I hear the call of a siren from an ocean away. I feel her gaze from the lighthouse she built to find me.
- m.razon

**

"Good evening." Luke greets me quietly from the doorway, his eyes scanning me from head to toe and coming back up to my face quickly.

"Hey." I greet, taking in his appearance as well. He is in white shorts and his famous "YOU COMPLETE MEss" singlet that he has been wearing for years. His shades are around his neck like he always has them for some weird reason and the cast holding his arm is gone, replaced by a miniature version that is covering his right wrist and palm. He must have visited the doctor last night after coming by my room.

"You look...nice." He clears his throat and runs a hand through his hair. I search his face for a sign of pain as he does that because, after the two shows in Sydney, he had been given a sleep serum due to the pain in his hands, it had been too much for him to bear without passing out.

"Thanks." I refrain from giggling at his awkwardness and walk in to grab my satchel. I had decided to put on one of my sundresses that I brought along for Sydney beach days alone. It was a light shade of blue and faded into white at the bottom. The dress was tied together at the base of my neck with two strings.

"So, where are you taking me?" I question, slipping on my sandals.

"We're going to lunch with my mum," he looks up from his phone. "Is that okay with you?" 

"I don't know, is she gonna piss me off like you always do?" I joke even though I knew for a fact that Luke's mother was a very kind woman.

"Not really." He says slowly like he couldn't decipher if I was joking or being serious. He was way too calm and collected this morning that it actually worried me.

"Okay then." I heave a sigh and take a final look around the hotel room, it was a disaster. Addy has been with Ashton at the boys' house even though her suitcases are here so I had stayed up late, arguing with myself about doing anything with Luke and woke up just half an hour ago, rushing to get ready. I didn't know what to expect today but I promised myself that I wouldn't spare a minute to dwell on it. If I did, my common sense would kick in and Luke wouldn't be taking me to lunch with his mother, he wouldn't even be here in the first place.

"Let's go," I say, locking the door behind me. He gives me a nervous smile and we walk towards to elevators.

---

The little restaurant he takes me to overlooks Bondi beach and it was absolutely stunning, I don't think Australia ever had 'ugly' days or places anyway. The weather was amazing today too, a little hot but bearable because of the constant breeze.

"Hello dear!" Liz Hemmings gets up from her chair at a table in the corner of the restaurant to hug me as we walk up to her.

"Hello, ma'am." I hug her back as she lightly squeezes me with motherly affection. She smelled like flowers. A pang of guilt shoots through me as I think of my own mother, I haven't called or answered any of her phone calls this past week.

"None of that nonsense. Call me Liz." She pulls away and smiles at me.

"I'm Sierra." I introduce myself.

"Oh, I know. I've heard a lot about you—" Luke clears his throat from behind me, cutting Liz off midsentence and Liz finally notices that her son is there too.

"Lukey. How are your hands now? What did the doctors say?" I had asked Luke the same thing during our drive here but he had gotten a phone call from management.

"When will you stop calling me that? I'm not five, mum." Luke complains, dodging the question and looking everywhere else but at his mother like he was ashamed.

"Don't be mean to your mother, Luke," I warn him and I see the corner of his mouth lift up in a smile.

"Not a day goes by that I wish he was born a girl. Girls are so polite to their parents." Liz laughs as we sit down in front of each other across the small table.

"I need to use the toilet." Luke groans at our laughter and walks off, leaving Liz and I alone.

When he is out of earshot, Liz takes my hands in hers, cupping them between hers. "Sierra, my dear, before he comes back, I need to thank you."

"Pardon me?" Thank me for what?

"Oh, you Brits are so polite." Liz giggles and I can't help but smile because I sucked at British etiquette or whatever they called it. I have always been more of my own person.

"He hasn't agreed to go out to lunch or anywhere with any of us in a very long time." She is suddenly very serious.

"Oh?"

"Yes, and he has never brought anyone with him, not since that bitter girl he was so obsessed with for years..." she trails off. Not since Ana she means. 

"You didn't like Ana?" I can't help but ask. Curiosity kills the damn cat...or koala...I hated cats.

"She wasn't right for Lucas. She stole every spark of happiness he had in his life. She drained him out and I hate her for it. I am not a person that hates people but as a mother, I couldn't bear to watch so I told him not to bring her around me again."

I have half the mind to ask her if she knows why they broke up but I don't want to upset her further so I let her continue.

"—but you're with him now, this morning when I went to his room to check on him, he told me he was bringing you to lunch with me, he didn't even let me speak. He rushed off with that excitement I haven't seen in him for a very long time now." She thinks we are together? No way.

