"You were funnier than most people knew you were

But I knew you well

We skipped a class or two to write a couple songs

They were always pretty good

You made me who I am

You had my back and I had yours"

✰

Luke stumbles out of the hotel, his body still weak from the sickness he'd been fighting off for the entire day. He knew the worst of the sickness had passed and all that was left to do was recover, but that didn't make the ache in his muscles any better.

His panic had increased astronomically after the boys informed him that they didn't know exactly where Arlo had set out to earlier in the night, but they did know that she said it was "a convenience store around the corner

Luke didn't even know where to begin looking, but he had the maps app open on his phone and the area showed about twenty convenience stores. His eyes find the closest one and he sets off down the street, his pace much too fast for the amount of energy he had. Luke was hoping he'd gotten lucky and chosen the right store, but even if he didn't he'd have no problem in looking for her in every single convenience store in the entire fucking city.

The night air bites at the bare skin of his arms, making him regret his decision to walk out of the room in just his t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. He looks up from his phone, his eyes intent on finding a street sign only to find Arlo in front of him.

Luke pauses in his tracks, wondering if he's hallucinating as the girl walk right past him. She's so in her own world that his girl completely misses his figure in the middle of the sidewalk literally mere feet away from her.

Quickly, Luke turns on his heel and jogs to catch up to her retreating figure. He catches her elbow, spinning her to face him as a gasp falls from Arlo's lips as a result. "Are you out of your fucking mind, Arlo?" Luke asks breathlessly, his tone low.

"Luke? Where did you-" Arlo furrows her brows, incredibly confused as to where he had appeared from and why he looked so frantic.

"You're so in your own fucking head that you walked right past me." Luke's hands grip her arms and he holds her at arm's length, scanning over her body for any injuries. "Do you know how dangerous that is in a city like this? Fuckin' hell, Arlo."

Despite the harshness of his tone, a relieved breath leaves Luke's lips as he finds her free of injury. After hearing that she'd set out in the city in the middle of the night by herself, Luke half expected the next time he saw her to be far less rewarding.

In the short elevator ride down to the lobby, a plethora of scenarios were running through Luke's head, making his chest tight. Arlo with tears streaking her cheeks and her phone and wallet stolen, Arlo being harassed by some strung-out druggie, Arlo being shoved into the back of a car, Arlo being pushed onto the subway tracks by some crazy person- none of those were unrealistic, unfortunately.

"I was just going for a walk." Arlo frowns, her own heart dropping at the pure panic on Luke's face. "You should be in bed, Luke." She points out, her hand reaching up to feel his forehead for any signs of a fever

Luke catches her hand before it can make contact with his forehead. "Do you actually fucking think I'd be capable of laying in bed when you're out here alone? This place isn't like back home, Arlo." He scoffs out lowly, resisting the urge to tug on his hair in stress.

The boy was feeling so many different emotions- fear that she wouldn't be alright, relief that she was, anxiety at how much she made him feel, exhaustion from being sick- most of all though, Luke felt disbelief. He was in utter disbelief at how the girl in front of him could build him up so goddamn high, but also send him so low.

This feeling was dangerous and Luke knew he was beginning to brush the bottom of the deep end. Arlo was a tropical storm of catastrophic sorts, sending waves of compassion and lust and fear and everything in between. Luke was merely a drifter thankful to be helplessly caught up in her storm. He didn't plan on looking for the shore either.

"I'm fine." Arlo reassures him with a frown. She wasn't used to people worrying about her- hell, she'd been staying home alone for weeks at a time since the time she was fourteen. "It was just for a little while, I needed to clear my head."

"That's not the fucking point, Arlo!" Luke raises his voice, his tone dripping with desperation and stress. "The point is you don't know this city, nobody knew where you were! Anything could have happened and you didn't even think to fucking wake me up before you left!"

Luke's emotions were flooding his system, overwhelming him in a way he didn't know how to deal with. He couldn't fuck these feelings away and move on, these feelings were beyond superficial and they demanded to be faced.

"I'm sorry-" Arlo begins, only to be swiftly cut off as Luke takes her hand and begins tugging her down the street. With her heart pounding in her chest, Arlo complies as Luke drags them into a small alleyway.

Her back connects with the brick wall, a rush of air leaving her as Luke's chest presses against her front, caging her against the wall. One of his hands brace against the wall, skinning his palm and causing a stinging sensation but he pays it no mind. His other hand cups her jaw, bringing her lips to his own.

Arlo pushes herself up onto her tiptoes, kissing him back as eagerly as she can with how breathless he'd already made her. Her small hands cling to his t-shirt for dear life, her lips willingly parting for him as he bites down on her bottom lip, demanding entrance.

