Rough Drafts | Luke Hemmings {Sequel to Papercuts} ✔

nineteen

3 MONTHS LATER

//

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Delilah, happy birthday to you. Make a wish darling." Delilah took a deep breath and blew out the candles on top of her cake

"Yay!" Hannah cheered. She sat next to her. "What'cha wish for?" she asked.

"I can't tell you." she said. "Otherwise it won't come true. And I really want my wish to come true."

"Okay!" Hannah held her hands up. "I won't bug you." Lilah laughed. Corrine kissed her daughter's cheek.

"Happy birthday baby girl." she whispered.

"Thanks mommy. Where's dad?" she asked, peering around the room. Luke came up behind her.

"Hey baby." he said.

"Hi daddy." Lilah gave Luke a really big hug.

"Happy birthday." he smiled.

"How is she already seven?" Liz asked, wiping away a tear. "Where did the time go?"

"She's growing up so fast." Calum teased Luke. "Next thing you know she'll be getting a boyfriend." Luke hit Calum in the back of the head. "I'm kidding." Luke turned to his daughter.

"Promise me you won't grow up?" he said.

"I don't think that's possible dad." she giggled.

"That was creepy." Ashton said.

"What was?"

"The whole promising conversation you two just had. I had the same conversation with Lauren that day in the movie theater. Remember? You had just started ninth grade."

"I remember that! Yeah, that was a little freaky." Lauren said. Lilah laughed.

"Don't worry daddy. I'll always be your little girl." she said.

"I'll hold you to that sweetheart."

Lilah lay passed out on the couch later that evening. Luke pulled the blanket up to her chin. He helped Corrine clean up the mess they had made earlier that day for Lilah's birthday. "Where did the time go?" he asked Corrine. "She's already seven."

"Relax Luke. She's got another eleven or so years before she moves out of the house. You'll have plenty of time with her."

"I know but still. Look at her. She's turning into a young lady now." Luke pouted. "I just want her to stay young forever." he said. Corrine came up, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I know you do. I do to, but she's going to grow up one day, and turn into an amazing woman. She'll be the perfect combination of us. The best thing we can do for her is to encourage her to follow her dreams, and to show her love." Luke smiled at her.

"You're a wonderful mother, you know that?" he kissed her forehead. "Come on. Let's get her to bed." Luke picked up his daughter and carried her into her room, kissing her goodnight. Corrine was already in their room when he appeared.

"Do you know when you're leaving?" she asked him, as she changed into her pajamas.

"Saturday." he said. The boys had been in New York for three months but they were schedule to leave for their next tour in two days. Lilah was upset about the whole thing. She wouldn't be able to see Luke for six months. She freaked out, thinking he was leaving them again, and Luke had to spend several hours explaining to her that he was going on tour and that him and the boys would be back. She seemed at ease with it now, but was going to miss his terribly.

"I'm going to miss you." Corrine said, crawling into bed. Luke crawled in next to her, pulling her close to him. She rested her head on his chest.

"I'm going to miss you to. Cuddling with Mikey isn't the same." Luke said with a laugh. Corrine laughed along with him.

"I wish we could go with you, but with Lilah in school, and Margret and I discussing new ideas for books, it's going to be a little hectic. Not to mention that Lilah's piano concert is right around the corner, and she's been looking forward to that for weeks."

"I know. Maybe next time? During the summer, so that Lilah won't miss anything."

"I'm sure she'd love that." Corrine yawned. "Night Luke." she said.

"Night love."

Luke entered his daughter's room early Saturday morning. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.  "Lilah, honey wake up." Luke whispered. Lilah groaned, and opened her eyes. She yawned.

"Dad?"

"Yeah baby, it's me."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong darling, I've just come to say goodbye." Lilah sat upright in her bed, panic written across her face.

"G-Goodbye?" she asked. Luke noticed the distress on his daughter's face.

"Oh, baby, I'm coming back." he said, hugging her. "I'm just going on tour. My plane leaves in an hour, and I wanted to say bye." Lilah wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I don't want you to go." she cried. Luke felt his heart break. He hated seeing Lilah upset. It just killed him.

"I know honey. I don't want to leave you or mommy either, but I have to. The fans need me just as much as you do." Lilah tightened her grip. "I'll be home soon. And I'll call you every night."

"Promise?"

"I promise. The boys will keep in touch too."

"Okay." Lilah let go of Luke. He kissed her cheek and stood up.

"I love you." he said.

"I love you to daddy." she said, forcing a smile.

"Get some sleep. Night baby."

Delilah pushed away her breakfast the next morning, frowning. Corrine sighed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I want Daddy." she said. Corrine hugged her.

"Me too baby girl. I miss him too."

"I wish he didn't have to go." she whined.

"I know you do. But he'll be home before you know it."

"I hope so." Delilah muttered.

Lauren drover her to school that morning, while Corrine headed off to see Margret. She was tired, seeing as she didn't sleep well, and to be honest, the last thing she wanted to do was talk about books.

She walked out of the elevator, and towards Margret's office, running a hand through her hair. She flopped down in the chair on the other side of her desk. Margret laughed. "Long night?" she asked.

"Not in the way you're thinking. Luke left for tour this morning, and Lilah's still upset about it." Margret nodded.

"She'll be fine soon enough." she said.

"I hope so. I hate seeing her so upset." Corrine said.

"If you want to do this another day, we can."

"No, let's do this now. Then I won't have to worry about it later." Corrine said. Corrine grabbed her things out of her bag. It was going to be a long day.