drowning | l.h.

4

The boys and I arrived at Brisbane late at night, but none of us were sleepy enough to just go to bed straightaway so we stayed up well into the morning, getting familiar with Luke and Calum's friends we were staying with.

I woke up to the sound of Luke's voice and when I opened my eyes, he leaned over me, smiling sleepily.

"Morning beautiful" he grinned and kissed my forehead slowly.

"Morning" I yawned and stretched, turning around in the comfortable warm bed and closing my eyes once again.

I heard a low chuckle besides me as Luke sighed:"Bella, you gotta get ready! We're meeting Mila and her father in half an hour."

It took some time to process the information Luke just gave me but then I remembered: Mila was gonna support the boys on their tour and her dad was managing the boys for now.

I sighed and got up slowly, still worn out from the lack of sleep.

"Luke" a blue-haired girl screamed as she saw my boyfriend, running towards him as he grinned and opened his arms to wrap them around her.

I swallowed hard, trying to hide my jealousy, which started to get worse the longer I looked at Mila. The girl was pure perfection. Her hair was rather short and a faded dark blue color, she had her nose pierced and a few tattoos on her arms. Mila's style looked like something I would like to wear if I wasn't having a total lack of confidence. In short, Mila was everything I wanted to be, besides her I felt like the most regular, boring girl in the world.

My jealousy started fading a little as Mila let Luke go and beamed at me, giving me a quick hug.

"So, you're Bella then"

I nodded.

"Luke talked endlessly about you " Mila said full of enthusiasm, making Luke roll his eyes while I chuckled a little. Even though her looks still intimidated me, maybe Mila wasn't that bad after all.

Michael and Ashton introduced themselves to Mila while Luke and Calum greeted her dad and after all the greetings were done, we finally got to the most important part of this whole meeting: food.

The morning passed by quickly, and it seemed like I only blinked once before it was suddenly evening and time for the boys and Mila to prepare for the show.

This time, I wouldn't go out to stand in the crowd, I'd just stay backstage and try to get to know Mila some more after her short set was over.

Mila was absolutely buzzing once she came back into the small backstage room, receiving high-fives from the boys who left to play their songs.

"That was the best thing ever" Mila said once the boys left the room and grinned at me.

I smiled at the tall girl. "What I heard from back here sounded awesome!"

"Thank you" Mila said and I could see a little blush creeping onto her cheeks. "I'm nothing compared to Luke and Calum though and I bet Michael and Ashton are just as talented as the others."

"Seems like you spent lots of time with Cal and Luke?"

"I did, I also just started Uni and I don't know if anyone told you but I'm from Sydney aswell. It's too bad that Luke got kicked out, he's such a fun guy to be around"

I just sat there, staring at Mila. I must have misheard what she just said. Kicked out? This wasn't what happened, right. Luke had just told me that he left Uni because it wasn't what he wanted to be doing with his life.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mila asked, but I just shook my head slowly. I put on my best fake smile and managed to come up with a pretty decent lie.

"I just realized I forgot to bring my toothbrush for tour, but I guess I can handle that."

Mila laughed a little and I wearily smiled, trying my best to hold myself together.

I had to act like everything was fine on the ride back to Calum and Luke's friends where we'd stay for another night because I didn't want to cause a scene in front of everybody, but once we got out of the car and Luke wanted to hold my hand, I jerked away, not allowing him to touch me which made him give me a confused look, but then he just went on to chat to Ashton.

"What's wrong?" Michael whispered, clearly having seen me denying Luke's touch.

"Nothing" I sighed, pressing the words out between my teeth.

"Guys! Are you ready to party?" Ashton turned around, beaming at us while throwing an arm around Mila who laughed, mirroring Ashton's good mood.

I took a look at the house Cal lived in with his friends and groaned. The lights were on, music was blasting and more-or-less wasted people were stumbling across the yard.

I groaned, a party was the last thing I needed right now.

Luke noticed my bad mood once he turned around and waited for me to be next to him. "What's bothering you, Bella?"

I glared at him, feeling anger rush up in me as he acted so sweet while being such a liar.

"Your damn lies" I growled, keeping my voice low, only loud enough for Luke to hear.

Luke stopped walking and grabbed my arm softly.

"What? When did I lie to you?"

I couldn't start accusing Luke with what Mila had told me earlier as Calum turned around, screaming for us to come, but Luke shouted back that we'd take a walk and come to the party later.

"So?" Luke asked again, his voice full of anxiety.

"You got kicked out of Uni?" I said, letting my anger show.

"Can we walk for a bit?" Luke asked and I started walking, not even bothering to answer.

"Let me keep it short. There was this guy bothering me about drugs, trying to peer pressure me into taking some, I denied, he kept on trying to convince me, I hit him, I got kicked out."

I nodded, but his explanation didn't make the feeling of mistrust go away.

"Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? Is it so hard to be honest for you?" I wasn't even angry more and my words reflected the disappointment I felt.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't want you to worry. Besides that, I didn't lie - I might have extended the truth a little, but I planned on quitting anyways because Uni really did suck."

I sat down on a bench on the sidewalk and Luke kneeled down in front of me.

"I never meant to upset you, honey. I shouldn't have kept the truth from you."

I sighed, looking down into Luke's blue eyes and seeing regret reflecting in them, so I decided to just let it go.

I stood up and so did Luke, opening his arms in which I let myself fall directly, holding onto his muscular back.

"I'm really sorry, Bella. I love you" Luke whispered, kissing the top of my head.

I looked up, giving Luke a small smile and stretching up to kiss him.

"Let's go and enjoy the party" I said as enthusiastically as I could.

***
A/N: Hi Guys!
It's been a while since i've talked to ya'll in the notes...
I hope you still like this fanfic even though the updates never seem to be regular...sorry for that x
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Love ya'll ❤️