~Luke~

“Holy shit,” Calum marvelled as we got within two miles of the hotel.

Girls were lined up, and from our tinted windows, I could see them begin to turn as our black SUV began cruising along the streets. Many of them were wearing our merchandise and carrying signs, all of them screaming.

“I’m actually scared,” Ashton chuckled, his eyes widening as he leaned forward, trying to see out the window past Calum’s head. Beside me, Michael had earphones in, blasting Green Day—I could hear it from here. I tapped him and he looked at me, his eyebrows raised innocently. I then moved out of the way, letting him see.

“I’m never going to get used to that,” he said in awe, pulling his headphones out of his ears, “Remember how in high school, we never had girls falling at our feet?”

Calum laughed, “I remember you asked Monika out and she said no. Best day ever, mate.”

Michael rolled his eyes, “Yeah well I bet she’s regretting it now, isn’t she?”

While Calum and Michael bantered over who’d gotten rejected the most in high school, with Ashton joining in every once in a while to laugh, I put my chin in my palm, staring out the window silently, watching the long line of girls and trying to pick out a familiar face.

Without meaning to, I was suddenly tumbling into a memory.

My eyes fluttered; my nose scrunching slightly as I breathed in the chilly morning air. In the distance, I heard birds chirping sweetly in the trees, and I suddenly felt very cold, feeling the wind on my bare body. The air smelled like freshness and pine, tickling my nostrils, and I lazily opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was the grass, damp with the morning dew, and dozens of green trees. Propping myself up onto my elbows, I noticed that I was completely naked and I immediately realised that was why I was so cold.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, hearing the soft trickle of streaming water. Finally alert, I found the creek in front of me, the bank about ten feet from where I was.

And then I noticed Ava. She was sitting at the edge of the creek, her back to me, her wavy hair falling in ringlets down her back.

With a jolt, I remembered what happened last night, how soft her lips felt, how beautiful her entire body was, how it felt to be intertwined with her in the closest ways possible—a small smile curved my lips.

I felt around for anything I could possibly put on, but my boxers were nowhere to be seen. With a soft, barely audible groan, I slipped on my sweatpants instead. I stood silently and padded over to the girl I loved, the damp grass wetting my bare feet.

Ava was wearing my red and black flannel, I noticed.Only two buttons were done up, letting me see the crevice of her breasts. She was also sporting my gray boxers. She was sitting, leaning back on her palms, her legs crossed, staring off to the other side of the small stream. I noticed a few tears littering her face, and my heart hurt.

With another jolt—this one coming with a sense of dread—I remembered that her flight left today at two in the afternoon.

“Aves?” I rasped, and she gasped quietly, her face snapping up to look at me. I slowly lowered myself down onto the bank of the river, crossing my legs as well, mimicking her position, “Hey.”

“Hi,” she mumbled, trying subtly to wipe her face, even though I’d already seen that she was crying. I wound my right around her waist and tried to pull her closer.

She understood, and within a moment, she was seated on my lap, her thighs on both sides of my hips. Her eyes were puffy, along with her cheeks, but I thought she looked like the most beautiful girl in the world.

I grabbed her hands in mine and leaned up towards her face, letting our intertwined fingers drop limply to the spaces beside us. I kissed away the few new tears that had leaked from her eyes, licking my lips afterwards.

“I don’t want to go,” she whispered brokenly. I closed my eyes, afraid that I would start crying too, “I know, baby.”

“I love you, Luke,” she sobbed, her own eyes squeezing shut, “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Aves,” I told her quietly, my eyes opening again.

She mimicked me and we stared at each other for a long moment. I unwound my right hand and let it come up to caress her cheek, running my fingers along her jawline before letting them slip lower.

They brushed along the column of her neck, tracing her collarbones. She and I both allowed them to travel farther south, dancing along her upper chest and down between the valleys of her breasts, trailing down her flat stomach. They then veered off to the side, and I let go of her other hand, using it to grab her hips and bring her closer to me. I buried my face into her neck, breathing heavily and wanting to brand her lavender scent into my brain.

“I love you, Ava,” I told her quietly, and she shivered as my warm breath hit her throat. Her fingers threaded through my hair as she whimpered from above me. I cleared my throat, pulling back, and looked up at her, suddenly feeling very awkward.

“Was—um, was last night…okay?” I didn’t look at her face, rather the spot beside it.

She let out a low, dejected laugh, still sounding sad, but her eyes were amused, twinkling at me, “It was amazing, Luke.”

“That’s good,” I breathed, letting out a sigh of relief that I didn’t realise I’d been holding in.

Ava giggled again lightly, crying and laughing at the same time. I smiled up amorously at her, and she brought her hands up, her thumbs stroking my jawline before slipping down my neck and running to my shoulders, “I want to memorize you. Just—just so I can remember.”

“I’m right here,” I told her, cupping her chin and leading her down for a soft kiss, “You’re not gone yet.”

“They why do I already miss you?” she whispered, her voice shaky. She heaved in a deep breath, and my heart shattered upon seeing her look so upset.

“Please don’t cry, baby,” I said softly, “Because then I’m going to cry. And you know how horrible I look when I cry.” My plan worked, because she let out another soft laugh.

