Recount the Seconds (Muke)

Chapter 13

Present - Luke

"I remember. Luke, I remember." 

Those were the first words to register. 

"Michael?"

"Yeah, yeah it's me, Luke--"

"What's going--"

Oh. Accident. Losing Michael. And now?

"I remember! Well--" 

"Michael!" 

"Luke--"

"Sorry, I'm still waking up -- wait, are you okay? What do you--" My voice fails me. I curl my legs to my chest, shocked to feel their trembling. 

"Luke?" 

"I, uh--" I scramble out of bed and run down the hall toward Ashton's room. 

"Luke are you all right?" 

I gulp the cool apartment air and slam my hand against Ashton's door. "Ash," I gasp. 

"Yeah?" Ashton grumbles. 

Taking that as permission to enter, I stumble into my bandmate's room. I'm mildly surprised to see not only Ashton, but also Cal splayed out in the queen-sized bed, Ash nearest to me and Calum tucked back against the far wall. 

"The hell, mate?" Ashton murmurs, squinting at me as he scrambles to a sitting position. 

"Still there?" Michael repeats on the other end of the line. 

"Just, uh -- give me -- Michael, I love you." 

"I love--" 

Wordlessly, I hand Ashton the phone. Shaking, I collapse back into his beanbag near the doorway, tears beginning to spill from my eyes. I try to fight it, but I feel a floodgate breaking, all this anxiety I've been trying to push back melting to relief, evaporating off my skin in waves, Jesus, this is too much. 

*****

Present - Cal

Seeing Luke's shoulders heaving silently in the corner of the still-dark room, I shift up to go comfort him. Nothing hurts more than seeing my bandmate so broken. 

Before I can properly get up, I feel Ash's hand on my shoulder pushing me back into the pillows. As he murmurs quiet replies to Mikey, he shakes his head no. 'Give him a minute,' he mouths. I bury my face back in the pillows, listening in, waiting. 

Ash's fingers drum against my back nervously as he perches on the bedside, phone pressed to his ear. I try to concentrate on his end of the conversation, torn between curiosity and desire to take care of Luke.

Ash is right, though. Luke tends to need space in moments like these. Plus, Mikey and Ash have always been a lot better at soothing him; I just try to cheer him up like I do with Michael and Ashton and end up making things worse. 

"All right," Ash sighs. "Yeah, I'll get him again...No, I think he's just in shock...Yeah, like I said, came into my room and handed me the phone, didn't say anything...Nah, he'll be fine, Mikey, don't worry about it...I'll get him now...No, it's just, I mean, thank God, really. I'm so glad you're okay...Yeah--" squeezing my shoulder and beckoning for me to follow him, Ash stands and heads for the door. 

Groaning, I kick off my covers and head after him. 

As he reaches Luke, Ash kneels down and faces him. "Y'all right, mate?"

Rubbing an eye, Luke smiles weakly. "Dandy."

"Here you go then -- try to actually talk a bit this time?" Ash teases as he hands him the phone. "I think someone misses you a lot all of a sudden." 

This. This big brother stuff is what I can't pull off. 

Ash slaps Luke on the shoulder and stands to head out the doorway. Giving Lukey an awkward grin and a thumbs up, I follow suit. 

As soon as I shut the door behind me, Ashton tackles me in a bear hug. "He's back!" he practically giggles in my ear. "We're all back!" 

*****

Present - Luke

"Michael?" My voice trembles against my will. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah, you?" I hiccup. 

"I think so," Mikey laughs nervously.

Somehow, this calms me down. God, he really is back. "Good. Wow. So, um...what do you remember?" 

"I'm not really sure yet, to be honest. Like...I just ran out of this appointment to call you, 'cause I...know who you are now -- Jesus -- Luke, I don't really know how to say all this over the phone."

I grin in spite of myself. This boy gets me. Always has, always will. "Same here."

"I want to see you." 

My stomach flips. "I want to see you too." 

"Come home?"

I smile, a to-do list already forming in my head. Plane tickets, passport, clothes, home, apologize to Mum, Michael...home. "Of course."

"Good...The hypnotist is giving me dirty looks."

"Tell him fuck off, I'm important," I mumble. 

"Don't flatter yourself, Hemmings." 

"Don't deny it, Clifford, you called me first." 

"Right. Mum's not gonna like it either," he laughs. "I should probably call her and let you sleep." 

"Far too excited now." 

"I miss you, Lukey." 

"Go call your mum, dammit. I don't want to be on Karen's bad side."

"Fine," Mikey grumbles. "You're coming though?" 

"I'm coming...tomorrow? I'm coming tomorrow. I love you." 

"I love  you too, Luke." 

I dare to think that's all I need. 

*****

WHOA WICKED SHORT CHAPTER SORRY. This just seemed like a natural place to end it though. And also I'm sick and I need to go to bed. Plus...it's nice to end on a happy note for once, yeah? Sorry to all of you who don't follow the tumblr and don't know what's been going on with my wacky update schedule. Basically, here in the States it's AP week which has been hellish for me as I am taking several classes/exams and gah, I've been sick/dying of stress and I've had to postpone the update because of studying for exams/trying to maintain a proper sleep schedule. At any rate, I'm here now. I finished the last one this morning, and I'm sick and exhausted but a free woman, which feels excellent. So yay. Regular updates. Good stuff. 

I hope you liked this chapter! If you're confused about Ash and Calum...so am I babe, so am I. I think I'm gonna stick to bromance for now, though. Opinions? Again, I've been talking to the tumblr people about this and y'all have been a little left out. Sorry about that. I'm going to try to sleep off this random illness (I think my body just hit full stop after the stress of the past week and a half), so have a lovely week and I'll see you next Sunday. Love you all. 

xx,

baconastronaut