teeth → l.h

chapter sixteen;

"You doing okay?" Luke asks as he leans against the doorway of the bathroom. I am literally wrapped around the toilet right now, Luke, do you think I'm doing okay?

"I hate everything." Helena mumbles as she looks sadly up at Luke. Luke sits down next to her and pulls the blanket back up to her shoulders. "You really didn't have to come all this way."

Luke smiles softly. "When did you throw up last?" There's a twinge in Helena's heart at the gentleness in Luke's voice. She misses him more than anything, and she really, really wants him to just hold her. She knows she's far too late for that now though.

"I think like thirty minutes ago, I don't know." Helena sighs. "I'm tired of sitting on the floor though." She decided a little bit ago that it's a lot more fun laying on this bathroom floor when she's too intoxicated to remember it the next day.

"Alright, let's get your frail ass in bed." Luke chuckles as he helps Helena up from the floor. He leads her to the guest room and tucks her into bed, momentarily stopping himself from missing her. "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

"Are you seriously fucking telling me she has the flu?" Luke snaps at Ashton when he steps out of the room, shutting the door behind him. "What the fuck, dude?" Part of Luke wants to believe that Ashton's just blissfully unaware of it, because it's not hard to figure out if someone has the flu or not. "Seriously?"

Ashton shrugs. "Look, I was surprised as you are. She's seriously not pregnant, though. She took like four tests, so you can chill out. Use protection next time, though?"

"Fuck." Luke takes a shaky breath as he leans against the wall. He runs his hands down his face. "That doesn't make any sense."

Ashton leans against the wall next to Luke. "I know. Five false negatives in a month probably aren't wrong though, unless you want to take her to get a blood test... maybe a banana bag, too."

Luke chuckles. "I guess I should've known since you didn't try to kill me when I walked in here."

"Who you sleep with hasn't been my problem or my business in years, Luke." Ashton comments. "I'm pretty sure you broke her heart though, which isn't cool."

Luke looks down. "So did she tell you? Or-"

"I've known since 2015. Why do you think I was so pissed at you for like a month?" Ashton crosses his arms. "I didn't know if I was mad that you slept with my little sister, or that you slept with someone while we had a thing."

"We had a thing?" Luke raises an eyebrow as he looks over to Ashton. "I remember you telling me it was just fun; something you and Helena have in common, I guess." He looks back down. He feels burnt out.

Ashton sighs. "You still slept with my sister." Much like Helena, Ashton uses humor and sarcasm as a defense and a coping mechanism. He knows he hurt Luke, but he has no idea how to address it properly.

"Ashton, I've been sleeping with your sister since we were fifteen." Luke rolls his eyes. "You're a little late." At this point, he's just done with hiding anything. He wants it to just be over with.

Luke will admit that he has a lot of unresolved feelings and issues with both of the Irwin siblings. It's out of his hands though- he thinks- because both of them refuse to talk about their feelings and have been that way since the day he met them.

Ashton on the other hand, is coming to the realization that he was definitely just a replacement and a warm bed to Luke. That stung a little bit. He brushes it off. They're fine. "God," Ashton shuts his eyes. "You're telling me you've been with her since you were fifteen and you aren't in love with her?" Of course I am, Ashton, what book are you reading?

Luke slowly turns his head back to Ashton, tilts his head, and raises his eyebrows. "Seriously? It took Calum experiencing one of our arguments to figure it out."

Ashton scoffs. "How the hell did you get so wrapped up in-"

"The universe hates me and god wants to punish me for who-fucking-knows what." Luke huffs. "That's the only logical reason as to why I'd fall in love with the one person who refuses to accept love."

"Well, you've met our mother." Ashton mumbles. "Seriously though, you need to sort your shit. I'm tired of picking my little sister up off the floor because you broke her."

"I know." Luke sighs as he runs his hands down his face.

"Hey," Ashton stops Luke before he walks back into the guest room. "You had feelings for me?" Ashton most likely wouldn't admit it in his lifetime, but he liked Luke- a lot. Maybe even loved him. He got over it as quickly as he could when he found out about Luke and Helena though; he fast tracked his heartbreak and just pretended it never happened. He felt it fair though, considering Luke did the exact same thing.

Luke shrugs. "Well, yeah. You met you?"

Of course I liked you. You were sweet and gentle and kind and you took care of me when I had nothing and I was alone and scared in a new city and you were my only constant and I might have even loved you but I never let myself accept it.

Ashton smiles softly. "Sorry I was an ass."

"Eh," Luke shrugs once more. "It was a learning experience."

"Learning experience?" Ashton thinks. He's so done with luke.

"Hey," Luke says softly as he sits down on the bed. "Are you okay?" He asks, and a look of confusion washes over Helena's face. "We've never gotten that close to having a child before. Figured that's probably not comforting to you."

Helena sighs. "Ashton told you?" Luke nods. "It's weird. I was really convinced I was pregnant, you know? And I was terrified of having to tell you but it also would've forced you to be my friend again, sooo..."

"What the fuck?" Luke cocks his head to the side. "I'm not gone, Helena. I'm still your friend. I know things have been weird since-"

"It's not your fault." Helena mumbles as she rolls her on her side, pulling the blankets up to her neck. "I just miss you."

"I miss you too." Luke says quietly. "I'm sorry things got weird."

"It's fine." Helena replies with a small smile. "It's just weird seeing you with someone else and I needed time to deal with it, but I'm good."

Helena's not good, and she and Luke both know it. Nothing is good and nothing is fine, and it's starting to piss Luke off. He's beyond tired of Helena's insistence that everything is fine, and her refusal to deal with her problems; if he didn't love her so much, he'd probably hate her.