Ghost of You

39

-Kennedy-

The show was epic to say the least. Not only were the boys spectacular, but the crowd's energy was immeasurable. It made me smile to see Luke so free and caught up in it all. The sound of his voice echoing throughout the stadium brought shivers down my spine.

They had just finished their set and I couldn't help but wish it wasn't over.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight, before we go I want to do something a little special. How does that sound?" Luke asked, getting thunderous cheering in response from the sea of fans.

Michael, Calum, and Ashton all looked at each other with grins on their faces as if they were in on a little secret. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Luke hadn't mentioned doing something new.

"I was in a really bad place about a year ago. I'm sure you guys read the headlines and heard the gossip." Luke admitted candidly. "But I've grown so much since then, and I'm a better person now because of it."

My heart swelled, Luke had turned out to be the best person I knew.

"But I didn't figure this out on my own." He went on as the crowd listened wide eyed. "I had not only these wonderful guys over here to help me," He said motioning to the rest of the band and getting a "We love you man!" In response from Ashton. "But I also had help from a person who is very special to me."

My heart stopped as I saw him turn to look at me as I stood backstage.

"So there's this girl," He started and the crowd erupted in cheers. My fingers rested on my lips in surprise as I gasped. Luke smiled at me, his eyes glowing bright blue. "I moved into her house because I needed to get away from everything. And now she's my everything and I don't know what I'd do without her."

His voice cracked as he went on, "But you know what they say, nothing gold can stay. So for a while I thought I lost her." The subtle shine of tears brimmed in his eyes as he picked up his acoustic guitar, "I thought the love of my life was gone and I had nothing but this terrible pain left. I couldn't accept the loss and all these feelings were pent up inside me, so I wrote a song about it. This one's called 'Ghost of you'."

The crowd exploded in excited screams as the band starting playing and Luke shot me a wink.

"Here I am waking up
Still can't sleep on your side
There's you coffee cup
The lipstick stain fades with time"

A shove ran down my spine as his throaty voice echoed through the silent stadium.

"If I can dream long enough
You'd tell me I'd be just fine
I'd be just fine"

A knot formed at the back of my throat as his words made me flashback through our entire relationship, the ups and the downs.

"So I drown it out like I always do
Dancing through our house
With the ghost of you
And I chase it down
With a shot of truth
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you"

Luke finished singing the chorus then Calum's heart melting vocals took over. Luke lifted the guitar off of himself and set it down. Before I knew it he had made his way backstage and had taken his hands in mine.

"Dance with me?" He asked, gently tugging me towards the stage.

Speechless, all I could do was nod and follow him out into the view of thousands of eyes. But it didn't matter how many people were watching us, I was with him and that's all I could ever ask for.

His arms wrapped around my waist and brought me into the warmth of his chest. My cheek rested softly against him, so close I could hear his heart beating in time. We swayed softly to the beautiful vocals of the other boys in the background, but the moment felt as if we were back in our kitchen, slow dancing to a vinyl record. It was just the two of us, no band, no lights, no audience, no cameras- just us.

I looked up at the tall figure holding me with wide eyes, "Luke, I-" I stumbled on my words, unable to put the rush of emotions into a coherent sentence. I wanted to apologize to him and thank him and explain to him and confess my love to him all at once. I wanted to erase all the pain I had ever caused him. I wanted to tell him that I loved him more than life itself.

He smiled down at me. "I know." Was all he said and that was enough. Somehow between the two of us, we just understood. Somehow he could just look at me and he knew. My heart was open to him and his to me.

He pulled away to sing the final chorus, but kept his hand tightly laced in mine. His crystal blue eyes locked on mine as he sang,

"So I drown it out like I always do
Dancing through our house
With the ghost of you
And I chase it down
With a shot of truth"

He suddenly pulled me in, close to him.

"That my feet don't dance
Like they did with you."

And with that his lips met mine.

And in that moment we were infinite.