hotline // luke hemmings

eleven.

Skylar

It'd been almost two weeks since I'd seen Luke. No calls, no texts, nothing.

The first few days were spent crying into Calum's shoulder while he assured me that he'd be back soon, but I finally decided it was time to do something.

I was in need of some new clothes, so I decided on shopping.

Calum offered to come with me, knowing how upset I'd been, but I assured him I'd be fine. This was something I needed to do by myself.

The last thing I expected to do was to run into Luke, but that's exactly what happened.

He was nearing the exit, but I was determined to get to him before he could leave.

"Luke!" I called, tears pricking at my eyes when he pretended not to hear me.

I rushed to catch up to him, his long legs making it hard. When I finally reached him, I tapped on his shoulder timidly.

He finally turned around, his expression softening when he saw my glossy eyes.

"Hey Sky," he said softly.

"Do you hate me?" I asked quietly.

"Of course not. Why would I hate you?" He took my hand in his and lead me to a bench just outside the shopping center.

"After everything that happened. It was my fault and I should've been more careful, but you just walked out. And then you didn't text or call and I don't know... if you don't want anything to do with me anymore I understand," I muttered, a few stray tears traveling down my cheeks.

He moved closer to me, engulfing me in his strong arms. "Shh, I'm not going anywhere," he soothed as I cried into his shirt.

"Then why'd you leave?" I croaked.

He pulled back from me, a distraught look on his face. "I, uh, I just felt so useless. Your stepfather was beating you for crying out loud! I didn't do anything to stop him because I was too scared and you got hurt and it's all my fault. I just couldn't deal with myself and I needed to be alone for a while," he confessed, tears forming in his eyes as more cascaded down my cheeks.

"There's nothing you could've done, please don't beat yourself up over this," I begged. He nodded, pulling me closer to him. I rested my head in the crook of his neck while he traced patterns on my upper back.

"Luke, you didn't, you know, did you?" I asked.

He coughed nervously before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry baby," he whispered before starting to cry.

"Luke, you can't keep doing that to yourself. If anything happened to you I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I love you so much. Way too much to loose you," I said. I pushed up his shirt sleeves to reveal several new cuts.

I traced my finger lightly over them before pressing my lips to his skin.

"Baby, please come to me next time. Please," I pleaded, giving my best puppy dog eyes.

"Okay. I love you, Sky," he whispered before leaning down and pressing a lingering kiss to my lips.

"Let's go home," he said as he pulled me up from the wooden bench. "We have a lot of cuddling to catch up on."