Careless Whispers (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 10 ~ The Mess I Made

Trying to talk Luke now, was like trying to talk to a wall. There was no expression and no answer back. No matter how much I tried to get his attention, whether it was trying to joke with him, or blatantly just yelling for his attention, he chose to ignore me either way. He interacted with everyone else normally, like there was nothing wrong, but it was different with me.

"Luke, stop, please…" I pleaded, raising my voice as he hurried down the aisle on the bus after the show in Atlanta. "Luke, just let me explain."

"Explain. Go ahead. Go and explain how things could be different with Niall. If you and Niall had something going on before we got together, then by all means don't let me intrude!" Luke raised his voice as he turned back to face me. His face was flushed with anger as he voiced his confusion.

I caught the other boys coming onto the bus right at the time of Luke's outburst, but they quickly assessed the situation and backed out of the bus. "Luke, it's not like that at all! Please let me explain." My voice was soft as I let out my plea.

"Go ahead." He said cursedly.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to start, but I was struggling. My mouth was dry and my throat felt like it was going to close up. It was like I was cursed to never really tell people personal things about me. This always happened.

"See, you can't do it! I knew it. There is no explanat-"

"Lauren, grab your things. You're going on the other bus tonight." Paul said sternly as he thundered onto the bus.

"What? Wh-" I started, but was cut off.

"I told you when the tour started, if there was any problems with you on this bus, I will take you off of it. Now get your things. We need to be leaving in fifteen minutes to stay on schedule to get to Raleigh on time.

"Fine." I huffed out, and didn't dare to look Luke's direction to quickly put the few stray things I had lying around, in my duffel bag. I followed Paul off of the bus, and gave Michael, Calum, and Ashton a small, awkward smile before heading towards the other bus.

I hurried onto the other bus, evoking silence from the other boys as I strode down the aisle. Paul stood at the front of the bus, giving a small sigh, "She'll be sleeping on this bus for tonight until we make further arrangements."

I rolled my eyes and turned and headed for the back lounge of the bus. I tossed my duffel bag onto the couch and closed the door behind me.

I pushed the heels of my hands against my eyes to try to stop the tears from escaping my eyes. 

The door to the lounge slowly opened about ten minutes when I had mostly calmed down. “Ashton told me what happened. Why did you and Luke get in a fight?” 

“Because of you.” I answered softly, not wanting to give way to the emotion that was trying to claw its way out of me. 

“Because of me?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yes, because of you, Niall!” I finally turned on him, anger dripping from my voice. “He thinks there’s something going on between us because of your stupid comment.” 

I watched Niall slowly shrug his shoulders, rubbing the back of his neck. I knew what he was going to say, but I cut him off before he had the chance to speak.

“Niall, please don’t. We are not going down this road again. What happened last year is over. You know that.” 

“Oh, I do? ‘Cause all I remember is you running off with your new boyfriend and me not hearing from you for almost six months. How do you think that made me feel, going from being the closest that two people could be to not talking at all?” Niall muttered, raising his voice as he continued.