It's a Long Way Home (Luke Hemmings)

Luke's Point of View

   Waking up in someone else's bed was not a new thing for me. But this time it was different. I could smell the fresh scent of strawberry shampoo on the pillow. The sheets were clean and soft. But what was similar to every time I woke up in someone else's bed was the fact that she was not there with me. I could still feel the warmth from the side she had slept on and I knew she couldn't have been out for long.
   I walked out of Dani's bedroom and into the living room where I found her tiny figure behind my much too big guitar. She attempted to strum out a chord but the sound was muted and out of tune.
   I laughed, "what are you doing?"
   Her face flushed a light shade of pink and she pulled the guitar closer to her body.
"I'm trying go learn to play a song for your birthday."
She was too cute. I just wanted to squeeze her.
"What song would that be?" I asked playfully, trying to peer over the guitar at her phone screen.
She pulled her phone closer to her face and locked it.
"That would ruin the surprise, Luke. I'm not telling you."
"Yeah but my birthday is tomorrow so it's practically today. Anyways, I could pretend to be surprised, see," I said, mocking an expression of surprise.
She rolled her eyes playfully. I smiled at her. She really was beautiful. I loved the way her wavy brown hair fell just past her shoulders. I loved her long black eyelashes and chocolate brown eyes that hid underneath them. I just wish she knew that every song I sang was a song for her.
I sat down next to her and tapped on the guitar.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me the song at least tell me the chords so I can help you out."
"I'm having trouble making my A chord sound like an A chord rather than a dying cat," she said. I loved the way she pronounced her words. I had to admit, I was a sucker for the American accent.
"You know, if you hold your fingers closer to the bottom of the fret, you can put less pressure on it. It hurts a lot less and sounds a lot better."
She put her three fingers on the bottom of the second fret and strummed down with her thumb. Her face lit up when the sound rang through the room melodically.
"Thanks Luke," she chimed.
"You're welcome," I said, kissing her on the forehead before I stood up, "I'm gonna go to band practice now. Wait up for me, yeah?"
"Yeah," she smiled, "I'll just be here playing guitar all day."

I got into my car and drove straight to Michael's house. The whole way there I was thinking about the way Dani's small hands has to strain themselves to play chords that I could play so easily. Her hands were so small. They were the perfect size to fit into mine. I just- I liked her so much.

"Hey man," Michael greeted me, letting me in though the garage so that we could get into the basement quicker.
The boys were hanging around having a laugh. When I came in they greeted me with tight hugs.
"How you been?" Ashton asked.
"Great. Really great," I smiled.
"Ooo, what's been happening? Any good news about Dani?"
"Well she's as good as ever," I said, evading the question I knew Michael was about to ask.
"Yeah but have you told her how you feel yet?"
"Mikey even if I did it probably wouldn't happen. Dani doesn't like me. Even you said she hasn't said anything about liking me."
"Well," Ashton started, "she definitely cares about you and that's a start. If she loves you as a friend, she is even more likely to love you as, well, a lover."
"Yeah and if you don't make your move quickly I might have to do it instead," Calum said slyly. I knew he was joking but it only made me worry that much more.

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A few hours of practicing and raving about Dani later, I finally got into my car and started on my drive back to my apartment.
When I opened the front door I head Dani strumming the guitar from inside of her room. She was playing each chord perfectly. She had mastered the song.
I walked into her room and stood by her dresser, "it sounds awesome."
She smiled up at me and got out of bed to give me a hug.

We made dinner together. I never knew broccoli, steak, and mashed potatoes could be so good. We sat down across from each other cracking stupid jokes and making snide comments about how we should become world famous chefs.
After dinner we watched a bit of television but she looked so exhausted.  I told her that she should go to sleep. She nodded in agreement and trotted off into her room after saying her sleepy goodnight. I walked into my own room and stripped down into my underwear then got into bed.

