Luke's POV

"Look who finally decided to show up." Michael smirks with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah I'm here. No big deal." I roll my eyes.

"Yeah no big deal." Ashton chimes in, mocking my tone. "What would you have done if the social worker would've been here? There'd be no chance you could get out of here." He shakes his head in disappointment.

Even though I act the toughest out of all of them, I'm still the youngest and they still treat me like their brother. On another note, I'm not sure if I want to leave anymore. I mean what could be so bad about staying here another year and then moving out so I don't have to leave Madison? Who knows how far away I will go. Who knows what kind of family will want to adopt me. Will I even be adopted? Are Madison and I even serious enough for me to be thinking this way?

"Luke.." Calum nudges my shoulder snapping me out of my private investigation.

As I look around, I find my social worker directly in front of me. Smiling that ignorant smile that I knew somehow she had to be faking. "Sup." I nod to her.

"Hello, Luke. Remember how we worked on greetings? I'm Mrs. Lathem to you." She says in a sweet tone that was intended to be bitchy.

"Remember how we've worked on a lot of things? I'm not calling you that." I sass back without even knowing it, until the words left my mouth.

Mrs. Lathem frowns a little, and points with her head to the porch where we normally sit when this happens. It's all been the same every time. "So how have you been, Luke?"

"Could you stop using my name in every sentence, please?" I ask like I've done over ten times by now.

"Sorry, Lu-sorry." She clears her throat, and continues with her questions. "So how are you?"
"I'm fine." I answer without skipping a beat.

"Define 'fine'." She tells me, putting fine in an air quote.

"I'm fine. I'm stable, I'm breathing, I'm living. I'm fine." I shrug, in a flippant manner.

"Are you really though? What's happened in the past six months, Luke? I'm sure a lot has happened since."

"Stop saying my name every time you speak." I say through gritted teeth. Then I sigh and I know from experience, that I can't get away without answering. "Nothing really has changed. Not much has happened." I lie, thinking about Madison.

Mrs. Lathem nods while writing things down on her notepad. "Have you been visiting the house?"

She refers to the ashes I sat at, when I was contemplating my sanity. I clench my jaw, feeling uneasy about this topic. Especially with her. "You can talk to me. That's what I'm here for." She grins, placing a hand over mine.

I jump back, not wanting the comfort. "I'm not talking about that. Next."

"Luke, it's better if you talk about it, rather than keeping it inside. C'mon-"

"No! You have no right to know about my deceased family! Yeah they're gone, and yeah I realize that I'm alone and bitter because of it all! I don't want to be adopted by anybody because nobody can take the place of my family! So take your fucking note pad of all my problems and fuck off, because nobody can help me! Just fuck off!" I scream at her like I've done countless times.

Mrs. Lathem looks around the yard, adjusts her glasses and stands up to straighten her dress. "Bless you, Luke." She pats my shoulder sadly as if to say that I have no hope, and enters through the house

I stand there for a moment and watch her through the window talking to Sam. All the other kids were in their normal chat rooms probably making progress when I'm in the same positions I was in six months ago. I watch as Sam's face turns sour and Mrs. Lathem exits through the front door.

I sigh, knowing that I have to enter the house to hear my news. Sam gives her signature scolding looks as she holds a piece of paper. "Mrs. Lathem thinks that she should meet with you again in a few weeks. This will be a surprise visit, so it's best that you just stay here for now other than sneaking off to wherever you normally go." She explains.

"That's not happening." I shake my head thinking of Madison.

"It's what's going to happen. I know you want out of here, so why don't you make the change and get out of my hair?" Sam groan in frustration.

"Even my own foster mother doesn't care about me." I scoff, and start walking to my destination.

"Luke! I love you! I do. You just drive me insane!" Sam calls for me.

