After Midnight | lrh

• 2 •

- LUKE -

After the last song, we take our bow, and I throw out the last of my picks and a few well aimed kisses to the fans who had been jamming with us for the last 90 minutes. It had been a hell of a crowd, but I couldn't- and still can't- stop thinking of Ruby. Sometime between our encounter and now, she'd put a ridiculous tiara on her head that gleamed so brightly in the visual effects it had nearly blinded me mid-set. She looked way more relaxed than she had just hours before, and probably a little drunk with the way she was dancing.

I planned to just let it go after she took off in the alley. It's not like I'm pressed for company and she clearly wasn't interested but watching her had made it pretty obvious she wasn't just a casual fan- this girl went hard and I didn't catch her miss a single line. Before I realize I've made a decision about trying again to talk to her, I'm standing in front of security.

"Hey, I want you to go grab the girl stage left in the light up tiara and black tank top. Her name's Ruby. Invite her back."

He nods and steps into the crowd as I head back to the dressing room, stripping off my soaked shirt as I walk and grabbing a glass of whiskey that Calum extends just inside the door.

"So who's the chick you were eye fucking in the crowd?" Calum waggles his eyebrows as he flops onto the couch. Of course he noticed. He notices everything.

No sense in denying it so I just laugh and quickly recount our earlier meeting for him as I button up a fresh shirt. Before I've finished the story, I hear a soft knock at the door and glance at Calum nervously. I take a deep breath and open the door.

Ruby is standing there, looking a little bewildered.

"Hi." She tells me with a shy but knowing smile. Shit, she's really beautiful.

"Hey yourself. Come on in, make yourself comfortable." I step back to let her in through the door and Calum peeks over the edge of the couch, giving her a small wave but otherwise making no effort to involve himself in her presence.

Ruby walks past the couch Cal's laying on and eyes a chair near the dressing table. I pull it out for her but she just looks at it. So, I sit in the one opposite and hope she'll follow suit. She does and she's watching me warily, but I'm just as lost as she is. I have no idea what to do now that she was here. I hadn't thought that far ahead, or really at all. I just knew I wanted to see her again.

"It's my birthday." She blurts into the awkward silence and I laugh. Everything about her is so delightfully unexpected.

"Well that calls for a celebration!" I jump from my seat, glad to have some direction even if it's just heading toward the bottle of whiskey on the bar. I grab two glasses, pour us each a shot and return to the table our chairs are clustered around, setting the glasses down and pushing hers toward her.

She looks at me blankly, and says, " I don't drink with strangers."

I pause, glass half way to my mouth, and unsure of how to proceed. Again.

Before I can collect a witty thought or comeback, she is giggling. Hard.

"I'm sorry. I just... sometimes my mouth gets ahead of me when I'm nervous."

I raise my glass to her, "So are you saying I make you nervous?" I bite my lip to hold back the smile as her eyes grow wide and she mirrors my expression, tugging her lip between her teeth and realizing she's given herself away.

She clinks our glasses together and downs the entire thing in one gulp. I'm tempted to clap when she doesn't even flinch because this whiskey's awful. I just down the shot instead.

"D'you wanna meet the rest of the band? I'm Luke.. and there's Cal... He plays bass in the band," I wink at her as she giggles at the fandom joke.

I lead her out of the dressing room and further down the hall where I can hear Mikey and Ash shouting over something. I open the door and fling it wide so they can see Ruby following behind me at a careful pace that assures me that that shot wasn't her first of the night.

"Michael, Ashton. This is Ruby. She's a stalker that's following me and I can't get rid of her. Help."

I hear her puff out a breath, indignant, and I smile. The guys stand up and come toward us, offering handshakes that Ruby rejects in favor of... high fives? Alright then. They both laugh and high five her.

"It's great to meet you, Ruby." Michael says warmly, "Do YOU wanna play Fortnite?"

I groan. Being stuck here gaming with them is not how I'd hoped to spend the next few hours with a hot drunk birthday girl.

"Nevermind," Michael whines, indignant at my obvious rejection. He plops back into the large chair, and zones back into the game he's brought along with him, as Ashton sighs.

"I guess that's my cue. It was really nice to meet you. See you soon?" Ash smiles at Ruby as he rejoins Michael in front of his laptop.

We walk back out into the hall and as I shut the door behind us, Ruby stumbles into me. I catch her with one hand at her waist and one on her butt. Oops.

"Shit, sorry-" I start, but she's laughing.

"You're really going to have to watch where you're going, ma'am" I joke, biting my lip and looking down at her.

Her eyes are a little bit glassy but there's fire in them as she stares back at me and says "Who says I wasn't?"

Oh.

---- Ruby ----

I'm not even that drunk. Why did I say that?

The adrenaline of meeting ALL of 5SOS apparently didn't sit well with the drinks I had downed, and I am well on my way to having the most embarrassing night of my life.

I groan and drop my head in my hands as I take a deep breath. When I looked up at Luke again he is grinning at me with his tongue between his teeth and looking so good I almost didn't regret it.

"Why did you bring me back here? I've run into you, blinded you" I touch the tiara on my head and smooth my hair nervously, "and I can't keep my mouth shut."

"Because you're hot and awkward." He says simply, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

I nearly choke.

Then it occurs to me. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and a shot like this wasn't one I'd be getting many- or any- times more.

"Luke?"

"Yeah Ruby?"

We are still standing in the hall between dressing rooms, but suddenly the space feels very small. I take another step toward him, closing the gap and putting my hands on his shoulders.

"Can I kiss you?" a voice asks.

My voice. I said that. OHMYGOD.