I woke up and Luke wasn't beside me. For a couple of seconds I thought last night had been a dream, but noticing my shirt on the floor made me quickly aware that it wasn't. I pulled it on and went to peer out of the door. I saw Luke at the bottom of the stairs, the door was open and he was talking to someone.
It was my dad.
"So, she is here? You're not just covering for her?" I heard him ask Luke, who awkwardly laughed and told him that I was definitely here, just asleep still.
I looked at the time, worried I'd slept in, but it was 9. I forgot to tell my mum I was staying, I was clearly too caught up in other things.
Pulling my messy hair into a ponytail and gargling some mouthwash before I brushed my teeth properly later, I bounced down the stairs as evidence that Luke wasn't lying.
"I'm sorry, dad. My phone died and it was too late when we got home from Luke's friend's house to come round, you'd have been asleep." I smiled, it was only a slight lie... It wasn't going to hurt anyone.
"Well – tell us next time, Belly." He shook his head at me, "You'll be back for tea, won't you?"
"Yeah, I don't want to overstay my welcome." I looked at Luke, blushing at my dad using his stupid nickname for me, and he smiled at me as if he was trying to supress a laugh. I wondered if he remembered they used to call me it.
My dad nodded to Luke, then walked back down his drive and as Luke shut the door, I immediately stopped him in his tracks – "Don't say anything."
"Say anything about what, Belly?" I elbowed him but then hugged him quickly, "Nobody's home, so we'll have to cook our own breakfast." Luke hugged me back, and lifted me so my legs were around his hips. He walked into the kitchen and sat me on the counter.
Before letting go, he stood between my legs and grinned at me. Sat on the counter, I was the same height as him, I leant forwards and kissed him. I was endlessly thankful for remembering to brush my teeth before this. My legs were tightly around him and his arms equally tight around me, we continued kissing until we heard the front door shut loudly.
Freeing each other quickly, we attempted to act casually. We didn't know who was here, but the kitchen door was open so all we could do was hope they hadn't seen us. Luke opened the fridge beside me and I began playing with my hair.
"Yeah, nice acting but I saw." A nasally, cute voice said, I recognised it as one of Luke's friends', but couldn't put my finger on which one it was. I turned to look at the door and saw Ashton standing in the doorway; "Came to see if you two had sorted things." His grin took up almost his entire face as he laughed.
I groaned and Luke smirked to himself. "We sorted them." I nodded. Ashton was the only one of Luke's friends I didn't mind at the moment, Michael had been laughing along with Calum – drunk or not, it's no excuse for being a prick. I was glad it was him that caught us.
"I also came to see if you were coming out with us today, we're seeing Teenage – um – TMNT." Ashton glanced at me, then noticed I knew what that meant, "Ironically, obviously, just because we wanted something to do."
I couldn't help but laugh as he added this – I knew Luke used to love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... when he was 8.
"Belly, wanna go?" Luke asked, receiving a glare from me.
"Sure, Lukey. If I'm welcome..." I raised an eyebrow at Ashton and he told me that I was. It would've been awkward with Calum though – the day after Luke had punched him because of me.
"Calum had anything to drink?" Luke passed me a plate with a sausage sandwich on that he'd been heating up while we spoke. Of course Liz still prepared his meals, even when she wasn't there.
