GOLDEN, luke hemmings

XLIII: PARENTAL VISIT

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chapter forty three; parental visit

Luke's parents were coming over for a visit and every single able-bodied person was scrubbing the place clean from head to toe.

Able bodied being the key term because Michael currently sat on the couch playing Calum's newest video game, a lovely cast adorning his left leg as his crutches rested on the floor next to him. The cast had at least twenty names on it, Ava's neat handwriting visible next to a smudgy written deWEyY, who must've been their boss at the comic book store. Then there was Calum's name, which looked like it was written in sloppy cursive but really wasn't, it was just scrawled like chicken scratch; and Ashton's which was probably the most legible out of all the boys'; and Luke's, which in some form, resembled the shape of ramen noodles.

Next to all their names were a bunch that Luke failed to recognise. There was an Arianna, a Stacey, a Natalia, a Gwyneth, an Aaron, a Laura, a Bradley, a Harry, a Liam, and a Crystal—just to name a few. There was one signing that wasn't even a name, just a badly drawn penis.

Michael also had yet to inform the group on just exactly how he broke his leg, only praising that he didn't have to go to work but could still get paid, and he promised that he would tell them what had happened that caused his bone to snap, but so far, all he had done was sink deeper and deeper into their couch. He was going to break a thumb if he kept pushing the buttons on controller, and he was going to get his other leg broken if he kept pushing Calum's buttons.

The sound of zombies being killed and gunshots echoed throughout the loft, and Calum had to refrain from angrily unplugging the gaming console just so he could have some peace and quiet while he cleaned the oven. Luke wasn't exactly sure why Calum was cleaning the oven, it wasn't like Liz Hemmings was going to climb in there and inspect it herself, but seeing as Calum was in the zone, Luke didn't make any move to stop him. Meanwhile, Luke himself was throwing out all the old food in the fridge, which was mainly Chinese takeout and some spoiled vegetables.

Ashton had lost the game of rock, paper, scissors, and so, he was on bathroom duty. He had thrown out old shampoo bottles, replacing them accordingly, and he had even changed the shower curtain. He was cleaning the floors and taking out the garbage as Becca helped him scrub the bathtub.

Luke and Ava were currently washing dishes, even though Calum was technically on kitchen patrol, and Ava would go from washing a dish and drying to going to the living room to throw out some old wrappers and blocking Michael's view of his 68th kill in order to wipe some crumbs off of the coffee table. This caused Michael to groan and hobble over to one of the loveseats near the corner to continue playing his game. Still, Luke caught the flirty smile he had thrown her before immersing himself back into the zombie world he was in previously.

He looked away and ignored it. Michael was Michael, and he had known Ava for a long time, longer than Luke, and Luke had no right to feel jealous. Again, it was Michael. The guy, albeit being attractive and charismatic, was harmless. And, it's not like Luke and Ava were dating anyways.

Ava, however, had it in mind to pick up one of Michael's crutches and beat him with it, but as Ashton appeared in the hallway, he saw the irritated and crazed look in her eye and plainly picked her up, yes physically picked her up (which was easy since she was so short), and plopped her down on a stool.

"Don't," Ashton scolded jokingly, before throwing out some paper towels. "We can't afford blood stains, we just mopped."

Really, the cleaning wasn't necessary. Liz and Andrew Hemmings wouldn't have minded that much if an apartment belonging to a bunch of young adults was that messy, as long as it was hygienic and habitable. All the boys were well known by Luke's parents by now, after all he had been living with them for years now, apart from Michael; and they had FaceTimed Ava that one time at Christmas and still remembered her because Luke never failed to mention her, even after they broken up.