Fixing Us || l.h

Chapter Twenty-Three*

We have been on the plane for about an hour and I was restless, my legs bouncing, my fingers drumming. I couldn't sit still and my head was pounding and the walls were beginning to close in. "Dylan." Luke whispers for the umpteenth time. I turn to him and he's holding a pill. I frown, staring at it. "It will help you sleep the entire flight." He explains.

I give him a small smile, "thanks." I gulp it down with his water, leaning on his shoulder, closing my eyes.

-

I walked out of the plane, still a bit groggy. "Let's get you a coffee." He suggests. We were in Brisbane and had to switch flights. I nod. "Yeah, you're still really out of it. You don't like coffee." He laughs. "Right." I mumble. "We have a Starbucks, if you want to try something then you can." "Just get me something I might like." I finally say. I sit down in a seat, and he comes back 5 minutes later, handing me a cup.

I stare at it before finally taking a sip. "So?" "It's okay." I say, taking another drink. "Time to get on our next plane though." He tugs me to my feet, both of us walking hand in hand to the gate.

-

"Mum!" Luke calls, waving to her. I was finally awake, a little hyper, but awake. "Luke!" His mom smiles, giving him a big hug. "And Dylan, it's so good to see you again." She says, also giving me a hug. I haven't had a motherly hug in a while, so I didn't waste a second of it. "You need to visit more mister." She turns to Luke. "I was here a few months ago!" He holds his hands up in defense.

We all walk to the baggage claim area, and I pull my phone out of my backpack. Lots of missed calls from the guys and texts from a lot of my friends.

I go through all the texts, answering that I was fine. Then I call Ashton back. "Dylan! Oh my god! Are you okay?" He says right away. "Yeah, I'm fine, probably not a very nice story tomorrow but Luke was just trying to help me and no one was listening." "Wait, what exactly happened? There's no stories yet just pictures."

"Paps and fans were waiting in the airport and wouldn't leave us alone and I had a panic attack and Luke kinda yelled at everyone." I mutter, glancing up at him, smiling while talking to his mom. "I'll talk to Peter and see if he can get you guys an interview out there to straighten everything out." "Thanks Ash. But I gotta go, everyone's waiting on me." "Have fun." "Bye."

I walk back over to Luke, not even realizing that I had wandered away. "Everything okay?" He asks. "Ash was wondering what happened. He said he'll talk to Peter and see if we can get an interview out here to sort through things so everyone knows what actually happened." I sigh. "Alright. Ready to go?" "Yeah." I smile, grabbing my suitcase.

I follow them out to the car, sitting in the back. "Dylan, how are you liking tour life?" "It's really fun, a bit hectic, and very stressful." "Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, when Luke came to visit, he slept for a day straight. "We pretty much do that on our free days, whether it's on a bus or in a hotel room, if we get a free day we are either sleeping, eating, sleeping, writing or sleeping." She laughs at that one, and so does Luke.

We pull up to their house and we all get out, Luke and I grabbing our things. I follow him inside, everything just as I remember. Molly comes bounding around the corner, greeting Luke. "Hey girl, yeah! I'm back." He says, and the dog licks his face. "Love you too." He says, wiping his face. I laugh, the dog noticing me. She bounds over, and I crouch down so I'm level with her. "Hi Molly." I coo. She lets out a short bark, her tail wagging like crazy.

I stand back up, his dad walking in. "Hello Dylan." He greets. "Hi Mr. Hemmings." I give him a smile. "How's the spotlight treating you?" "Okay. Most days it's good but others can be a bit overwhelming." "Yeah, Luke said the same thing when he first visited." He laughs, "dad, is Dylan staying in my room?" "Yeah, you got the couch." Luke knows better than to object, leading me to his room silently.

"My room." He gestures, and I look around. "Hey, it's clean." I tease him. "Shut up." He whines. "So whiny." I wrinkle my nose. "You love me." He grins, kissing my cheek quickly. I glance up at him and suddenly 2 boys come running in and tackle Luke in a hug. I stand there awkwardly while they laugh, a girl following in soon.

"You must be Dylan, I'm Celeste." "Hello." I smile, and we watch the boys, "is this normal for them?" I finally ask. "Oh yeah, it's crazy how close their friendship is considering how they don't see each other that much." She laughs. "Guys!" Luke shouts, trying to get out of the hug. Celeste and I laugh, watching. "Thanks for helping Dylan." Luke glares at me. "I'm fine right here." I laugh.

Both boys whip around and face me and I feel my face go red. "So you're Dylan." One says. "Yes she is, Dylan, these are my brothers, Ben and Jack, and I see you've met Celeste, she's Jack's girlfriend." "Hello." I smile. Ben puts his arm around me, leading me out of Luke's room. "Do you want to see his baby pictures, I know mum won't get them out this early, but I will." I laugh, seeing Luke run out of the room.

"She's staying with me." Luke glares at Ben, taking me back to his room. "Leave Jack, hello Celeste." "Hi Luke." She laughs, following Jack out. "You're so rude." I frown at him. "I haven't seen you in a week, I need my Dylan fix." He says, wrapping his arms around me.

"You just spent a 16 plus hours flight with me loser." "That you spent sleeping, thank you very much." I go quiet, he knows I don't like talking about my disorders. "Dylan, I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry." "Can we just drop it?" "Say it's okay." He urges, kissing me. I don't say anything so he keeps kissing me until I begin to giggle. "It's okay Luke." I say, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Good." He kisses me hard, my fingers tugging at the hairs at the end of his neck. He suddenly pulls away, running over to his closet. "Look what I have!" He says, holding a very large penguin. "I have a bigger one." I sing. His eyes widen. "Can I please please please have it?" "No! I like it." I take the penguin from his hands, looking at it. "How many penguins do you have?" "Dunno, a lot."

"You're so weird." "You love me." "Not really, but I love this penguin. I came all this way just to see him." I hug it close to my chest, looking up at Luke. "Give him back." "No." I sit down on Luke's bed, watching him. "Give me Petey." "You named him?" "At least it isn't pee-wee Winston junior." "Take that back or Petey gets it." I say, holding the head and body, ready to rip.

"Don't hurt Petey!" He lunges at me, trying to get Petey. I somehow end up straddling him, holding the penguin up in the air. He sits up and I just about fly off the bed, but he grabs my hand. "Petey or I drop you." He wagers. "Glad to see I'm a priority." "Love you." He chuckles.

I hand him the penguin, and he sets me on my feet. "Hungry?" He asks, checking the clock. "Not really." I frown, seeing it was 7:00pm. "Same, time zones are a bitch." He laugh.