Disconnected | Luke Hemmings

chapter fourteen

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I maybe teared up a little writing this chapter, ngl. Also I'm just throwing this out there but listening to Amnesia on repeat while reading this might hit ya right in the feels and who doesn't love THAT?? xx

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The day for the boys to leave for Los Angeles had arrived much faster than any of us had hoped, and I was in no way ready to let go of the sleepy boy lying next to me on his bed. I had hardly slept despite the early alarm we had set. It had gone off only moments before, but neither of us had moved. I was wide awake, holding a snoring Luke close to me and biting my lip. I didn't have the words to express just how much I didn't want to let him go.

But I didn't have a choice.

"Luke," I whispered, gently shaking his shoulder. "Luke, you have to wake up."

"Mmnnn," he moaned disjointedly. "I don't wanna," he mumbled against my ear. He drew me in closer with one arm and used the other to tug the blankets in close to his chin.

It took everything in me not to just give up on dragging him out of bed and simply resolve to stay there under the covers. If only we could just roll over and go back to sleep without a care or responsibility in the world. If only it were that simple. I sighed. "Come on, you have a plane to catch."

Luke blinked his beautiful blue eyes open sleepily and looked at me. He stroked the side of my cheek gingerly with his hand and then slid his hand down to the small of my back, all without breaking his gaze.

"I wish I could just stay right here with you," he said groggily. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine.

"I know, baby. Me too. But—"

"Yeah," he said, cutting me off. I could tell from the look in his eyes that there was no need for either of us to re-explain the complicated craziness that was our relationship.

We climbed out of bed and changed from our pajamas into regular clothes. For me, it was the random t-shirt and ripped pair of jeans that I had thrown into my bag last minute. For Luke, it was a pair of sweatpants and his favorite Blink-182 hoodie. He threw a beanie atop his head and I smiled to myself as I thought about how attractive he really was. I was so lucky. He flipped through a few messages on his phone as I just stood there admiring him. I sauntered over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, ducking my head under his shoulder. I felt him rest his head on top of mine as his arms snaked around me and held me close to him. I could hear his heartbeat under where my ear rested.

"You want breakfast?" he asked.

"Sure."

It was just after seven in the morning, but Liz and Andy had woken up to make breakfast for us. Breakfast constituted bagels, a bowl of strawberries, and two very large cups of steaming coffee, which Luke and I gulped down gratefully before Liz refilled our mugs. We chatted lightly, and I couldn't help but think of how hard it must have been for Luke's parents to let him go that first time, Liz especially. I watched them interact and saw nothing but unconditional love and pride in Liz's expression.

I was driving Luke to the airport, so after we packed up his luggage into the trunk of my car, the four of us stood in the driveway so that Luke could say goodbye to his parents. He hugged his dad first, who gave him a fatherly pat on the back, and then Liz squeezed him tightly and rocked him from side to side.

"Erm...thanks for driving him, Danielle," Andy told me as Luke and his mom shared their goodbye. I'd always been more comfortable around Luke's mother as opposed to his father, though that made me appreciate little remarks like this all the more.