Attention Seeker // Luke Hemmings au

Chapter Fourteen // Luke

"I'm really sorry about Ashton," I apologize for the sixteenth time since it happened. I can't help it, I just feel so bad. I don't know why Ashton dislikes her so much, but she really doesn't deserve it.

"Luke, please," Diana whines as we enter the lunch room. "Stop apologizing. He doesn't like me, and i'm okay with that."

"But you're my friends," I complain. "I want you to like each other."

She shrugs, and I know she's done talking about it. I'd like to think that one day she and Ashton will be friends, that they'll get over whatever the hell this is... But I'm not sure.

"I'm gonna go get a piece of pizza," I decide, walking off towards the pizza line without waiting for her response.

 "Yo, Sully Suicide," some random guy says, getting in line behind me.

I don't say anything, just stare ahead.

"What--are you deaf, too? It's bad enough you have this whole drug problem, but come on..." He snorts. 

I don't have a drug problem, I think. My nails dig into the palms of my hand, and I stare down at the floor.

"Hey, look, it's our resident drug addict." Another boy joins him in line.

My fists clench until my knuckles turn white. I grind my teeth together like I always do when I'm annoyed. 

"Hey, loser," one of them says. "Are you not gonna pay attention to us when we talk to you?"

"Did you seriously have to ask him?" The other laughs this loud, annoying laugh that makes me want to pour a pot of burning acid on his vocal chords. "He's such an attention seeker, he probably likes it."

I look over and spot Diana at the make-your-own-wrap bar, and her eyes lock onto mine. I've almost forgotten about how mad I was when her lovely green eyes widen suddenly. I just barely process what's going on when suddenly, I'm in motion. My hands fly out to stop me from hitting the hard tiled floor.

"Look at us when we're talking to you, dreg," one of them spits at me. 

"Weaklings like you are what's wrong with the world."

I don't know what to do; I don't know what to think. Maybe my parents are right--I really don't know how to think for myself.

"Hey, hey! Break it up!" a third voice shouts, but to my disappointment, it isn't Diana's soft one.

The two boys dissipate within seconds, along with all the people in front of me in line. My hero steps in front of me and holds out a hand to help me up.

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"Derik? Derik Jackson?" Ashton is practically fuming.

"Yeah." 

"The captain of the basketball team saved you from the jocks?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell, man?"

The way he talks, it's almost as if he thinks it's my fault that this happened. Like I chose to get knocked down and need not just anyone's boyfriend but Diana's to help me out. 

When I don't respond, Ashton says, "So you're not going to band practice tonight?"

"Nope."

"Great," he mumbles under his breath. "What are you doing with that guy anyway?"

"Screwing," Derik calls over my shoulder.

I snort. "Yeah, he's dumping Diana for me."

"What?"

And with that, I press 'end call.'

"Nice," Derik says, smirking at me. "But for the record, you may be hot, but you're no Diana." Ain't that the truth. He runs a hand through his hair and dribbles the basketball with surprising grace before tossing it into the basket. He looks so smooth, so perfect. It figures. Beautiful people do beautiful things. 

"Oh, please. I have much nicer legs than her." I gesture to my long legs, clad in black skinny jeans. And to my surprise, when I look up, he's actually considering it. I laugh and grab his basketball that's rolling away.

"Maybe you do," he says, and it seems like it almost hurts him to say it. "But she has a killer body."

"Really?" I say, only half-interested. I mean, yeah, Diana's gorgeous. But I could care less how thick or thin she was. I dribbled the ball cautiously, making sure not to mess up and make a fool of myself.

He crinkles his nose. "You know, besides all those scars."

The basketball slips from my fingers, but I don't notice. Instead, I turn to look at him, feeling as pale as a ghost. "S-Scars?" I repeat.

He nods, grabbing the basketball and tossing it into the net. Swoosh. Right in. "Yeah. They're like, all over her hips and her thighs." He shakes his head. "I remember the first time we, well, you know." As much as it sickens me to say it, I do know exactly what he means.

"Yeah?"

"Well, she was really embarrassed and refused to let me take her clothes off at first, but when I asked her why, she said, You're gonna laugh at me. Then you're gonna hate me forever. And I had no idea what she was talking about, so I was like, What do you mean? Why would I laugh at you? And she goes, My skin is disgusting. And I thought she was just being a girl and being all i'm so ugly, Derik, tell me I'm pretty." 

He shook his head, and when he realizes how intently I'm listening, he goes on.

"So I told her I thought she was perfect no matter what. I told her I loved her, everything about her. The crinkles by her eyes when she smiles, when she snorts because she laughs a little too hard, how glaringly smarter she is than me," he goes on and on, telling me reasons why she was beautiful and it suddenly made sense to me why she was with him. He knew exactly what she wanted to hear, and it made me admire him even more.

When he finally finishes, he says, "Anyway, after all that, it still took some time, but I did it. I got her clothes off. And that's when I realized why she hated her skin so much." 

"D-Did you say anything to her?" 

He smiles for a moment, staring down at the basketball in his hands. "Now when I think about it, I probably should have. I should have told her how beautiful she was, how she shouldn't have done that to herself. I should have told her that she was perfect to me." He shakes his head.

"Why, what happened?"

He sighs. "She broke up with me the next day. I know we're always kind of on and off, but that was the first time she'd ever said anything like that to me. Things were never the same after that." He hugs his ball to his chest and looks off across the basketball court, almost like a lost puppy dog.

"God, I screwed everything up."