Handle With Care

21. She Who Shall Not Be Named.

HANDLE WITH CARE

21. She Who Shall Not Be Named.

L U K E

Luke waited in Calum's room as Annie went downstairs to grab them some more drinks, he didn't feel like he needed to chaperone her. He also needed time for his heart to rest, Annie was making his mind all hazy and he had no idea how to act or feel anymore.

'I can't have what I want,' does that mean she wants him? But she can have him, he wants her too, just as much or if not more. She was probably referring to the whole therapy thing, which was understandable. Surely there was a way around it though, Luke had contemplated not seeing her as a therapist anymore, but as much as he wants to be with her, he doesn't think he can give up the safety he gets when speaking to her that way.

She wouldn't want to treat him like a patient when they were together, she wouldn't want to talk about her job or anything and Luke finds her to be the easiest person to talk to in the world.

Luke wondered his way over to Calum's trophy shelf, Luke had one similar to it in his own home, yet he rarely went into his music room anymore, especially not to look at his achievements. Luke's favourite was the matching brotherhood necklaces Ashton got the band, which Calum had put around an award for now.

He did miss seeing them every day, spending months on end travelling and preforming for the family they had created. He hoped this wasn't the end of their career, that maybe one day he could come back to the same fans he left. He knew that was probably untrue, he had been gone far too long now, not even on social media to see or comment on what the fans had been doing. He felt terrible for not doing anything for them, just to let him know he was getting better.

Maybe at the end of the night he will post a photo on Instagram, it'd been way over a year since he last posted, he probably lost a lot of followers, maybe he went back down to zero from how inactive he had been.

The door was opened and Luke shuffled his position, already beaming at the brown haired girl. Only, this girl had black hair and wasn't who Luke was expecting, but actually one of his older friends Natalie, who he had abandoned along with everyone else.

"I'm very mad at you," she stated, her face almost unreadable if Luke didn't know her so well, "but before all that-" she walked her way forward before swinging her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close and tight.

"I've missed you," she mumbled into his neck, as Luke wrapped his arms tightly around her also. "Why the fuck didn't you call me? Or text me or something?" Natalie shoved at his chest, scowling as he chuckled when he fell back against the bed.

"I blocked out everyone, I didn't want to see you." He shrugged, grabbing her hand and pulling Natalie down next to him, propping himself up on one arm as he glanced at her.

"Oh wow thanks. Yet you managed to talk to all the boys before me?" She answered, shaking her head as she placed a hand on Luke's, sarcastically pretending to be angry.

"I'll take you out sometime and tell you everything, will that make it up?" Luke tried to persuade, only now noticing the countdown reaching 6 seconds.

Luke's eyebrows furrowed, his head shooting up to look at the doorway, seeing the back of Annie's dress as she left the room, probably mistaking it for something more suggestive.

"Happy New Year!" Chanted the household and everyone else in America too, the start of a new year being another chapter in everyone's lives. Luke jumped up, rushing out of the room and jogging down the stairs, still standing on the last couple to scope out the room in search for the brunette. Chewing desperately on his bottom lip, his eyebrows furrowed in nerves as he found no one even near to Annie's beauty in the room.