Second Chance || Luke Hemmings

|| 25 ||

"I'm sorry," Luke said, sticking out the flowers for me to grab. I gently take them and step aside, allowing him in.

"Hey cal, how are you?" Luke asks, sounding just as guilty as he looked.

"I've had my better days," he chuckled, finally looking over at us. I shut the door behind me, and then lean against it.

"So how come you didn't get the crippled boy flowers?" Michael asks, slightly confused.

"I'm not crippled," Calum pouts, making a small smile for on my face.

"Because I was a dick to Al, and Calum has a thing where he hates when I get him flowers," Luke lightly chuckles, but Calum just nods in agreement.

"So, I got him some candy instead," Luke holds out a bag that I didn't even notice he had. He walks over, handing it to the now beaming Calum.

"I'm just glad you're okay," he says, patting calums shoulder.

I walk away from the living room and into the kitchen. I pull out a vase from under my kitchen sink and quickly fill it up with water.

I hear crinkling from beside me, and when I look up, I see Luke taking the flowers out of their pink wrapping. He places them inside the vase and I couldn't help by how comforting they made me feel. The pink and purple colors were very vibrant and it was nice.

"I hope you know I am sorry," Luke said again. I sighed and just looked at him.

"Luke, you don't need to explain." Honestly he doesn't, I guess I understand it, but mainly I don't want to talk about it.

"But I do need to explain. I care about you, and I care about Calum, but it just seems like something always gets in the way, and dammit Al, I'm tired of things getting in the way between us." He groaned in frustration, taking a seat at the bar stool across from me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it, "it can't just be me who notices it, right?"

I shake my head because I notice it to. But I can't help but think, the biggest thing that gets in the way between us is me.

"What are you thinking?" He asks, leaning in closer.

I shake my head, "it's just, I can't help but think this is a sign."

"A sign for what?" He says very wearily.

I shrug, " I don't know, a sign that it's not the time for us."

I didn't have to be reading a story to know that his heart plummeted into his stomach, because it did that for me to. Did I really just say that?

"What is it with you and believing in signs? They aren't an actual thing. Some magical force just doesn't give you hints about your future you know. It's just an excuse for your conscience to not be scared." He tried to hide his voice crack, but we both know that I noticed it.

I didn't even have the audacity to look him in the eye, because I knew that as soon as I did, I would crack and break down into tears.

"But Luke, you out your own selfishness and anger before your best pal who had just gotten injured. That isn't like you. And I'm not saying any of this to protect me, I'm saying it to help you to." I say, and with every word, my heart wrenched.

"People change al, you should know that better than the both of us. But I am still the same guy, I just got a little caught up," his hand reached out, grabbing my cold ones and surrounding them with warmth. I looked up to meet his eyes, and boy was I more sorry than ever.

"Caught up in what?" I said, trying to get a grasp on what's going on with him.

"Nothing, I should get going," he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, then releasing his grip on my hands and then standing up.

I stood their, utterly confused. I watched his figure exit the kitchen as I just stood their trying to understand it.

I shook myself from my thoughts and walked after him. I caught him just before he reached for the door to leave.

"Luke, hold on a second," and this time, it was my turns to reach out to grab his arm and stop him.

He turned around, looking straight at me. "What's going on?" My voice soft.

His hands reached to cup my face, and he quickly leaned down to kiss me. When he pulled away, all he said was "I love you, you know that right?"

I nodded, but barely even responded, feeling as if I were in a trance. Man how I miss his sweet lips.

"I'll see you later, okay." He said quickly before leaving my house. I turned toward the living room and felt the blood rush to my cheeks when I saw Michael staring, Calum fiddling with his ice pack.

"Damn," Michael muttered.

"Damn." I repeated.

--

HELLO HELLO. I just wanna apologize for disappearing for so long, I've been super busy with school and college apps. But thankfully I'm done and I'm back.

I promise I'll update a lot sooner okay, please just stick with me, I enjoy seeing people interact with this story and see people actually do read it.

Thank you a bunch 🙏🏻

-k