"You drive me fuckin' insane, Arlo." Luke mutters against her lips, his free hand gripping her waist tightly.

Breathless, Arlo pulls back just enough to look up at him. Luke is looking down at her with so much passion in his blue eyes that she can't quite catch her breath. "Feelings' mutual." Her quiet voice says.

Luke allows a groan to leave his lips, his hand on her waist tugging her impossibly closer and contrasting intoxicatingly with the way his hips harshly press her body against the brick wall. Just as Luke prepares to lead her upstairs and out of the cool night air, he feels her lips again.

On his neck.

Arlo really didn't know what she was doing if he was being honest. All she knew was Luke was stressed and he still looked pale from being sick and part of it was her fault- especially the worry on his pretty face. She wanted to make him feel better, but she didn't know how.

Until she recalled how good it felt to have his own lips on her neck. It was arguably her favorite thing he did.

So, without much other plan other than to relive the crease in his brow, Arlo hesitantly places her lips on the skin of Luke's neck. He sucks in a breath, his body tensing as soon as he feels the contact. Arlo starts by placing gentle kisses on his skin, reveling in the way his breath quickens the lower she goes.

"Fuck, Lo." Luke groans, his head tilting to the side to give her more access. His girl was a natural, and he was sure that it'd be the death of him.

Every noise of appreciation that leaves Luke's lips encourages her. Something about the way a whine would leave his lips when she found a particular spot on his pulse point made her legs utterly weak.

It's when she begins suctioning her lips on the skin, drawing blood to the surface and creating a dark mark does Luke have to flex his hand braced against the wall in order to ground himself. Luke had never allowed girls to give him hickeys before, hell he'd probably never even had one, but the mere thought of Arlo claiming him in such a way nearly makes him finish in his jeans all over again.

Arlo shyly pulls back as a strained groan leaves Luke's lips. Though, as soon as the contact is gone, Luke is craving more. He tugs her impossible closer, eyes heavy lidded with lust. "Go ahead, baby. Make me yours." He encourages lowly.

The girl's eyes widen, her breath getting caught in her throat, but she doesn't dare disobey. Instead of worrying about her conversation with Molly and the inevitable feelings she'd have to face soon enough, she chooses to revel in how for once she was the one making Luke utterly weak for her.

✰

Luke's eyes are fluttered shut, long lashes resting against the flushed skin of his cheeks. His chest is heaving due to how long he's been working to perfect the build, his t-shirt beginning to stick to his skin due to the small space he's in.

The muscles of his neck strain, a vein making itself known on his forehead as he finally hits the note he'd been working toward. As the backing track plays in his earpiece he brings a single hand to hold the bulky studio headphones to his ear.

He nods his head along to the beat, a slight furrow in his brow as he runs his tongue across his lips, his throat aching for water. The blonde had been recording for hours now but he wouldn't leave the booth until he got it right.

As the song builds Luke's voice belts strongly into the mic, his head tilting back at the peak of the note, his eyes squeezing shut as he finally hits the note. He's almost lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, but he'd perfected it and that was all he cared about.

Ashton Irwin throws a gummy bear at Arlo's head, hitting the girl right smack in the forehead. The candy bounces off of her forehead and onto Michael's open notebook where the boy sits writing. The red-haired boy thinks nothing of the intrusion, simply popping the gummy bear into his mouth and continuing on writing his lyrics.

Arlo rubs her forehead, a frown on her lips. "What was that for, Ash?"

"You're supposed to be writing- not eye fucking your boyfriend." Ashton points out with a smirk. "We just got him to look away from you, now you're making it difficult on us." He says, referring to the way they'd had to turn the mic to face the wall of the studio instead of the couch where Arlo sat.

"I was not." Arlo gasps in offense, her cheeks flushing as she averts her eyes to the paper in front of her- the same paper that was vacant of any lyrics.

"I wish someone looked at me like that when I was doing something as simple as recording vocals." Calum grumbles, though he wasn't really as moody as he seemed toward the situation. He actually loved that Luke and Arlo were together, for his best friend had never been happier, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give them hell.

As Luke steps out of the booth, a water bottle pressed to his lips, Michael stands from the couch and claps his hands together. "Alright, an executive decision has been made." The red-haired boy catches the way Luke's eyes are already zeroed in on Arlo and he catches the hem of his shirt, pulling him back before he could reach here. "We're splitting you two up so we can get shit done."

