Boy With The Cinderblock Garden (Luke Hemmings AU/Fanfiction)

Part 2: 4

liana's pov

Since that day at Nella's when Luke wasn't acting himself, I had just been trying to ignore my instinct that something was wrong. But the way he continued to act was really worrying me. I know my friends told me to wait and see how he acted next time we hung out until I actually started to think something was wrong, but every little clue even at school or over texting was telling me that my instinct was right.

Still, nothing was drastically different. It was just little things. He wouldn't look me straight in the eyes or talk to me much today during class. He usually talks to me whenever he gets the chance and looks at me the way Flynn Rider looks at Rapunzel. I thought maybe this could just be him getting more comfortable with me though. Is this how normal couples act after their "love bird" stage? I told myself that must just be it, but later on today Michael pulled me aside and said, "Does Luke seem a bit tired and jumpy to you today?"

I said, "As a matter of fact, yes he does. I thought maybe you would know what's up."

"Nope. I got nothing. I even asked him if he was feeling well and he acted all defensive and blurted that he was fine. Maybe he just didn't get enough sleep last night though. It's probably nothing." Mikey said, brushing it off.

"Yeah that's originally what I thought, but that was a few days ago at Nella's because he was acting strange then too. Do you think he's been sleep deprived or something since then?" I asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I didn't really notice him acting different then."

"Of course you didn't." I replied with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Michael asked obliviously.

"Because Kenz was there."

Michael rolled his eyes, trying to pretend like Kenz doesn't actually distract him from everything else in the world.

"Ok see you later." I said with a laugh. "I'll talk to him later and let you know if he's still being weird."

"K thanks see ya."

*

I got to lunch and Trina was already telling Kenz, Lauren, Izzy, and Nella details about the party with Calum and his soccer team. Lynnie was absent today.

As I sat down I heard Trina saying, "and Theo low key flirted with me and I got his snapchat and we've been talking since then and ugh it's great. He's so hot and sweet and funny."

"Really? You still think Theo is super hot? He's not even that cute! Why like him when there's guys like Michael Clifford??" Kennedy asked.

"Well because you're dating him." Trina stated blatantly.

"True." Kenz said with a sigh.

"KENZY!" Izzy yelled.

"WELL THERE IT IS LADIES!" Exclaimed Nella.

"What?" Kenz asked.

"Um you just admitted you're dating Michael!" Trina said.

"Well I figured it's been kind of obvious." She said with a laugh.

"You may all have boyfriends or whatever else, but I have a cactus so who's the real winner?" Lauren said.

"She's got a point." Kenz said.

"So what's going on with Luke? Is he better today?" Nella asked.

"More like worse. I'll text him later though to see what's up."

"Aw I hope he's okay." She said. "I can ask Ashton about it if you want."

"Me too and no it's fine, I'll figure it out on my own for now."

"Ok."

*

It was now the evening and I decided to text Luke, like I do almost every day.

"Hey what's up" I asked.

"Nothin" he replied. Usually he texts more than this, but what ever it's probably just him being tired again.

"You seemed a little out of it today r u ok" I sent.

"Yeah fine just didn't get best sleep" he sent back.

Ok, I can breathe. This is just what we figured. He just didn't sleep well enough. I swallowed and accepted it, but there was still something tiny nagging me in the back of my brain that he wasn't telling me the whole truth. But for now I ignored it. It wasn't until even later on that I'd really realize that I didn't know everything like I had thought.