you'll never fade to me. - a Luke Hemmings story

6.

The whole day after their 'incident' and then the next one after that, Luke basically ignored me and it made me feel even more ashamed than I had been that morning when I woke up nearly cuddling the guy. Every time I saw my sister or had to help with the wedding, I felt nauseous from the guilt. Is it possible that I might have a crush on Luke? No, you're in your twenties, for fuck's sake. You don't get 'crushes' anymore. My mind was torturing me and it didn't help at all that I was supposed to be shopping for bridesmaid dresses today with Bev and her friends.

Walking into the shop, I could see that it was elegant and clearly going to be very expensive. The other bridesmaids, Gemma and Holly who my sister met in high school, insisted on a fuchsia colour which made me cringe obviously in front of them.

'What do you think, Val?', Gemma asked, her green eyes looking at me quizzically.

'I think red is the way to go', I said, holding up an auburn coloured dress that stopped below the knee. It was strapless and tight at the top but it flowed freely below the chest. Bev made us try on 3 dresses but we decided on the red one I had picked in the end. It complimented my dark features which I was glad about. I wonder if Luke would like it, I thought and immediately had to stop myself. Not right now, not in the damn bridal shop with my sister! I tucked all my ridiculous thoughts to the back of my head as Bev started working on what shoes we should get.

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Apparently, my sister and her friends decided that they'd go out for drinks after shopping while I had to go home and hang up the dresses, making sure they didn't crease. Sometimes I wondered whether she had asked me to be her maid of honour just to get me to do all her planning; I was always picking up her messes. When she was 16, it was me picking her up from Billy Swinstick's house because she so badly wanted to impress him that she got wasted and couldn't even stand up.

Sighing, I hang up the dresses in the closet,  put the shoes away and head upstairs to lay down. Walking past the bathroom, I hear a deep voice singing quietly in the shower; it sounded like a Blink 182 song but way better. The notes carried around the whole bathroom and made it sound almost angelic. I didn't know my dad was such a great singer- hold up, my parents are out at a dinner with their friends, so who the hell is singing? My eyes widened at the realisation. Luke. I didn't know he was so talented; I mean I know he was in the band but I thought he played guitar, not sang as well. I was pressed my head to the door subtly to hear more clearly. It really was beautiful, it tugged at something in my heart; I wanted to stand there and listen forever.

Unfortunately, my immense lack of luck didn't have that in store for me today. Just as I leaned closer to the door, it opened and I nearly fell in, catching myself on something very big and WET??? I looked up to Luke holding one of my arms to keep me from falling while my chest pressed against his. This is not happening, oh my god, oh my god, my sister's fiancé who I am oddly attracted to is shirtless and wet in front of me and we are touching, oh god.

My eyes were so wide at this point, I think they were about to pop out. Luke looked down at me, his wet eyelashes fluttering lightly and he frowned before laughing, still holding my arm when I managed to hoist myself up and not rubbing on his naked chest. I couldn't help but look though; his shoulders were wider than life itself and his arms and stomach were toned perfectly.

'I'm so sorry, oh my gosh! I-I was just walking to my room, Bev made me come back with the bridesmaids' dress, I-'

'I didn't know walking involved leaning on the bathroom door.', Luke said, raising an eyebrow. Can this boy put on a shirt please?

'I heard you singing, I'm sorry I only listened for a second.'

'Oh you heard that? Sorry about your ears then', he laughed.

'What do you mean? You're amazing! Seriously, half the people I work with don't have talent like you-', I cut myself off. Did I just call him amazing?

'You actually think I'm talented?', Luke asked shyly. I've never seen him like this; he chewed on the inside of his cheek and I swear I could see a hint of pink in his cheeks. How could a simple compliment affect him like this?

'Well... yeah. You should show me that band of yours soon, I'd be real excited to see you guys play', I said, cautiously. What if I completely misread his signals and he didn't actually care about what I said at all, he just felt uncomfortable? And why did I care whether he cared? I've only known the guy a week and I was already overthinking things. Typical me.

'Oh yeah definitely! I'm going over to practice at theirs at some point during the week, Bev usually comes. You should too.' Only when Bev's name did I snap back out of our bubble, why was I standing in the bathroom with flushed cheeks with shirtless Luke? What's wrong with me?

'Some other time maybe.', I said quickly and headed towards the door. His face seemed to drop minimally, but I pretended not to notice. I just needed to be alone to think everything through; I got changed into something more comfortable and flopped down on my bed. Putting my face in my hands, I considered the possibility that I might like Luke. Hearing him sing so passionately and having him standing in front of me looking like that made me feel weird inside. Whether it was a good weird or not, I didn't know yet but I decided that from now on until the wedding, I will not be thinking of Luke and I'll go out of my way to avoid him. Hopefully, he'll get the hint and we can go back to being basically strangers until I move away again and never have to see him again.

I sighed in relief, yes that sounds like a great plan, Luke's already forgotten.

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