long way home. (on hold till '16)

one

first chapter dedicated to ariaNI aka mikerowave for wAAY 2 MANY R EAsONS,, one of them being that i hope she's okay bc malaysia be hella flooded rn

stay safe ari love u x

-

O N E

ONE WEEK AGO

Luke's phone was vibrating on the ground next to him. He lifted the bottle of beer in his hand to his lips, taking a few gulps of the burning substance. He didn't bother looking at his phone's screen. It had been bursting with texts from Ashton and Calum. What's the point? he thought, they're obviously not from Irene.

Irene and Michael were having a house warming party because they had gotten a new place. Calum had called Luke yesterday and begged him to attend the party. He had promised it wouldn't be as hard as the wedding and would even be a little fun, but he only got a hum as a response from Luke. Luke was a little bitter over the fact that Irene or Michael didn't invite him. After all, it was their party.

Thanks to the incidents at the wedding, Luke had decided it was best he didn't go. For him and the people around him. He felt pathetic but mostly heavy-hearted.

Luke was sitting on a cliff. He had been here before with the rest of the boys. They had shot a music video for one of their singles. In.. Insomnia? No, wait, Amnesia, Luke remembered the name of their single. It was probably buried deep in YouTube today, forgotten and abandoned. Nostalgia took over and a few bittersweet memories flashed before Luke's eyes - a pool party, attempting headstands, playing instruments in a garage like the old days.

Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down started blasting, disrupting Luke's train of thoughts. He reached for his phone and found that Ashton was calling him. Sighing, he contemplated whether he should answer. He wasn't in the mood of explaining himself, but figured he should answer for the sake of Ash knowing that he was alive and there was no need to worry. Luke answered the call and pressed the loud speaker button before throwing it back onto the dirt.

"Luke? Are you okay?" Ashton voiced out, sounding distressed.

"Sup," Luke said. He left it at that.

"Sup?! Really? Cal and I have been trying to contact you all night! Where are you?" Ashton was screaming. Luke decided to believe that it was because of the loud music playing in the background, and not his avoiding communication with the human world. He heard some slurred voice calling Ashton in the distance and some shuffling of feet. It sounded like a lot of people were there, chit-chatting and having fun.

"I'm okay," Luke assured Ash, though he wasn't so sure himself.

"Oh my God, Luke! You could've at least answered one text! Just one "I've decided to not go," would've been okay!"

Luke was silent, taking in all the yelling. He had t o admit that he kind of deserved this. Thank God the alcohol had numbed his senses causing Luke to not take Ash's words to heart.

"Ash, I'm okay," Luke said after a few minutes, cutting Ash's lecture off. Ashton was silent on the other end. Luke heard a few unfamiliar laughs and couldn't help but feel paranoid that they were laughing at him.

Sighing, Luke said a last "I'm sorry, but I'm okay. Don't worry about me," before hanging up. He didn't get any calls or texts after that.

-

5 DAYS AGO

"India?!"

Ashton's raised voice caught the attention of a few passersby, causing him to whisper-scream his next sentence. "Are you serious?"