Stall me

Chapter 29.

Emerson's POV.

Luke was gone.

After he told me yesterday he was leaving, I tried my best to ignore him. But I couldn't. Luke is the one person I could never ignore, no matter how mad you got, he could always make any situation better.

Hugging him goodbye tore my heart in two. He didn't seem to want to let go, and when he finally did, he gave me a kiss on my cheek before stepping on the plane.

Michael and Calum stayed with us, they wouldn't be performing anymore, but they wanted to join us for the rest of the jobs, especially the big one coming up in the next month.

Sitting backstage of the concert arena we were in tonight, I felt nothing but sadness.

We were in Denver, maybe I could get high. Take the pain away.

I hear a knock at my door, and see Calums head peak through, he gives me a soft smile and enters.

"How you doing em?"

I shrug, "fine I guess, just ready to be in bed, we get to stay in a real hotel tonight so I'm excited about that."

Calum softly chuckles, grabbing my knee and patting it, "he didn't want to leave, I hope you know that."

"Yeah, I get it." I sigh.

"Brendon actually asked him to stay longer last night, but you know how Luke is, he has his dog at home as well as his mum-"

"Wait, Brendon asked if he could stay longer?" I interrupt.

Now I was confused.

"Yeah," Calum nods, "he offered the band a lot of money to keep touring with panic, but Luke really needed to get home, his mum is sick."

"Oh," now I felt bad, "I didn't know she was sick."

"She's been sick for awhile, he is the only one who takes care of her."

Nodding my head, I stand up and grab my camera, it was almost showtime, and without 5sos performing before, I had to be out there early again.

"Thanks Calum," I smile, "I really appreciate it."

"No problem, that's what I'm here for."

He follows me out, I make my way towards the stage area, needing to get in position for the night, I look down at my camera, making sure I got all the adjustments prepared, then run right into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry-"

It was Brendon.

"Look much?" He scoffs.

"I obviously didn't mean to bump into you," I mumble, "said I was sorry."

Brendon eyes me a moment, and for an instant thought I saw a glimpse of guilt, but that disappears so quick I wasn't sure it was even real.

"It's fine," he sighs, "sorry about Luke."

I roll my eyes, "why are you sorry?"

"Knew you liked him, sucks he had to leave."

"And that has nothing to do with you, nothing I do has anything to do with you." I could feel a sudden burst of rage pulling inside of me.

"Well fuck, all I said was sorry, don't need to be a bitch about it."

"And you don't need to fucking apologize!" I yell, "all you do is fuck things up, whether it's for me or for anyone else. Quit trying to play nice, I know you hate me, and that's fine by me because I don't like you either!"