~Ava~

“You were a total weirdo!” Ashton laughed obnoxiously as Michael made a faux-pouty face. I giggled into my palm, leaning back into the comfy material of the booth. Calum burst into laughter and even Luke—who was sitting beside me—cracked a small smile.

“You had a long-ass fringe too!” Mikey protested, shooting Ash a mock-glare.

Ashton scoffed, “Yeah, but at least I made it work. You were the emo of the group—still are,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“Yeah,” Calum automatically shot in, “I mean, c’mon, you dye your hair!”

“It’s punk-rock!” Michael and I joined together in our words.

I looked at him with wide eyes, taking in his newly-blue hair, and immediately began to giggle again at how ironic it was. I didn’t know what it was, but somehow, being around these boys made me happy and bubbly for no reason. They were fun-loving and non-judgemental, and around the office, there wasn’t enough of that.

My phone made the slightest vibration in my pocket and I pulled it out while Ashton continued to proclaim how awkward Michael was in high school, making me smile faintly.

I unlocked my phone, only to find a text message from Jay.

How’s it going?

It’s alright so far, I typed back; I knew that it was much more than simply ‘alright’.

I was actually having fun, and this was the opposite of what I’d expected. I’d expected to be sitting at the California Sandwiches in awkward silence, nobody knowing what to say. Instead, I was laughing and conversing with them all as though we’d never lost touch.

Mikey and Ashton were the same. Still goofballs—complete idiots, actually. But I couldn’t deny how much I’d missed them, and they didn’t seem to have let my absence affect them—or maybe it was simply because we’d been reunited.

Calum had begun warming up to me. It had been a week since I’d confronted him, and since then, I’d hung out with these boys exactly five times, all day. At first, it had only been a faint smile, and then had gradually increased to a few words. Now, he could actually speak to me in complete sentences without looking like it pained him to do so.

Of course, it didn’t mean we were best friends again. In fact, sometimes he’d get all distant again, like he was trying to hold onto that one part of him that was angry as fuck with me, not wanting to let it go. I didn’t blame him—if anything, I would happily deal with that part of him, so long as he kept progressing this way.

“Michael,” Ashton snapped me out of my thoughts, “You definitely had the longest fringe of the band.”

I was glad that there was a small recording device that was strapped to the interior of my bra cup, picking up everything that was being said. I knew that the boys weren’t going to spill something particularly juicy so openly and in public, but hey, it didn’t hurt to have a few joking remarks on their part to add into my article.

My article.

God, I loved the sound of that. Just thinking about it made me all giddy and excited—I couldn’t wait until I collected all of the information and processed it into the magazine. That would show Elise what I was really capable of, and Jay and I would have full-time jobs in no time.

We wouldn’t be interns anymore. The thought made my lips curve up into a smile. I couldn’t wait for this, and I couldn’t wait to receive praises on the work we’d accomplished—particularly from Elise Camp, the head editor herself.

“Earth to Ava,” Michael chuckled, reaching across the table to wave his hand in my face annoyingly.

I tried to smack it out of the way, but he retracted before I could. “Jesus, woman. Don’t rip my limb off.”

“Keep annoying me and I will,” I shot back, squeezing my eyes shut and sticking my tongue out at him. From beside me, a low snort was heard, and my head snapped towards the noise, my eyes wide, staring at Luke incredulously. Had he just laughed at something I’d said?

Thankfully, Ash and Calum were too busy oohing lightly and nudging Michael to pay much attention. I stared at Luke for what felt like hours, but it couldn’t’ve been more than a few milliseconds.

He looked—good. Really good. His hair was hidden by a maroon snapback that sat backwards atop his head, and he had the slightest shadow of stubble running along his jaw. It almost made me want to reach out and run my fingertips along the side of his face, completely in awe that my used-to-be-lanky boyfriend had morphed into a 6’4 tall god with actual muscle, that drove half of the female population on the planet mad.

