Imagine A World (Luke Hemmings a.u.) [in editing]

25 Twist

I apologize in advance

Luke's POV

"Mad! Come on, it's been 15 minutes, where are you?!"

I pout like a child, until I hear a faint giggle from behind the bookshelf. I slowly turn around and tiptoe towards it, careful not to make any noise. I reach it and see a tiny bit of sandy hair sticking out of the gap between the shelf and the wall. I reach in and pull her out, both of us falling to the floor in the process.

"Got you!" I laugh with her as I attempt to push her off. She refuses to move, though, until she leans down a little and kisses me.

We're playing a two-person game of hide-and-seek. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's really fun. Especially since I'm about a foot taller than her and I can't find anywhere to hide.

We've been in Australia for about 3 full days now, and we'll be seeing the boys again tomorrow. We're almost completely adjusted to the time difference, but we still get a tiny bit tired earlier than we would like.

"Okay, my turn," Madeline says after our lips separate, sitting up and rolling off of me. "I'll count to 30, get up."

I scramble to stand, and she's already covered her eyes, counting.

"1...2...3..."

I rush to another room, but there's nowhere for me to go. Then I notice a door in the corner.

A closet?

It is!

I climb in, hiding behind the random coats and articles of clothing hanging on the rack, closing the door silently behind me.

"...29...30! I'm coming for you, Hemmings!"

"Good luck," I mutter, even though a closet is pretty much the most obvious hiding place ever.

I hear lots of rummaging outside the closet, but I have no clue if she's in the room or not. I really hope she isn't.

I hear a frustrated grunt near the door and I have to stifle my laughter. Height definitely isn't my only disadvantage in this game. I can't keep a laugh in for my life.

Soon enough, a snort escapes through my lips, and the movement outside stops. Footsteps creak across the wood floor, coming closer and closer to the door of the closet.

The door swings open, and two hands pull back the clothes hiding me. Madeline's face is there, grinning maniacally.

"You're terrible at this game, Luke. You were only hiding for, like, 2 minutes!"

"Maybe it isn't that I'm terrible, it's just that you're too good. Maybe I'm average," I retort.

She rolls her eyes, then pulls on my wrist. She starts dragging me to the backyard, where the pool is.

"Mad...what are you doing?" I ask as she struggles to drag me closer to the pool. We reach the edge, and she smirks.

"This," she says, and the next thing I know, there's a splash and I can't see from the chlorine water in my eyes.

I push myself back to the surface and swim over to where she stands at the edge. "That was totally uncalled for."

"So? It was funny!"

"So is this."

I grab her ankle and pull her in with me, both of us still fully clothed. She pops back up after a moment and glares at me.

"That was just plain rude."

"You did it to me." I shrug.

"Shut up, you oversized toddler."