"You're actually upset right now? Look at everything the world has given you, Luke."
"And that's great, but I'd rather have you."
• the story before "count on me" by sircalyum • book 1
// smut included //
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luke's technically in this chap but this pic brings me indescribable happiness so
THURSDAY MORNING. I woke up slowly in a familiar, yet different place and smiled to myself as I felt Luke's arms wrapped around me. I looked down to see his long arms draped across my torso and I silently wished I could wake up like this more often.
Without moving too much, I reached for my phone which was laying close to the edge of the bed. I hadn't charged it, so I hoped it wasn't dead. Thankfully, it was still charged enough for a morning exploration of Twitter—it was only a couple of minutes past six, so I had time to waste.
As I opened my Twitter, I was instantly overwhelmed by the notifications I had. There were dozens on dozens of people discussing the livestream from last night, and a lot of people were mentioning me in tweets with screenshots. I read through a couple before stumbling upon a YouTube video that was titled "Luke Hemmings and Josie Culley ARE dating." My eyes playfully rolled as I let out a quiet laugh and pressed on the video. I didn't play it, but I got the gist that the girl who made it was going through receipts that she thought confirmed a relationship between us.
As I glanced down at Luke's arms around me, I was nearly convinced she could be onto something.
I stumbled across a thread of pictures of Luke looking at me that were much more compelling than the ones I had seen from the first interview. The thread also had a couple of Luke licking his lips as he watched me speak which I genuinely had to hold back laughter at.
Something about seeing myself in a GIF made me feel bizarre and nervous, while it also amused me immensely.
I looked over my shoulder to see Luke for the first time and I smiled as I took in his appearance. My heart fluttered at how soft he seemed to look.
I turned back around and slowly cuddled in closer to him as I continued to look through Twitter for a while longer. Luke tightened his arms around me at one point, which I figured was a sign that he was awake, but I looked back to see that he was still asleep.
Once it got closer to seven, I knew I needed to head out. I didn't have to be at work until about nine today, but I knew I had some explaining to do to Madalyn, and I wanted to take a shower.
I turned in Luke's arms and gently pressed my hand against his cheek, swiping my thumb across his stubble. I continued to do so, hoping it would eventually wake him. Luke's eyes began to flutter open and I smiled at the sight. As he got a good look at me, he smiled sleepily and breathed in deeply before taking his hand away from my side to stretch.
