When we got back to Luke's car, he stepped in front of me.

"Noelle," he said, and when I carried on looking at the ground, Luke gently placed a hand on my cheek, forcing me to look up at him. "It's okay to be upset, you know."

"Who said I was upset?" I said lightly. Luke frowned.

"I'm not stupid, Noh. I would be very surprised if you weren't upset."

I sighed. "I- I haven't really thought about it all, to be honest." But now I was. And I could feel tears pooling in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "Anyway. I'll see you tomorrow."

Luke regarded me for a while. "Yeah. Thanks for patching me up. Who knew you could be such a good doctor?"

I smiled. "There are many things you don't know about me, Hemmings."

"I'm sure." He seemed to consider something before making up his mind and stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his nose in my hair. I exhaled slowly and hugged him back, letting my forehead rest against his soft t-shirt and feeling his scent envelop me. Wow, he did smell good. I was going to have to tell Jess that later. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind as I trailed my hands down Luke's back before letting go and stepping away. That hug caused a whole mixture of feelings inside me.

"Pick you up at like twelve?" Luke suggested, looking down at me. Standing right next to him really reminded me of how tall and broad he was.

"Uh, maybe earlier. Unlike you guys, I usually like to be on time," I said with a raised eyebrow.

"What's the fun in that?" he questioned, snickering.

"You may get to do what you want, popstar, but this is an internship for me and Kate will get pissed if I show up late," I told Luke, pointing at him. "Can you pick me up at half eleven?"

Luke furrowed his eyebrows playfully. "Maybe if you ask nicely."

I rolled my eyes. "Please may you pick me up at half eleven tomorrow?"

"Hmm. Try again."

I sighed but I was smiling. "Please, Luke, best person in the world, can you pick me up at half eleven tomorrow?"

A small grin appeared on his lips but then he winced. "Ow. I've got to stop doing that. And, um, am I your favorite person in the world?"

"Sure."

"That wasn't very convincing."

"Yes, Luke, you are my favorite person in the world, my best friend, and I would really appreciate it if you picked me up at eleven-thirty tomorrow morning so I'm not late," I said, beaming up at him.

"Fine." He observed me for a moment before stepping forward and leaning down. His forehead rested against mine and his nose brushed my own. "You're my best friend, too."

My cheeks heated up and I felt my heart thump loudly in my chest. "Good to know."

"Mm." Luke stepped away, smirking at my red face. "See you at eleven-thirty tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting, and you better be on time," I said sternly. Finally he got in the car and waved at me as he drove off. I let out a long breath. Suddenly I thought I heard rustling behind me and I whipped around. I couldn't see anyone there, but I still hurried off to back to my dorm room very quickly. I wasn't a fan of the dark.

When I got back, it wasn't just Jess there. George was waiting and he looked very excited.

"Luke beat up Nathan for you? That is so hot," he exclaimed immediately.

I laughed slightly and flopped on my bed, face down. "God. I'm so tired."

"Luke's hotness and the fact that Jess met him and I didn't aside, are you okay, Noelle?" he asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. Jess was tapping at the screen on her phone.

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just... It's been a long day."

"Oh, right. The pictures," George realized. "Were the people at the studio angry?"

"Nah, not really. John wanted to know if there was something going on between me and Luke."

"Which there obviously is," he said blatantly. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not really bothered about the pictures anymore, anyway."

"Good. And, Noelle..." He glanced at me. "I can't say I'm sad to see you and Nathan break up, but I am sad to see you sad. And I'm super angry at him and I would so go kick his ass if Luke hadn't already done so. Which, by the way, did I say was hot?"

"You did mention that, yeah. He's also straight, George," I informed him with a grin.

"I can still admire his sexy face and even sexier lip ring."

"Which are even sexier in person," Jess cut in, throwing George a sly look. He glared at her.

"Shut up. Stop rubbing it in."

Jess laughed. "I probably won't."

"You're so mean."

