innocent {luke hemmings a.u.}

-4-

"Morning, kid," my dad says to me as I walk into the kitchen, "You have a little time before you head off to school?"

"Sure, what's up?" I ask.

"My job wants to take me to New York City today."

"What? W-Wait. Like move there or just go there?"

"No, no just go there for a month."

"Oh," I say and look down.

"If you want to come with me, it's not too late to homeschool and you can just school that way for the year. I say that because I'm going to go on these kinds of trips more and more often, I'm being promoted to Vice President of the company."

"Thats great," I say and smile.

"Do you want to come?" he asks.

"Not exactly, I-I just couldn't leave them here."

"Leave who here, honey?"

"Mum and Anna," I say and he pulls me in for a hug.

"We won't leave forever."

"I know, I just want to stay here if that's okay."

"That's completely okay, you're almost 18 so it'll be fine."

"Dad, I'm turning 18 in over 6 months," I say and he laughs.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with staying here alone?"

"I'm sure, I have Luke and Laken that I've made friends with again."

"Great. I have to leave at 2:30 today to get there and settled by morning so this is goodbye for a bit," he says and hugs me again.

"I love you," I say and he says the same.

"I got you your own credit card for food, school supplies and anything else you'd need. It's on my dresser in my room, just tell me before you make a huge purchase, okay?"

"Okay," I say and we hug again, "I have to go."

"See you in a month, kid," he says.

"See you," I grab my backpack and walk out the door, telling him I love him again before I close the door to see Luke standing in front of me.

I literally scream and jump back, hitting my back harshly on the front door.

"What the hell, Luke? You scared the shit out of me."

"Just coming to pick you up so you didn't have to walk if that's okay with you," he says, laughing in between words.

"T-That's fine," I say and follow him to his truck, sitting beside him and buckling my seatbelt.

"I couldn't help but overhear what you guys were talking about," Luke says.

"Yeah."

"I'll keep you company if you want."

"I want," I say and smile, "That sounded weird. I mean I'd like for you to keep me company. Uh- I mean it's cool if we hang out and stuff."

He laughs and says, "Good."

|||

"So," Luke says as we walk out of the school side by side.

"So," I repeat him and he smirks.

"Today is Friday, as you know."

"It's already Friday?" I ask.

"Yes, Jay, it's Friday," Luke rolls his eyes dramatically, "Anyways, a few of your friends are hanging out tonight and we were wondering if we could all hang out at your house."