The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

58. Nerves

I threw my bags on the ground after I slammed the door behind me. I stood there for a moment before I ran to my bedroom and plopped down on the bed. Going on a vacation is amazing, but coming home will always be the best part. "How was work honey?!" I heard Anna yell. "Great." I yelled into my pillow, knowing she won't hear it. While being sprawled out on the bed I thought about the events of the past few days. It was three days ago when... Well... You know. Luke refused to talk to Elliot, only when the others were around he'd say as less as possible. Just so it won't raise suspicion to the others. And they didn't hear a thing. Apparently every room was sound proof, so that was definitely a good thing. And after all that Elliot did as Luke told him to. He stayed away from me. Even if he wanted to, it would be hard because Luke was with me 24/7. Seriously. He would check up on me in the middle of the night to see if I was okay. It was sweet though, that he cared so much. Basically Luke and him made a deal. Luke wouldn't tell the police what happened and Elliot wouldn't tell anybody we were together. It was a decision we had to make and had to forget what happened. Even though it was hard. We had rehearsed one more time and said goodbye to the beach... By laying on it the whole day. Not like you don't have that in Sydney, but it was different in LA. I heard the door of my bedroom opening and the bed dipped down next to me. "Heeeei. You're pretty." I heard Anna say in a creepy voice. I turned to her and she started laughing. I chuckled. I was too exhausted to laugh. "No way!" She said and touched my new piercing lightly. "You are the awesomest person ever, gosh." She said while admiring it. "Thanks." I said with a chuckle. "Well? Tell me. How'd it go? Met any celebrities?" She asked. That's when I remembered. I still had Martin Garrix's number somewhere... "Martin Garrix said we had to do a collab sometime!" I said. "What the fuck." She said and looked at me like she didn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either. "Yea, we went to a studio in LA where famous people record, he was there, recognized me and told me to do a collab sometime. And gave me his numbeerrr" I sung. "Dude!" She said and shoved me off the bed. "Why have Luke when you could have him?" I chuckled and stood up, sitting on the bed again. "We stayed in a beautiful beach house and went to the beach almost every day... Oh, I wrote 4 songs." I said and she shook her head. "Probably depressing as fuck." She said and I chuckled. "Yea, they are..." I said while scrunching my nose up. "I went shopping also, bought a lot of things..." She nodded. "Yea, you went away with 2 suitcases and came back with 2 suitcases and a massive bag." Anna cut me off and I chuckled. Then my face turned serious again. "I saw my father." I said and her smile fell. "In LA? He still lives there? What did he say?" She asked and I wrapped my arms around my knees. "Yea, he still lives there. He looked really bad, he was drunk, called me a whore, slut, all that stuff... Hasn't changed a bit." I said and she shook her head. "What did you say?" She asked. "I was shocked and I ran away. It didn't look like he wanted to have a nice conversation." I said and she nodded while pulling me in a hug. "That man deserves to step on lego's his whole life." She said and I chuckled. "I saw Quinn too, in the shop where I got this piercing actually. She's the owner of the shop with her boyfriend. She does piercings and he does tattoos." I said and she nodded. "That's so cool! Are you going to keep contact?" She asked and I nodded. "Anything else happened?" She asked and I thought for a moment. "Elliot was being normal, until a few days back... He... I think he almost raped me. I don't know what his intentions were. But it really scared me. He almost kissed me but then Luke came into the room and beat his ass. He didn't do anything beside that." I said. My eyes started to water at the thought of that terrible experience. "You know why bad things keep happening to good people?" She asked while hugging me. "Why?" I sniffled. "Because they're strong enough to handle them."

~

I felt myself waking up but I didn't want to open my eyes just yet. Until my phone started blaring Afterlife by Switchfoot... I groaned and rolled over, almost falling off the bed. I opened my eyes and looked at the time. 10am. I threw the blankets off of me and sat on the edge of the bed, furiously wiping my eyes. When the song was over I played my whole Switchfoot playlist. I walked to the kitchen and made myself some cereal while nodding my head along to the beat of the songs. After I ate my breakfast I made my way to the bags I threw somewhere when I came home. I dragged them to my room so I could unpack everything and with all my strength I put them on my bed. What the hell was in these bags? Oh wait, probably a ton of clothes. Nevermind. I began to unpack and put all the clothes back in my closet until I saw something in the corner of my eye. It was at the bottom of the closet, under a pile of socks. What the hell is it...? I shoved the socks away and saw that it was my old skateboard. "Aw, hell yas." I whispered while grabbing it. I held it in front of me and looked at the chipped off paint on the back of the skateboard. I threw it on the ground so it rolled away from me. I took two big steps and jumped on it, skating through the apartment. "Avoid the couch!" I said to no one in particular. I skillfully avoided the couch and I skated to my bedroom again. I stepped on the end of the skateboard so I could grab it easily. This would actually come in handy today, so I won't have to walk through those long corridors... And it'd be faster than walking, so maybe I'll be on time for once. I laid the skateboard in the corner of my room and turned around to my closet. I grabbed a pair of sweats and a tank top and put them on. I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I tried to untangle my hair with a brush... Without any luck. After my brush got stuck in my hair a couple of times I gave up. I quickly put some mascara on and walked to my bedroom again. I opened a drawer of my closet and looked at the caps that were laying in it. After a while I grabbed a black and white cap with the New York skyline on it and put it on. My hair looked a little bit less like a mess. Ha, that rhymes. It was 12pm now and Marcus and Charlotte could be here any minute. They asked me if I needed a ride last night. I have my own car, but why not ride with them? It's more fun anyways. I quickly grabbed my lip balm and put it in the pocket of the sweats and ran to the bedroom to brush my teeth. After that my phone buzzed.