"Guys," I interrupted. "Can I go to sleep now? I'm really tired. George, that means you have to go back to your dorm."

"Ugh. Fine." He got up and ruffled my hair, and I slapped his hand away. "See you tomorrow."

"Night," I mumbled. He left and Jess, who was already in her pajamas, slid under her duvet and pulled the cover up to her chin, glancing over at me.

"You might want to get changed," she pointed out, and I groaned.

"I really don't want to get up," I complained, but did so anyway, changing into an oversized t-shirt before quickly going into the bathroom and cleaning my teeth. Finally I was able to switch off the light and get into bed, muttering a good night to Jess before drifting off.

***

The next morning, when I went to wait for Luke to pick me up, I was surprised to see him and the boys were already there. As I walked up to it, the minibus door slid open and all four of the boys were peeking out to look at me. As soon as they caught sight of me they waved. I waved back and climbed in, squashing myself between Luke and Calum. The bruising on Luke's face had turned a darker color and the left side of his bottom lip was swollen.

"Doesn't he look like a badass?" Ashton said, swiveling round in his seat to look at us. Michael was listening to music and resting his head against the window. There was a faint beat coming from his headphones.

"Luke? Definitely," I agreed.

"I'm not sure if we can leave him with you again if this is how he's going to come back, though," Calum remarked.

"Shut up. I'm fine," Luke said, casually placing his hand on my knee. I shot him a look. He smirked then asked, "Where's your car parked?"

I told him the name of the bar, which he told to their driver who nodded.

"Does John know?" I asked, referring to Luke's injuries and trying to ignore his hand.

"No," Calum answered. "He doesn't know about the pictures, either."

My stomach dropped. "Pictures? What pictures?"

Calum's eyes widened. "Oh, nothing. Never mind."

"She's gonna find out anyway," Ashton pointed out, and Luke took his hand off my leg to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone.

"Find out what?" I said worriedly.

"Hang on a second," Luke muttered and searched something on his phone. Wordlessly he handed me the phone. On the screen was a picture of me and Luke, standing and smiling at each other. Well, I was smiling. Luke couldn't because of his lip, which you could see pretty clearly as well as the bruise. Although it was dark, we were both lit up by streetlights and this time you could definitely see my face.

Shit.

There was a whole article about it, titled, 'Luke Hemmings from 5 Seconds of Summer seen outside UCLA with mystery brunette'. And the picture I was currently looking at wasn't the only one, or the worst one. There was a picture of Luke resting his forehead against mine and that was more than a friendly action. We looked anything but friends. Vaguely I wondered who took the pictures and then I recalled hearing a rustling noise last night after Luke left. That could well have been the photographer. I exhaled deeply.

"Well," I mumbled. "Well then."

"She's not freaking out like you said she would," Calum muttered to Luke.

"Give it a second," Luke said, watching me. I frowned at him.

"I'm not going to freak out," I insisted. "I mean, yeah, this is kind of bad, but oh well. The worst thing is probably the fact that you can see all your bruises and shit. Your fans are gonna be the ones to freak out."

Luke stared at me. "You're... You're not freaking out?"

"No," I said slowly.

All of the boys were observing me, including Michael who had taken out his earphones to see how I would react.

"Guys," I said in annoyance. "Stop looking at me like I'm a zoo animal."

Ashton cracked a grin and leaned over, muttering something to Luke. I didn't hear what he said but Luke smiled as well, and then swore. "Shit. You guys have got to stop making me smile."

When I met the boys at the studio after I'd picked up my car, John took one look at Luke's face then immediately turned to me.

"What the fuck happened?" He questioned and this time he seemed kind of angry.

"Long story short, Luke is Noelle's knight in shining armour," Ashton said with a grin.

I grimaced. That made it sound like it was my fault, which, I guessed it sort of was.

John raised an eyebrow at me and I flushed. "Um, basically-"

"Basically," Luke interrupted me, coming to stand by my side. "Noelle's boyfriend cheated on her so I punched him and he punched me. That's it."

