katy | l.h

four

"There's a campfire on the beach tonight, my friends will be there, so I thought we could go for a bit?" Luke asked nervously as I took a sip of my cappuccino.

"Sounds great," I smiled.

My date with Luke two days ago went really well, and we decided to hangout more, to get to know each other better. Leah was right, he really is a lovely guy, I just hope that it isn't a cover up.

"I'll pick you up at 7?" He asked, I nodded in agreement. "Cool," he smiled as I took out my pen and notebook.

I tried to think of something different to write, something happy, something other than him, but it's hard.

i remember

running down the streets

with you at 3 am,

hand in hand,

and it felt like

the world around us had stopped,

and it was just you and i,

and everything we thought about the world,

was just and illusion,

and in that moment

we felt like the world was ours,

ours to hold.

the truth is that all i needed was you,

you were my world,

the sheer depth of your eyes

were all i needed to see to keep me going,

but now you're gone

and the memories i hold on to

don't seem to fade, and

i wonder,

do you ever think about them too?

I looked up as I finished writing, to see Luke looking at me intently. I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"You really do love writing, don't you?" He asked.

It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me before replying, "yeah, I mean it's something that I've gotten into in the last two years, it gives me a release," I paused, "it keeps me sane." I laughed lightly.

"If you're passionate about it, why not take it up as a career?" He asked, I just shrugged as I had thought about it many times, but wouldn't know where to start.

"What are you, my career adviser?" I joked.

"I'm not sure what I am to you," he spoke. I rolled my eyes before finishing up my coffee.

***

Luke and I walked across the beach towards a large group of people, all surrounding the campfire. We approached them lazily as we talked about random stuff.

"You made it!" A guy with bright red hair shouted as he we approached him. "Yo, Luke's here," he shouted at a guy with dark hair who soon joined us.

"Yup," Luke spoke. "Guys, this is Katy. Katy, this is Michael," he pointed to the red head, "and this is Calum," he said, pointing to the guy with dark hair.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I greeted, giving them a friendly smile.

"Yeah it's good to meet you at last! Damn, the amount of times Luke has spoken about you in the past few months is crazy! Shame he only asked you out a couple of days ago," Michael laughed. I bit my lip, trying to hold my laughter in as Luke's cheeks turned a light pink.

"You want a drink?" Calum asked Luke, handing him a can. Luke looked at me with concern.

"Wait, are you okay with drinking alcohol?" He asked, I nodded before taking his can and opening it. Calum and Michael cheered before handing Luke another one.

"Is Ash here?" I heard someone ask. I frowned at the sound of the familiar nickname, one in which I had not heard in a long time. I looked over to a group of people who had all replied with a 'yes'. I turned back to Luke, who was talking with Michael.

I finished my drink quickly before getting myself another one. I looked back and saw Luke talking with another guy, so I decided to walk towards the ocean.

It looked beautiful, once again. The sunset was reflecting on the water, and there were small ripples that folded towards the shore. I took in the scenery, before Luke came over and interrupted my peace.

"Hey, you okay? Sorry about that I—"

"Oh don't worry," I laughed lightly, "the sea just looked really nice so I wanted to just come over here while you talked to your friends," I reassured.

"Oh okay, well I'd like to introduce you to one more person if that's okay with you?" He asked, smiling brightly as I nodded, before taking my hand and pulling me gently.

As we walked back to the group, I took a look at everyone, most of them were half drunk and there were also a small group playing football. Luke continued to pull me a little as I wasn't looking at my surroundings.

We suddenly stopped, and as I turned my head to face forward, my eyes met the face of someone that I was not expecting to see again.

"Katy, I'd like you to meet—"

"Ashton," I said quietly. Suddenly, my chest felt heavy and my eyes started to sting.

"Katy?" Ashton asked in shock.

"Wait, you know each other?" Luke asked, looking between Ashton and I.

Ashton nodded as he looked at me. I ripped my eyes away from him before quickly running away from them, getting as far away from Ashton as possible.