CHANGE - Book 1 (A Luke Hemmings Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

~~~ Chapter 22 ~~~

I stopped when I reached the door. My hand hovered over the knocker but I stole one last glance at Luke as he walked away down the street.

Knock knock knock.

I heard feet thundering down stairs from inside.

The door whooshed open and I was greeted by a sandy haired boy with dark eyes.

"Hey what's up?" He said, grinning.

"Oh um," I glanced inside. "Is Ashton Irwin there?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah he just got back. Think he's in his room. I'm Austin by the way."

"Thanks." I smiled at Austin and he stepped aside to let me in. I climbed the stairs up to a landing area where two different corridors led off. I'd been here before so chose the corridor on the right and opened the second door on the left.

Ashton was sitting at his desk in the corner, his laptop open and his hands pulling at his hair in frustration.

When he heard the door open, he jumped.

"Aimee!" He exclaimed and leapt up.

Immediately I was engulfed in a tight hug. I breathed in Ashton's familiar scent and sighed. He meant so much to me.

"Ashton I'm fine," I convinced him, taking his hands in mine.

He looked me right in the eye and said, "Aimee, do you know how worried I was?" Ashton's eyes were slightly angry. "I came looking for you when you didn't come to class and called you every chance I could. Then you disappeared for the whole night!"

I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back. "I'm sorry."

"You need to explain what happened." He demanded.

I sat on the bed and explained everything to Ashton. His eyes were fixed on me the whole time, sad while I told him what Michael had said, angry when Luke had come after me, worried when I'd hit my head, and confused when Luke had taken me home.

I missed out telling him about the beach with Luke, and all our private conversations, and just said I'd missed school because of my head.

"Well," Ashton sat back on the bed and stared at the wall, his eyes wide in thought.

"Are you still mad?" I asked uncertainly.

It was his turn to sigh. "No I just love you Aimee and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

My heart swelled as he continued. "I'm glad Luke found you and his dad fixed you up. I owe Luke."

I wrapped my arms around Ashton in another hug. "Thanks Ashton."

He chuckled. "Now," he sat up, rubbing his hands together. "I should tell you what you missed at school."

Turns out Luke and I had missed the first whole cast rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet in dramatic arts. Mr Martin wasn't gonna be happy about that.

I'd also missed some literature and math but Ashton had been kind enough to write up my notes as well as his. He'd also gotten me the homework.

"Aww Ash you're the best," I smiled and he laughed.

We worked on our homework for a while, but trying to do homework with Ashton always resulted in us getting hysterical and ending up having to do the whole assignment again.

After a while Ashton sat back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief. "Done!" He stated and got up.

"What? No way!" I looked down at my half finished comprehension.

"I did maths. It was easy. I'll to literature later." He walked over to the door, gesturing for me to follow.

"Where are we going?" I asked, obliging.

"Dinner. The others won't be down there. Or at least I hope so. They are as bad as zoo animals at feeding time when it's dinner." Ashton shook his head, chuckling.

I giggled. "They can't be that bad. Who even cooks? Do you like, take it in turns or something?"

"No our house maid does. She's great."

We walked downstairs and into the kitchen. The smell of freshly cooked lasagne hit me and I could already feel the drool at the corner of my mouth.

Austin and a boy with black hair were sitting at the large table. Other than that no one was there.

"Hey Ashton." Smiled the black haired boy. He was just finishing his plate of lasagne.

"Hi Lewis," Ashton replied, hungrily eyeing his housemates food.

I looked at Austin and he grinned at me for the second time again. "Hi Austin," I said.

"You know Aimee?" Ashton asked Austin, surprised.

"Not really, I just met her today when I was letting her in." Austin laughed. "Don't worry I'm not stealing your girlfriend."

It was my turn to laugh. "Oh ha no we're not-"

"Together." Ashton finished, humour in his eyes. "That'd be weird. She's my best friend."

Austin looked happy. "So you're single?" He was so flirty!

"No actually I'm with-" I realised that I had decided not to tell anyone about Luke and I and panicked. "Um no yeah I'm not looking for a relationship."

An awkward silence followed until Ashton broke it.

"So who wants dinner?"

***

Luke's POV

It was getting cooler by the time I arrived home. My mum and dad's cars were home.

"Hi!" I yelled as I unlocked the front door. I made my way into the kitchen and before I knew it, was smothered in hugs.

"Mum." I groaned when I found it was getting harder to breathe.

She pulled away and gave me a huge smile. "Oh Luke baby I missed you!"

"Mum you were gone for two days," I laughed.

"I know but your dad got to come home early and it just wasn't fair I missed my little penguin!" She kissed my cheek and I pretending to gag.
She chuckled and walked over to the stove.

"Where's dad?" I questioned.

"He went out with the dog. He should be back soon." My mum gave me another smile.

"But not before he told me about that girl you had over."

Damn.

I quickly walked out of the kitchen, pretending I didn't hear.

"Don't think I won't be firing questions at you at dinner Lucas!" She called and I cringed.

Mums.