Tampons // PAUSED

E L E V E N

_Sapphire_

Luke apparently left the house about ten minutes ago, but Ashton and I still enter the house as quietly as possible just in case our informant lied.

"You sure it'll freak him out?" Ashton asks me for the millionth time.

"Yes, Ashton. He has some kind of irrational fear of them," I say as I pour the red-dyed water on the many tampons I tied to transparent strings, "He'll definitely be regretting what he did after this."

Ashton laughs before finally helping me. To be honest, I really hope he will flip out. Yes, he's my brother, and yes, I hate seeing him truly scared, but this time he deserves it; for once being Luke Hemming's sister has its perks. It's because of that I know what he's most afraid of. Well... Kind of. I know what 12-year-old Luke Hemmings is afraid, but it seems as though he hasn't changed that much in the past seven years or so. Let's just hope he's still scared of it because this tampon thing is a big part of my scheme, but my sweet, sweet revenge will come after it's been filmed and posted on a YouTube channel he and the boys created a few years ago; they were about to go on tour, so they have a ton of subscribers... The fact that there are so many eager fans waiting for them to upload something is the best part; they think they're getting a new song when in reality I just get to embarrass my brother and they might get a good laugh.
Speaking of that... "Babe?"

He stops what he's doing to look at me, the infamous look of mischief gleaming in his eyes, "Yes, baby girl?"

"Don't call me like that!" I shout, my face getting red from both humiliation and anger.

"Okay, okay!" he giggles holding his arms up to show that he surrenders.

"Please be serious," I plea. Seeing I'm serious, his laughter slowly fades and his expression turns resolute, so I continue, "Do you... Do you think you and the boys are going to try to go on tour again?"

"Yeah, of course! Why?" Ashton asks, taking a step toward me.

"I was just thinking about it, and I was wondering if you're still going to try to reach your goal," I answer looking down at my feet, "You know, the one you keep talking about. You keep saying that you're practically halfway there?"

"And do you know what that goal is?"

"No..." I shake my head dismally.

"I want to marry a girl. Not just any old girl either; one I love more than anything in the world... And I want to be the father of her children... To have a house with my family... But most of all, I want—no, I need—to be with you for the rest of my life." With each word he says he comes a little bit closer until he has his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Oh, God, Ash... You're gonna make me cry," I mumble, tears forming in my eyes.

_Nadine_

I've been sitting in Maccas alone for ten minutes now waiting on Luke. Okay, so, yes, I may be a little early, but not too much so; I'm only about, uh... Well... Ten minutes early... When the bell above the door rings, my eyes immediately dart up to find an unshaven Luke, with much longer hair than I remember him having. That's not the only reason he looks different; his eyes appear so sad and... broken.

"Hey," he quietly says, taking the seat in front of me, "Why did you want to see me?"

Damn it! Sapphire, if you can hear me right now, I hate you. I take a deep breathe and say, "I wanted to apologize for dumping you like I did; you deserved better than that. To be honest, you deserve the world, Luke. You're the sweetest, the funniest, the handsomest man I've ever met... You're everything a girl could ever want in guy. Not to mention you're honest, you know when to joke and to be serious. And all of those things are so rare to find nowadays!"

He closes his eyes for a few seconds, then opens them again, tears about to spill. Don't you dare cry, Luke... I have to get through this...

"These past few years we've spent together have certainly been the best of my life. You've always been there for me when no one else was, and your family is the best... That's how I know that whoever the is that girl your heart belongs to in future is going to be the luckiest person in the world.  You should only accept the best, and I swear to God, if you ever give up on your dream, on yourself, and on people who love you, whether I'm dead or alive, you'd better know that you're a dead man," he chuckles at that, and I resume my mini-speech, "Listen, I know I wasn't the best girlfriend to you, and I hate that, I was scared as fuck to lose you when you left for tour. Even though I knew you'd be back in less than a month, it was hell. That one month that we needed to be so far away from each other was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was trusting you; I really was, but you know how I am... I'm stuck at jealousy level one hundred!" this time we both laugh, "And if the tour doesn't work this time, try again... You have to try again, Luke!  You guys are so talented; don't you dare throw everything you could have away just because it didn't work the first time! I don't care if it makes me sound insane: Do it again. Expect for different results. Do it as many times as you need to until it works! You have to promise me that you'll make it work..."

"Nadine, you know I can't promise you that," he whispers.

"Oh yes you can, Luke Hemmings! Do I need to scream it to the world?!" I exclaim, "Do you want me to do that? Huh? No? Exactly. So don't even try to say you can't, you idiot."

Luke smiles, "Fine. I promise I won't give up on my dream, but only if you promise me you won't give up on yours."

"Luke..." I breathe out, shaking my head.

"Nadine, you're beautiful... If you want to be a model, then God damn it, be a model!" he yells, "Don't let anyone stop you. It's not like you don't have the talent to do it. What? Do I need to scream this to the world?"

"It's still a maybe," I sigh, "But I'll try."

"Me too."

_Rene_

Well, I just learned about my brother and Trinity, and to be honest, I'm happy for them. He may not be the same, but if he's happy so I am.

"Rene Clifford, come down here, please!" Mom screams from downstairs.

"What, Mom?!" I yell in reply as I make my way downstairs.

"First of all, don't be screaming like that in the house," she says as soon as I reach the kitchen where my mother is standing with her hand on her hip.

That's probably the story of Michael and I's lives; my mom is always screaming for us, so we think, she screams for us, we scream for her. Apparently that's not how it's supposed to work. Any time we scream for her, each other, or at each other, we get in trouble.

"What?" I repeat, this time in a normal voice.

"Do you know where Michael is?" Mom asks.

"Um... No." I shift my eyes away, hoping she that if she doesn't know she's not going to try to get answers from me.

"Well, he told me he was going out with some girl, and that he would be back at seven, and he's still not here!"

"Mom," I say, desperate, "it's only 5:38. He still has a hour and a half... And, just so you know, her name is Trinity. You'll need to remember that, too; she's Mike's girlfriend now."

Her eyes widen in surprise, "My son has a girlfriend. My son has a girlfriend? My son has a girlfriend! Oh my God!"

"Oh God..." What the hell have I done?!