Pretty Girls ⇼ Luke Hemmings

“Hey, Val!” I woke up to Lea shaking my body and sat up with a gasp.
“What?” I asked, noticing the small, humorous look spreading across her face.
“You slept through your classes.” I was quick to grab my phone from the nightstand and check the time. It was near noon, causing me to groan and fall back on my bed. “Are you okay?” she asked and my eyes diverted to my wrists. From how roughly Luke grabbed the, I expected them to be bruised—but they weren’t and I was glad. There was no physical reminder of anything. I could pretend it all never happened if I wanted to.
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine, the memories of last night flooded my mind. How scared I was, the way Luke beat that guy up, Ashton driving me home.
“Michael said he heard you crying last night. He didn’t know what to do, so he just went back to sleep.” I couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

“Luke and I had another fight.” I told her, unsure of what else to add. She immediately rolled her eyes, sitting on my bed.
“God, he’s an idiot. What about this time?”
“A guy was hitting on me at the party. He got mad about it, even though I was trying to get him to stop. We just… We each said some bad things and he flipped his chair over and then I left.” I picked at the fuzz on my blanked, not wanting to see her reaction.
“Sounds like everything will be alright. It’s just a small fight.” Small fight. Well, compared to everything else Luke and I have fought about in the past.
“I don’t know, maybe.” I sighed.
“Maybe? What do you mean, maybe?” she asked and I finally met her eyes, mine filled with sadness and overthinking. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking about breaking up with him.” Her mouth fell open and I shrugged. I didn’t want to, but he was leaving… And yesterday… I was just so scared. How could I forget that feeling?

“He’s leaving for the summer. We’re not like you and Michael. We can’t make it work long distance, we don’t have that kind of patience.” She nodded, though I wasn’t sure she fully understood. “If it doesn’t happen now, it’ll happen when we’re away from each other and be more painful.” She was silent for a long while, her hand on top of mine as she tried to think of what to say. Maybe there was nothing for her to say.
“Talk this through, see where that gets you,” she told me and I nodded. “We’re all rooting for you guys. But, we’ll all be here for both of you if it falls apart.” I pulled her into a hug, surprising even myself when I didn’t cry. Maybe I was used to Luke fucking up. Maybe I was used to all these fucking fights. Just then, as if he knew we were talking about him, Luke walked into the dorm. He was biting his lip, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I gotta go. I’m meeting Mikey for lunch.” Lea gave me a small smile, setting a hand on my shoulder before standing up. “See you guys later.” And then she was gone, leaving me to decide what I wanted to do.

“Hey.” Luke’s movements were slow as he sat on the edge of my bed. I pulled my feet underneath me, hoping to create more space between us. All I wanted to do was nuzzle into him, go back to sleep. But I knew if I did, then I’d never have the courage to do what I need to do.
“Hi,” my voice was quiet. I pushed my hair out of my face before struggling to pull it all up into a ponytail. If I’d known he was coming, I’d have at least have brushed my hair and teeth.
“Why weren’t you in class?” He wasn’t sure whether he knew the answer to that question or not, I could tell by his sad blue eyes. He didn’t know if it was because of him.
“I forgot to set an alarm. Lea just woke me up.” He nodded, seeming less on edge because I wasn’t purposefully avoiding him.
“I’m really sorry, Val,” he told me, surprising me by gently taking hold of my wrists and examining them for bruises. “I didn’t mean to scare you last night.” He pressed kisses against the skin on my right wrist before moving up to my hand and kissing the back of it, repeating the actions on my left. I knew I shouldn’t forgive him, but I also knew that I said a really horrible thing.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it. I was angry and-” he cut me off.
“No, you were right. I need to learn how to control my anger before it gets out of hand. I don’t want to end up like him.” I didn’t know what to say, so he kept talking. “I don’t want to be the type of boyfriend who scares his girlfriend into staying with him. I don’t want to be the one who keeps fucking things up and hurting you. I want to be the type of man who brings you flowers and buys you things and takes you out for dates. I just want you to know that… Well, I’m going to work on becoming that type of man.” I picked at the skin around my nails, nodding. How was I supposed to say what I need to say now? After that? “Are we okay?” he asked and I opened my mouth to speak before closing it again and sighing.
“I don’t know, Luke,” I answered honestly.
“Talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

"Maybe we should just call it quits now... While we're angry at each other and can't overthink it." Was he even angry with me anymore? Was I angry with him?
"What? Call it quits? Why?" His mood instantly dropped, his mouth falling open and tears lining his eyes.
"You're leaving, Luke. For three months, we won't be together. Maybe it'll hurt less if we call it off now instead of in the middle of summer. It's going to happen sooner or later, long distance won't work out for us." I couldn’t look at him as I spoke, repeating the same reasons I gave to Lea.
"So come with me. Fuck being apart.” I couldn’t believe the offer, and the thought crossed my mind. It would be so amazing to come with him, but what happens when we have a fight like we did last night? Where would I go?
"Luke... I-I can't come with you." It hurt to tell him that, but I knew it hurt him more to hear it.
"Why?" His responses were urgent, full of need.

"M-My parents would kill me, I have so much shopping to do for my apartment next year, and I need to take an online class to be a writing tutor. What if my sister needs me? What if something happens to Parker? Or one of the girls? I need to be here. People need me here." I hoped the reasons I listed would be enough for him, even if they weren’t enough for me.
"But, I need you with me." He grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his face in a desperate attempt to get me to touch him, but I just let it fall back down.
"Luke, I-" He cut me off.
"All those things you just said, they were about other people. What about you? What do you want?" You. Honesty was the only thing coming to mind, there was nothing else to say but the truth, as painful as it was for both of us.
"To be with you, always." My voice cracked as a tear fell out of my eye.
"So come with me." He wiped it away, his thumb lingering on my cheek.
"I can't, Luke. As much as I want to, I just can't." Withdrawing his touch, he hung his head in sadness. Once the tears started, they would stop. Was this it? Is this where we say goodbye?

“If you’re going to leave me…” he began, his words laced with pain. “At least give me our last three days. We deserve it, Val. Three more days together. Just us, happy, together.” The offer sounded too good to be true, and I wanted it. I needed it.
“Okay.” My voice was hardly above a whisper as he stood up, holding his hand out to me.
“Come here,” he begged. Despite how apprehensive I was, I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up and into a hug, kissing the top of my head. “Let’s dance.”
“There’s no music.” With a smile, I rolled my eyes at the request. So cliche and overused, but it still melted my heart.
“I’ll be your music.” He set his hands on my waist, encouraging my hands to snake around his neck and pulled me closer. When I set my head on his shoulder, he started humming and we swayed to the beat.

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