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

9.

Getting into the car with Luke's new suit was a nightmare. We ended up having to put it into the trunk so it wouldn't crease which would give Bev another reason to scream at us. The atmosphere was still a bit awkward from before and I blamed myself.

Getting into the driver's seat, I sighed. Luke looked at me and a flash of concern passed his eyes.

'Come on, I'll drive.'

'Nah it's okay, I'm just tired but don't worry about it.'

'I am.' he said simply and grabbed the keys from me. I smiled at his kind gesture and felt a warmth in my heart; I was rarely ever treated this nicely because most people thought of me as strong and able to deal with anything, but in reality sometimes I felt like I might break down at any minute. I thanked Luke as he started the car; he was back to wearing his skinny ripped jeans and as handsome as he looked in a suit, I think I preferred this Luke.

'You checking me out?' he asked jokingly with a smirk.

'Yeah definitely, I just can't keep my eyes off of you', I said and he laughed again although I don't know if I was joking when I said that.

We sat in a long, comfortable silence afterwards for a few minutes until my phone rang. Matt. Without hesitation, I answered the call despite Luke being there; if there was an emergency it was my responsibility to fix it even if I was on holiday.

'What's going on Matt? Did something happen?' I asked frantically. He wouldn't call if it wasn't important.

'One Direction got into touch with me and they want to arrange a tour, you need to be back straight after the wedding or else they'll find someone else. Last time we worked with them, 20 more artists called us to hire us.' he said out of breath.

'I have to be back the day after? I can't even say goodbye properly then. But I'm glad they've decided to tour with us, thank you for calling me.' I said formally. Matt wasn't my friend and I rarely treated him as anything more than someone I do business with. He said goodbye and I hang up.

At this point, I could see Luke looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

'What's going on?', he asked.

'Gotta be at the next flight out as soon as the wedding finishes, I'm so sorry but there's been an emergency.'

'Are you okay?' Luke said, concerned and the car suddenly felt crowded despite only the 2 of us being in it.

'Yeah, my job's just stressful sometimes. If I don't keep up all the time, I could lose everything I've worked for so easily.' I said, truthfully.

'Is that why you don't sleep well?' he asked and I wanted to smack myself for ever mentioning that to him in the first place.

'Yeah, among other things', I said.

'What other things?'

'I'm just ... I don't know, stressed about the wedding as well.', I quickly diverted the attention away from me again but Luke wasn't having it.

'Why?'

'Why did you propose?', I asked and Luke's eyebrows shot up in surprise. I can't believe I just said that out loud, it really wasn't any of my business and I hoped Luke didn't think I cared for him just because I couldn't shut my stupid mouth.

'I-I guess I just loved Bev and I wanted her to be happy', he said. He kept his eyes on the road and didn't look at me. I frowned at his use of the word 'loved' in the past tense but I couldn't help feel my heart skip a beat.

'As weird as this might sound, you can tell me what you want and I won't tell Bev about it', I said, slightly feeling like I was plotting against my sister. Not only did I feel like I was betraying her by crossing a line with Luke at times, but now I basically just told him I won't tell her anything he said even if it's awful.

'Don't get me wrong, I'm not having second thoughts or anything, I just sometimes think we're moving really fast.', he said truthfully and I squirmed in my seat.

'Why would you propose if you thought it was going too fast?', I asked, scared that maybe Luke would think I was prying too much and get annoyed. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders.

'Like I said, I guess I just wanted her to be happy.', he said and I nodded my head.

'You should do what makes you happy, not just other people.'

'That's just life, sometimes you have to do things that you don't care for to make someone happy.', he said and I could tell this conversation was affecting him. I wonder if anyone has ever actually talked to him about this.

'What makes you happy?' Luke looked at me, his face surprised. He looked confused for a second but just shook his head quickly and avoided the question.

'It doesn't matter.', he said and my heart twisted a bit. Why was I talking to him about this, my sister is the one who should be making him feel better and not me.

'It does to me. What makes you happy?', I repeated and he wiped his hand on his thigh. Was I making him nervous?

'I don't know, usually singing or playing the guitar makes me happy. I like bowling too I guess.', I could tell he was still holding back on me but he was smiling and I couldn't help smiling with him too.

'Turn the car then. Guess we're going bowling.' I said and he looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. I don't think I've ever been spontaneous in my life, it was always me making plans and stressing about them later.

'What, now?'

'Yes, now.' He smiled at me again but this time it was different. It was the kind of smile that I often smiled at him when I was thinking of him but knew I shouldn't.