"Boy, love isn't easy it's heartache

Boy, see everyone leaves and your heart breaks

I'm so done with love

'Cause like tears in the , it means nothing

Don't fall in love

'Cause love means nothing"

✰

Luke Hemmings is higher than he's been in a long fucking time.

It started with a lot of anxiety as he was getting dressed for the award show and it ended with all four boys in the bathroom of the venue taking something to ease the edge off. He didn't think a single one of them remembered their first red carpet, but he did know they laughed about Calum tripping over his shoelaces for about half of the award show.

The award show wasn't anything big, but it was their first time being nominated. Even as high as he was, Luke knows he'll remember the feeling of the band's name getting called for the rest of his life. Once their name was called as the winner of the Best New Artist category, the boys all jumped up and hugged each other before making a shitty speech on stage that they definitely did not practice.

Luke only wished Arlo would have been there to see it.

Hell, he'd been thinking about her for the entire trip. This night seemed especially hard though considering their time zones had become such a conflict and she was asleep while he was awake or vice versa.

As he waited for his turn to walk the carpet he watched couples pose together and found himself wishing that he could do the same. Luke spent a good ten minutes daydreaming about the kind of dress she would wear or how she would look tucked under his arm. He'd never seen her really dressed up before.

Even now as he sits in a booth at some nightclub celebrating their win, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. Luke always thought about her, but fuck, his inebriated state was really increasing those thoughts.

"Ash." Luke nudges the boy next to him with his elbow.

Ashton nearly spills the drink he'd just brought up to his lips, causing him to send a bewildered look in Luke's direction. "What?" He was the most sober out of the entire band and Luke was the highest, so he was in charge of babysitting.

"You went to prom with Arlo, right?" Luke asks, his speech slightly slurred. His pupils are blown out in the dim lighting of the club, virtually none of the blue color of his iris visible.

Ashton furrows his brows. "Yeah, why?"

The older of the two boys begins recalling the memory of taking his best friend to prom. It felt like so much longer ago than it actually was- a year and a half at most. Ashton remembers feeling guilty that Arlo's school didn't really have prom considering it was an all-girls school and he felt like she should get to experience it too. Granted, Ashton also didn't have anyone else to take, so he was killing two birds with one stone.

"What'd she wear?" Luke asks, a wave of jealousy running through his veins. Deep down he knew it was ridiculous, but he was also incredibly high and really wanted to know what his girl looked like all dressed up. It didn't help that Ashton knew and he didn't

Ashton looks at Luke skeptically, the randomness of his question catching the hazel-eyed boy off guard. Nonetheless, he reaches for the memory, squinting his eyes as he tries to remember exactly what she'd worn. He hadn't thought about that night much considering there was also an awkward kiss between them that he did his best to forget about.

"A dress..." Ashton trails.

"No shit." Luke deadpans.

Ashton gasps in offense. "I'm trying!" He grumbles, taking a swig of his drink. The alcohol had stopped burning his throat an hour ago, which meant he was definitely going to feel like shit when he woke up. "Her dress was red I think. Long and strapless with a slit in the thigh."

"She does look good in red." Luke pouts his lips, his high no longer feeling so good. Drugs made him overly emotional, especially when mixed with copious amounts of alcohol and the fact that his girl is on the other side of the world.

"Her hair was down, but it was a lot longer then." Ashton becomes nostalgic suddenly as he recalls how much his best friend had grown. They truly grew up together and soon she'd be touring the world with him. "I'm talking to her waist long." Ashton smiles sadly. "She used to complain about how long it took her to braid."

"This doesn't feel good." Luke lays his head on the sticky club table, not at all caring about the gross sensation. "I need to call her."

"Sorry, man." Ashton pats Luke on the back sympathetically. He still had no fucking idea where Luke pulled that conversation out of, but he was happy to help he supposed. "I'm gonna go tell the bartender to cut Cal and Mikey off. You wanna head out soon?"

"Yeah." Luke mumbles, raising his head from the table. He's suddenly reminded of the fact that they leave to go back home in the morning and all he wants to do is go back to the hotel and sleep so he can pass the time faster.

With a groan, Luke pulls himself out of the booth. They were in a VIP area upstairs and quite frankly it made him uncomfortable. He didn't feel like he was famous, no matter the fact that there were thousands of people waiting for them outside their interview earlier in the day and he had quite literally just walked the red carpet and won an award.

Luke stumbles towards the VIP bathroom, his eyes widening as he opens the door to find some other artists who attended the award show. They're doing coke off of the bathroom counter and several girls are in the bathroom as well, kissing them and hanging off of their arms as they share the drug.

Luke clears his throat, quickly looking away from the scene as he closes the bathroom door. As he retreats down the staircase to find the normal bathroom he drags a hand down his face. When the fuck did this become his life? He felt like an imposter, walking through a crowded nightclub with an expensive drug running through his system and an outfit that was custom-made for him.

Instead of going to the bathroom as he planned, Luke makes a beeline toward the bar. He didn't want to indulge in any more drugs for the night, but he did need something to keep him from coming down fully. He orders two shots of tequila, waiting patiently for them to be poured.

Luke barely registers the hand on his bare arm, long acrylic nails dragging teasingly down his skin.