He wore a simple black muscle tank and his signature black skinny jeans, with completely black Converse adorning his feet. There was the smallest bit of orange sauce littering the corner of his mouth, which made me smile lightly. Ever since we’d sat down, he’d been chewing on his lip and leaning forward on the table, even when the food had arrived, swirling his white straw around his drink, looking bored with nothing to do.

I couldn’t help but to notice that he was sitting extremely close to me, he and I being on one side, Calum, Ash and Mikey on the other. They looked like they had all the room in the world though.

I really hope they hadn’t done this on purpose. I mean, it was simply a coincidence that Luke and I just happened to end up sitting beside each other. And I definitely was not enjoying it—I swear.

“What?” Well shit.

Luke was glancing at me expectantly, his eyes questioning and his brow furrowed in confusion. My lips parted lightly when he took his lip ring into his mouth, sucking on his absentmindedly, and I wrung out my hands under the table to calm myself.

“Nothing,” I shook my head, panicking. I glanced at the small bit of sauce on his lip and said, “You just—um,” I tapped the corner of my mouth, and he got the hint.

However, when his tongue poked out past his pink lips, it swiped against the opposite corner of his lips, the one that was pristinely clean.

I shook my head silently, and before I knew what the fuck I was doing, my thumb was being lifted to my own lips. I licked the pad of my finger and brought it up to Luke’s face.

He froze, his eyes wide, staring at my thumb as it drew nearer. I brushed my fingertip against the left corner of his lip, successfully removing the small drop of sauce, but letting it linger for a bit longer than necessary. It felt odd to be touching him, feeling the smoothness of his lip.

When I quickly pulled away, my fingers accidentally brushed against his chin, tickled by the sparse stubble littering his face, and I refrained from shuddering violently.

I brought my hand back to my lap, staring down at my plate, suddenly very fascinated with the remains of my sandwich. From the corner of my eye, I saw Luke staring at me incredulously, and it took everything I had not to stare back.

“Oh,” Luke said dumbly, and I just clenched my fists under the table.

I looked up at the boys sitting across from me, hoping that they would provide some comic relief, but they looked to be just as shocked, their eyes flicking from me to Luke as though they were watching a very interesting tennis match.

“You guys are making this extremely awkward,” I pointed out, laughing a bit to ease the atmosphere. Ashton was the first to snap out of it, seeing my pleading look, and he just nudged Mikey, snickering at him, “Emo.”

“I am not,” Michael let out an exasperated sigh, quickly forgetting about the moment. Calum looked at me confusedly, but after a moment, he simply shrugged, turning back to his mates and continuing to bicker with them.

It was only Luke that continued to stare at me like I’d grown another head. I sighed and looked away, wishing that he would too.

“So Ava,” Mikey began, “How’s the internship?”

Fuck.

“Um—,” I chewed on my lip. If I told them that I was still working at Beeline, would they become suspicious? Calum had only just begun to forgive me; I couldn’t go back to square one. What if I slipped up? What if they managed to catch on? I couldn’t risk any of that—at all.

“I—I’m actually not working there anymore,” I admitted, trying to sound a bit discontent.

I could almost feel four jaws drop at once.

I looked up at the band timidly, trying to put on my best face, “Yeah—things didn’t turn out well; that’s all. The head editor actually hated my guts, so she tried to pick at every little thing to get me fired. It worked.” I shrugged with the last word.

“Bitch,” Mikey breathed, and I couldn’t help but to let out a laugh, “Yeah,” I lied.

“So what’re you doing now?” Calum questioned quietly, looking intensely at me, as though he couldn’t believe me. I hope to God that he did.

“Um—,” I pulled out my phone from my pocket again, shooting them a look, “Sorry, hold on just a sec,” I said, acting as though I’d received a message. In reality, I was sending one.

CALL ME, I texted to Jay, hoping that she’d receive it and immediately understand. Figuring that I couldn’t stall any longer, I tucked my phone into my pocket and looked back up at all four of the boys, trying to avert Luke’s gaze.

“I actually made enough money to get me through the next year,” I came up with on the spot, mentally patting myself on the back for the quick answer, “I guess I’m just—relaxing for a bit, you could say.” I let out a small giggle at the end, hoping that my story was believable enough.

