After Midnight | lrh

• Midnight Ever After (epilogue) •

--- LUKE ----
I don't believe in coincidence. I didn't believe in it the night that Ruby ran into me behind the venue on her birthday, and I don't believe in it now as Calum shoves a press circuit itinerary into my hands that will see us returning to the same town on the same date a year later.

I swallow down the tangle of hope and panic in my chest and set the paper down. I can still see the date on the paper when I close my eyes. For seven months, she was mine. For the five months following, I regretted every missed call and unanswered text.

Maybe after all that time, I deserve to live with regret after watching the magic I'd once held that had slipped through my fingers. Maybe, I think as heaviness weighs down the flash of hope like a lead weight in my chest, it just needs to be left undone.

A reel of memories washes over me: the night we met and her ridiculous tiara, penthouse takeout and dancing out of time, the slip up on over radio waves that had us sneaking around, a whirlwind trip to LA and our first fight that ended with a New year's kiss. Netflix and FaceTime and hours of laughing until tears tracked down her cheeks and I kissed them away. Days well spent in bed, burning up our energy lost in each other.

"Luke?" Calum's voice at my shoulder breaks the highlight reel and when I turn, his brows are knit together in concern, "you alright?"

I nod but say nothing. He'll know I'm lying but I don't have words to tell him what I'm feeling. He searches my face for a long moment and I start to turn away, ready to go home and pack. Do something other than think about shit I can't change.

"Are you gonna go see her?," he blurts as I reach the door.

I intend to shrug noncommittally and continue out the door. The room feels too small and my heart feels too sore. I just want to leave because that's not a question I can answer right now, yet that doesn't stop the gruff "yes" that leaves my mouth instead.

My voice is as raw as my heart feels and my eyes go wide with surprise at the choice I just made without making it. I reach for the handle anyway, but when I glance over my shoulder at Calum, his smile is soft and genuine.

And maybe he thinks I won't hear, but I don't miss it as the door begins to close and he replies, "good".

--- RUBY ----
Every other time, I turned off the radio.

A song, an interview, even just a mention was enough to have me running for the controls to make it stop. The band's success continued to grow by leaps and bounds but as happy as I was for all of them, I couldn't get past the gut punch that threatened to level me at the sound of his voice.

I don't know what was different this time, or why I didn't stop. Maybe it's the time of year. It's almost a year since we met. My birthday is tomorrow, but for the first time in my life I don't really feel like celebrating. I wonder if he remembers and I kick myself mentally for wondering.

I've been holding the pain of the breakup close and tight for almost as long as the romance itself lasted. Holding on to memories of the man I'd gotten to fall in love with twice- his golden curls, bubbly giggle and ocean eyes forever imprinted on my soul. And his voice currently filling my apartment.

I listen with rapt attention as the foursome recounts a sold out tour, and the writing of a new album. I listen as they joke and tease a release day "eventually". I listen and it starts to get a little easier just to hear him.

By the time the host asks which song they're most excited for everyone to hear, it almost feels normal.

"Oh there's some absolute bops," Michael laughs, "did I get that right? Bops?"