When we arrived in Sydney, I took a breath of their air. Luke and Ashton were beaming; dimples showing. The plan was that Calum and Michael would stop in Melbourne, while the three of us were in Sydney, and then we would all meet up.
Luke instantly grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He had been acting weird lately ever since the plane landed. I forced a smile back to him as a small-bus type car pulled in next to us. The bus was all white except for the huge "5 Seconds of Summer" logo painted on it.
I kept reminding myself that at the hotel I would talk to Luke. However, when we pulled into the driveway of a small house, I snapped back into reality. "Is this the hotel?" I asked sounding dumb.
Luke chuckled and said, "No, it's a friend of my moms place. I thought I should visit her while we were here since I have known her my whole life pretty much. And she has two sons, who are like my nephews."
I really couldn't be happier for him.
He looked at me, running a hand through his hair and then started, "And we might be staying at her house this weekend." My jaw dropped slightly, as I was confused.
"What about Ashton?" I asked.
"The driver is taking him back to the hotel. He understands."
We walked up the stairs to the front door, as I tried to process this. "Does she mind that were staying here? I mean we are kinda-"
"It was her idea." he said, running a hand through his hair again. Luke rang their doorbell and then a young boy, who looked about six, opened the door and jumped into Luke's arms. Seconds after, a woman with blond hair, like Luke's, walked in, practically screaming. Luke set the boy down and hugged the woman. She must've been his mother's friend, and the child was hers.
"Oh Luke, it is always so great to see you. But who is this beautiful girl?" She said in her Australian accent.
Luke turned to face me and said,"This is my friend, Ava. Ava, this is my mothers friend I was talking about, Susan." He said, trying not to make eye contact with me. Friend?
"Nice to meet you, Susan." I said, stretching out my hand for her to shake.
"Same to you, Ava. Please come in guys. Make yourself at home." Luke brought our suitcases to one of her guest rooms and then I heard the babbling of children. The boy who opened the door followed Luke to the guest bedroom and then sat in his lap. The boy kept going on about some action figure, while Luke listened to everything he said. I stared in awe, thinking about their resemblances. The boy, Brock I learned, looked exactly like a little Luke. Brock had the same color hair and eyes, with pink lips to match. Even his hair was swept to the side, like how Luke used to style it when he was younger. I wouldn't be surprised if Brock soon got a lip ring, too. "So, I'm guessing you're not a new member of their band right?" Susan said, interrupting my thoughts. Her blond hair fell to her shoulders and her face was makeup free. I tried to laugh, and go with it, but I couldn't. Oh no, I'm Luke's girlfriend, but we're not on good terms so now I guess we're just friends. "Um no, I'm a friend of all the boys and so they invited me to their promos this week." Sounded reasonable.
"Oh that's very sweet of them. Luke always thinks of others, a very good quality." She beamed. Then, Luke came out with Brock still in his arms. "Oh Brock, don't tire out Uncle Luke." Susan said.
"It's fine, really. I missed Brock and Todd." he said. Just then a younger boy, about 4 years old, walked in the living room. He also looked like Luke, but his eyes were more green than blue. He ran up to hug Luke, causing me to stare once again. Luke was amazing to these kids, even though he wasn't related to them. "It's getting dark, I think I'm going to start getting ready for bed." I stated awkwardly.
"Oh yes of course, the flight must've been tiring." Susan said. "You two don't mind sharing a room, right?" Luke and I looked at each other before he said, "No, we don't mind. It's fine." We both quietly walked into her guest room. Luke couldn't even look at me, without knowing that I was a little mad. Breaking the silence, he asked, "Do you want the left side, or right side of the bed?"
"Doesn't matter." I shrugged. I grabbed a pair of cotton shorts and a shirt, and headed to the bathroom. The bathroom happened to be next to the guest bedroom, so I heard almost everything that went on in there. As I was brushing my teeth, I heard Brock walk in the bedroom and ask Luke, "Is she your girlfriend?"
Luke sounded like he hesitated and then said "No, she's just a friend." I felt my chest tighten and my heart ache. I walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to find a shirtless Luke. "Hey." I mumbled, walking past him.
"Look, is something wrong?" Luke asked, sounding like he absolutely had no idea.
"Luke, first you introduce me as your friend and-" He cut me off.
"We were kind of on bad terms, if you don't remember."
I was shocked. "Still, you're acting like you don't even know me, and I heard you talking to Brock."
"He's a six year old kid! You expect me to tell him about our complicated relationship!" Now he was screaming.
"No, but it hurts to know that the guy I fell in love with is acting like we never had history, or that we never even dated." I was on the verge of tears, so I quickly got into bed and wrapped the warm blanket on me. I felt the hot tears dripping down my face and onto the pillow. Luke switched off the lights and climbed into bed on the other side, nowhere close to me. I suddenly had this emptiness inside of me, not having his arm around me or not feeling the warmth that he brought to my heart.
The next morning, both of us agreed to go back to the hotel, where Ashton was. When Susan asked why, we lied and said that Ashton was getting lonely there. We thanked her and loaded our bags into the cab. Neither one of us said anything on the way to the hotel. Tonight was their meet and greet and then we would be flying to New Zealand the next morning, where we would meet up with Michael and Calum. Ashton asked me to come with him to the meet and greet, but I declined. I didn't want to invade on their life so much. I lied down on the bed and watched Netflix on my laptop, until I fell asleep.
A/N: Quick fact for you guys: this chapter came to me in a dream. Literally, I woke up and took out my phone to write it all down. Anyways, I had this idea where if this chapter reaches 10 votes, then I'll do a double update.
Thanks for reading and remember to vote!
