The Bet (Muke Clemmings)

Two

A/N: I wasn't going to post this one just yet, but since you guys are being so nice and loving it, here ya go! Leave more feedback & stuff, I'd love to hear it :] 

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"So, hows Michael?" Ashton asked when he shuffled up to Luke's locker after the final bell rang. Luke was collecting everything he needed to study or do for homework, as Ashton leaned against the wall. 

"He's fine, I guess," Luke shrugged, neatly aligning his folders together in his bag, "Dunno, really. But he asked me to come over tonight for research."

"Yeah, Calum wants me to come over, too," Ashton said, "Guess we're not gonna hang out tonight after all, then."

Luke gave another shrug, closing his locker and the two began to walk off, "Guess not," Luke mumbled, "But I have to get home and check things out there, anyway." Luke sighed and Ashton frowned sympathetically. Home was never Luke's favorite place, and Ashton always felt bad for him when he had to be there. 

"Well do you need a ride?" Ashton offered, half smiling as they approached the parking lot.

"Sure," Luke replied simply.

The two hopped inside Ashton's car, and Luke felt cozy when he turned on the heater. After lunch, the day became rainy and gross and Luke grew cold, so finally feeling warm was nice. 

The two talked a little about their projects as Ashton drived. Ashton and Calum's era they got was the 80s, but they were both okay with that. 

"He seems nice," Ashton admitted as they pulled up to Luke's house, "He just always smells like smoke."

Luke forced out a small laugh as he stared out the window at the house, and the black car parked in the driveway, telling him that his brother was home.

Luke mumbled a "thanks for the ride" before hopping out of the car, and dragging his feet up to the house. Ashton pulled off when Luke jammed his key in the lock, twisting it and jiggling the door a bit before pushing it open.

The first thing Luke noticed was the pile of shoes scattered by the door, letting him know that more than one or two people were in his home. He sighed, setting his bag on the couch before fixing the messy pile, and searching through the downstairs for anyone. 

Nobody was in sight, so it was safe to say they were all upstairs and probably doing things Luke didn't want to know about. So, Luke took out multiple books and notebooks, and began to do homework and study.

School was something Luke always tried to make perfect. Nobody in his family had ever gotten into a good college, and he was determined to be the first one. So, studying and doing every homework assignment, and sometimes even asking for extra things to do, took up most of his free time. 

He didn't really mind, though, as Luke really did only have one friend: Ashton. Luke met him back when he was the new kid when they were ten. He was the only other kid that had a sort of broken family, and Luke liked that he could relate to that. They got on well by talking about how annoying their parents were and how they had to clean up and take care of things around the house.

However, Ashton's life progressively got better, while Luke's stayed the same. Luke thought his would get better if his brothers ever went off to college, but that never happened. 

After spending an hour with his face stuffed in books, Luke got up and started examining things around the house. He picked up empty cups, groaning at the thought of his irritating brothers being home again. 

It was honestly rare that anybody was in Luke's house, even Luke. He tried to stay with Ashton, at the library, or anywhere he could get away. Luke's mother and father always spent time at bars or casinos, and his brothers, Jack and Ben, were always with friends. 

Luke spent another hour cleaning up the downstairs and making everything look perfect, before his cell phone buzzed with a text message from Michael, asking if Luke was still coming over soon. Luke just replied with a 'yes' and began packing his bag again, ready to leave. 

***

"Hey, Luke, good to see you!" Michael smiled as he swung open the door to his house, stepping aside to let Luke slowly walk in. 

Luke said what Michael figured was a "hi" under his breath, and Michael led him down the hall to his bedroom.

"Sorry, it's quite messy," Michael apologized, but when Luke stepped in, it looked a lot cleaner than he expected. 

Luke stood near the door as Michael sat on the spinny chair at the desk. Luke looked at the many band posters hanging on the walls, the little clutter in a corner near the closet, and the purple and blue sheets on the bed. He already thought Michael's room was cooler than his.

Michael felt a little ball of nerves in his stomach as he watched Luke's eyes scan the room, so he pulled up an orange chair next to his, patting it lightly and saying, "You can sit if you want."

Luke nodded, and took a seat finally as Michael opened his laptop. The first thing he opened was iTunes, muttering an apology about how he can't work without music. And when Luke gave a half smile and agreed, Michael found himself staring.

A small dimple appeared on Luke's face, and to Michael, it was the most adorable thing he's seen all day. But when Luke felt Michael's eyes burning into him, he looked down and started fumbling nervously with his fingers.

Michael looked away, clearing his throat and opened Google to start looking up things for their project. They gathered a few historical facts about things they found uninteresting, before moving on to cooler things like music. 

Whenever Michael's eyes got tired, or rather, he got bored, he leaned back in his seat, rubbing his eyes and yawning, asking, "Do you think we have enough info for today?"

Luke wanted to be honest; wanted to say they should keep going, gather more facts, but that was the perfectionist side of him speaking, and for some reason he didn't want to seem lame around Michael, so he nodded, "Yeah, I think we're good."

"Thank God," Michael laughed, closing the many tabs they had open, but leaving the music from iTunes continue playing.

"This is your favorite band, huh?" Luke asked, and Michael could've sworn that was the most put together sentence he had ever heard Luke Hemmings say.

"Yeah," Michael replied, glancing around his room at his many posters, a few of them signed, "How could you tell!?" He asked sarcastically, and Luke chuckled.

"They're my favorite, too," Luke said, and Michael was honestly a bit surprised. He knew next to nothing about this kid, but the fact that he liked Blink-182 made Michael think there had to be something good about him.