"Stuck In The Friend-Zone Again and Again"

"You're Telling Me"

I was completely wiped after finishing exams and everything, so we headed to bed around 9:30.
I snuggled in with Luke, and after only a couple of minutes of listening to his steady heartbeat, I was practically unconscious.

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The next morning I woke up late (for me), around 8.
Luke was on his phone, and I mumbled a sleepy good morning to him.
He smiled down at me. "Sleep well?"
"For the first time in a few weeks," I told him.
"Poor thing," he sighed, ruffling my hair.
I sighed in content, snuggling further into Luke's chest and he handed me my phone before I could ask for it.
I scrolled through Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest for a while.
Then I texted Jake for a bit.

Basically every minute I hadn't been with the boys, my friends, or alone, I had been with Jake.
We were really close, and we were the power couple of our school.
Pake was a total thing in my school.
We texted constantly, had many cuddle sessions and midnight face times.
The boys didn't know this of course, but they would soon find out when they met Jake the next day.

I then switched to writing on WattPad.

Even though I was friends with the boys, I still worked on my fan fiction about them quite often.
I couldn't just leave my readers hanging!
My book did quite well; it had been in the top 10 in fan fiction for the past few months, even before I met the boys.

"Missing Him Was Dark Grey All Alone; a Luke Hemmings Story" was about a 17 year old girl who was in love with Luke Hemmings, but he had no idea that she existed.
Basically me before I met the boys.
It started like this: "I missed him, God I missed him. But how could you miss someone who didn't know you existed?"

After 20 minutes, Luke looked over.
"What're you doing?" He asked.
I hid the screen of my phone against my chest. "Nothing," I said quickly.
Luke swiftly grabbed the phone from my hands.
He looked at the screen, and his lips turned up into a smirk.
He looked up at me, eyes dancing. "You still work on this?"
"I can't just leave my readers hanging!" I protested.
He laughed. "Really?"
I frowned. "It's important to me."
He stopped laughing. "Sorry," he said quickly, handing me back my phone.
"It's just-" I started.
"You don't have to explain," Luke told me.
"I feel like I have to, though," I said seriously.
He nodded.
"Before I met you guys I was... going through some stuff, to say the least," I said slowly.
Luke raised his eyebrows.
"I was depressed," I admitted.
He frowned.
"I'm okay now," I said quickly. "Best I've ever been on that front, actually."
He looked confused.
"Most of my depression was based on loneliness," I explained. "I was extremely lonely. I was surrounded by friends and family, of course, but not that kind of lonely. I was desperate and aching for love, affection. To quote Audrey Hepburn: I was born with an enormous need for affection and a terrible need to give it," I said. "I wrote the main character, Ally, feel exactly like that. And then she met you. And you loved her. And those feelings slipped away. And it was kind of the same for me. I met you, and I may not have had love, but I met my idol, the person who kept me going. And then Jake..." I trailed off. "Let's just say that my life right now? It's pretty great."
Luke smiled slightly. "You're so different than any other girl, you know that?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You've got so much stuff going on inside of you, but outside you're just the nicest and most happy person. Most people would let sadness overtake them, but you... You just, carry on and do what you have to do. It's incredibly inspiring."
I shrugged. "It's all I've ever known. When I was little, I decided that keeping my hurt to myself was the best option, because if everyone saw that I as this little girl was strong, then they would find strength within themselves. I got used to it. Sometimes, I felt as if I didn't do something, all of my feelings would just explode out of me. Then, when I was 12, I started writing songs to release my emotions, and it worked. Tears may stain the pages but it helped my immensely. Still does."
He shook his head disbelievingly. "You're unbelievable. You bottle up all your feelings at your own expense to maybe help other people? You're too good to be friends with me."
I smiled. "I never told anyone that before," I confessed.
"But you told me?" He said, shocked.
"I trust you. I know you won't make fun of me," I told him honestly.
"Not about that at least," I added with a grin.
Luke laughed. "Too good," he repeated.

I went back to my story with a smile, writing in a more suspenseful moment where Luke accuses Ally of cheating because he saw some pictures from a few weeks before, when he was on tour, but in reality she had just went to her friend so she wouldn't feel so lonely with Luke gone on tour not to return for two more weeks.

Plot for this story was a win.

I sneaked a glance at Luke, who had also gone back to his phone.
I was too good? He shouldn't have even given me a second glance that first day.

He was famous heartthrob Luke Hemmings, loved by millions.
I was nerdy aspiring writer Paris Hadley, normal until one day turned my life upside down.
Despite how different we seemed, we worked. We were close. And that was what mattered.