Foreign Exchange // Punk Luke Hemmings

Stars

I lay in my bed that night looking out the window on the adjacent wall. The stars were perfectly visible, or at least as visible as they could be here. I could easily identify the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt, Pegasus, the North Star, and others. And as I stared into the vast sky, it occurred to me that it's the same sky everywhere, just different ways of seeing it.

That's what made me think about Luke. Not that I (mostly unwillingly) didn't think about him all the time now, but I had a new thought regarding the tall Aussie in my house.

The fact that everyone, every human being to ever have been and that will ever be, made planet Earth their home. Unless the human race expands to other planets, or dies off completely, it will always be that way. And that's somewhat terrifying, but it also puts a lot of things in perspective.

That thought connected to Luke by reminding me that, of the several billion people on the Earth, I just happened to meet Luke. And if things had gone just slightly differently, I might not have met him. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one, and that honestly scared me.

This boy teased and taunted me over the last few days, and I hated him thoroughly. But at the same time, he had also been pretty kind to me. He bought me things, he offered to sign my band, something that meant more to me than the universe, and he knew it made me happy. It seemed to make him happy too.

As I searched the depths of the sky, I wondered what the stars looked like from his bedroom window in Australia. I drifted off to sleep at around three am and had one of the best nights of had in a while.

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<Luke's POV>

I lay in in the extra bed set up in Danny's room, staring out the window across the room. The stars here looked so different than back home. The constellations were misplaced and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

But no matter how messed up the sky here was, it made me think of Haylee. No matter what our relationship was like, I always thought about her. Ever since I first laid eyes on her, I couldn't get her out of my head.

That's what terrified me. Earlier today I thought we were getting places. I thought that I was finally figuring out how to get out of those diamond walls in my head. But I was holding myself back.

Sure I wasn't expecting it to happen overnight. I knew it would take time to destroy all my barriers, even if it's only for Haylee. Because she is obviously a very emotional and devoted person, and she needs someone who could give her that back. Until I could do that, show how I really felt toward her or even just in general, I wouldn't be that person for her.

Who knows? I might figure it out tonight, and I might figure it out after I left America. I had no way of knowing, and that also terrified me. The fact that I might miss my chance with her, the only person who's ever made me want to change, has been gnawing at my insides.

However, at the same time, I didn't want to be the person that swept Haylee off her feet. I didn't want to have to go through all the trouble that comes along with change. Sure, it might be for the better, but I'm confident inside my mental fortress. I'm safe and secure in my head and no one can hurt me.

I didn't want to have to make the commitments that come with serious relationships. I much preferred one night stands over relationships that could last a lifetime. It sounds awful, I know, but again, it's one of the things that helps contribute to my own confidence and happiness for that matter. The fact that I could have so much power over a girl to make her want to spend just a single night with me? It thrilled me.

Haylee scared me because she was beginning to make me rethink my previous ideas of a relationship. She made me want to stop sleeping around. She made me want a committed relationship, with all the ups and downs that would entail, and I'd never felt that before.

Every time I was near her, I felt my insides turn to goo and my palms get sweaty. Simply seeing her made a mess of me. And she wasn't only gorgeous, she had a personality and a brain and talent. She intimidated me in a way no one, especially another girl, ever had.

So as I lay there on the extra bed in the home of a family I'd met just a few days ago, I tried to find answers in the unfamiliar pinpricks of light above me. I tried to figure out what I felt towards Haylee, but I wasn't sure if that would ever happen. I wondered if she was still awake, and if she was, were her eyes searching these same stars for answers to her questions? Were any of them about me?

If any of them were, would I ever be able to answer them?

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A/N

So yeah. I kinda didn't really know what to write for this chapter, then I listened to the songs "My House" and "Eyelids" (both by Pvris) and I got this idea. It was pretty short, and I apologize about that. It was also literally nothing but filler, but instead of them doing a lot of stuff, you guys got some more internal stuff.

I hope you enjoyed that little snippet of Luke's POV too. I figured if I just did Haylee's it would be like not even a chapter unless I wanted it to be super repetitive. And I figured that would suck so I did a bit of Luke's POV. But don't worry: I will still do a full chapter in his POV when it will come around next. I think that's in like two chapters or whatever.

Hope this didn't suck too much. I like some parts of it, I dislike other parts, so yeah. Love you guys and thank you for over 4,000 reads!!! <3

~CC