Changes (Luke Hemmings)

~ Chapter 10 ~

6 months later.

It was winter now in Australia and the memories of summer kept me trucking through the colder days.
The summer days we spent outside were replaced by longer, colder nights and a lot more school.

As much as I normally hated winter, this year, it didn't seem so harsh or bad.

In the past six months, I had only become closer with everyone around me.

Me and Molly were once again as close as we use to be, only this time Aleisha was there too and I loved them both to bits.

I couldn't imagine my life without the band. Those 4 boys had, in so little time, become hugely important in my life.

I tried to distance myself from them all, when I realised Ashton liked me but my efforts always fell apart and because of Luke, not seeing the band was hardly an option.

I'd invested myself into their band more than was healthy and I felt like I could burst any time I thought about their future and what was in store.

Me and Luke had been together for 6 months. I thought I'd be over all the initial butterflies but nothing seemed to change between us.
If it was possible, I liked him more now, than I ever had before... Neither of us had said it yet but at this point I knew what I felt was love.

For the band, big things were happening. They were about to release a four song EP consisting of: two originals and two covers. It was called 'Unplugged'.
One week today, it would be out in the world.

I'd been living as my former self, for more than half a year.
Occasionally, something big happened and it hits me like a brick wall how strange this situation was. Most of the time though, I forgot all about it, it was just my life and my new-old routine was set.

The only thing really keeping me grounded in my circumstances, was the band. I accidentally became involved with them and now, I wanted to ensure they stayed on track but everything about my presence seemed to send them off track.

In the past six months, Ashton's feelings towards me hadn't cooled, they'd only grown and become more and more obvious.
Everyone tried to ignore it but he was definitely causing some issues within the band.
I couldn't just step away, I tried but too deeply involved.

~

One week later, June 12th, 5sos released Unplugged.

The EP was doing really well.

5sos recorded an acoustic version of 'Gotta get out' to celebrate the release, which they'd just put on YouTube.

We were in English, losing focus by the minute. There was only so much 'Of Mice And Men' analysis I could handle. It was really dull but at least I had company - sort of?
Calum and Michael were stacking pens on my left, concentrating on constructing the highest possible tower and Luke was on his phone.
I was in 'company' but we weren't really talking. Truly the peak of friendship.

I felt a tap on my arm from Luke.

"Look, Gotta get out is getting really popular." He grinned and I glanced over his shoulder to gauge what he was talking about. He was so excited but there was confusion taking hold.

"Cal, Mike..." he paused, genuinely shocked by something. The two boys looked up from their pen tower to Luke.
"Louis Tomlinson, from one direction just tweeted about us.... This is insane." He laughed and put his head into his hands.

Calum stopped thinking about his movements and dropped the pen he had been strategically lining up. The whole pen stack crashed down but neither one of them flinched - in a trance, unable to believe the news.

He read the tweet to the boys and showed them for proof. They were struggling to believe it, even with proof.

"They have so many fans. Think what this could do for us." Michael said. Calum nodded but his eyes were wide and he was clearly in shock.

I smiled to myself because I already knew how much of an impact One Direction would have on their career.

As soon as English finished and the bell rang for the end of the day, the 5 of us legged it to Michaels house.

The band was doing well on its own but this tweet had sent a whole new wave of fans their way.

We all decided to go out for food to celebrate and invited Molly and Aleisha.

We went to our local pizza restaurant and after ordering, we shared the news with the two girls.

"I knew you'd be successful. I believe in you guys. You deserve all of it!" Aleisha responded.

Molly just had a guilty smile on her face and eventually shared, "I already knew... What can I say? I like One Direction. I just didn't want to spoil the moment." She laughed. "I'm just saying, if you meet 1D, you have to introduce me." Molly said, all trace of laughter fell from her tone and it was actually quite threatening. Everyone just laughed it off.

"Of course! We'd be terrible friends otherwise," Cal responded.

I wrapped my arms around Luke's waist to hug him and whispered "I love you." Luke placed his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple.

"I love you too. I can't imagine this success, without you, by my side."

I knew, in an other life, he'd already had all of the success but without me. I still couldn't believe he'd say that though, he was so thoughtful and I was so, so lucky.

Across the table, I saw Ashton get grumpy at this but not even he was going to bring down my mood right now. I was fast becoming an expert at ignoring Ashton's constant jealousy.

That was one of the best nights of my life. All seven of us laughed our heads off and stuffed our faces. For that night, nothing outside of our circle mattered and we celebrated the landmark in their career, like our lives depended on it.