Gone Cold. -Luke Hemmings Love Story. AU-

Chapter 11

-Kit's POV-

My heart starts pounding as Luke jumps away from me as the drunken idiot runs through the field, continuing to chant something about home team. I'm guessing we won. I let out a long sigh of disappointment. I don't know what I'm most disappointed about. The fact that I almost let myself kiss Luke, or the fact that it didn't happen. With a noticeably red face, Luke gets up off the bleachers. "It's getting late." He says in a rather rushed tone. "I should really get home." He says, in a slower, but still faster than humanly possible tone.
"Want me to drive you?" I offer awkwardly.
And his response, was in fact the one I figured it would be. He declined my offer as he ran off in the opposite direction. "Such an idiot." I say to myself as I fall back on the bleachers. I'm now laying down where Luke was sitting. His spot has his body heat lingering on it. I put my hand on my face, where he was touching, his warmth has faded off my cheek, but I can still feel his forehead on mine. I don't want that to fade.
The feeling of being so close with him was one I couldn't explain. I've never felt something quite like it before. I never knew I wanted to kiss him so badly until it didn't happen. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but I'm finding it quite difficult not to. If this asshole would have held off even a second, my lips would have met Luke's. Then I'd know what I'm missing out on. I crave to know what I'm missing out on.
I sigh as I get up off the bleachers. When I'm on the ground, I see the dude that interrupted us, passed out in the grass. I'll be honest, for a brief moment, I thought that he may be dead, but I can hear his snores from half way across the field, telling me that he's just really fucking drunk.
I exit the field as I make my way to the crowded parking lot. I bump into such a large amount of people. I don't even know if I can count that high. They're all so rude about it, too. Half of them are the ones that are bumping into me, yet they have the nerve to eye me down and say 'watch where you're fucking going'! I grit my teeth as I hold back a long line of- pretty- words lined up for them.
Before too long, the parking lot is almost emptied. Enough so that I can see my car. I pull my keys out of my bag as I go over and take a seat in my car that is surprisingly cold. It's never cold in here. It's always like a sauna in here, actually. The cold is quite refreshing. I turn my radio on as I sit in the parking lot for a few minutes, not quite wanting to go home yet. It's too early and both of my parents have the night shift again. I'd be all alone. I say that as if I'm not right now. But, I guess what I'm saying is, I'd rather be alone in an empty parking lot with the radio in my car blasting than alone in a big dark house.
As I sit there, unintentionally tuning the music out, I can't help but think about Luke. I wonder what he's thinking about right now. Is he feeling the same way I am about it? Well, probably not. But, what is he thinking? If he thought nothing of it, he wouldn't have ran off so fast. So, I know that he does have a thought process going on. Maybe I totally freaked him out. Maybe the kiss was just in my head, and I was pushing it on him. Maybe the drunk dude was convenient for him, because he was looking for a way out and away from me. All I really know is that I don't want to talk about it with him. Ever. Even if it would be nice to have off my chest.
As I notice that it is not very early hours in the morning, I decide now would be a good time to go home. Before the sun starts rising. The drive home, was short as always. I mean, it's only ever a ten minute drive, but it felt even shorter than that. All I could think about was every possible thing I could have done wrong back there. I always do that. I will find every excuse I can to beat myself up. I pull into my drive way with a sigh.
When my car is all parked, I go into my house. To my surprise, the lights in the living room were on. I go into the living room, to see my mom sitting on the couch, watching TV. "What are you doing home?" I ask as I go sit down beside her. "I thought you had infinite amounts of work to do tonight?"
"I didn't have to do as much as I thought and got done early." She explains with a smile. "Why were you out so late."
"A friend asked me to go the the basketball game with him." I explain. "Since I figured that I'd be home alone anyways, I went. We ended up not paying too much attention, he's as big of a sports fan as I am, you see." I explain. "So, we wondered off and lost track of time. Then I went for a drive afterwards." I know that is only the half truth, but she really doesn't need the small details.