"We—we aren't together ma'am—Liz," I tell her, still not processing all her words completely.

"Ah yes, I meant that he is more...calm around you, I see that change in his emotions. Haven't seen that happiness in awhile either, well as happy as he manages to get now." A frown crosses her beautiful face. I could see the pain she felt for her son in her eyes and I didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't because of me, that all we ever did was fight before last night and hate was usually all that he showed towards me.

"He offered to be my tour guide." I laugh, trying to change the mood.

"Luke? Tour guide? That's like telling Michael to go out and make friends that are not his gaming controls and the band!" she chortles, making me laugh.

"We got off on the wrong foot. I think he's trying to make amends... I'm trying to let him." I explain.

"Good." She nods understandingly and pats my hands.

"What are you two yapping about?" Luke asks, pulling out a chair next to me. I was hoping he would sit next to his mother.

"Just that you're her tour guide?" Liz raises an eyebrow at him.

"What? Don't look at me like that. I can show her around..." Luke shrugs at his mother's sarcasm.

"Oh, sure you can." Liz rolls her eyes at him as the waiter comes up to us with three menus.

---

Luke's Point of View

"Yes, and he used to sing at the top of his lungs in the middle of the toilet!" My mum says, laughing along with Sierra.

She was telling Sierra all my embarrassing childhood stories like mothers always do, and I would have usually stopped her as soon as she got to the first sentence but the animation in Sierra's face and voice as she hung onto every word my mum said was incredible. I didn't know this side of Sierra existed. I have never seen her laugh this much either. She had a beautiful laugh, like wind chimes. I watch her, entranced with the way she pulls her hair to the side when the breeze blows it around her. She nods along and does this thing where she lays her palm over her heart when she laughs too hard.

They were so deep in conversation with each other about things I only caught snippets of that they didn't even care that I was there. No girl I have ever brought home to my mum has paid this much attention to her and I could see the approval in my mother's eyes already. Not that Sierra and I were together or that I brought her here for approval from anyone...

"Is there something on my face?" Sierra asks me, snapping me out of my daze. I must have wondered off to space, staring right at her.

"No." You look beautiful.

She smiles at me, sipping the last bit of her orange juice. I'm supposed to hate this girl. God, how am I supposed to hate this girl?

"Luke!" A girl shrieks a few feet away from us. I start to hear loud talking from nearby too and see that there are a couple of fans by the entrance who have spotted me. I see them moving towards us slowly. I should have paid more attention to the surroundings than Sierra's face.

"Shit." I stare down at the table, not looking up to make eye contact with anyone.

"We should leave," Liz mumbles to us and I signal for the waiter. I finally look around and see that the entire place has girls around it. By now I know the difference between pedestrians and fans very well and we are about to get mobbed. Dammit.

"Is there only one entrance? Why do you look so horrified?" Sierra asks me.

"No. It's open to the beach all around. We're gonna have to run if we wanna dodge them." I joke but stop at her expression.

"You should stop and take pictures with them." She says nonchalantly. That was not the answer I was expecting from her.

"But I have an entire day planned and we're already late." It's not that I didn't want to stop for the fans, I always did but today was just supposed to be me and her.

"I don't mind. Believe me, you have no idea how hard they have to work to track your ass down. I can wait." She nudges me as we walk down the tiny staircase.

"Fine. Stay here." I tell her and take a few steps towards the fans but they all run towards me anyway surrounding us, shouting and already clicking a hundred pictures a second.

"What happened to your hand, Luke?" Is the most asked question of the day.

"I closed a door on it." I shrug at them and avoid any further questions about it, smiling and posing for pictures.

---

"So where are we going?" I ask Luke, checking the time. It was six in the afternoon and we were at the back of a über because he couldn't drive his own car with his hands. His mother had gone home saying that Luke's brother Jack and his family were coming over.

"A place where, according to Addy, and I quote 'You will have to drag her out by force.'" He mimics Addy in a high pitched girly voice.

"And where is that?" I laugh at his ridiculousness.

"You'll see." He hides his smile, catching his lip ring between his teeth. This Luke was different, he was calm and genuinely acted like he cared about how this day went. This was the Luke I had expected all these years before I actually met him. It was surreal to see that he existed.

Don't think about it.

He's up to something.

Be quiet

The über pulls into a stop and I pause the internal battle with my conscience. We get out and I follow Luke through a gate with a large archway above our heads. There are people everywhere, but it isn't that crowded. The breeze from the sea whips my dress and hair around me.

