. 

       "You're brother's in the army?" I turn back and look at him, nodding. 

        "For nine months. His commanding officer has given us updates at the end of every month for the past five months. I haven't heard for month six or seven yet, which scares me." 

         "How long is he stationed for?" Luke asked me again, playing the with straw wrapper. 

     "Nine months," I answered again. Luke's eyes widened as he jerked back into his seat lightly. 

       "Ooh, man. Couldn't even imagine," he said. 

     It is pretty shocking to me how we've actually been getting along today. Even though we had that awkward encounter this morning, overall, the day has been pretty calm. We haven't argued, yelled at each other. The most we've done is sit silently in the car. 

      "So, when is your touring starting back up?" I asked him, sipping my lemonade. 

       "Well, we finished our North America Tour. We go to Australia in about a month or two. And I'm pretty sure it's two." I nodded and fiddled with my fingers. I don't feel like going on tour with him. I literally hate this relationship thing. Although, deep down in my guts, there's something that says I'm lying. "Don't you have a photoshoot or something?" He questioned. 

        "Not any recent ones," I said. Two seconds later, Luke's phone dinged. He fished it out of his pocket and turned it on, looking at his screen. Glancing at him for a second, I drank my lemonade again before setting it down. I began to fiddle with my ring again when Luke spoke up. 

      "Uh...I begged a differ," he said, looking back up at me. I furrowed my brows in confusion as his eyes met mine. Huh? 

     I leaned over to look at his phone as he moved it to show me the screen. The text from Michael on his phone said that we were seen in multiple photos. One of those including People Magazine and Entertainment TV and that they were planning an interview for one of us. 

     "Of course," I mumbled, still auditable for him to hear. 

       "Well, at least it's working," Luke said after he sent Mikey a message back before placing his phone back on the table. Even though I agreed, I was dreading it. "You gonna do the interview?"