Unpredictable | Luke Hemmings & Calum Hood. (Cake/5SOS)

Chapter 38

Two hours later, I'm awakened by a cellphone ringing, but I'm quickly moved gently off Luke's lap, and I know it's his phone and not mine.

Squinting, I watch him walk into the hallway to answer his phone quietly, assuming I'm still asleep.

Wiping the exhaustion from my eyes, I lay back onto the couch on my side, trying to spare a few more minutes before I have to get up and tackle the school day ahead.

I hear Luke say into the phone how he stayed the night at my house and how he won't be home after school to someone on the other line before saying goodbye and walking back into the living room, laying next to me in the small couch and wrapping a protective arm around my waist.

"Who was that on the phone?" I ask curiously as I feel him kiss my forehead.

"My mom," he said softly. "She was wondering why I didn't come home last night. She seemed a little happy to know I was here," he informs me.

In the middle of yawning, I reply back, "Is that so?" I ask.

"Yes, she's quite fond of you."

"We have to wake up for school," I tell him and he shakes his head against my back in defiance.

"I don't want to. Can we just ditch?"

"No, we're not having any repeats of the first time we ditched," I tell him, remembering the first time we ditched school in the middle of class to go to the pit. The memory played through my brain on loop as everything else involving Luke at this point in my life does to constantly remind me that I can't get rid of him even if I wanted to.

"The fact that you remember when we ditched makes me happy."

"Rephrase that," I tell him, switching sides to face him directly instead of my back to him. "You forced me to ditch and you only did because I was pissed at you for being an asshole, you know, the usual."

As much as I would like to stay in this position with him for the remainder of the day, I can't. He can't think everything is okay and he certainly can't think we can just stay home and be all 'us' trapped inside of this house with no one to witness. Not that I would want anyone to. It's just that Luke's track record of being sweet to me behind closed doors and a complete narssasitic asshole to me in public seems to be growing.

"What are you thinking about?" he questions and I sigh.

"Honestly?" I ask him and he nods.

"I'm just wondering how long this Luke is going to last. How long is sweet Luke planning on staying this time? A day or two? A week, a month, if I'm lucky? Maybe he'll just change as soon we hit school grounds like he always does and seem to magically appear during afterschool hours," I retort bluntly, knowing the cycle we go through and knowing that as soon as we step foot on school grounds, I'll become a stranger to him, or a nuisance that he chooses to ignore.

His facial features changes dramatically. He seems taken aback by my honesty, but I refuse to take my words back. I'm not going to lie to him about how I feel because that's what got us in this mess countless times before. It all played out into me hiding away what I was feeling about his behavior and him just walking all over me as if I'm always going to be there, which is sadly true because even within that time span we didn't talk, if he so much as needed me, I would've reluctantly been there for him and sometimes, that just isn't reciprocated with him. He needs to know I'm not always going to be here for him on the side. He needs to know his actions have consequences and this is exactly why whatever the hell we even had before will not be happening anytime soon until he actually shows that he gives a damn.

"It's never going to end," he answers me and I'm the one who's facial features are now overtaken by a shocked expression.

"You say that now, but I doubt it'll last. That's just how it always is with us, right?" I ask annoyed as I try to get up from the couch and away from him. But to no avail, I'm pulled back down into my laying position right beside him.