With the homeless camp burned to ashes, Luke and Belle set out to expose person who has ruined so many lives - will the strain and stress of the discovery pull everyone apart, or push them closer together?
a/n: omg what?? morgan can update twice in the span of three days??? wow it's a miracle!! also this chapter is 4.2k words long and so emotional so don't hate me when it's over!
also here's another gif of luke because i love this one and i've been waITING TO USE IT
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"Hey babe."
"Look, my boyfriend is over there and you really don't want to piss him off so-"
"Sorry, sorry," he apologizes, shaking his head, "I didn't mean anything forward by it. I just moved here from Aussie and adjusting to the American dialect is a little confusing."
"Oh," she nods, digging her toes in the dirt. "My boyfriend moved here from Australia when he was really young. He only has a little bit of the accent left."
"My sister is the reason we moved," he continues. He leans his frame against the pillar holding up the boardwalk. "She decided she wanted to follow her music career, and London didn't treat her kindly, so we moved here."
"London," Belle muses, wiping tears from her face. "Interesting."
"Yeah, she's got some label interested in her down here, so here we are," he chuckles and it's a nice sound. Belle sighs and looks up at him. He's got darker skin with tattoos littered across it. His dark hair is combed nicely, paving the way for full brows and warm brown eyes.
"Oh, I'm being rude," he sticks out his left hand, "My name is Calum."
Belle smiles and its much less forced than she thought it would be, "I'm Belle."
"Pretty name," Calum smiles, "why are you crying?"
She swallows thickly and she can feel her throat bobbing. The tears well back up in her eyes and she forces herself to look out at the ocean to make an attempt at some sort of calm.
"We don't know each other, so you don't have to be worried about me telling everyone your business. Kind of like a therapist," Calum crosses his legs to sit down next to her. His legs are so much longer than hers that his feet dip into the water when the waves lap on the shore.
"You are getting your dress pretty messy," he points down to where her lower half rests in the sand. "So obviously you're upset about something important."
"Yeah," she wipes at her eyes again. "It's complicated."
He smiles and it is warm and inviting, "Try me."
Belle explains about her brother and how it felt like the Sun died when he did. She talks about how her parents blame her for everything, and how she fell under Melody's thumb for years just to try and keep her head above water. She accidentally lets the whole Wesley incident slip from her lips and then the entire story has tumbled out before too long. She talks about Luke and she tells Calum everything that she feels won't get Luke in trouble.
