Battle of The Bands

19

I'm Always Too Late

I let out a heavy sigh as I drink from today's cocktails special. Jax hasn't been seen all day. She kinda disappeared after she came out to us. I hope she realizes that we would never judge her and that we will always care because Jax is Jax.

"You come here often don't you." A familiar aussie accent says from behind me.

Turning my head I find Luke standing and signaling to join him in one of the tables away from the bar. Like last time.

"I believe you owe me a brief chat."

"I don't owe you anything. I'm having a hard day can't this wait when I'm more sober and less in need of alone time." I say but he just smiles and sits at the table.

I let out a heavy groan before joining him.

"About the kiss..." he starts but I interject.

"It was a small kiss and we don't need to blow it out of proportion."

"I don't know if I ever apologized..."

"I don't remember if you did."

"Well Mar, I sorry for imposing a non-consensual kiss on you." he says very sincerely.

"Well apology accepted."

"But I'm not sorry that I find you to be this incredible women that I would love to date." he says with an infatuated smile dancing around his very prominent dimples.

"Luke... I can't date you."

"Why not?" he asks with his smile falling down a peg.

"I don't like you like that." I say truthfully.

"Well that's why we date first, nothing has to be exclusive but I want to try to win you over."

"I can't do that Luke."

"And why not? Can't you at least give me a chance and throw me a bone over here?"

"I really can't Luke..."

"Why can't you try just a bit, we have great chemistry don't we?" he asks while I finish my cocktail.

"Because I like Calum." I say raising my voice just a smidge.

An awkward silence settled between us as his smile completely went away.

"You've been dating him this whole time?"

"No, I haven't." I say truthfully, "I thought because Jax liked him that I couldn't see him like that and I should try to move on."

"What changed then. You clearly didn't move on." he asks genuinely wanting to know.

"She doesn't like him like that... and since she's said that I can't get him out of my head."

"I never stood a chance against him did I.."

"Luke you're this amazing guy and some lucky person out there will see that and make you way more happy than I ever could. Your funny and extremely musical and an all around great human who's going to hold so many hearts when you make it big. You'll forget about me in a month but you'll have your fans for life."

"I see what your saying Mar..."

"When you ready, I'll be waiting to be your friend. I could use a great friend like you in my life who just wants to jam out and get musically nerdy with me."

"Okay Mar, I see your point. I can't wait for when we can be good friends too. Word of advice, right now Calum isn't doing so hot. I didn't know what was going on with him but now things are making more sense. I think he likes you too but he didn't want to break bro code or something..."

"What's wrong?" I ask almost sobering up.

"Don't take it personally but he's been flirting with a lot of girls. We share rooms but he's hardly been home since our dinner date with the bands."

"That was a group date?" I ask finally putting my drink down in a loud thunk.

"Well yeah, wasn't that obvious?" he asks seriously.

"I didn't get the memo, then he must think we're seriously dating or something." I say more to myself than Luke.

"Well I didn't want to consider it our first date but yeah... I figure he's under that impression after the way I sung to you. Sorry about putting you on the spotlight there too."

"Sure it's fine but really you had to make a joke about me jumping into audience. Come on Luke low blow." I say with my hand over my heart in feign hurt.

I'm glad we could joke like normal again.

"But Mar, you should really find him fast and soon and let the boy know before he does something he's going to regret."

"I'm on it coach." I say before leaving. 

I make my way to the elevator but when it started taking too long I opted for the stairs. Which I regretted on the fourth floor but kept pushing till I reached the tenth floor. Our floor. 

"Cal, thanks for last night and this morning." I voice rung out as I opened the door to the tenth level but froze in my tracks.

"Yea, you should come by anytime while I'm here in LA. The competitions are almost over so our time is limited." a painfully familiar Calum says.

"Well I guess I better take full advantage of your time here." the unfamiliar voice says.

I'm too late.

I just wanted to tell him what I feel inside, what I've been holding back. Why would I just assume that he would wait for me.

Like with Pete, I'm always too late in telling what I feel...

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A/N This was a lil short but we have competitions in the next chapter and those are always long. 

Omg the end is near. There is only 10 chapters planned but I might split them up if they get too long.

We'll see....

I hope you all enjoy reading my works as much as I enjoy writing them.

Ve <3