"What's all this?" I look up at him, the sun was blocking out his face and I couldn't see his eyes because of the shades.

"A little further and it opens up to a market. One of the best ones in Sydney. I won't tell you what kind of market, though, you'll have to wait and see."

"Oh my gosh!" I clap my hands excitedly. I loved markets. There was always so much energy and happiness in them and lots to buy, of course. His hand falls onto the small of my back as we push through a crowd gathered around a chef cooking something that smelled like heaven. There are way too many people for me to see over the crowd so I keep walking.

"It starts here." Luke points to the left and I turn my head, a gasp leaving my mouth before I can stop it. There are stalls upon stalls of vintage items. Clothes, all kinds of accessories, vinyl and I have no idea what else.

"No way!" I squeal and walk as fast as I can without running to the nearest table with vintage accessories draped around the tables. There are so many things I want here my head starts to spin with excitement.

"This is amazing! Oh, how much is this?" I ask the girl seated near the table, pointing at a chain with an old owl on it. I have always loved owls, despite everyone's complaints about them being bad luck. 

"Twelve dollars." She smiles at me, standing up.

"I'll take it!" I pull out my wallet to pay her and she puts it in a tiny packet for me. I was going to be broke by the time I reached the end of this line of stalls, I couldn't care less.

"Addy told me you just might buy this whole place." Luke laughs from behind me and I remember that he's there for the first time since I laid my eyes on the stalls.

"Mhmm," I hum at him and skip to the next one, Luke following me without complaint.

One old lady who is selling boho-chic style clothes stops me. Not vintage, she said, but it gave a certain air to the whole thing I assume. I try on one of the long skirts from the pile of clothes she hands me and twirl around at the back of the tent in front of a tiny mirror and giggle to myself like a child. It has an Aztec print and it flowed down my legs like silk...

"She your girlfriend?" I hear the lady ask Luke.

"Nah." He replies.

"You two sure do look at each other in that way." Her laugh comes out as a cough, followed by a long pause and I pray that he isn't going to start screaming at the old woman or cause a scene. This day was unexpectedly going so well and I didn't want anything to ruin it.

"Hmm. How much is this ring?" He asks instead.

"Eight dollars."

---

Luke's Point of View

"Which one?" Sierra whines. Holding up two necklaces.

She was kneeling next to a little girl who was selling probably the most delicate necklaces I have ever seen in my entire existence. I didn't dare touch any of it, afraid I would break them. Why do girls even like this stuff anyway?

"Um, I like the green one." I point at the one in her left hand. It matched the green of her eyes. They were tiny glass bottles the size of my fingernail on silver chains that were barely visible. There were small shells inside and had different coloured sand in them. Sierra had stopped dead in her tracks when she saw them and we have been here for ten minutes since then because she can't seem to decide which one to get.

"I like the light blue one, though..." she trails off, looking me right in the eyes.

"Sierra, can I just buy you all of it so we can get out of here?" I loved seeing her this happy, I wanted to video tape her getting excited over the oldest piece of crap she could find and watch it forever but the entire female population was starting to irritate me now. There were a bunch of girls following us but they haven't come up to me yet. There will be pictures of Sierra and I all over the internet tomorrow, I couldn't give a fuck less but for her sake, I was worried.

"I told you, you're not allowed to buy me any of this." She chastises. She had about three thousand bags around her and she would only let me carry two of them too which was making me even madder by the second. My hands worked fine, I wanted to remind her.

"I'll get the blue one." She finally decides and pays the girl, refusing my money again when I offer.

"Can I get you ice cream at least?" I ask sarcastically.

"Sure. Stay here and I'll go get them since you can't carry them with your hand." She points and puts her bags down near my feet, takes the bills from my hand and walks towards the ice cream stand before I can refuse. I didn't even tell her what flavour I wanted...

I stand there shaking my head as she smiles at everyone and flips her hair over her shoulder, the amount of positive energy coming off of her today was truly amazing. For once I was proud of myself, I haven't messed up today or pissed her off in less than five minutes. There was the occasional light banter between us over her not letting me pay for anything or how the colours I thought suited her were not "accurate" according to her.

"I want to be beautiful like her when I'm older." The little girl with the necklaces tells me.

The sun is setting, disappearing behind the sea and glowing her up in orange hues while she waits in line, observing the chalkboard with the names of ice creams scrawled on it.

"I like her." The little girl says again.

"Me too love, Me too."