Home// Luke Hemmings

Chapter 21

"Wake up sleepy head!" Liv says pulling the blankets from my body.

I hesitated but sat up and held my hand against my forehead. "What time is it?" I groan.

"You're flight leaves at 6:00, and it's currently 4:00 am. We need time to get you there and time for you to get passed security." She said pulling on my arm.

"Oh right. How could I forget, I'm leaving." I sighed wiping my tired eyes. Liv gave me a look as if she didn't know what to say but was sad for both me and herself.

"Come on, you go get ready and I'll get Ella ready. My mom's already in the kitchen making breakfast." She reaches for my shoulder and a sad smile appears across her lips.

I asked her the one question I was trying so hard to avoid, but just couldn't. "Have you heard from Luke?" I said, looking down and fiddling with my fingers.

She looked away from my gaze and down at the edge of her bed. "I haven't, I'm sorry."

"Oh, no it's okay. I was just wondering." I tried to brush off the question like I was just asking out of curiosity.

Liv gives another fake smile, surely from not knowing what to say. Since the last time I talked to Luke, no one wanted to bring him up around me. I didn't blame them for that, I didn't even want to think about him, unfortunately he was the only thing that filled my thoughts.

When Liv left the room I got up and threw on my favorite pair of gray sweatpants, along with a black AC DC t-shirt. I noticed the sweatshirt that Luke gave me lying on the floor by my bag. It was my favorite sweatshirt of his. It was a black pull over that said "Sike" on it with a check mark underneath it, intended to look like the Nike symbol but slightly different. I took the sweatshirt in my hands and studied it for a minute. I wasn't sure what to do with it. Thoughts inside my brain were telling me to just leave it or have one of our friends give it back to him, but another part of me just couldn't let it go. I was going to be leaving today, and Luke probably wasn't going to show up, so I decided to put it on. I knew this wouldn't help me get over him, but to be honest I didn't want to get over him right now. I was just really hoping he would show up today.

I walked into the kitchen to see my sister and Liv eating her mom's famous egg, sausage, and cheese sandwiches. Liv's mom didn't just make any ordinary breakfast sandwich, somehow the woman had a talent to make them taste unbelievably good. When I came into Ella and Liv's vision both of them gave me a look of irritation and confusion, their eyes narrowing down to my sweatshirt.

"Alia." Liv says narrowing her eyes down to the sweatshirt and back up at me.

"Oh, just let me be!" I exclaim rolling my eyes. "Look today, Luke is the last thing I want on my mind." I explain as I shove her mom's delicious sandwich into my mouth.

"So you're going to try and forget about him by wearing his sweatshirt that still has a strong smell of his scent on it?" My sister judges looking me up and down.

"For real though, what cologne does that boy use?" Liv asks with a sour face. I roll my eyes and give a mischievous smile.

After we finished eating it was time to finally leave. It was really hard to say goodbye to Liv's family, considering in the past few months I had been here they were like family to me. "We ready to go girls?" Liv's mom asks us. I look at Ella and Liv who both have sad expressions on their face. I put on the fakest smile I can manage to get out. "I guess we are."

The car ride was more of a bittersweet moment then I thought it would be. Liv's mom was very good at making conversation, I think she could tell that we all were thinking about the fact Ella and I were leaving, and just didn't know what to say. She was careful as to not bring up anything about Florida or what was going to be happening in the future. Instead she put on her favorite songs from when she was a kid and did some embarrassing dances to try and get us to laugh. Which actually worked, Liv laughed so hard tears were spilling down her face. I honestly couldn't tell if it was from laughing so hard or not being able to hide her sadness, or maybe a mix of both.

We got to the airport and saw the boys and Crystal waiting by the door inside, all except Luke. I immediately ran up and gave them hugs. I gave Ashton the last hug and noticed his eyes filling with water. "Don't you dare Irwin!" I exclaimed lightly punching his shoulder, while my eyes as well filled up with tears. He just chuckled and gave me another hug.

They all walked me to the security section where it was going to be our last final goodbye. We all stood together looking at each other, all obviously trying to hold back tears. My mind went back to the one thing I felt I was going to miss the most. Luke. "So um, I guess Luke isn't coming?" I ask no one in particular. Michael looks down at his fingers for a few seconds, then back up at me. "I tried, Al. I'm so sorry." I gave him another hug, holding him tighter this time. "Hey, no it's fine. I get it." I explain as a tear falls down my cheek.

I let go and look around at our little group. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much." I smile as more tears start to fall. We all go in for a group hug, each of us trying to hold back the crying as much as we can.

I give Crystal and Liv their final hugs, as does Ella. "Thank you for everything. Please don't forget about me."

Crystal wipes away my flowing tears. "Anything for you, love." Crystal wimpers through her cries.

I turned to look at my sister who wasn't fully crying, but tears were in her eyes. "Are you ready to go?" I ask pushing her hair behind her ear. She looks at me with a weak grin. "As ready as I'll ever be."

We turn to walk to the security, meanwhile I look back one more time to wave to my friends, but also hoping that Luke would show up. They waved back to me but there was still no sign of Luke. Knowing I wasn't going to get to say goodbye to him was the hardest thing out of all of this. Ella and I were in line to go through security when I heard my name being faintly called from behind me. I looked back to see a blonde figure running towards me. I noticed it was Luke running through our group of friends and closer to me. "Go get her man!" Ashton exclaims pushing Luke as he runs past him.

When I saw him I dropped my bags and ran to him. I jumped onto him and threw my arms around his neck, digging my head into his neck. He lifted me up off the ground and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. I could feel his tears falling onto my neck as he digged his face into the back of it. "I'm so sorry. I was stupid! I was angry you were leaving and I thought it would be easier to push you away. I can't not say goodbye to you-" He wails before I cut him off.

I removed my head from his neck and held his face in my hands. "Luke I can't go. This is too hard. It's not what I want." I was now realizing that I was making a terrible decision. How could I leave all the people I truly loved most in the world? Moving with my grandmother might have been a good choice, but it might not have. Either way I didn't care, this was the place I felt most at home at, with all my friends. Even being in Luke's arms again, this was home.

Luke and I stood there for what felt like hours, just holding each other in our arms. Both of us were sobbing into each other, mostly from the fact that we were both so happy we were going to be with each other again, and I wasn't leaving. I let go and looked at him, his eyes red and puffy. He looked like a ghost, as if he was exhausted and burnt out. His hair was all over the place, which I made worse by running my hands through it. He still looked amazing to me, I felt so lucky. "I love you." I said in between our kiss. I felt him smile through the kiss. "I love you Alia Marie."

I turned to my sister who was now standing with our group of friends, smiling at the sight of Luke and I. We walked back over to the group, hand in hand. "We're not going to Florida, this is our home." I looked up and smiled at Luke. Our friends cheered and engulfed us with hugs. My cries turned into laughter. I still didn't know where my sister and I were going to stay, but I pushed that thought to the back of my brain. All I could think about right now was how happy I was to be staying with my best friends.

A/N
Omg guys I thought so hard about how I should make them go back to each other and I'm really happy with how it turned out!!