It's a Long Way Home (Luke Hemmings)

Cheers Over Beers

   Michael stretched his arms over his head and scratched at the hair that stuck flat against his face. I laughed at the way his eyes fluttered open sleepily.
"Rise and shine," I joked. It was like 2 PM, yet here Michael was, on our couch, just then waking up.
"I'm gonna shower," he croaked. Clearly the couch didn't do it for him because he looked pretty exhausted. I just laughed and followed him back to my room.
"Don't you have any shampoo that doesn't smell like flowers and strawberries?" He asked.
"Nope," I smiled, "the smell will suit you, you're like a teeny kitten."
   Michael rolled his eyes and pushed me playfully.
"You're teenier," he said.
"Teeny baby," I teased, handing him a towel from the cabinet.
"Get outta here," he said, lightly pushing me aside and closing the door.
   I took the bit of free time I had to change into a pair of high waisted shorts and a blue and black striped crop top. I pulled my black docs over my feet and called it good. I winged my eyeliner like a pro, then threw on some foundation to even out my skin tone. Even though I looked pretty simple, I felt cute. I smiled at myself in the mirror and left my room to open the front door.
   Calum and Ashton came in with bags of Chinese food and a few liters of Coca Cola.
"Dani, I missed you," Calum said, taking me into his arms and squeezing me tightly. He smelled faintly of body spray and bubble gum.
   Then it was Ashton's turn to greet me but he one-upped Calum by picking me up when he hugged me. I giggled in his tight grip. When he set me back down I leaned against the kitchen counter and smiled at the two of them. It had been half a month since I had seen them.
"Where are Michael and Luke?" Ashton asked.
"Both finishing up getting ready. It's funny, they complain about how long I take."
"You take Michael and I'll take Luke," Calum grinned at Ashton. Ashton nodded playfully and they both ran off in separate directions.
   I heard Luke gasp from his room and a few seconds later Michael squealed from mine. I'm not quite sure what they did but a minute later we were all gathered together at the kitchen counter with boxes of takeout in front of us.
   Luke's hair wasn't styled and it hung down his forehead just above his eyebrows. It looked cute on him. Michael on the other hand, was more dedicated. His hair was fully done but he had no shirt on.
"A toast to Luke," Michael started, "for dropping the devil off at the nearest gas station!"
   We all laughed and bumped our glasses of Coke together gleefully.
   We each had our own box of food but Calum kept picking at my leftover orange chicken until I slapped his hand away. I smiled at him and swiped some of his fried rice.
"You know, Luke," Ashton started with a mouth full of chewed up egg roll, "you can date anyone now."
"Yeah. Single and ready to mingle," Michael teased.
"You can even date me!" Ashton chimed.
   Calum laughed and nudged Luke with his elbow, "bet you're gonna want to get with Dani now that you're single."
   I made eye contact with Luke and both of our faces went red in embarrassment.
"Oh stop teasing. I'm going to embrace being single for the time being. Someone really intelligent once told me that I'll have to learn to love myself before someone else can."
   Luke grinned at me sweetly and I sent him a proud glance.
"Funny, I don't remember telling you that," Michael laughed.
   We all rolled our eyes at him. Calum picked up a single noodle and tossed it straight at him, landing on his nose and sticking to his face. I let out a loud laugh while Michael squealed.
   Michael looked at me with a devious smile and picked up one of his own noodles and threw it at me. It stuck to my chin and drooped down to the nape of my neck.
"You're on, Clifford," I say, taking a few noodles and missing him by inches.
   Calum threw a noodle at me and it landed on my arm. Ashton took it off and put it in his mouth.
"Mmm."
   Luke shuddered when Michael threw one that stuck to his forehead. Ashton peeled it off of Luke and once again stuck it in his mouth. We all laughed and Ashton took another one off of his own shirt to eat it.
"You're so gross, mate," Luke squirms while Ashton picks another one off of his arm.
   Ashton makes a kissy face and Luke stops him by pressing a handful of noodles to his face.

   An hour after cleaning our mess up we sit on the living room couch and talk over a few beers.
   Calum takes another sip and gets Luke's attention by gesturing the lip of his bottle in Luke's direction, "why were you with Avery anyway," he asks.
   Luke sighs and leans back in the couch, taking a swig of beer before saying, "I dunno mate. I guess I was just too insecure to accept the fact that I deserve better."
   Luke looked at me and smiled from the corner of his mouth. Michael traced his line of vision back to me and smiled awkwardly.
   Calum laughed playfully, "of course you deserve better. You'd be better off dating Ash like he suggested."
   Ashton grinned and in a high pitched voice said "I love you Lukey," batting his eyelashes exaggeratingly.
   Michael tapped my shoulder anxiously and whispered, "can we step aside for a sec."
   I nodded at his request and followed him to my room. He sat down on my mattress and pat the spot beside him so that I could sit down.
   I crossed my legs next to him and asked what's up.
"I was just, you know, wondering. We've had this thing going for like a week or so, and, well I wanted to know..."
   I nodded, urging him to keep going. He exhaled and drummed his fingers on his knees.
"Do you really have feelings for me. I mean, relationship feelings. The kind where you could see yourself being with me, for serious."
   I smiled gently and took his hand in mine.
"I like you, Michael. But.. I just couldn't see myself in a relationship with you. I see you as more of a best friend and I think I was a little bit mixed up when we started this."
   Michael squeezed my hand tighter in his.
"I was thinking you felt that way. You know, I had a crush on you from the minute I saw you. I want you to know, though, I would love for our relationship to be whatever you're comfortable with, even if that means just friends."
"Thank you."
   I smiled at him and brushed the little bit of hair that was falling past his eyebrow. His eyes fluttered closed and I placed one small last kiss on his lips.
"One for the road," I chuckled.
   He laughed and pulled me into a close hug, "you know we're still going to talk about everything."
"Of course, you're my best friend," I say, hugging him even tighter.

   Michael and I walked back out of my room and my eyes met with Luke's. He beamed at me with so much joy in his expression. I smiled back at him and took a seat by his side.
"Oh, glad you're back Dani we were just talking about this new song we're writing," Calum grinned.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, "what's it called?"
"It's called She's Kinda Hot," Ashton said proudly.
   I giggled and Luke leaned on towards me to whisper in my ear, "you're kinda hot."
I shoved him jokingly and leaned my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around the side of my waist.
"I missed you," I whisper.
"I missed you a lot too," he whispered back, pulling me even closer towards his body.

________________________________

A/n:

Oooo I just love this chapter. I'm so sorry that I didn't update for two days I've been really tired. I write my chapters around 12-1 AM but some distractions have gotten the best of me.
All apologies aside, the resolution has finally come. Here on out you can expect to have a smile plastered to your face because I love me some fluff.
Also, if anyone is confused about the timing, chapters 1-13 take place between August and December. Dani first moves in with Luke in August and her school term doesn't start until January, so she's still on break in this chapter. Hope that cleared things up a bit.
Love you all,
Miss America