The next morning I woke up to a quick knock on my door and a single lit candle. Dani came in singing happy birthday and urged me to blow out my candle. I took the cupcake from her hands and blew the candle out gently.
She told me to make a wish, but little did she know that I had already wished for her. I had been wishing for her from the day we met. I wished that she could understand how I felt. I wished that she felt the same way.
"What did you wish for," she asked sweetly.
"I wished for you to play your song for me," I grinned, sitting back in bed and setting the cupcake on my night stand.
She told me to wait a second while she grabbed the guitar and came back into my room and sat down on my bed in front of me. She strummed a gentle A, E, D intro and then began to sing.
We'll do it all, everything, on our own. We don't need, anything, or anyone.
I felt my heart beat rapidly in my chest as I let myself drown in the sound of her voice.
If I lay here. If I just lay here. Would you lie with me and just forget to world. 
I wanted to scream. I wanted to grab and scream yes! Yes I would, I would do anything with you. I would do anything for you.
When she finished playing the song she looked at me through her eyelashes, too nervous to ask what I thought. But I didn't want to tell her how I felt. Not with words. I was tired of using words when I could say so much more with...
I helped her out of the guitar strap and set it down on the floor beside my bed. I didn't want to say anything. I leaned in closer to her and hesitated for a moment before thinking fuck it and crashing my lips into hers. She didn't hesitate to kiss me back. I kissed her again and again and again. Even when I felt like I couldn't catch my breath anymore, I couldn't get myself to pull away. Her lips tasted like chocolate frosting and her neck smelled like vanilla body spray. I kissed her jaw and then her neck and then her shoulder. She ran her skinny fingers through my hair and used her other hand to bring my lips back to hers.
We both stopped to catch our breath and I looked at her like she was a whole new person. I could see the affection in her eyes.
"I like you so much, Dani."
"I like you so much too, Luke."
"Why didn't we ever tell each other," I laughed breathlessly.
"I was afraid you wouldn't feel the same."
"No Dani. You're beautiful," I took hold of her hand, "I think it would be damn near impossible for me not to fall for you."

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The boys came over around 12 to help celebrate my birthday. Dani and I were practically attached by the hip, but we both toned it down so that cheeky questions about why we were so close weren't asked. I still stole secret glances at her while she walked around and went about her business throughout the day.
Ashton grabbed a 'secret' ice cream cake from the freezer and had me slice into it. It was probably one of the best cakes I have ever had in my life. Maybe because it was paired with no doubt my best birthday of all time.

After cake Dani and I snuck away into the hallway for a minute so that she could say happy birthday and give me the gift she had made me. It was a Polaroid photo album of all of the times we had gone out to get a fancy dinner or even just a cup of coffee. I held it close to my chest and thanked her with an affectionate kiss.
Someone squealed from the end of the hallway.
I turned around quickly and darted my eyes to meet Ashton's. I chased after him quickly before he could say anything to Calum or Michael.
"Don't. Please don't say anything," I pleaded.
"I thought you guys weren't a thing yet," Ashton whispered, gesturing to a very confused looking Dani.
"We weren't yesterday... We are today," I said awkwardly.
Ashton smiled and jumped up and down excitedly.
"It's nothing official. Promise me you won't tell anyone," I said, holding out my pinky finger for him.
"Promise," he said, squeezing my finger tightly with his.

Dani had already joined the boys back in the living room when Ashton and I were done making our little pact.
To be honest, I was scared. I didn't want them to know because that would mean they'd expect us to date. And of course, I wanted to date Dani. I was just so afraid that everything would be a repeat of my past. But I knew she wasn't like that. Dani was perfect. She would never hurt me. She didn't have to tell me that again for me to know.

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A/n:
Hey guys! The past two chapters are a little longer to compensate for the short hiatus I'm about to go on. Just a little prewarning that I'm not going to update for two days and my updating is going to be every other day starting Monday. This is because I am moving out and I won't have time to stay up at night and write. But, the story is almost complete so it shouldn't effect you too much!
I hope you loved this chapter. I loved this chapter. I wanted to switch the point of view up for once.
Anyways, I love you so much. Thank you for voting, commenting, and sharing. 
Miss America.