DRIFTED |Harry Styles|

CHAPTER 36

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Luke loved me? Since when? He always treated me like family, I always thought he loved me like the sister he never had. How could I not see this before? What the hell was going on?

"W-what?" I stuttered, looking at him, bewildered with his sudden statement. "I mean... what?" I tried to elaborate, trying not to sound too rude, but my head was spinning with questions that I couldn't answer.

Luke only shook his head, placing his hands on both of my cheeks and pulling my face closer to his. I could feel his warm breath blowing in my face, while he blinked and stared deeply into my eyes as if he was trying to read my mind.

"I'm so in love with you, Mel. Always had, always will." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. I took a step back, still trying to understand where did all that come from. His face dropped a little, once he saw me retreating myself, but there was nothing else I could do. I needed space to think all of that through.

Luke's hands dropped beside him, he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He looked at me with glossy eyes and all I wanted was to walk over where he stood and her him, but instead I just hugged myself and stood there, not knowing what to do. "S-say something, Mel. Please." He begged. Was he on the verge of crying?

"I-I don't even know what to say." I turned around, staring at the wall and relieving all of the moments we spent together in my head. I couldn't stand to watch Luke cry. Ever since we were little, seeing Luke cry always broke me, maybe because he never did, so when he cried, we all knew it was because he was truly hurt.

"Just say that you love me too, that we can figure this out together, please, Mel, take me out of this misery." He stepped closer behind me, snaking an arm around my waist. I could hear him gulping and holding back from crying, while he sniffled behind me and hid his face on the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent.

"I do love you, Luke." I turned to look at him, his face suddenly transformed into pure happiness and joy, tears almost dissipating as he heard me say those words. "Just not in the same way..." I placed one hand over his cheek, thumb softly caressing his jaw, trying to take all of his hurt away, know how hard it would be, since I was the one putting him through it.

His face dropped and the tears showed up again, while he leaned into my pressed palm against his cheek. He was hurt and, even though hurting him was the last thing I ever wanted to do, it was necessary, I needed to be honest with him and tell him that I didn't feel the same way. I loved Harry, only Harry.

"I'm sorry, Luke. I love you like family, like a brother, but I'm in love with Harry and there's nothing you can say that will change that." I smiled apologetically, caressing the soft skin of his cheeks under my thumb. "That fucking bastard!" Luke shouted, making me jump in fear, as he stepped out of my touch.

"He's got his claws so deep inside of you that you can't see clearly anymore! You don't love him, Mel. You can't love him." He shouted, throwing his arms in the air and pacing from one side to another. I saw the tears he was trying to hold back, flowing down his cheeks as he repeated to himself 'you can't love him'.

At that, I felt a small bubble of anger starting to build up inside of my stomach. He knew nothing about what Harry had done for me and how much he helped me, when he was too busy hiring and defending the person who raped me.

"Don't talk about him like that, you know nothing about what we've been through!" I shouted back. I didn't want to fight with my best friend, but I just couldn't allow him to talk about Harry that way.

"I've been in love with you for so long now, but what's the use of telling you this now when you're all blinded by this Harry guy? Do you know how hard it has been for me? To keep these feelings bottled up inside me?" He pointed a finger at himself.