mr. hemmings // l.h.

3 • luke

"So, you survived your first week teaching, huh?" Ashton grinned, opening a couple beers.

"Sure did." I laughed, "It's actually going a lot better than I thought it would."

"Oh, as if you had doubts." Michael rolled his eyes at me from the recliner.

Calum and I sat on the couch, and Ashton came over handing us all a beer and sat on the other recliner.
We usually spent Friday nights at my apartment, if we weren't out partying. This particular Friday night, we were staying in.

"I did have a few doubts, thank you very much!" I chuckled. "Everyone gets nervous."

"Even Mr. Confidence?" Calum asked, with a smirk.

"Yep, even me." I laughed back, hitting him on the back of the head. Michael and Ashton laughed.

"How are the students?" Michael asked.

Ashton groaned, "Mike, if this is your way of creepily trying to find out about underage girls-"

I interrupted, "They're great. Very smart. I was assigned a history teacher, obviously, and they have six classes a day. Mrs. Reynolds taught her first three, which were world history, AP Euro, and then a study hall. And then I got the last three, which were geography, U.S. history, and then the honors world history class."

"Oooh, honors." Calum chimed in.

"Yeah, they were my favorite. They're awesome. There's this one girl-"

"Ooh, a girl?" Michael smirked.

"Michael, stop!" Ashton groaned again.

"Yes, a girl." I laughed. "Just a girl, stop making it weird. Anyway, her name is Madeline. She's super smart. She's an artist, and we're studying the Renaissance right now so obviously she's doing great."

"Top of the class, you think?" Calum asked.

"Definitely." I nodded, "She has a lot of potential."

"Mm, I bet she does." Michael chuckled.

Ashton chucked a pillow at him that time.

They continued talking, reflecting on our own high school years. They had seemed so long ago.

I decided not to bring up Madeline anymore that night. For some reason, I didn't like the way Michael was talking about her like a creep. I mean it was Michael, we knew he was only joking, but it still bothered me. Madeline was a great student, and a sweet girl, and I almost felt like I needed to protect her.

And I definitely wasn't going to bring up the private study sessions I agreed to have with her, god knows Ashton would freak out and imply I was trying to seduce a 17 year old.

We were only friends. Were we friends? Or just-

"Luke." Ashton snapped me out of it, "You alright?"

I cleared my throat, "Yeah, of course. What were you saying?"

"I said," Michael repeated, "Can you believe how long it's been? Since high school? Since Australia?"

I nodded, "Way too long, huh? I feel old."

"We should visit soon. Australia, I mean. Go home to our family for a bit." Ashton suggested.

I agreed, "I'm thinking spring break."

"Absolutely." Calum agreed.

The boys had all moved with me to Seattle. We all applied for the same colleges, because honestly, we didn't want to split up. We grew up together, and we'd been best friends since we were kids. We wanted to experience a little more of the world in college, so we decided to attend in America. It was a great decision, and we were having a lot of fun. But of course we got homesick.

"I'm bored." Michael groaned. "Let's go drink."

I sighed, "I'm tired."

"Come on, Mr. Hemmings," he continued, "lighten up!"

"You're annoying." I laughed.

"I could use a beer." Calum agreed.

"You have a beer in your hand!"

"Well, it's almost empty."

I groaned, "Let me go get my coat. We'll head to the bar."

((((( this chapter is so short and bad I'm so sorry trust me it'll pick up soon!!!! ;) ))))))))