"Why do I keep falling for you? Why do my knees collapse in your presence?" I asked.

He replied "Sorry, Darling. Don't you know? Love and gravity work the same way."
- m.razon

**

I was so worried my stress levels were probably breaking charts right about now. I fidget in my seat, the car was moving agonisingly slow that I had half the mind to jump out of it and run, I would be much faster than this mechanical piece of shit that didn't go faster when I begged it too.

The band had gotten a house together here in Sydney at a secret location so they didn't have to crash at their parent's houses every time they were in town. I'm sure their parents must have disagreed with the idea since their families rarely got to see them as it is but they must have convinced them somehow because here we were now.

My worry for Luke is momentarily forgotten when the car pulls into the driveway of the house through the gates. They lived on top of a little hill that overlooked the sea. I doubt they had any neighbours within a mile radius. It was a beautiful house, sleek with floor to ceiling glass panels covering most of the house, reflecting the nature back every time the sun shined down on it. It had an odd beauty to it. Architecture on point. 

There were trees all around the house, kind of like a jungle hiding the beautiful house from mundane eyesight. Seeing as how fast their fans were able to find out where they were at all times, this probably took a lot of careful planning to do. I'm surprised that a few trees and a mountain kept them hidden. I bet the fans already knew about this but Australians were just too nice to bother the boys at their own home.

They had brought Luke back here from the hospital yesterday. I had not been let out of my room for a good twenty-four hours and my frustration had grown more by the minute. My wonder over their house disappears as soon as I see Ashton and Michael standing in the foyer to welcome us.

"Welcome to the dungeon! Leave your shoes with Ketchup here." Ashton jokes, pointing at the white plastic dog Michael was holding. Ketchup was a legendary dog. He had once been stolen by a fan when she had gotten into their house in LA but she had eventually returned it back to them. I wanted to smile at the old memories, but I couldn't bring myself to. I just wanted to see Luke.

"Where is he?" I ask them, jogging up the pathway and up a couple of tiny stairs, controlling myself as best as I could so that I don't run inside the house instead.

"Hello to you too, Era," Ashton says jokingly. 

"That is not my name!" I snap at him and instantly regret it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Thankfully he nods with a polite smile.

"He's in the kitchen with the others. Now that everyone is here we can get this meeting started." Ashton leads the way, wrapping his arm around Addy's shoulder.

They had told me we were having a meeting but it had completely left my mind. Now that Luke was hurt, they didn't know how the shows would keep going on. The mood in here was light however, I could hear laughter and chatter drifting through the house. It made me angry that I was the only one who seemed to be worried about Luke for some reason.

We pass a lounge area built in with possibly everything you could want in a bachelor pad. I don't bother to linger since just a glimpse and the amount of gaming equipment I see scattered around the room makes me dizzy. All those wires would give the fire department a headache. 

Boys.

Finally, after snaking through the enormous house we reach the kitchen where around thirty people are scattered around the room. My eyes search for the blonde head of hair that I would recognise anywhere but I don't find him. Instead, I see Luke's mother, Liz Hemmings. She is seated at the large dining table with a frown on her face, deep in conversation with Sammy.

"Where is Luke?" I ask Michael who is right next to me, still clutching Ketchup to his side. He had been talking the entire way from the front porch to the kitchen and I hadn't caught onto a single word of it.

"He was in here five minutes ago..." Michael drifts off, looking over my head. He whispers, nodding his head towards the stairs. "There he is."

I turn to see Luke trudging down the staircase and the first things I notice are the black shorts and the white T-shirt that he is in. I don't think that I have ever seen him in anything so casual other than black skinny jeans and t-shirts. My eyes rake over his body from head to toe and he looks perfectly fine other than his bandaged hands. His left arm was in a cast and he has a slight limp to his step. I can't help the relief that washes over me when he comes closer and I finally get to see his injuries up close. 

His hand being broken isn't something to be relieved about but compared to the ugly thoughts that had tortured me for the past twenty-four hours, I was glad to see him in one piece.

"Ah, here he is, our knight in shining Armour." Ashton laughs awfully loud. Luke hasn't acknowledged me standing there with Michael but I saw his eyes flicker in my direction momentarily so I knew that he saw me.

Please look at me. I whine to myself, I needed him to acknowledge that I was here. I needed reassurance that he was okay. I had been worried and scared out of my mind even when Addy had kept telling me that I shouldn't be.

He doesn't dare look my way, though, passing us and moving to the other end of the table. I wanted to say his name and pull him to me so I could hug him but I watch him go.

Sammy nods his head at Luke's mother a couple of times like he is agreeing with something and gets up to acknowledge the crowd gathered around the kitchen. I watch Luke while he walks over to his mother and pulls a chair out, dropping onto it and flinching a little at the pain when his body shakes.

