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

14.

Curling my hair and looking at my dress in the mirror, I thought of last night's events. When Luke and I had come home, Bev was absolutely furious and even though I escaped her wrath by quickly heading to my bedroom, Luke didn't and I heard shouting for the next 2 hours. I hadn't seen him all day today; maybe because I had been avoiding leaving my room or because he's been doing the same.

However, I do have something to look forward to today; I'm going on a date with Ashton! It had been a very spontaneous decision which I've been doing a lot of recently. He had messaged me early in the morning asking to see me later and the only downside to that is that I'll actually have to go downstairs and face Luke. I looked in the mirror, checking my makeup and my little black dress before subconsciously grazing my lips the way he had just a few hours before. Although it felt a little weird to go out with Ashton now, knowing that he was one of Luke's best friends, I did like hanging out with him and I wasn't going to not give him a chance just because Luke kept muddling with my head. I put on some red lipstick and decided that it's time to head out as I'm meeting Ash in 20 minutes at some fancy restaurant across town.

I haven't dressed up like this in a long time and even though I knew I looked good, the tightness of the dress and the awareness that you could see a substantial amount of cleavage made me feel insecure. I had always wanted to put more effort into my appearance but I either never had time for it or just didn't know what looked good on me. I walked downstairs, my wedges clonking more loudly than I'd have cared for.

Luke and Bev were sitting on the sofa and I assumed they had made up already because her head was on his shoulder and they were watching some movie. Luke giggled at one of the scenes and I smiled to myself before realising how creepy it is that I'm just standing there and watching him. Coughing a little to get their attention I started grabbing my bag from the kitchen as they turned towards me, acknowledging something outside of their love bubble that made jealousy creep its way into my stomach.

'It's been a while since you dressed up, what's going on?' Bev asked, giving me a nod of approval before going back to watching the movie, waiting for my answer. Luke on the other hand looked me up from head to toe so excruciatingly slow that I felt like I had come in for an interview. His eyes stopped for a second more at my legs and boobs before making eye contact with me with a blush on his cheeks. It seems like I've gotten Luke's seal of approval as well.

'Well if you must know, I'm going on a date.' I said, not sensing the point of lying to them. 'With one of Luke's friends actually'. A crease appeared in between Luke's eyebrows as he swivelled around Bev to face me ever more.

'You're going on a date with Ashton?'

'About time you went out with someone instead of sitting in your room moping about', Bev interrupted but Luke didn't even seem to hear her.

'Yeah, who else? Anyways, I gotta go or I'll be late, these heels are gonna cause an accident if I drive faster than 30mph', I said laughing as I patted my sister on the shoulder to say bye.

'Do you want me to give you a ride then?' Luke asked and even Bev looked up at him with surprise. One of those moments that happen increasingly between us happened again and I looked between the couple quickly before heading out the door.

'It's fine, don't worry about it', I said and didn't even get the chance to see the expression on his face because I was hurrying to the car trying to forget about how I can't go one day without him affecting me and making me feel like a 16 year old with her first crush.

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The restaurant was much fancier than I anticipated; Ashton and I looked quite out of place at our table surrounded by middle class business men and uptight couples. It's the sort of place that Luke's parents would come to and I had a moment of irrational fear where I wondered what I'd do if I saw them again.