starstruck - lrh

seventy-three.

Luke's POV:

"Man, I love this song."

I feel relief wash over me as nothing excites me more when the guys love a song just as much as I do. Especially when I put an insane amount of time and energy into it, all I want to hear is that they like it and thankfully, they were able to love it just as much as me this time around.

Then again, I didn't have much doubt that they'd love Red Desert. I'm insanely proud of it and had a really good feeling about it. Not only that, but I knew it was a style the guys are all into and that they'd be over the moon about it.

"Good because I'd probably cry if you didn't," I say, sitting back on the studio couch as I close my eyes for a moment to relax.

We've been in the studio much longer than anticipated in order to prep the chords for the songs and truly put it together. I've been meaning to text Haven and let her know I'd be back to hers later than I had told her but I realized I left my phone in my car so it was no use.

I'm hoping more than anything that her meeting is going well and she can gain a sense of control over her career once again. After all, it's been obvious that she hasn't found much success lately and I can tell it's truly getting to her. This has been putting stress on myself as well considering I can't help but blame myself for this.

If she had just stayed with that movie, none of this would be happening. Hell, her career would be soaring. But of course, I convinced her to leave the movie and now I see the impact that's had on her and I feel terrible for it.

I've been trying to help in any way I can but it's clear there's not much I can do. She needs her agent and manager to step up to the plate and offer more for her. They clearly are putting a lot of responsibility on her and I don't think she knows how to handle it.

However, I can't sit back and watch the world fall from her eyes day by day. I'm seeing the color in her life being stripped from her and I hardly get the same energy I did from her just a few months ago.

She used to be so happy and now all I really see is forced happiness.

I want to make her happy and I want to be the cause of her happiness. Unfortunately though, there's a lot of shit going on in her life that neither one of us can fix and I can't force her to smile through it.

God, I need to clear my head.

"Should we go get celebratory beers?" Ashton suggests.

I immediately go to shut it down considering I already told Haven I'd be back and I'm clearly late to begin with. Due to this, I just want to get back and see how everything went instead of leaving her for even longer.

"I've got to get back. I told Haven I'd be back at hers like an hour and a half ago," I say, already beginning to stand up in preparation of leaving the studio.

"Can't she wait an extra hour or two?" Calum asks, grabbing my attention. "I feel like we hardly do anything anymore outside of the studio."

I get where he's coming from considering we all have different schedules and any downtime I have I usually spend with Haven. It's not often where the four of us go and do something that's not music related.

"I don't know," I say. "She had a really important meeting with her manager and agent and I want to make sure all went well and that she's doing okay."

"Is an extra hour or two really going to kill her?" Calum presses.

I want to say no but it will kill me. Obviously, I bite my tongue because I don't want them to think that I'm pushing them to the side completely for my girlfriend. Especially because we are truly so much more than a band. It just is inconvenient timing due to the fact that Haven had the big meeting and now they all want to get drinks.