"Don't feed me that bullshit when you can't even tell yourself that I can change."

~~~*~~~

I knock on her window at about 1:00 am. I knew she was probably sleeping and that she wouldn't hear me, but I knew I needed to come back to see her. She's the only one that makes me feel like I belong. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel like I rely on her a lot.
Nevertheless, she comes to the window yawning, then a look of surprisement washes over her face. "Luke? I thought you had to be home tonight?" She wonders opening her window.

"Change in plans." I shrug, welcoming myself in her room.

"What's wrong?" She asks.

"Nothing why do you ask?" I answer almost to quickly.

"Because your face is flushed and you look upset."

"Maybe my face is flushed because I just walked over here from my house." I make a point.

"Then why do you look upset."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not." I shake my head.

"Yes you are." Madison says more sternly this time, shocking both me and her.

I sigh. "It's nothing Madison, just come sleep with me." I lay down opening my arms for her.
Madison comes to lay with me, but she doesn't seem happy. "I'm not going to be able to stop worrying now." She whispers.

"Don't worry about me."

"How can you say that?" She raises up a little to look at me.

"Look I just had a bunch of people ask me questions all night tonight. I'm not in the mood for it with you too. " I try keeping my voice down this time respecting the fact that other people were in the house.

Madison sighs and I feel like she might actually let it go, but then she pipes up with, "Who was questioning you?"

"Well you are now." I groan turning to my side.

"Because I should have the right to know what is wrong with you. "
"Why's that?"

"Because I'm your girlfriend." She states the obvious that I had been overlooking.
I pause not knowing what to say to that. My pause probably made her worry as she stands up and gestures to the window. "You can go if you want. I won't make you stay." Madison shakes her head sadly.

"I don't want to go." I say.

"Well I'm not going to fight with you tonight. I'm already worried about you because I knew that something was wrong with you before you left earlier, and I'm going to worry more because we're fighting." She explains.

"Fine." I sigh patting the place on the bed. "If you'd like to know so bad then take a seat. Bare with me it's a long story."

Madison looks pleased and comes by my side. "Prepare to hear my sop story, and just know that you will be the only one-other than the guys-that I'm saying this to. Don't say anything to anyone, Madison. I don't-"

"Luke." Madison stops me. "You can trust me, I promise." She places her hand over mine just like Mrs. Lathem had done earlier, but this time I accept the comfort.

I take a deep breath and begin. "So when I was around 10 years old, my dad died. He died in a hit a run. He was coming home late from work one night, and he was wanting to surprise us since he hadn't been home in two months. He was on the interstate and a huge timber truck ran straight into his car. Killed him on impact." I stop for a second feeling tears come to my eyes. "My family an I got on with it after a while. We moved into a new city and new home to get away from everything and start over. Then one year my brothers and I were fighting and mum was in the kitchen cooking my favorite meal. It was my birthday. My brothers were older than me but still acted so childish at times."

"They were mad because the attention was all on me and we were fighting about whatever. Ben took a book that he'd been holding and tried to throw it at me. I ducked and it flew on the stove where the heat was at. The book caught on fire and the flames went up in the air. Mum tried all she could but couldn't stop the flames from engulfing the house. My brothers were screaming about how all of this was my fault and that's the last thing I remember from that night. I woke up in the infirmary down the road without my family. I turned 15 all alone. I went from having this perfect, loving family to having nothing. Which is why I turn away from everybody and try to stay away. I ruin everything I touch, Madison, and it's only a matter of time."

Madison's eyes water but mine don't. "Luke, don't feel that way. I'm here for you and you don't have to act so tough around me. I am so sorry this happened to you."

"Don't be." I sniff. "There's nothing you could've done."

"You can cry, you know. It's nothing I haven't seen before. Everyone cries." She states, nuzzling her head into my chest.

"I don't cry. Crying won't bring them back."

"It can help you heal." She whispers, pulling my chin down to meet her face. Madison kisses my lips lightly and I kiss her back as well, tasting her tongue.

I pull away and press my forehead to hers and suddenly, weep. I weep for the first time in two years. Real tears. Real emotions that I've been holding back from everyone for all this time. Madison pulled them out of me in less than an hour. How was I ever supposed to be without her?

Notes

Guys so sorry that this took so long. I've been focusing on finishing up/getting some of my stories going and I took a short break from this one. Hope you liked it and feel free to vote/subscribe/comment!
~UnknownRocker~