“Well that’s good,” Ash nodded, grinning, “Don’t worry about that head editor chick. She doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

Ashton winked at me, which caused me to smile gratefully. I shot Luke a small glance from the corner of my eye, only to find that he was glaring at Ashton.

If looks could kill…well, Ash would be lying at the bottom of the ocean right now.

Suddenly my cellphone began trembling in my denim pocket. I send out a quick thank-you prayer and pulled it out quickly, standing abruptly, “Sorry, do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Mikey chirped, answering for all of them. He threw his thumb over his shoulder in Ashton and Calum’s direction, “I need to convince this lot that I’m not emo anyways.”

I laughed and spun on my heel, walking away. I looked down at my phone as I navigated through the restaurant, hoping to find the washrooms quickly. Whilst doing so, I answered Jay’s call, holding my phone to my ear. “Hey,” I said breathlessly.

“Hi,” Jay said slowly, as though trying to figure out what exactly was going on, “What’s up?”

“They kept asking me about the internship,” I explained quickly, looking around for the washrooms. Finally my eyes landed on a small sign, and I quickly bustled over to the door, pushing it open. I heard it swing shut behind me, and I checked out all of the stalls, finding each one empty.

“That’s not good,” Jay commented, “What’d you say?”

“What was I supposed to say?” I said exasperatedly. I walked up to the counter, staring at my flushed appearance in the mirror, “I told them it didn’t work out.”

“Good, good,” Jay murmured, almost as though she wasn’t speaking to me. For a moment, the line was silent, and I took this time to observe myself in the mirror.

I wore a pair of light skinny jeans and a maroon All Time Low sweatshirt, my feet adorned by a pair of dark Converse this time, rather than my usual white Vans. My hair had been tossed over my shoulder and fell down my back in waves. I wore the smallest bit of concealer and mascara, and I hoped that I wouldn’t start crying—that would make me look horrible.

“I can’t do this,” I inhaled heavily.

“Ava,” Jay warned, “Stop.”

“I can’t,” I whimpered, putting my elbows against the counter and running my left hand through my dark brown hair, “It just brings back so many memories. And on top of that—,” I gasped at the sudden loss of breath, “I don’t know how long I can keep this act up for.”

“What do you mean?” Jay asked.

I mean I don’t want to do this anymore. I miss them all too much.

“I mean,” I said instead, “What if they find out? I don’t want that looming over me.”

“Ava,” Jay began softly, “Breathe with me, okay? Just breathe.” For the next few moments, she and I inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm me down. My hands shook, and I gripped my phone tightly to stop the spasms, but it wouldn’t work.

“You’ll be fine,” Jay assured me, “Okay?”

“Okay,” I breathed, and then I realised that I had to go back, “Shit, they’re probably waiting.”

“Don’t keep them waiting,” Jay chuckled, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to console myself with the thoughts of success, the thoughts of a beautifully structured article—this nightmare would be over.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I replied, still slightly out of breath.

Jay bid me goodbye and we both hung up simultaneously. I took a few moments to run my fingers through my hair and adjust my sweatshirt, hoping that I didn’t look like I’d been one cruel thought away from a full-blown panic attack. My eyes were wide, alert, like a deer caught in headlights, but I just shook my head, trying to clear my mind.

“Just open the door,” I grumbled lowly to myself, walking over to the exit of the bathroom. I grabbed the handle and pulled it open, expecting myself to go back out there and act as though everything was okay, as though I was a sincere person, as though there were no ulterior motives.

Instead, I came face-to-face with Luke Hemmings.

Notes

Another update! Hope you enjoyed it!

Guys, I didn't get any comments or votes on the last chapter :( do you not like this story anymore? Can we please get a few more comments and votes? Please?

Also: go read the story 'Coming Home', by Chesseburgerhell. It's a Harry story and it's extremely good! However, there's been this one person harassing her, and I'm extremely against that; it's bullying. Which she doesn't deserve, because she's literally the sweetest thing ever, and her story is amazing.

~Anywho, love y'all~