wrong number - lh

2.0

sam huffed, dropping the suitcase at the bottom of the steps. she turned towards her mother, who had traces of tears in her eyes. sam's eyes softened, wrapping her arms around the older version of herself. her mother's arms wrapped tightly around her daughter, sniffling quietly. "you take care, okay? and you better tell this luke he better take care of my daughter."

she spoke the last part of her words to the brunette at the door, his eyes wide. "yes, ma'am." ashton told her, grabbing the girls suitcase, briefly dropping the heavy luggage. "damn, girl, what'd you pack? a bunch of cement blocks?" he teased, grabbing the suitcase with both hands this time before the two headed to his car.

ashton was the one who offered to come get the girl because luke was stuck in a meeting with management for sam's official job title, not that she minded. her and ashton had grown close and often talked when she was with luke or on facetime with him.

as the two got the suitcase in ashton's backseat, they let out a long breath. while ashton walked over to his driver's side, sam paused before climbing in to give her mom a little wave. the two were off after that, sam a little sad at the thought of not seeing her mom for a while. she tried not to think about it before turning to ashton. "you guys working on any new music?"

ashton laughed at the girl, shaking his head a little. "i am not at liberty to tell you that." he teased, sam pouting at his words. "i know, you're still a fan of our music but we can't tell anyone until we have something set in stone." he explained, her head nodding slightly in understanding.

as the two got closer to the building where they'd load everything onto the bus, sam saw luke standing by the bus with an irritated look on his face. sam grew nervous at the sight, worried that he didn't get the job for her. as soon as ashton pulled into a parking spot, she climbed out and made her way over to luke. "what's wrong?"

her voice snapped luke back into reality, glancing over at the smaller girl and smiled small. "hey, i'm fine. you about ready to go?" he pulled her into a hug, his grip a little too tight. sam hugged him back lighter, pulling away after a few moments. "come on, i'll show you your room."

the two of them walked up into the bus, luke leading the girl to the back where a larger room sat, addie's suitcase sitting beside the bed. "you and addie will have to share a bed, i hope thats okay."

sam waved him off, used to sleeping in the same bed with addie since the two were young. "it's fine, it's not like we don't do it when we have sleepovers." she told him, smiling up at the boy. "now, tell me what's wrong."

he sighed, running a hand through his hair before glancing down at her with his bottom lip tucked between his teeth. "i was able to get you the job, but i had to agree to something first." he told her, hesitating to continue which made her nervous. "i had to agree to be in a PR. it's not great, but you get to be around so it's worth it."

sam would normally blush at his words, but she was just a little bummed at him having to pretend to be dating someone. "who is it with?" she asked quietly, her eyes locked down at the ground.

luke could tell the girl was upset, hell anyone could, but he was scared to tell her. it wasn't a good idea, but he had to agree to it so he could have the girl with the pretty doe eyes with him. "my ex, arzaylea."

sam felt her heart drop to her stomach, knowing just how vile the girl was. due to her being a fan before she knew luke, she didn't like the girl at all. now, she would have to put up with her hugging on luke and maybe even public kisses between the two.

when sam grew quiet, luke rubbed his face in frustration. he knew this would come between the two, he knew this would be a big issue considering the two never established any type of friendship-relationship. they've kissed, sure, but one kiss doesn't mean commitment and luke knew sam would never commit with him being in a PR with the devil herself.

"i'm gonna do my best to keep her little PR stunt ideas to a minimum, i don't want to spend anymore time with her then i absolutely have to." he quickly told her, reaching for her hand. she intertwined their fingers, resting her head against his arm, being too short to reach his shoulder.

she nodded slightly, closing her eyes as she took in a deep breath. she knew this wouldn't end well and someone would get hurt, but she wasn't going down without a fight to get luke. arzaylea may be a vile person with twisted ideas on how to get her claws back on luke, but sam wasn't letting him go. she didn't know what her and luke were, but she knew she didn't want to lose him completely, so she'd fight like hell to make sure it didn't happen.

"everything will work itself out, luke. if you have to fake-date her for a while, we'll figure it out together cause i'm here for you. i always will be." she said gently, looking up at the boy and offering him a small smile.

a couple hours later, they were headed to their next show, it being in denver. while they had their show, sam figured it would be best to stay in the bus considering arzaylea will be at this show to make people start talking before the two would be in the public again. luke was sad to hear it, but understood and let it go.

as the boys started getting ready to get off the bus, michael ended up walking back to the room sam was in and sat down on the bed. "hey, i heard what's going on, you doing okay?"

sam was touched he was checking in with her, given the two hadn't spoken much or really hung out much. "i'm as okay as i can be." she said, chuckling lightly to bring up the mood but michael just stared at her with pity evident in his eyes.

"this really sucks, sam. it's not fair to you or luke." he grumbled, her smile falling as she nodded in agreement. "if it counts for anything, we've only known you a little bit of time and we still like you plenty more than asparagus."

sam giggled at this, remembering when their entire fandom were calling her that back in 2015, almost three years ago. "thank you, mikey, that made me feel better." she told him with a bigger smile than from before. he smiled at this, patting her shoulder before he left the room and luke entered.

"hey, i just wanted to see you before the show." he told her, laying down in her lap before letting out a small yawn. "i really wish you were gonna be there."

she smiled small, running a hand through his hair as she looked down at him. "next time," she told him quietly, his eyes glancing up at hers.

"promise?"

"i promise."

the two felt the tension building as their eyes stayed locked in one anothers, luke leaning up on his hands before pressing his lips against her cheek. she was disappointed, but she understood why he didn't kiss her. he was respecting boundaries she knew that was best for now. "i'll see you later." he told her quietly, shooting her a forced smile before jumping up and walking out.

as he was walking into the venue, his phone vibrated, his head dropping to look down at it, the sight causing a massive smile to take over his face.

sam: [image sent]

sam: you got this lukey.