End Up Here // Luke Hemmings

ღ Part 1 - You walked in

Dedicated to Kennedy. Thank you for letting me use one of your names :)

Part 1 ღ

Parties were never my thing.

I hold my Shirley Temple tightly with both hands as I watch bodies colliding in the middle of this tight confinement Michael calls a basement. The lights unevenly lit as they illuminate some familiar and nameless faces moving to the beat of ear bursting melodies like there's no tomorrow.

As pathetic as it sounds coming from a senior, this is the first party I have attended in the last four years of my squeaky clean High School career. It wasn't like I was a complete reject or whatever, I just never had the courage to attend one of Michael's legendary and tight parties or anyone's in any of the matter.

I had the right amount of friends to experience all of the prestigious and crazy wild events that happened almost every weekend of the students lives, but the idea of senseless noise and unnecessary clamped bodies made me anxious and sick in many unexplainable ways.

Maybe Michael was right. Maybe I was just too shy. It wasn't the fact that I was scared of people, it was just the thought that there was so many of them and so much noise. And I was so awkward and silent in so many stupid ways that it made me feel like I would've been out of place as soon as I placed a foot in a place like this.

I've never been a guy of many words, but the fact that I played footsie and guitar made some people infatuated with me. It was sad now that I thought about it, that people had a thought of who I really was for what I do. I sure looked confident out in the field and on stage, but when it came to closed spaces and eye contact, I was a mess in utter despair.

My mates were the only ones that could get more than a few words out of me. That was the privilege of being acquainted with me since birth. We were born in the same town, we sticked to the same schools and played in the same teams. And although they've never made me feel like I wasn't welcomed or any awful ordeal by any means, I couldn't help but think that they had no other choice than to be stuck with me.

Friendships long enough like ours where either meant to stick together forever, or they wouldn't have had a purpose to happen in the first place.

That's why it scared me when it came to unknown territories with people. The idea that they would find a way to get to know the real and learn to hate it as much as I did wasn't exactly the way I wanted to end my senior year. Keeping it to myself was the key to leave everyone unnoticed of how mortal I actually was whenever I wasn't bouncing a ball or strumming a guitar.

Confidence wasn't exactly the key to my success.

"Hey man." I watch as Calum approaches me, swinging a bare arm around my shoulder while squeezing me closer to him and his clammy shirt that sticks to his body tightly.

"Gross." I crinkle my nose in disgust as I feel my back against his damp shirt.

"Lauren Davidson sure didn't seem to mind about that." He laughs while taking a swing from his beer.

"You made out with Lauren Davidson?" My eyes widen as he nods his head and chugs the rest of his beer.

"Aiming a bit higher than that with her tonight if you know what I'm saying." Yeah I did.

Lauren Davidson wasn't exactly nice, but she was fit as hell. It was the kind of girl you wished you could fuck, but she wasn't the kind of girl you wish you could introduce to your parents after a few dates. I wouldn't be surprised if Calum got to shag her tonight. I mean, half of the twelfth grade already did and it wouldn't make a difference.