Surprisingly enough, Luke's little disappearing act didn't end up making it onto any news sites. The only people who actually knew it happened were those closest to him. And that was probably for the best. He really didn't need to be judged for that on top of all the nasty things people had been saying about the accident with Kylee.
I almost wished I could just go and tell everyone exactly what happened. That the accident wasn't Luke's fault. I stared at the little blue journal that I had kept in its small cove in the underside of the bed.
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"Put that down! Don't touch my shit, Luke." I snapped, glaring at him until he set the book back on the floor where he'd picked it up from.
"Daeyna—"
"I'm trying to clean." I grunted, turning away from him and putting the second pillow back onto the bed. I gathered up the comforter from the floor and plopped it on the bed. I let out a frustrated sigh when I couldn't find the right corner. Luke stepped forward and pulled the corner I was looking for out. I fixed him with a glare. The two of us stood there for a minute or so—me glaring, and Luke looking like a kicked puppy—before I rolled my eyes. "Just make sure it's even and straight." I grumbled. He seemed to relax slightly, as if that last sentence had been me telling him I wasn't angry instead of merely ordering him around.
"I'm sorry." I whipped around to face Luke and opened my mouth to snap something back at him, but he interrupted me before I could even start speaking. "I know you really don't want to listen to me say I'm sorry over and over, and I really don't expect you to forgive me any time soon, but please hear me out."
"I have to take a shower. Don't touch anything. Actually, just get out of my room." I ordered before turning away from him and grabbing my bathrobe. I heard Luke sigh before the sound of his footsteps retreated out the door.
My shower only lasted about twenty minutes. I didn't need to wash my hair, and I really only had to wipe down my face a bit. But that twenty minutes had been spent thinking. How was I being any better than Luke by ignoring and being a bitch to him? I wasn't. And it was that reason alone that convinced me that I should listen to him. Not because I wanted to be his friend, but because it was the adult thing to do.
Luke wasn't in my room when I got back. I changed into a pair of sweatpants and threw my wet hair up into a bun before stalking out of my room and into his. I pulled up short in the doorway when I saw him sitting on his bed, looking through what appeared to be a photo album. I cleared my throat loudly, and Luke's head snapped up. His mouth opened, but I spoke before he could.
"I have decided to be the better person among the two of us and listen to what you have to say." I said in a stiff, awkward voice. Luke nodded. "I still don't like you, though." Luke's lips turned up into a slight smile at my words, and I furrowed my eyebrows. "Stop smiling. Let's get this over with."
Luke moved over on his bed and patted the space he had just vacated. I hesitated for a moment, but ended up going over and perching on the edge of his bed anyways.
"This is Kylee if you were wondering." I looked down at the photo album he had previously been looking at and a small smile formed on my lips. The top picture was the entire group Luke always spent his time with—Megan, Taryn, Calum, Michael, and Ashton. Luke's arm was around the waist of a girl with dark, extremely curly hair. She was leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, and he was grinning as if he was having the best time of his life. The bottom one was just Kylee. She was laughing, her hand reaching up to presumably swipe the patch of ice cream from her cheek.
"She was really pretty." I said quietly, my eyes never leaving the photos in front of me.
"We were on our way back from the beach, and she insisted on blasting the Blink-182 CD she got me for my birthday the year before. I stopped for gas, and she asked if I wanted a snack, but I said no." I found myself watching Luke intently as he spoke. His eyes were glued to the photographs on the bed. "She got gummy bears—they were her favorite candy—and was trying to feed me one. She had just gotten one in my mouth when the other car hit us. We were going through an intersection and the other car ran the red light. The police say that they must have been going over one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour." He paused for a moment, and the two of us sat in silence. "She died on impact."
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I picked up my phone when it started ringing.
"You okay?" I asked, deciding to forgo the typical 'hello'. I heard Luke sigh on the other end of the phone line.
"Yeah. Mum's grounded me for the rest of the trip. The boys have gone out, but I'm not allowed to, so I'm in my room watching some National Geographic show on lemurs." I wasn't sure what I wanted to say next, so I just opted not to say anything. Luke and I hadn't talked since he'd called me upon returning to the hotel. And that was two days ago. "You're mad at me." Now it was my turn to sigh.
"I'm not mad at you, Luke. I just don't know what to say. I'm sure you've been told this by everyone there, but you scared the shit out of us. You scared the shit out of me." I could feel tears forming in my eyes as I revisited the thoughts that had gone through my head during his disappearance.
"Don't cry, Dae." Luke's voice took on a softer tone, but it was already too late. I sniffled as a tear ran down my cheek, lifting my free hand to swipe it away.
"I hate that I wasn't there for you." I said, my voice shaky as I tried to stop the tears. "I hate that you're there and I'm here and there isn't shit we can do about it. I don't like being at school without you and the boys there. I know it's only for another five weeks, but what about after that? You're becoming more famous with every video diary or radio appearance you do. Soon you're going to be gone all the time and—"
"Then come with me next time." I stopped the pacing I had been doing at Luke's words.
"What?"
"Come with me next time." The sentence was simple, but I was still having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I opened and closed my mouth several times as I attempted to find words to speak. "Daeyna?" Luke sounded worried.
"Oh my God." I breathed. Luke let out a small, relieved-sounding chuckle.
"You okay over there?" When I didn't answer right away, Luke spoke my name again, his voice taking on the worried tone yet again.
"Daeyna?" I was frozen in place in the middle of my room. I knew exactly what I had to say, but I just couldn't bring myself to rain on his parade right now. He needed positive energy right now. His life had been hell for the past few days, and I wasn't going to be the one who ruined the one good thing that he clearly wanted so desperately to happen.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to go to London or anywhere in the world with Luke. The truth of the matter, however, is that I just can't. I can't drop everything and leave. I can't drop out of school. Calum and Michael may have dropped out of school, but I didn't have a career lined up already. There wasn't some record company dying to sign me. Hell, I don't even want to be a performer. I want to be a vet. Cliché, I know, but it's true.
So, in order to postpone the argument I knew would come of the answer my head wanted to give, I gave Luke the answer I knew he wanted to hear.
"I would love to, Luke."
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I'm sorry if I made any of you think I wasn't continuing with the story! That was never my intention at all! I just wanted to point out that if you're going to post a dumbass comment on my choice of outfits, you can seriously GTFO. Anyways, hope youl liked the chapter! Added a bit of a flashback in there too! =))
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Bully // l.h. // Book 1 of Bully Series
Fanfiction(I'm editing this. Slowly, but it's being edited)
