"Stuck In The Friend-Zone Again and Again"

"Shadows Covering"

The drive from the airport to Riverstone, the suburb of Sydney that Luke, Michael, and Calum lived in, was about 45 minutes, and we dropped off Ashton at his house in Hornsby (34 minute mark) on the way.

We dropped off Calum and Michael at their respective houses, and at 10:00 pm we finally made it back to Luke's place.

With the 14 hour time difference, it may have been 8:00 am at home in Ontario, but it was the dead of night in Sydney.

Luke grabbed my biggest suitcase out of the trunk, handing me the little one in the process.
I took hold of the handle and shifted my duffel so the strap wasn't digging into my collar bone.
I stood in front of the house, staring at the front door nervously as Luke closed the trunk.
Luke came up behind me and smiled at me, putting his hand on my shoulder like he could sense the anxiety bubbling in my stomach.
"You're worrying about them liking you, aren't you?" He chuckled.
I cringed. "Is it that obvious?"
"No," Luke smiled. "I just know you."
He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"To anyone else,-" he continued. "-you look fine. I can just read you."
"I can read you too," I beamed at him. "Call it Sherlock intuition."
He gave me a small smile that seemed kind of sad, but I didn't know why he would be sad.

I mentally shrugged.
Maybe I wasn't as good at reading people as I thought.

"C'mon," Luke said, taking my free hand with his. "Come meet the family."
I smiled nervously and allowed myself to be led inside.
As soon as the door shut behind us, we heard a voice from the next room.
"Luke? Is that you?" the voice, that I assumed belonged to Liz, called.
"Yeah, mum, just arrived," Luke called back.
A woman, who I recognized from pictures as Liz, came bustling into the room.
She gave Luke smile. "Drive okay?"
"Yeah, it was fine," Luke replied.
Liz looked at me happily.
"And you must be Paris," she smiled, hugging me.
"That would be me," I chuckled, hugging back as best I could with my bags.
"Mum," Luke said, blushing.
"Alright, alright," Liz chuckled, letting me go.
"Andrew's in the kitchen, your brothers are upstairs, go say hello," she told the both of us, heading back through the door that she came through.

Luke laughed slightly. "So that's my mum. Care to meet the rest of my family?"

I nodded, and Luke took my hand once again and led me to the living room where his dad sat on the couch.
He looked up from the screen and surveyed me.
"You must be Paris," he said, standing to greet me. "I'm Andrew."
"Um, yeah, hi," I said awkwardly, shaking the hand he offered.
"You're going on tour with Luke, correct?" He asked me.
"Uh, yeah, that's right," I said nervously.
"You're sure you can last that long with him?" Andrew joked.
"I grew up with a bunch of older male cousins back in the redneck bit of Ontario, I learned to handle myself pretty quickly," I chuckled.
Andrew smiled. "Is that so?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, we, uh, used to wrestle and go fishing and hunting and things."
"You hunt?" Luke asked, bewildered.
"Only bears and stuff like that," I said casually. "Not deer or anything. I don't like the idea of shooting anything that innocent. I leave that to them, and then I eat it when they bring it home."
Andrew smiled. "A regular country girl, I see. Not some girly girl."
"Never," I said seriously. "Except around spiders," I added thoughtfully.
Andrew laughed. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you."
"You too," I smiled.

Luke nudged my shoulder. "Let's go upstairs."
I nodded, and followed Luke up the stairs.
"Jack, Ben!" Luke yelled. "Paris's here!"
Several crashing sounds followed, and two boys around 21 years old appeared in front of us.
"That's Jack, and that's Ben," Luke said, pointing to each boy in turn.
I shook both of their hands, and they exchanged cheeky grins.
"So Paris," Jack said. "Luke said you were quite a looker but I think he under shot your beauty."
I blushed, looking down at my toes. "I, uh, um-"
Luke rolled his eyes, blushing as well. "Stuff it, Jack."
"Are you really as perfect as he says?" Ben prodded. "He talks about you like you're a goddess or something."
"I'm no goddess," I murmured, blushing deeper.
"Quit it, Ben," Luke said.
They both grinned.
"Enjoy your stay Paris," Jack smiled, before the two of them disappeared again.
"They were... Interesting," Paris said, slightly confused by their behaviour.
"Brothers," Luke huffed. "Here, I'll show you your room."

Luke led me to a nice sky blue room with a double bed and a desk, a big window right by the bed. He sat my bag on the ground and I did the same, motioning for him to sit beside me on the bed.
"Hopefully it's okay," Luke said anxiously.
"It's wonderful, Luke, thank you," I smiled.
He smiled.
"So do you think they liked me?" I said finally, voicing the question that had been pestering me.
Luke smiled reassuringly. "They liked you before you even got here. I told them about you and they all loved the stories. Mum and dad love you. The boys think you're absolutely brilliant. You've nothing to worry about."
"I've always got something to worry about," I chuckled. "But if they like me that puts that down on the list."
"Not off it?" Luke inquired, cocking his head to the side.
"Nothing ever really comes off the list," I explained.
Luke sighed, putting his arm around me and pulling me close to him.
"Is there anything that takes your mind of the list?"
I thought for a moment. "Well, being here with you guys and being busy and stuff. Being with J-" I cut myself off, remembering that Jake was a cheating douche bag and suddenly I wanted to cry.
I took a deep breath, holding back tears. "You, uh, should get some sleep," I said shakily.
He gave me a confused look.
"God knows I'll be up early and I don't want to be alone," I added.
He smiled and nodded, getting up from the bed and pausing at the door.
"G'night Paris," he said softly.
"Night Luke," I replied quietly.

He exited the room and shut the door behind him, and in the light of only the bedside lamp, I finally let the tears flow.