"Now that we have everyone here, we can finally discuss the dire situation that we are facing at hand." Sammy starts and Luke audibly groans. I see his mother shake her head at him to keep quiet.

"Luke here got into a little... accident, and now has three broken fingers and needed a skin graft for his knuckles. The skin couldn't simply be left to heal by itself due to the amount of damage done to them." The silent room fills with gasps and wide eyes that focus on Luke. I could feel the blood drain from my face at the news. This would take at least two months to heal. Luke fists his right hand and winces at the pain but Liz catches onto it, covering it with her hand and attempting to soothe her son. He relaxes into her touch but the anger radiating off of him was palpable.

"Does this mean we are stopping the tour for awhile?" Mackenzie asks, voicing the question everyone was too worried to ask.

"Well, n—"

"What the fuck do you mean by are we stopping the tour?" Luke cuts Sammy off, pulling his hand out of his mother's hold.

"Lucas! Watch your mouth!" Liz scolds him but he ignores her.

"Just because I have a broken finger doesn't mean we are stopping the damn tour. Are you crazy?" He glares at Mackenzie.

Mackenzie doesn't sway at the anger in his voice. Being their therapist, she is used to the shit load of attitude and anger from him. She stares him down instead of backing off, "Three fingers. Not one. You can't so much as pick up a fork or a spoon with that hand. How exactly will you perform on stage?"

"I don't sing with my fucking hand now do I?" He sneers.

"Let's not start something now. We are trying to have a civil conversation here." Sammy narrows his eyes at Luke and Mackenzie.

"Even if you heal within a month, Luke, Doctors said your fingers won't be able to withstand playing the guitar for about a good three months. So unless one of the other boys do your guitar solos, this argument is a lost cause." One of the management reasons. Three months?

Luke seemed to get angrier more and more by the second this conversation went on.

"Fine, Calum can do it," Luke says, focusing his gaze at a spot on the table.

"Then who does my bass?" Calum asks, casually leaning against the counter.

"We can't exactly get anyone to play your part. We can only pre-record it." Ashton voices.

"Oh really? Why don't we just sit still on the damn stage then and play them the entire album through a fucking speaker? I'm sure they will love that too." Luke laughs sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant," Ashton tries to defend himself but Luke cuts him off again.

"Get one of the R5 clan to play my parts from the side of the stage. Riker would do. I'm gonna sing. This tour is going on. I don't know why this bloody pointless meeting was called in the first place." Luke raises his voice without even stopping to take a breath then gets up, stomping out of the room.

Everyone stays in the same position they were in a few seconds ago, not moving and not saying a word. I watch their shocked expressions slowly fade into an agreement with what Luke just said as they try to make light of the entire situation. It felt like an out of body experience to me. I felt like I was watching everything unfold in front of me, not being able to input anything or catch onto any of my thoughts that were flying by.

"I guess that's that then. The tour will go on." Sammy shakes his head at us like he didn't know what else he could possibly say or do. He could easily cancel the shows, forbid Luke to get on stage until he is healed completely. But he doesn't say anything and neither does anyone else.

"So are we still having that family and crew celebration party we were planning to have?" Montana asks, looking around the room.

"I guess we could. Seeing that mostly everyone is here." A woman leaning against the kitchen island says. I had been so busy worrying about Luke that I didn't notice Micheal's mother was here too.

"Everyone could use a little fun." Liz, Luke's mother smiles, agreeing.

Addy and Montana get excited at this new turn of events and drag Ashton and the other two boys towards Micheal's mom to start planning. The priorities in the room had changed fast. I sink lower into my seat, hoping no one came up to me to talk. If I got up from my seat, I wouldn't stop walking till I found Luke. There was so much I had wanted to ask him, about the song at the ARIAs and his injuries but instead, I didn't even exist to him today.

I lay my head back on the chair and stare at the large chandelier so I don't have to look at anyone. These people thought that Luke was just an angry boy. That he punched a few walls and screamed at a few people. That he had enough money to fix all the broken bones he could possibly give himself. He would always want the tour to go on because he didn't want to let their fans down. No one had stopped to ask him if this is what he really wanted to do, if he really was okay to keep going.

Does his hand hurt?

Does his head hurt?

Does his heart hurt?

They thought a get together with loved ones would heal his pain. Maybe it will, maybe it will stop his physical pain for awhile when he sees his family, smiling all around him. But it won't stop his true pain, the one I knew he felt inside. The kind that haunted me, the kind that had made me so worried after seeing his reaction to Ana. The kind no one saw except for the people who were really looking.

A/N:

A very important thing I wanted to tell you guys is that I want you to make sure you haven't missed any chapters, so go back over them and make sure you haven't missed any!

Also, my favorite person in the entire universe turned 21 today. He will always be the 15-year old I fell in love with. I love Justin so much and it's such an emotional day for me today.