"Which friend, Ashton?" She asks. She adore's Ashton. We met him in the grocery store once, he was just hanging out there. Anyways, when he met my mom, he was himself and held a full conversation with her, and he ended up coming back home with us for dinner that night. He and my mom did most of the talking, which sounds super creepy, now that I think of it. But, it was just Ashton being Ashton.
"No, not Ashton." I say with a small laugh. "This one's named Luke." I tell her. "But, I have school tomorrow." I say and stand up. "I'll talk to you in the morning, okay?" I say as I go upstairs to my room, to prepare for bed.
~
-LUKE'S POV

I sit in the first class after lunch, waiting for Kit. It really must be opposite day, because I got here before she did. Which has happened so little times, I can count on one hand without using all of the fingers. When she does get here, she sits beside me with a smile. "Hemmings." She says.
"Kit Kat." I say and give her a small smile. "I think our home team won last night." I tell her, sarcastically."
"I heard a quote somewhere." She says before jokingly clearing her throat. "Home team for the win 2k15!" She says, with an impressive imitation of the dude that cut us off last night. I don't know what to do about the kiss that never was. Should I bring it up and see what she thinks about it, or should I act as if it never happened? Like the one she doesn't know about from the night she was drunk. But, I don't even count that as a kiss. I didn't let myself take in what was happening, because it shouldn't have happened. Maybe this kiss would have been much of the same.
I shake my head, losing my trail of thought about the kiss. "A wise man did once say that." I tell her with a small smile.
It goes quiet for a minute. But not a comfortable quiet. The kind of quiet that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand. I start thinking of something- anything to say. But I've got nothing. I just give her a smile that she returns. I start waiting for the teacher to talk or something, but it's a substitute today. One that doesn't want to do anything, giving us a free period. Any other day, I'd be all over that. But today it's awkward.
"So." She says, breaking the silence. "Are you any closer to figuring out that dudes name?" She asks, quickly.
"No." I say and start thinking about that. It's something that I've grown curious of. I mean, you see someone every day for the past year or so, you should know their name. But, naming him with Kit, Ashton, Michael and Calum has sort of became a joke between us. "It would be easy enough to figure out if one of you guys would go introduce yourselves to him."
She looks over at him, examining his face. "Maybe he has a name from another language. Like Juan or something."
I give her a small laugh. "Yeah, maybe." I say and sigh. "What are you doing after school?" I ask.
"Pizza with Ashton, Calum and Michael, why?" She asks.
I can't help but feel a little disappointed at that answer. "I was going to see if you wanted to hang out or something, but it's fine." I say, looking down at the desk.
"Why don't you come with?" She offers. "I know they wouldn't mind!"
"I'm sure they're getting sick of me being around all the time. It's fine. Another time." I say.
"No." She says. "There is no reason you can't come along. You're one of the only things Ashton talks about. He says he's starting to actually like you again."
I can't help but smile at that. "Okay." I say before I get a chance to really think it through.
~
"You want to drive again?" Kit asks me as we stand in the parking lot.
"You'd actually let me drive again?" I ask. A little bit in shock. I did terribly last time. I didn't think that offer would be on the table ever again.
"Of course I'd let you drive again." She says and tosses me the keys over. "How are you going to learn to drive properly if you never drive, silly?" She asks wit ha sweet smile.
"I guess you're right." I say before going over and unlocking the doors to her car. "I thought my driving scared you, Kit Kat."
"A little." She says before putting her seat belt on. "But, it's the only thing that scares me about you. I can live with it." She says before her face turns a bright shade of red. I just nod. "What's up with you?" She asks. "I mean the past few days, not in general."
"What do you mean?" I ask. I haven't really noticed much of a change in myself the past few days.
"You have been," She pauses and thinks. "Different."
I shrug as I pull out of the school parking lot. "Maybe my dad's new girlfriend has had the impact she's been hoping to have on me." I say and laugh, knowing that she wouldn't get it.
"Your dads new girlfriend?" She asks. I nod. "When did that happen?"
"About a month ago." I say. "But, of course I only found out the day before the game. She's trying so hard to connect with me."
