A Second Chance

"eating pepperoni off your face"

Luke

She laughed as I placed a piece of pepperoni on my face. I laughed at myself once she showed me the picture she had taken of me. She had the biggest smile on her face, and she laughed like it was her last day on earth.

"Oh my god, Luke." She smiled.

"What? Pepperoni looks good on me doesn't it? I should wear it more often." I said jokingly.

She threw her head back in laughter, and I smiled at her. Calum and Ashton walked in the kitchen, laughing at me the instant they saw me.

"Luke-" Calum said between laughs.

"What are you doing?" Ashton asked, picking the pepperoni off my face and eating it.

"Eating pizza. What are you doing?" I asked them.

"Eating pepperoni off your face." He said, taking another piece off my face and eating it.

"Ash, stop." Calum said, dying of laughter.

"What? It tastes good." Ashton whined.

Sara burst out laughing, making us all laugh like crazy. After a long while, we calmed down, and cleaned up the kitchen. It took a long time, since we couldn't stop playing around. As I was washing the dishes, I threw some bubbles at Sara, and she threw some back. In about ten minutes, not only were the dishes clean, but Sara and I were all bubbly.

"Luke! Seriously?" Sara laughed, wiping some bubbles off her face.

"Sorry!" I said, helping her get it off.

"It's fine." She said, suddenly sounding sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"N-Nothing. I just-" She sighed. "Nothing."

"You sure?" I said, looking into her chocolate brown eyes.

She looked down at her hands, and I could see a tear go down her cheek. I could tell something was wrong.

"Yeah." She said, walking away and into the bathroom.

I could hear muffled crying coming from inside.

 What happened? Weren't we just playing around? Did I hurt her?

Sara

I couldn't stop crying. I sat in the corner of the bathroom, crying into my hands. I saw his beautiful face in my mind. His red hair, bubbly and sticking up. His chocolate brown eyes, teary from laughing. His big smile, wide open mouth, letting all the laughs out. Just remembering the day pained me.

"Sara!" He laughed, throwing bubbles at me. 

I laughed, throwing a handful at him. We played around with the soapy water for ages until Mum came in the room, laughing at us.

"You're supposed to be washing the dishes! Not playing around." She laughed. 

Her long, straight, brown hair bounced as she laughed at us. Sam and I laughed too.

"DYLAN! WHERE THE HECK ARE THE KIDS?" Papa came in, running a hand through his red hair. "There you are." 

He grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him out the room. 

"SHANE! PLEASE STOP!" Mum ran after Papa.

I followed them, into the living room and hid behind the door, looking through the crack.

"WHY IS THIS STILL HERE?" Papa yelled into Sam's face.

"I-I-"

"I TOLD YOU TO PUT IT AWAY EARLIER! WHY IS THIS STILL HERE?" Papa cut him off.

"I didn't know you told me to put it away, Papa." Sam said.

"I TOLD YOU A HOUR AGO TO PUT IT BACK IN YOUR ROOM!" Papa said, slapping Sam hard in the face.

"SHANE!" Mum ran up to Sam, pulling him away from Papa's grasp.

She hugged Sam in her arms tightly, rubbing his back. Sam sobbed into Mum's shoulder, and I could see half of his face was as red as his hair. I cried, as I ran up to my room, knowing that if Papa caught me watching, he'd yell at me, too. And possibly slap me, too. I cried into my pillow, listening to the argument between Mum and Papa. I could hear a loud slapping sound. He had slapped someone again. I could hear Mum crying, and running up the stairs.

"Samuel, I'm so sorry." She said, laying him on his bed on the other side of the room.

Mum and Sam had red hand prints on their cheeks. They both laid in Sam's bed, hugging each other, crying. I walked over to them and cried along with them. I could hear Papa stomping around, yelling, swearing. I trembled with fear, scared he might come up here and hurt them again. Mum hugged me too, and we all laid in Sam's small bed, crying our eyes out.

I heard a knock on the door. 

"Sara, you okay in there?" Luke said.

I cried harder, and he started to ask again.

"Sara? What's wrong?" He asked through the door.

I stopped crying, and I stood up and walked up to the sink, washing my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. My red hair was a mess. Frizzy, knotted and sticking up. I rinsed my hair, and combed through it with my fingers. It looked a bit better when I was done.  I opened the door, and Luke instantly hugged me.

"What happened? What's wrong?" He asked me.

"Nothing." I lied.

"You were crying. That wasn't 'nothing'. You can tell me Sara." He said, letting me go.

I walked out the kitchen and to the living room, sitting on the couch, laying my head on a throw pillow. It was soft and silky. Luke sat next to me, and we sat there, in a awkward silence. I started to remember Sam's red face. I could feel tears going down my cheeks.

"Stop crying." I whispered to myself.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Nothing. Hey, um, where am I going to sleep? I'm so tired." I said, trying to change the topic.

"Oh, yeah. Um. You can take my room, I'll sleep on the couch." 

"Really? No, it's fine. I'll stay here."

"No. I insist. You sleep in my room. I'm fine here."

"Okay. Thanks." 

"Um, so. Why were you crying?"