24 Hours.

2.3 - adventure

1:40 PM

After Luke got mad at Ashton and hung up the phone, he angrily stormed off to the bathrooms where he could be alone for just a few minutes before jointing Skylar again.

He locked himself in one of the bathroom stalls and punched the wall a few times before giving up completely, realizing that he was more sad than anything.

He was sad that he had let himself turn into this player that everyone knew, and no one ever wanted to pay attention to Luke when he was doing the right thing. Secretly he was sad that his family had given up on him too, and he knew that they weren't even excited that he was coming home for a while. He was sad because none of his friends believed him when he said that he truly liked this girl, and they were all insisting that he was just going to hurt hurt. And finally Luke was sad because he knew that deep down, he was going to hurt Skylar, and his friends were all right.

That's when Luke started to really cry for the first time in months, probably, or even years. He totally let himself go, and he didn't care that there were people going in and out of the bathroom that could hear him crying, they didn't matter. He sat there on the bathroom floor with his head resting on his knees, sobbing because he realized for the first time in a while that he was a really shitty person, and all he ever did was hurt people.

The boys called Luke back shortly after he hung up on them, and this time they were all there, with the phone on speaker. All the three of them did was yell at Luke even more until finally Calum realized that when Luke argued back with them he sounded like he was crying, and the entire conversation changed.

The four boys then had a huge heart to heart over the phone, with three of them together in L.A and one sobbing on the bathroom floor of some gross airport in Northern California.

Their problems seemed to be mostly solved after that, at least between the four of them. Each of them apologized for things that they've done to each other in the past. And even though no one would admit it to him, Luke suspected that Michael had let a few tears out too.

So after Luke cleaned himself up and said goodbye to the boys, telling them that he would call after he finally landed back in Australia, he made his way back to where Skylar was sitting.

He actually stood and watched her for a long while before going and sitting next to her again. He admired the way that she seemed so focused on what was straight ahead of her, which gave Luke a good view of her side profile. It was so cute, her eyes had little crinkles by the sides, her nose turned up at just the right place, her hair hanging in front of her eyes like she hadn't had time to move it away, her plump lips stuck out just far enough, and Luke could only begin to imagine what it would be like kissing those lips.

He cared about her and liked her so much, after only knowing her for a few hours. There was something more between the two of them, and Luke hadn't felt this for any other girl he'd ever known before. He wanted to stay with her forever, even though Luke knew that wasn't possible, he wanted to be with her.

But of course watching Skylar and thinking about their non-existent future together only made Luke start crying again, because while his problems with his friends were solved, the problem that he faced with Skylar wasn't.

Luke was going to leave her when they got back to Australia, he knew it. He didn't want to, but he knew that that's what was going to end up happening. Ashton was right, there was no possible way that this could ever work out between them. Too many things would get in the way, especially on Luke's side. The two of them weren't ready for that, not with Luke focusing on the band and Skylar worrying about her mum.