"What do you mean?" She asks, with her eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"Well, Luke.." I say mimicking Karen. "I lost my mom at a young age. I know it's hard." I say and shake my head at that. Just the thought of her is pissing me off. "Because, Luke every two people are the exact same, so I know exactly how you're feeling. Maybe, but it's not like I actually care. I just want to impress your dad." I say, still using my Karen voice. I cough, trying to brush off how much I actually just let out. I just go back to focusing on the road.
"Why don't you tell your dad to get her to butt out of your head?" She asks.
"That wouldn't work." I say, in a smaller than usual voice. "He doesn't like me too much."
"Luke, I'm sure he loves you a lot." She says.
"Oh, he does." I say. "But he doesn't like me. He's almost ready to give up on me. I'm technically grounded right now. Have been for a few weeks now." I laugh at that. He sucks at grounding me. My life is the exactly the same when I am and when I'm not grounded.
"Grounded?" She asks. "You still get grounded? I haven't been grounded since I was like thirteen." She states.
"Before my mom, neither did I. But, now I live on being grounded." I tell her.
"You didn't answer my question." She tells me with a nervous smile. "What are you grounded for?"
"A few things." I say. "For not coming home at night mostly. But probably also a little bit for flipping the coffee table when my dad and his girlfriend were talking to me. But it all goes away when I give in and go to the cemetery." I roll my eyes. How the hell is she getting all of this out of me, she's barely saying anything. I want to shut up so badly.
"Why the cemetery?" She asks.
"Because I haven't been there yet, and he swears up and down it's important." I explain as we pull up to the pizza place.
She just nods as we get out of the car. We walk into the place and walk over to the usual spot where Ashton, Calum and Michael are waiting for us, like always. I go and take my normal seat beside Kit and across from Michael. "You got him to show up again?" Calum asks, in awe.
"Yeah, didn't even have to hold a gun to his head this time!" Kit says, jokingly.
"How was school today?" Michael asks.
Kit and I both shrug. "Same as every day." She answers. I just nod, agreeing with her. "I swear our history teacher was going to get a smack upside his bald head today." She says and looks over at me and back over at Ashton. That's the class that I have with the both of them.
"I know, right?!" Ashton says. "He was in such a bad mood today. I swear I was going to smack it if he yelled at me one more time."
"I would have." Michael says. "I would have drop kicked that mother fucker so fast if he was being that bad!"
"Hey, man!" Ashton says. "Don't fucking swear, for one! And, for two, no you wouldn't have. You would have yelled back and got kicked out. I have a class with you, remember!"
"So do I!" Calum says. "You probably would have cried on your way to the office too!" He says.
"I have a class with you too." I say with a half smile. "You don't really do much. Besides talk the whole time."
"Shut up, Luke." He says with a smile. I can't help but laugh at that. He used to half jokingly tell me to shut up all the time. It was almost an insider between us. Him bringing that up really reminds me of old times.
Before too long, we're done at the pizza place. We're never there for too long. Two hours tops. Kit insisted on giving me a drive home again, so we're currently driving to my house. She let me drive. "You seemed to have fun tonight." She says with a smile so big that it appeared to be ear to ear.
"Yeah, they're not half bad like I thought." I say.
"You never thought they were bad, just admit it!" She says, I shake my head, with a sarcastic smile. "But seriously, I really like seeing you hanging out with them. I can tell they remind you of a happier time."
"They do." I admit. I'm in awe with how easy I'm finding talking to her tonight. "Which is half the reason part of me wants to stop seeing them again."
"Please don't do that." She says.
I just shrug.
"Your dads right, you know." She says. "The cemetery is an important step of acceptance. I'm not trying to say I get what you're going through, because I don't. But when my grandma died a few years back, I didn't accept any of it until I went to visit her grave."
"What about your baby?" I ask, instantly regretting it. She probably doesn't want to think about that. I'm such an airhead. "No, don't answer that. I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay." She says and shakes her head. "I've been asking you all these personal questions, you earned one too." She takes a deep breath in. "When I lost my baby, it wasn't really even a baby yet. Not that I was going to, but I still could have gotten an abortion. It was basically all blood." She says.
