Trouble - 5SOS (L.H.)

-4-

I wake up to a light knocking sound on my door.

"Hello?" I raise my voice, still groggy.

"Can I come in?" I hear Luke's voice from outside the door.

"Yeah." I say and sit up with the covers still on me. It's a little chilly right now. I comb out my hair with my fingers before he comes in.

He opens the door and sits at the foot of my bed, still in his pajamas, which were sweatpants and a loose black tee.

"Hey." I say.

"Hey. So I've been thinking about how we could break them up. All night." He says using his hands as he talks.

"And what did you come up with?" I say, standing up out of bed to throw on my black Arctic Monkeys hoodie.

"Well, I've been thinking about how much she flirts with other guys. And the thing about Michael, he gets so jealous. It's obvious really." He explains.

"I don't understand."

"We have to have a party and invite tons of guys for her to flirt with. Then, we distract Michael, and next thing you know, he's looking for her and finds her with some guy." Luke explains, again using his hands.

"Wow! I didn't know you were so smart." I teased.

"You don't know a lot of things about me."

That's extremely true. I know nothing about him! We only have a mutual friend, love the same band, and have a mutual hate for the same person.... sounds like a good friend to me.

"So what do we do first?" I ask. He made a face, which made me notice his lip ring for a moment. And his lips.....

He breaks me out of my trance with his voice, "We convince Michael to throw a party. But you have the most important job. You have to get your dad and Valerie out of the house for a couple days."

"And how do I do that?"

"Show him cool vacation spots, maybe he'll send himself away on a fuckin' cruise to Alaska." He says.

"That shouldn't be hard. He's so rich, but he's so fucking stingy."

"Hey! That was the first time I've heard you swear." He smiles and leans forward a bit as he teases me.

"I swear a lot, I just have to get to know you better 'til it comes out."

"Looking forward to that." He smiles.

I blush. What does that mean?

I try to casually touch my face with my cold hands to cool my cheeks down.

"Well, anyway," he continues, "do some research on vacations and try to mention something to him."

"Okay. I'll do that today."

"Good." He says, "Well, I'm gonna go get dressed and stuff."

"Okay, me too." I say and he slips out the door and closes it.

I start to take off my shirt, but the door opens again and I quickly pull my shirt down.

"Woah, woah, woah sorry." Luke says covering his eyes.

"It's okay you can look now." I say and he takes his hand away from his eyes.

"I was just gonna say that if you were bored later you can hang out with me in my room or something.. If you're not doing anything.. but you'll probably be busy anywa-"

"Okay, I will." I say and smile, cutting off his rambling.

"Okay." He smiles back, then nods, then leaves awkwardly.

I wait a few seconds to make sure I was safe to take off my shirt, then change into a black tee with a red flannel I tie at the waist, and black skinny jeans with rips all over them.

I decide to do a little research about the vacation thing, like Luke said. I pull out my phone and, sure enough, I find a cheap trip to Hawaii that I know he can't refuse. For a rich guy, he's still so cheap.

I hop downstairs to try and find my dad when I see him talking to Valerie, trying to calm her down, and she's yelling at him.

She suddenly storms out of the house and my dad sits on the couch with his head in his hands, and sighs.

"Dad..." I say.

He looks up and smiles a sad, fake smile. "She'll come back."

Looks like I can't send them on a romantic trip to Hawaii now.

"Hey I'm.. Just gonna go out for a bit. I'll probably be back in a few days.. I need to get away. I need to think." He says, "Love you, darling." He kisses my cheek before heading out of the house. I watch through the window as he gets in the same expensive car and drives away.

That wasn't how I wanted to get him out of the house. But it'll work.

I walk upstairs and enter Luke's room. He's laying down on his bed, scrolling through something on his phone, and of course The 1975 is playing.

"Well one of us is going to have to change." He jokes, eyeing my outfit. Then I see his. He has a red flannel on over a black tee with black ripped pants.

I laugh and say, "Let's just tell people we matched on purpose."

"Okay." He says and laughs back, "So what's up?" He puts his arms behind his head, and his shirt comes up. I can see his v-li-"

"Lia! Hellooooooo?" Luke says, sitting up and moving his hands in front of his face.

"Yeah," I say snapping out of whatever trance I was in, "So my dad and Valerie are out of the house."

I tell him everything that happened, and he nods.

"So now all we have to do is have Michael throw a party. He knows people around here, I don't." He suggests.

"Okay. You wanna go do that now? Call me if anything happens. I might go out for a bit." I say, grabbing his phone and texting myself with it, so he could have my number.

"Okay." He says. We slip out of his door and I head down the stairs.

"See you later." He waves from the top of the stairs.

"Bye, good luck!" I say giving him a thumbs up and he flashes one back.