Uncontrollable (Punk Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 14

Despite the gray start, the day quickly warms up, blue sky peaking boldly through the now timid clouds. Sitting shotgun in Luke's passenger seat as he easily shifts gears, music spilling out of the open windows is entertaining. He sings along to every song, that voice that captured me so fully that first night I met him still as attractive as ever.

I'm not sure where we're going, but as we drive along the coast, I find I don't really mind. Luke is smiling, dimples coming out like craters, more carefree than I've ever seen him. It's addicting, watching his eyes light up at the chorus of a song or flicker with animation as he tells me some story or other. His grin is contagious, and soon I'm laughing too, hair blowing in the wind from the open windows as we speed down the coastline.

"Are you ever going to tell me what we're doing?" My hands trail out the window, enjoying the sunshine on my skin as I wait for a response.

Luke appraises me briefly before shifting his eyes back to the twisty road in front of us, smoothing shifting gears. Slowly, he responds. "We're going to a small town up the coast. The beach there is usually pretty deserted. The boys are meeting us there."

I playfully flick his hand. "Why is it so hard to tell me things?"

He looks at me questioningly. "I just admitted to you a hell of a lot last night and you're saying I have trouble telling you things?"

"Yeah." I say simply. His eyes flick towards me before settling on the road again, gripping the wheel a little harder than before. He knows that I didn't just mean telling me about what we were doing today- I meant the whole AJ thing, why he's so convinced I need to be careful and have someone with me, everything he leaves unsaid. This conversation has suddenly taken a turn for the heavy.

"Andy, not now. Can we please just have one day without talking about this shit?"

His eyes are firmly on the road, navigating the curving road with ease, knuckles tense upon the wheel and gear shift. It's hard to reign in the raging curiosity, but his body language is obvious-I'm not getting anywhere with this train of interrogation.

"You're going to have to tell me eventually, especially if I'm involved. But fine. Not today." I reach over and turn up the music a few notches, visibly rewarded by a few degrees of tension leaving his broad shoulders. His hand quickly leaves stick shift, running up my thigh briefly before returning to its original position. The tingles his hand leaves stays long after the offender is gone.

Slowly, the carefree posture comes back, the heaviness leaving. Luke starts singing again as we speed down the coast. By the time we pull into the small town, he's laughing and making me laugh again, though a small part of my brain is still lingering on whatever he's hiding from me. But as the day wears on, even that small doubt leaves me.

Michael's freshly dyed hair gleams starkly against the hot sun pounding down on the beach we ended up at. As promised, the boys and a deserted beach meet us when we pull up. It's crazy from the beginning- all sand and sunshine and screaming as they race around one another. Michael and Ashton take turns trying to coerce me into the sparkling water, but end up giving up after they're the ones that end up in the water. I sink down into the sun warmed sand next to Calum and Luke, who give me a sideways glance.

"What?" I ask impatiently, brushing sand off my jeans.

They share a laugh, leaning forward the exact same degree, body language similar. It's almost eery to watch, the way they move in sync sometimes. "You probably don't even want to know babe." Calum offers from the other side of Luke as the only way of explanation, infuriating grin stuck on his lips. I simply just close my eyes and lay back into the sand, not even caring about the sand invading my hair or their annoying inside joke.