Heartbreak Girl

Chapter Amnesia

The party starts at seven. I act like I've forgotten about Luke - talking to Libby, laughing with Dawn and joking around with Amethyst - but he's actually on my mind the whole time. When will the Hemmings turn up? Will he notice me? Will he want to be friends with me again? But then I start wondering...will he come at all?

Ashton, Michael and Calum show up at around half eight. Ashton sneaks up behind me and hugs me. I squeal and hug him back. Calum and Michael are trying to impress Libby, Amethyst and Dawn, but they're finding them annoying. Well, I find them annoying too, but I love them anyway.

About half an hour later, I see Lydia at the other side of the room. If Lydia's here, then Luke might be. She'll probably know where he is, at least.
I push past the people, muttering apologies, until I reach Lydia. "Lydia!" I call out, and she turns around. "Oh, Lauren, hi!" she grins. "When did you get here?" I ask. I have to be polite to my best friend before I ask her about her brother. "Just a few minutes ago," she replies. "Are the rest of your family here?" "All except Ella," she answers, and suddenly my heart begins to race. "Where are they?" "Mom and dad went to go to talk to your parents," she tells me. "Lina should be somewhere around here, and I think Luke went into your kitchen."
He's in the kitchen. "I, um, have to go to the bathroom," I lie. "See you soon!" Lydia smiles.

I make my way to the kitchen. On the way, I see my cousin Kristine.
Kristine is probably my favourite cousin, if I had to choose. She's 13, four years younger than me, but she doesn't act it. If anything, she acts older than me. And she's so lovely. You can talk to her about anything at all.
"Kristine!" I shout. She looks around, and then notices me. "Lauren! I was looking for you!"
I push past a few people and stand next to her. "I didn't know you were coming," I exclaim excitedly. Kristine and her family live about an hour and a half away. "We came down this morning," she tells me. "How long are you staying for?" "About a week, I think," she says. "It's great that the summer holidays have started!"
I nod, agreeing with her. "Well, I should go," I say. "I'll see you later!" "Bye!" she smiles.

I walk out the door and into the kitchen. Just as Lydia said, Luke is there. He's glancing around the room, and doesn't see me. "Luke," I say softly. He looks over in my direction, then looks away. I sigh, and walk over to him.

"Luke, please listen to me. We've been best friends for fourteen years. FOURTEEN years, Luke. You've known me longer than you've known some of your family. It's like we are family, Luke. You can't just abandon me, like all those years meant nothing to you. Well, maybe they did mean nothing to you. But they meant so much to me. It would hurt me less if you just hit me right now, and maybe you're thinking about it. But I don't care if you do, because I love you, Luke, and I always will."

He finally looks up. "You love me?" he asks, bewildered. "Of course," I smile. "You're the best friend I could ever have."
He bites his lip. "Oh," he whispers. "Well, Lauren, I'm sorry, but I can't bear to see you with Ashton when I know that there's someone so much better for you."
I laugh. "I'd love to meet him," I say.
"You already have," Luke says quietly. "You've known him for fourteen years."
Fourteen years. The puzzle pieces slide into place in my mind. It's Luke. He's talking about himself.

"I love you, Lauren," he admits. "I've had a crush on you since the first day we met, and when we kissed at that party when we were thirteen, I realised that I'm in love with you. And you obviously don't feel the same way, but at least now you know."

I stare up at Luke. How could I be so stupid? Of course. All those times I caught him staring at me, all those times he blushed when I said how grateful I was to have him...it all makes sense now.
And the biggest thing I realise is that Luke is right. There's no one better for me than Luke Hemmings. I realise that I love him too. I don't know if I always have or if it's just now, but those details don't matter.
"I love you too, Luke," I say, almost inaudibly, but Luke must hear because he grins. That adorable smile. "You have no idea how many times I've wished you would say that," he tells me.
And then he's kissing me, for the second time. And like the first time, I feel like we're the only two people in the world. I know that the party is still going on in the next room, and that someone could walk in on us at any moment, but I don't care. I don't care, because Luke Robert Hemmings is the only person that matters to me. I can't understand how I didn't see it before.

A/N: So there it is!! :D I really hope you like reading this chapter, because I absolutely loved writing it! :D
There will be some drama in the next chapter, as you can imagine! ;) So please continue reading, it means so much to me!
And if you don't mind, could you PLEASE tell me what you thought of this chapter in the comments? It's okay if you don't want to!

Thank you SO SO SO SO much for reading, and sticking with the story for this long, I love you all!!

P.S. I hid part of a line from a 5SOS song in this chapter. Please tell me if you find it, and what it is! ;)