Close As Strangers ▹ Cake

p. two: unsteady

[ Unsteady by X Ambassadors. ]

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PART TWO: UNSTEADY

Luke would've ran off the plane if he was allowed. He would've pushed past every single person in front of him, trodding on everyone's feet and body parts in an attempt to just get off the bloody plane.

The excrutiatingly long plane ride had only been completely nauseating for Luke. Throughout the entire trip he had been watching movies, playings games on his phone and messing around on his laptop - anything to try and get the image of a completely wrecked Calum out of his mind, bruised and battered.

Nothing worked.

That is how it was when he tried to sleep as well. Each night he's only been getting around two hours of sleep because of the thought of Calum in a hospital bed. He can never sleep and when he does, the images are only worse than the ones he pictures when he's awake, which is how he always wakes up in the middle of the night, sweat pooling around him and hair completely disheveled from most likely messing with it too much.

In these dreams he sees a pale Calum, circles under his eyes so dark that it looks as if he's been punched in both eyes. His cheeks are blotchy red and there are cuts and bruises lining his knuckles. He's staring blankly at the wall across from him, and he looks so skinny - so frail - that it looks as if he could be snapped like a twig. His lips are purple and chapped and when Luke touches his chest to try and get his attention, he can feel the smallest of heartbeats, only pumping every few seconds.

Luke collects his luggage and rushes to get a cab. No one knows of his tour being postponed or the fact that he's home just yet, so luckily there are no fans around. He calls a cab and tells him to take him home first, where he drops off his luggage, before asking to be taken to the hospital. His mum is most likely at work and no one else is home, so he doesn't have to worry about greeting anyone yet. As much as he's missed them all, he really just wants to see Calum.

Of course, it's just his luck that there happens to be traffic on his way to St. Vincent's hospital, and it's just like Calum to be admitted into a hospital in the city, rather than Westmead Hospital or one much closer to him, considering he lives in Mount Druitt, an hour away from the city.

Luke knows that it's going to cost him a fortune to get him to the city by taxi and it would've cost a lot cheaper to catch a train and then walk the rest of the way, but the walk from the train station to the hospital is rather long and he thought that he'd probably get there faster by taxi. By the amount of traffic there is he is starting to regret his choice.

When the taxi does finally pull up to the hospital, almost forty five minutes later than expected, he quickly pays the driver using eftpos before rushing out of the car and inside. He takes out his phone to text Ashton, unsure of where to go or what to do.

LUKE: Ash, I'm here. Can you come and get me? I'm by the front doors on the first level.

Ashton replies half a minute later.

ASH: I'll be there in a few.

Luke looks around, tapping at the side of his leg impatiently. There is a small café placed in the corner and to the left there are escalators and elevators.

He walks towards the café and stands in line behind two people. He figures that he may as well get something warm to drink to somewhat calm his nerves, even though he knows it'll do crap to help him. When he gets to the counter he asks for a large white hot chocolate with extra sugar. (If he's going to stay awake he'll need some sort of energy boost.)