“You look beautiful when you cry, Luke,” she told me, pressing her forehead to mine, “You’re always beautiful.”

“Aves stop,” I warned her, feeling my eyes begin to burn. I blinked rapidly, trying to hold in the tears, but one slipped out of my left eye. My hand came up quickly to wipe it away, but Ava beat me to it. She leaned in, kissing away my single tear the way I’d done with her numerous ones.

“Can we just sit here?” she asked me quietly. I nodded, “I’d love that.”

She sighed, “I love you, Blondie. Always.”

“Earth to Luke!” Ashton screamed. I jumped in my seat, turning to him and shooting him a small frown. He just giggled while Calum and Mikey cussed at him for ‘blowing out their eardrums’.

“We’re here, just so you know,” Calum notified me in a much calmer manner. I nodded, thanking him and shooting another glare at Ashton, who simply flashed me the thumbs-up sign before reaching for the door handle.

The noise that hit us was deafening. We stepped out of the car, only to be met with screams from fans, shouts from reporters, and multiple flashes from cameras. I was still new to this, and I blinked, momentarily blinded.

I signed autographs, took selfies with fans, smiling and sticking my tongue out or flashing the peace sign. For a moment, Ava was finally forgotten—one moment of calamity in my life, even though I was surrounded by people who would eat me if they got the chance.

We were almost at the entrance to the hotel, and I was standing off to the left, signing an autograph for a girl who looked to be eleven years old.

“Here you g—,” I smiled and was about to finish my sentence, when I heard it.

“Blondie!”

I stiffened quite noticeably—and I knew that because the little girl looked up at me with wide, brown doe eyes, asking me softly, “Are you okay?”

Her eyes…they were the exact same shade of brown as Ava’s.

“I-I’m fine,” I stuttered quickly before handing the girl her notepad back. She thanked me, forgetting about my sudden freeze-up. Once she turned away, I whipped around, my eyes searching frantically for the source of that voice.

And then I saw her.

She was standing in the midst of photographers and reporters—they all jumped into action when they saw me looking their way, beginning to scream things at me, but my eyes were only for one person.

Her dark brown hair was tied up into a high ponytail, a few strands falling out and hanging down her face, tickling her cheeks lightly. She wore a silky navy-blue blouse, the cuffs rolled up, sparkling slightly in the bright lights. Her white jeans contrasted drastically with my black ones, and she wore a silver bracelet around her wrist. Her wide eyes looked at me, as if trying to decide if it was really me or if I was just a figment of her imagination.

I felt the exact same way.

I could only stand there, frozen as we both perceived each other. My lips were parted, my blue eyes wide as I scanned everything about her, wanting to take in as much as I could.

She looked to be doing the same thing.

For a moment, everything just disappeared. There were no more flashes, no more screaming, everything dulling in my head in comparison to the girl standing in front of me. I could almost smell her lavender scent, the nervousness radiating off of her. I could feel her lips pressed against mine, my hands tingling with the urge to grab her hips, feeling the curve I so desperately missed.

“Luke!” Michael was suddenly next to me, yelling in my ear. I drowned him out too, or at least, tried to before he began shaking my shoulder.

I forced myself to tear my gaze away from her and looked over at him slowly. He was yelling more things at me over the screams of our fans—I caught the words ‘done’, ‘go’ and ‘inside’.

I barely had enough time to shake my head, no less tell him about what I’d just seen. In a moment, I was being pulled away, someone wrapping their arm around my shoulders and ushering me towards the entrance of the Plaza.

“No,” I mumbled confusedly as my feet began to move. There was so much yelling, so many bright flashes—I was about to collapse.

“No, Michael—,” I began, a bit louder this time. He looked at me expectantly as we continued to walk. I tried to halt, but my mind simply wasn't working.

“It’s alright bro!” Michael yelled at me, “We’re going in now!”

My brain was still in shock, I was still trying to process things. So many memories came flooding back to me, hitting me with a force that constricted my chest and made it hard to breathe.

“Hi,” the dark-haired girl marched up to me, her hand sticking out, “I’m Ava.”

With each passing second, my brain was numbing, pulling me away from it all. Everything disappeared yet again as I submerged myself in a world of memories, a world where Ava was still with me, where I was still sneaking into her room to hold her at night.

“You’re cute, Blondie. I like that,” she told me before planting her lips on mine.

And then things were slowing down, bringing me back to a time where there was no famous band, there was no magazine internship, there was nothing trying to separate us, to pull us apart, there was no fighting to maintain contact.

“I miss you Luke,” she whimpered.

My head was confused, flashing back to times I wanted to stay with her, times I was mad at her.

“Goddamn Aves!” I shouted, “Why are you so stubborn?”

And then I realised that I was still walking. My feet were still moving, hitting against the paved walkway of the hotel. The door was looming closer and closer to me, Michael, Ashton and Calum all talking and joking about. My eyes were wide, my mind frozen in time, slowing defrosting and remembering that she was here, she was really here.

“No!” I yelled, tearing away from Michael and turning around wildly, my eyes searching for her.

But Ava was gone.

Notes

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