All of my 5sos work

Preference #52: Age is irrelevant

We were coming out of the restaurant, laughing and joking about how he couldn't pronounce the Italian names which required him to get some assistance. He placed his arm around my shoulder bringing me closer as we went back in direction of the car park. It was nights like these that I loved the most, just the two of us not having to worry or be concerned about others opinions or hatred towards us for being together.

Except the usual happened, it was so sudden we didn't have time to prepare ourselves for it, for the usual bombardment that still frightens me even to this day. First I thought I was just hearing things, that the clicking and snapping was just in my mind, that I was simply being paranoid instead. Part of me was praying it was paranoia as opposed to the reality that usually exists. 

I felt Luke's arm tighten around me and that was when I knew it was real, I let out a loud sigh and tried to keep up with Luke as his pace quickened. The sound of the cameras came closer and out of the corner of my eye I could see the flashing lights in the reflections of shop windows and cars as we got closer to our exit. 

That was when the usual comments began. 

"Baby sitting are you luke?"

With that call I tried to keep a tight hold of Luke, keep my head down and keep walking, hoping the car was close. 

"Don't you have school in the morning princess?"

That voice I knew, he was one of them that was always following us, trying to stir up some story of lies about us. About how Luke was using me or how I was vulnerable and trapped with him. He always tried to get a reaction out of us and as I glanced up to Luke I could see his jaw tighten but he kept his head down. 

"You better get her to take a nap, she'll be cranky."

It was my turn to react, but Luke held me back, stroked my knuckles as our hands remained together, now the car was insight through all of the flashes. My pace was catching up to Luke's and soon I could suppress the things they said, shut them out for a while longer. That is until the next time they find us, ruin our personal down time when we just want to be ourselves without those labels. 

My hand reached out to the car door and as I pulled it open one last significant shout came out. 

"There's no way she's old enough to wear that! If she were my daughter id be ashamed."

I retracted my hand from the door and turned on my heels. "Okay." I spoke up and they all went silent, even Luke didn't interrupt. "Seriously, all of you are pathetic, we" I motioned to me and Luke, "are a couple! We want to enjoy our evenings out without being harassed or offended every time." I let out a frustrated sigh. "Luke is human, I am human and we are free to date who we want okay people? So what? Luke may be 3 years older than me, it's only because he is a big music star right now that you're intrigued. I doubt any of you would follow Beyonce and Jay-Z about huh?" I suggested and they all remained silent. "When are you going to learn that love is love. And with love, true real love, age is irrelevant." As I finished I felt a sense of pride come over me. 

Luke placed his arm around my shoulder and as I looked up I saw a smile form on his face, one of joy. "This is my girlfriend Y/n, she is 17, she is not a baby, she is not some princess for you to poke fun at and she can dress however the hell she wants to without having to feel insecure about your opinions being thrown at her unwillingly." He spoke with a newfound sense of confidence, one I haven't heard before in public. 

Surely they began to back away, some of them stayed and took photos as Luke got into the car and began to drive us away. Once they were out of sight a laugh escaped my lips which Luke reciprocated. 

"We did good didn't we?" I asked smiling to him as he continued to drive, the lights from the streets casting over him every few seconds. 

"Course we did, cause we are us."