Control » l.h

Chapter Thirty-One

Luke kissed my lips sweetly as I stood at the open front door with him. "Stay safe."

"Don't have another breakdown!" Ashton shouted from the driveway.

"Or do," Michael shrugged as he popped his head back in. "Then we can try the memory thing."

"Go fuck yourselves," Luke said, pushing Michael back out the door. Calum had talked to them and they told Luke that they needed to go shopping for food and to stock up in the basement. He agreed because Calum promised to keep a close eye on me until they got home. "I love you."

"Aw, I love you too." Michael called from outside, followed by Ashton's loud laugh.

"I love you too." I giggled, kissing Luke again.

"You need to go!" Calum groaned, shoving Luke out the door. "Come back when you can feed us!"

With that, he slammed the door shut, turned, and smiled at me. I beamed back before going to brush my teeth and hair so we could leave. I was already wearing a pair of black leggings and a purple and red flannel. I just had to fix my hair, brush my teeth, and slip on some shoes so we could go. 

"Are you nervous?" Calum asked as he leaned against the doorway of the downstairs bathroom.

I shrugged and nodded a little as I watched him in the mirror. I was kind of nervous to meet Luke's mom because I didn't want her to turn me away or something because I was there for her son that she hasn't seen in years. That, and I was scared she'd say how much she hates him and I'd have to live with that in my head. And then I was just nervous because I was nervous; I didn't have a reason.

I spit out the toothpaste, ran the brush on the counter through my hair, and went to the entryway to grab the black studed combat boots Calum had brought down for me as I fixed my hair. I laced them up as Calum swing the keys around on his finger, and then we left. We got into Calum's red 1990 Pontiac Fiero and started the drive to Mrs Hemmings' house.

~*~

The CD Calum was playing was about an hour long so it plaid roughly two times until we pulled up to a nice white house. Calum put the car in park, shut off the engine, and we both just sat there as we stared at the house. It kind of looked like a farm house but minus the farm. I could definitely see Luke growing up here.

"This is it." Calum finally sighed, his eyes still scanning the house.

I looked up at him. "What do we do?"

A smile broke on his face as he met my eyes. "We go in, dummy."

"Will Luke's mom recognize you?" I quizzed as we opened our doors and stepped out.

Calum shrugged. "Probably. Hopefully she doesn't freak out or something."

Calum led the way to the door, humming and muttering about how the house was just like how he remembered it. We walked up the two steps to the porch and walked to the door. Calum rang the doorbell and stood with his hands in his pocket as I grabbed his arm anxiously.

The door opened to show a happy looking blonde woman with Luke's eyes and smile. "Hello, can I- Calum?" she gasped.

Calum smiled and pulled his hand out of his pocket to wave. "Hey, Liz."

Liz held onto the door as her eyes scanned him over. "H-how are you- Why are you here for?"

"Mrs Hemmings," I finally spoke up, stepping out from where I stood half behind-half next to Calum. "My name is Jemma and I've been living with your son for the passed few months. May we come in? We'd like to talk to you about him."

Her blue eyes glossed over, but she nodded, quickly wiping under one of her eyes with the back of her hand. She pushed the screen door open for us. "Yes, please come in."

The door led into the kitchen, which held a round table with five chairs. She sat and gestured to the other seats. Calum and I sat next to each other and across from Mrs Hemmings. I looked around the kitchen as Calum asked Luke's mom how she's been and what she's been up to. There were pots and pans hanging from above the island, and there were family photos everywhere, including pictures of Luke.

"So Luke," Mrs Hemming's words caught my attention. I looked back to her and her eyes were trained on me. "How is he?"

"Fine," I told her before I realized how stupid that sounded. I put on a tiny smile. "Better than he used to be, actually."

"They've been staying with Mike, Ashton, and I," Calum smiled proudly. "You remember them, right?"

"How could I forget them?" Liz chuckled. "Michael had a new hair color every month, and Ashton's laugh could be heard for miles. I loved you boys. Just as much as I loved Luke." her voice turned softer as she said the last part.

"Mrs Hemmings, Luke misses you a lot," I told her sincerely. "I know he'd want to see you again. He probably wouldn't come back to live here, but he'd definitely love to visit. He just doesn't think you want to see him anymore after he ran away."

Mrs Hemmings' eyes began to fill with tears that she let spill out freely. "Even after what he did, I still loved that boy. He may have lashed out, but he's still my son and he always will be. After he left, I was torn."

I figured maybe Liz might know how Luke ended up the way he did. She was his mom after all. I just didn't want to make her feel like I was accusing her. But this might be the only chance to figure out why Luke is the way he is, and then maybe I'll find out why I'm starting to become that way.

"Was he always...superhuman?" I wondered sheepishly.

Liz breathed deeply. "When we adopted him-"

"Adopted?" Calum and I both blurted.

She nodded. "The adoption center said he was a little different, but I thought it was nothing. I thought maybe it was just the other kids telling stories to the adults so he wouldn't get adopted and they'd have a better chance. But then I saw what they were talking about, but it was never as extreme as that night."

Calum's phone started going off and he groaned. He slipped it out of his pocket and checked who it was. "Ashton," he sighed before sliding to answer it. "Hello?...No, we're still talking....Well tell him to like, surprised Jemma or something since she's been having a hard time after that eye-glow thing. He'd go for that, right?...Yeah, we're almost done....Just keep him out for three more hours and- Don't groan at me....Yeah, I'll see you later....Bye."

I noticed the quizzical look on Liz's face. "We had to keep Luke out of the house."

"We were afraid if he knew we were coming he'd try to stop us," Calum explained. "He'd probably think we were going to make things worse."

"But we all know how much he misses you and I just had to try." I added.

A small smile formed on her face. "I'd love to see my baby again."

My face lit up and Calum patted my knee. "Really? When would you be okay with seeing him?"

"You could all come over for lunch tomorrow," she suggested. "Jack and Ben are out of town; I'm afraid of how they'll react to him because they don't talk about him much."

"What about his dad?" Calum wondered.

"I kicked him out that night," she said quietly. "It's been me, Jack, and Ben ever since."

"We'll be here." I promised, and Liz smiled the brightest she had since we got here.

"I'm going to see my son." she said with a little laugh.