"Huh." John regarded Luke. "That was probably pretty stupid."

"It probably was," Luke agreed. "But he deserved it."

John shook his head at us in exasperation. "Fine. Try to hold back from punching people in the future, though." He gave us one last look before calling everyone together. "Can you all sit down? There's something I want to talk about."

Luke went to sit and I was about to follow him but John stopped me and gave me a knowing look. "Still telling me there's nothing going on between you and Luke?"

For some reason, this made me smile slightly. "I don't even know, John."

He nodded. "You can call me Feldy, Noelle."

Since all the boys called him this I felt sort of privileged to be told this. My small smile grew into a big one before I joined Luke on the couch. Fran sat opposite me, sitting pretty close to Calum. I wondered for a second if there was anything going on there before turning my attention to John.

"So. Fran and Noelle, I'm assuming you both have spring break soon?" He asked both of us, and we nodded in response. "What I wanted us for all of us to get out of here for a bit, and we would all appreciate it if you came along with us."

Fran and I exchanged a glance, and I responded, "Uh, sure. What did you have in mind?"

"My friend has a house right by the beach in San Simeon and it's pretty secluded. I think it would be good to clear the guys' heads, and who knows? We might get a really good song out of it," John informed us and I found myself nodding slowly.

"Well, I didn't have anything planned anyway, so... Yeah. I'm in," I said with a smile before looking over at Fran, who was looking really disappointed.

"Ugh, I wish I could, but I can't. My family is making me come home and spend spring break with them." She pouted. "That sounds really nice, though."

"It does," Calum agreed. "How long for, Feldy?"

"I'm think in we'll just... Go with the flow. See what happens. Sounds good?" He clapped his hands together.

"Sounds good," Luke approved, and nudged me lightly in the side, putting his mouth close to my ear and whispering, "This is going to be fun. Why don't we share a room?"

Keeping a straight face, I nudged - or more like elbowed - him back harder. He didn't even flinch. "Not happening, Hemmings."

"We'll see."

I rolled my eyes. "So, when are we going?"

***

"A holiday with a band?" Dad said doubtfully when I talked to him on the phone later on that day.

"Yeah. I already said yes and you can't stop me," I sang, balancing the phone between my shoulder and ear as I finished off some work on my laptop. It was the evening and I was at the library, wanting some peace and quiet. "They're good guys, dad."

"But they are four boys. I'm not sure how comfortable I am-"

"Dad, I spend nearly every day with them. We're friends and nothing more. Plus John will be there," I tried to reassure him.

"But not Kate?"

"Uh... No. She has to stay behind and keep everything in order at the studio." I lowered my voice as one person who was working shot me a look. "It will be for two weeks, tops. Even if you say no I'm going."

"Noelle," he said sternly. "I'm still your father even if you're at university. I'm not saying you can't go, but..." He sighed. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"How's the internship going anyway?"

"Really good," I replied. "I think they like me."

"Of course they do. Are they going to offer you a job?" Dad asked a little excitedly. I laughed.

"I don't know, dad. Probably not. I'm only eighteen," I reminded him.

"So?"

"Look, I think a job in the music industry would be awesome, dad, but they're not easy to get. They're not going to offer me one just like that."

"I thought you said they liked you."

I chuckled. "That doesn't mean–" Someone directed a "Ssh!" at me and I rolled my eyes. "Dad, I gotta go. People don't like it when you talk in the library."

"Oh, okay. See you soon. And remember to be careful. Use protection."

I flushed. "Oh my god, dad. I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. Bye." I quickly hung up the phone, shuddering at the thought of discussing stuff like that with my dad. My mind went to the trip ahead of me that was happening in a week's time, and I had to say I was looking forward to it. Just the guys, Feldy and me. No Nathan. I smiled to myself as I finished up my work and closed the laptop. Who knew what it would bring?