In a haze, he turns his head to find a pair of girls. They're both tall, one with faded pink curls and the other with straight jet black hair. He immediately notices their minimal attire and the lack of drinks in their hands.

"Are you the guy from that band?" The one with pink hair asks, her voice ringing annoyingly through his head.

"Yup." Luke pops his lips, holding back as much annoyance as he can just in case they were looking for something to run to the media with.

"We were at your show in LA." The one with dark hair leans against the bar top, her tits spilling carelessly out of the top. Luke glances down at the desperate display and then back to her face with a bored look. Was she being serious?

Luke had been through enough media training to know that these girls were so-called "fans" and he had to be careful what he said before he ended up trending on some social media site for being rude. He had to play a part- to be the brooding, sex god of a lead singer that the label wanted him to be.

Luke toys with his lip ring, glancing between the two girls. "What's your favorite song?" He asks, doing his best to not sound bored.

He wondered what Arlo was doing. If he had to guess he'd say reading but he hoped she hadn't cooped herself up in her room. Maybe she'd go back to that ice cream shop that he took her to a few months ago, she really seemed to like it. He makes a mental note to take her back there himself once they got back in town.

The pink-haired girl shares a look with her friend and they seem to communicate something with their eyes. "She's Kinda Hot." The girl says after a while, her tongue running along her bottom lip.

Luke hums, tapping his fingers on the bar top. It catches one of the girl's attention and she smirks, brushing her dark hair over her shoulder. "I like the nail polish." She says, referring to the black color on Luke's nails. The stylist had suggested it but he didn't like how it looked when it was perfect so he ended up chipping it himself in the car on the way to the award show.

The other one seems to catch on to what her friend was initiating. "Is what they say about guitarist's fingers true?"

Luke shrugs simply, incredibly bored with the conversation. "I don't fuckin' know. Why don't you ask my girl?" His voice is harsh and as soon as the words leave his lips he has to bite back a wince. He didn't regret the words, not in the slightest. But, he couldn't afford to mess with management again.

The bartender passes Luke the shots and the blond pulls out his wallet, sending a side-eye to the girls. He assumed they were just looking for someone to buy them a drink, unwilling to get it themselves. Hopefully, if they got what they wanted they'd leave him alone.

"You two want a drink?" Luke asks, replacing his scowl with a charming smirk. It feels gross on his face and he decides to take the shots quickly in order to get his mind off of the feeling.

After Luke's slammed both of the shots the girls tell him they both want a drink and he obliges. Once he's paid and they have their drinks they want a photo. So, he gives them one. Although once the one with darker hair begins trailing her nails up his arm again, he gets the hell out of there, telling them he was going to use the bathroom.

After a nearly one-hour-long detour, Luke finally makes his way into the bathroom. The tequila shots had definitely hit his system and the blond is having trouble walking in a straight line and not tripping over his own feet. He didn't know where the rest of the boys were either, but he did know that he wanted to go back to the hotel.

Luke mumbles to himself, his drunk mind deciding that if he tells himself what to do out loud, then he won't forget it. He leans against the bathroom counter, thankful that no one else was in the small bathroom.

Or so he thought.

A groan leaves his lips as a rhythmic thumping sound echoes through the bathroom, prompting the boy to look across the room at the stalls where two sets of shoes stand in the far one. As one of the heeled feet disappears from his line of sight and a particularly loud noise of pleasure echoes through the room he curses under his breath and gives up altogether.

As a wave of frustration runs through the blonde's system, he runs his hand harshly down his face. In doing so, he feels a sharp tug at his lip and the next he knows a familiar black hoop falls to the floor.

"Fuck." Luke mutters, looking down at the sight of the piercing on the dirty bathroom floor. "Guess I'm not getting that back." He slurs his words, stumbling towards the door of the bathroom to escape the increasingly loud sounds in the stall behind him.

As soon as the door swings open Luke is met with Ashton Irwin and Michael Clifford. At the sight of the blond rockstar, the two other boys exhale in relief, sharing a knowing look. "Where the fuck have you been?" Michael groans. "We've been walking in circles for like an hour."

Luke shrugs. "Bought these two girls a drink and then I came in here to take a piss but somebody is fuck-"

"Woah, hold on." Ashton cuts him off, his eyes narrowed. "You bought two girls a drink? The fuck is wrong with you, Luke?" His voice is low, lethal even in defense of his best friend.

Luke fights the urge to scoff because what Ashton was insinuating was absolutely fucking ridiculous. The notion that Luke would ever do something like that to Arlo was so far-fetched that Luke would have laughed if he wasn't so upset that Ashton thought he would.

"They were fans." Luke says, putting emphasis on the word. "I was being nice so management doesn't harass us. Now can we find Cal and get out of here? The sooner we go to sleep the sooner we can wake up and leave.

Just as Michael parts his lips to speak, the bathroom door Luke had just exited from swings open, nearly knocking the blond in the back of the head.

Out of the door stumbles no other than Calum Hood, his tie from the award show messily undone around his neck, his dark hair wild, and lipstick smeared all over his face and neck. A girl shyly walks past the group of three shocked men while Calum's cheeks flush.

"So... anyone want to get pizza on the way back to the hotel?"

ps if you saw what luke said about the lip ring at the show tonight... all i wanna say is i don't believe it all men do is lie