Again ~ A Luke Brooks Love Story

Chapter 44

1 month later:

LUKE'S POV:

Within a week or two of living together, me and Paisley had settled into a comfortable routine. It was great, it felt like we were a proper little family and we weren't struggling with Ava at all. And even though it had been a month, I was still loving every second of it. I got to spend as much time as I liked with my girls.

However, it also meant that my friends were being neglected by me. I had barely seen any of them, not even Jai or Beau who I was used to seeing on a daily basis. I still did the Janoskians videos but my heart was never really in them and I was always thinking about Ava and Paisley being stuck at home. The boys had talked to me about it, even the fans had started picking up on it on Twitter but I just couldn't drag myself out of this elongated honeymoon phase I'd been living in. To be honest, I didn't really want to.

We had no video's planned so when James phoned me up early in the morning and requested I go to his house were the others were all waiting, I had a feeling something big was going to happen. I wasn't sure what but I knew my position in the group was no longer secure. I didn't have much time or care for the video's we filmed anymore but that was my family's main source of income, something which we totally relied on. Paisley had to stay at home with Ava and I knew that there was no way I could ever get a good, well-paying job with the few qualifications I had. It was cruelly ironic: in order to make my family happy, I had to go out and leave them, making me miserable in the process.

I didn't want to go, but I knew I had to so I hauled myself out of bed and threw on whatever clothes I could find. I fed Ava, cleaned her and dressed her as I did every morning and loaded the dishwasher. Paisley was still asleep when I left so I left her a note explaining that I had gone to James' and taken Ava with me. I knew she wouldn't mind: she was always going on at me to spend more time with my friends. She was determined I wouldn't lose the friends I'd had for years.

I walked the short distance to James' house, pushing Ava in her stroller. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining on my back and the birds were singing in the bushes. Ava's chubby little hands kept reaching out of the side of the pram, grasping at long pits of grass or leaves off bushes in people's gardens. She rarely succeeded in pulling anything of the trees but when she did, she held it out for me to inspect and praise her.

The walk was enjoyable and distracted me from what I was sure was my upcoming dismissal from the group. However, the familiar sight of James' house brought me back to the present and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I walked up the driveway, wheeling Ava's pram in front of me. I hesitated before the door, not knowing whether to push it open or knock and wait. I hadn't seen my friends properly for so long and I realised how detached from them I had become. In the end, I decided to knock as I needed help getting Ava's pram up the front step anyway. James' mum came to the door.

"Hello Luke" she smiled warmly before bending down into the pram.

"And you must be Ava!" she cooed. "Aren't you a sweetie pie?"

I shifted my feet awkwardly whilst Ava giggled and laughed. She loved attention and wasn't shy at all. James' mum straightened up and then called into the house for her son. She motioned for me to take Ava out of her pram and leave it on the driveway. I cradled Ava in my arms and was led through to the living room. All the boy's were sitting there, including my brothers. Our manager, Ronnie and his fiance Mariam were there too. James' mum disappeared, possibly upstairs were I heard her talking to one of his sister's. The group had been in full conversation as I walked in but now they all stopped to look at me. An awkward silence settled over the group until Ronnie cleared his throat and everyone started talking all at once. I took a seat on the sofa next to Jai who Ava immediately smiled at. James offered me a drink which I declined and then Ronnie came over to talk to me. He looked angry.