Marcus: Yoohoo, we're downstairs.

Me: K, be there in a sec

I rinsed my mouth, put my Vans and leather jacket on and searched for the light pink with grey scarf I bought in LA... And after a while I found it. I grabbed my skateboard and walked to the elevator.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping." Marcus quoted Mean Girls while I was walking towards the car. I chuckled and stepped in. "Hello to you too." I said while sprawling out over the back seat. Charlotte was driving and Marcus sat next to her. "Sure, act like you're home..." Charlotte said with a wink. I grinned and recognized the song that was on the radio. Yup, it was She Looks So Perfect. Marcus and Charlotte didn't notice it, or just didn't think it was that special because they kept talking. "Wow, that's really smart." Charlotte said while looking at my skateboard. "Yea, I know. I won't have to walk through those long corridors again..." I said and she nodded. "I tried to skate once, but I suck at it." She said and I chuckled. I hummed along to the song and relaxed in the back seat. "Hey, isn't this Luke's song?" Marcus asked and I nodded. I raised my fist in the air when the 'drop' of the song came. "SHE LOOKS SO PERFECT STANDING THERE, IN MY AMERICAN APPAREL UNDERWEAR, AND I KNOW NOW, THAT I'M SO DOWN." I sung very loudly. "Why aren't you guys singing? Come on!" I said to Charlotte and Marcus. "Well, excuse me, but we're not dating one of the members, therefore we don't have to know every line of every song." Marcus sassed and I chuckled. "True." Charlotte said and I shrugged. I raked my hand through my hair, which was still a mess. I adjusted the cap on my head and another song began playing. It was La La Land by Demi Lovato. We all looked at each other, before singing along loudly. Luckily for the people outside, our windows were closed.

~

I went with my hand through my hair one last time before looking in the mirror again. I put my cap on backwards and grabbed a water bottle out of the mini fridge in the dressing room. I grabbed my skateboard and walked out of the dressing room. I looked left and right, to see if anyone was coming. Nope. I laid it on the ground and skated away. "Yahaas." I said quietly to myself when I skated through the corridors skillfully. This was much more faster than walking. And more fun. Just at that moment a door opened in front of me and it was too late to stop. The person walked out of the dressing room and I saw his eyes widen as he saw me coming towards him. And yea. I clung myself onto him. He didn't expect it and lost his balance, falling to the ground with me. My skateboard rolled a little further before stopping also, next to my bottle of water. I looked at the person who was laying under me and smiled. "Hey." I said with a smile. "What a nice surprise." Luke said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes before looking left and right. Nobody was coming. Good. I quickly pecked him on the lips before standing up and holding my hand out for him. He took my hand, but without the intention to get up. He just dragged me down again, so I was now sitting on his lap. "You can't just give me a peck and walk away you know." He said while his lips neared mine. "We can't Luke, not her-" He shut me up with a deep and passionate kiss. I smiled into the kiss and carefully broke it, leaving Luke pouting. "Not here." I said again while pecking his lips and standing up again. I didn't hold my hand out for him this time. He'd definitely pull me back again. I grabbed my water bottle and pushed my skateboard away. "Byee." I said while winking. Luke was still sitting on the ground, watching me skate away from him.

~

Tomorrow were the finals. That thought was running through my mind the whole night already. And right now it was 2am. Fuck, I really need to sleep. I already took some sleeping pills, but they didn't work until and hour after taking them in. This morning we had the last rehearsals... Ever. It sunk in while I was singing the last sentence from Still Into You. And it sucked. I always loves performing and after this... I wouldn't do it that much anymore. Of course, at Jones', but that aren't as many people there. After tomorrow I had nothing to work towards to anymore. I sighed and rolled around in my bed for a while. I set the alarm on 1pm, letting myself sleep in. I had to be there at 3pm anyways. I had enough time. And they'd do my makeup, hair and clothes there, so I can just go there makeup-less with my bed hair and in my pyjamas. I might consider doing just that. Just for the heck of it. Okay, maybe I won't do that. I felt my eyelids getting heavier and I knew the sleeping pills were finally beginning to work. And after a couple of seconds I was in a deep sleep.