"Oh." I say. Really not sure of what else to say. She handled that question so well. I can't believe I was actually stupid enough to let that slip. After a couple minutes, we pull up to my house. "I'll see you tomorrow." I say with a small smile before getting out of her car. She does as well, so she can get to the drivers side.
"Probably not." She says and laughs. "Tomorrow is Saturday, and I don't know about you, but on Saturdays, I don't go to school."
"Oh, right." I say and mentally face palm myself again. I am full of idiocy tonight, I guess.
"Maybe we can still see each other tomorrow." She says, probably only because she saw the look on my face. "Text me or call me if you want, okay?"
I just nod. "Good night, Kit Kat." I say with a smile.
"Good night, Hemmings." She says as her face turns a darker shade of red.
I wait outside for a couple minutes after she leaves before walking inside of my house. My dad is sitting on the couch, with Karen. She barely left since I found out about them. I walk over to see what's on TV, as I see that they're cuddled up, and holding hands. Just like him and my mom used to do. "Luke, you're home!" Karen says with a smile. "I was hoping you would be soon, you'd probably like this movie, why don't you join us?"
For a second, I actually consider it. It felt nice to be included with my dad for once. But then the guilt kicks in. I couldn't just watch TV with my dad and the woman he's trying to replace my mom with. I scoff and roll my eyes as I turn around and start walking upstairs. I go to my room and close the door louder than I wanted to. I strip down to just my underwear, throwing my clothes around my room as I go open my window, the breeze giving me goosebumps. You don't really realize how cold it us until you're standing in front of an open window practically naked.
I take a smoke out of my pack and light it. Sticking it between my fingers. I take a deeper than usual breath in, and choke on the smoke. I hold the smoke out the window, as I start coughing. When I finally get my breath back, I bring the smoke back in, but I had it outside too long, it went out. I relight it, and start taking smaller puffs off of it, until I'm at the end of it. I look down at my cigarette scars on my thighs. The last one is practically healed now. I take a deep breath in before pressing it down, the same place as last time. "Luke Robert Hemmings, what are you doing?!" My dad almost yells.
I jump as I hear him, throwing the smoke out the window. "Don't you know how to knock?" I ask, as I cover myself up with my blanket. I then go back over and close my window, because it's freezing in here now. "It's not what it looked like." I assure him.
"Really, cause it looked to my like you were burning yourself." He says, still loudly. "I know you know better."
"Chill out." I say with a sigh. "I was trying to get the rest of the tobacco out of it. I thought it was cooled down, but it wasn't. No need to have a fucking spaz attack."
"I'm not stupid, Luke." He says.
"Neither am I, Dad." I say. "I wouldn't hurt myself on purpose."
"I want to believe you." He says.
"Then believe me." I say as I go over and sit on my bed. "It's really that easy."
"Okay, Luke." He says with a sigh. "How would you feel about Karen moving in?" He asks.
I feel my heart start racing. "I feel like it's going to happen no matter what I say, so what difference does it make?" I ask.
"It is happening." He says. "Karen is probably one of the best things for you right now, Luke."
"I don't need a new mom." I say.
"No, but the female role model is important." He says.
"Kay." I say and lay down, looking up at my ceiling. "If you don't mind, I want to go to bed now." I say, quickly.
"Good night, son." He says before walking towards my door. "I-" He pauses for a minute. "I'll see you in the morning." He finally says.
"Yup." I say before he goes out, closing my door behind him.
She's moving in. She's actually moving in. I keep saying to myself. Is this some sort of punishment for not going to see my mom? Is the universe finally giving me the big 'fuck you' I deserve? Maybe I should actually go see my mom. I don't know, maybe I will be closer to her there. Maybe I'll hate Karen less if I get some sort of okay. Maybe I only want to go because Kit said that I should. I don't really know anymore. All I know is that for some reason, I value Kit's opinion more than anyone else's. If she says I should go, maybe I really should.