"No fuckin' way." Luke scoffs, twisting out of Michael's grip before collapsing onto the couch beside his girl. He's still slightly out of breath but he leans in to kiss her cheek, having missed her for the short time he was in the booth.

"It might be a good idea, Lu." Arlo says with a wince, watching as Luke's eyes immediately flash with betrayal, and a pout forms on his lips.

"C'mon, Lo." Luke whines. "You know we write the best together.

Unbeknownst to his bandmates, the smirk on the blonde's face is due to the fact that he was referencing a certain moment shared between them on the beanbag in the bookstore. That was a very productive writing session in Luke's opinion. He got tons of inspiration.

Ashton rolls his eyes. "You're distracting."

"Very." Calum quips in agreement.

Arlo nods, a slight smile on her face at Luke's pouty behavior. Before, the Luke she knew would never show any of his emotions, especially not around other people. She was glad he felt comfortable enough around not only her, but the boys in the room to do that. "You are distracting."

Luke opens his mouth to argue, but before the words can leave his lips Michael reaches out and tugs Arlo up from the couch. He shoves a notebook and a pen into the girl's hand and points firmly towards the door. "Calum, Luke, you stay here. Ash, Arlo, and I will be next door writing."

"Yeah, yeah. Fuck off." Luke rolls his eyes, though the small grin on Arlo's face as Ashton scrambles to hold all of his snacks in his hands is enough for him to overlook his own moodiness. "Our songs going to be a hell of a lot better than yours by the way."

"Will not." Arlo sticks her tongue out playfully before Ashton urges the girl out of the door of the small studio.

"She's right." Michael shrugs, flipping off the tan boy and his blonde best friend as they sit on the couch. "Suck it, we're going to write the best song of all time."

"I'll believe it when I hear it, Cliffo." Calum challenges, holding his notebook in the air. "I got high on the balcony last night and wrote a fucking novel of lyrics."

Sending one last challenging glance, Michael narrows his eyes. "We'll see about that."

An hour had passed and Michael was beginning to wonder if he'd been too cocky before. He knew for a fact that Calum got poetic and emotional when he was high and Michael knew he was no match for a high-Calum's songwriting genius. Especially with Luke, who literally wrote fucking poetry, there to help him.

Arlo is positioned upside down on the small armchair of the studio, her dark hair skimming the carpeted floor as she holds her hand up in front of her eyes, watching the overhead lights move between the slots of her fingers.

They were so adamant about writing a love song and Arlo just couldn't do it. She wanted nothing more than to fly away from the small studio filled with talks of unconditional love and tragic feelings. As she listens to Michael and Ashton bounce ideas off of each other she thinks of all the places she would go if she could fly away.

California, she thinks. I've never been to California. Palm trees and a healthy sunburn sounded wonderful right now. Or London, London is cool. Her parents had taken her on one of their work trips to London when she was younger and they couldn't find a sitter.

Hell, Arlo wouldn't put it past herself to go to the edge of the world as long as she didn't have to hear Michael murmuring something about a Jet Black Heart for another hour.

"Arlo?" Michael questions, catching the girl's attention. He assumed she was sitting upside down and thinking the entire time- after all, she did have a furrow in her brow and her lips were pursed in thought.

"Hm?" She hums, her vision of Michael slightly blurry as the blood rushes to her head.

"If you could do anything for love, I'm talking something otherworldly and extravagant- what would it be?" Michael asks, his notebook in front of him scribbled with failed lyrics.

Arlo thinks his question over for a moment. The truth was, Arlo would do anything for Luke, but that didn't mean it was love. She'd do anything for Michael, Ashton, and Calum too. That was simple to her, she didn't know why society liked to complicate things.

"You know that night we snuck into the gig?" Arlo asks, waiting for both boys to nod intently before she continues. "I would pause time at that moment- the exact moment we were running down the street with adrenaline pumping through our veins. I'd pause time and relive it over and over."

More intrigued by her thought process than the song, Ashton's brows furrow. "Isn't pausing time nightmarish? Reliving the same thing over and over never having anything more."

"You'd never have anything less, either." Michael points out, a plethora of lyrics running through his head. He scribbles down a few, pushing his vibrant hair out of his eyes with one hand and gripping his pen with the other.

I won't waste another day,

Wishing this would fade away.

Running, we're not looking back

"No, you're right." Arlo murmurs. "Instead of trapping myself in time, I would fly away to the edge of the world. I'd take my heart with me and go someplace I could protect it because all our world does is destroy love." The girl rambles, completely unaware of the boys with their mouths agape in awe.

At the top of his page, Michael scribbles down two words.

Fly Away.