Luke's POV

I'm woken up by the sound of my phone ringing. I blindly reach for my phone and squint at the screen. My mom is calling, probably because they just landed.

"Hey, Mom," I say groggily.

"Did I just wake you up?" she asks.

"No, no. I've been awake for a while," I lie. It's a little past 10 o'clock in the morning. "How was the flight?"

"Long. It was worse than the flight to you." Their flight was around 29 hours. They had to stop in Detroit, then Los Angeles before landing in Sydney. I hated flying here. It took forever.

"Why? Did something happen?" I ask her.

"No, it's just because I was leaving you, not going to you," she says quietly.

"Mom, please don't cry," I tell her.

"I won't, I promise. I just wanted to let you know we landed. I miss you already."

"I miss you too."

We talk for a little longer before Calum starts yelling that he wants to talk to me.

"Yes, Calum?" I say laughing once my mom hands him the phone.

"Okay, good I can talk to you now. Detroit was so cool, like, Eminem was born there! That's awesome! He has probably been in that airport! And we seriously have to go to California sometime. There was some pretty hot girls in the airport."

"Calum, I have a girlfriend."

"Oh, so it is official? And I wasn't talking about a girl for you, I was talking about one for me. There was this really attractive blonde girl who ended up being on our flight, and I have no idea where she went but she had an Australian accent which means she probably lives here."

I laugh. "Are you still at the airport?"

"Yeah, we're waiting for my dad to come pick us up. Did you know that the airport in California has a bunch of exotic food places? It was really weird. I was starving, and there was nothing to eat unless I wanted to pay $16 for a vegan donut."

"I know. I was there when I flew here."

"Oh, yeah. Right. Wait, I think I see the girl. I gotta go, bye!" Calum says, hanging up abruptly.

I smile to myself and decide I should probably get up. I hear my dad in the living room watching TV. I get myself some cereal before sitting down beside him.

"Good morning," he says.

"Good morning," I say, with my mouth full of cereal. "Mom and Calum landed."

"That's good. Will you be okay without them here?" my dad asks for the hundredth time.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry. I'm really, truly fine."

"Okay, good," he says, smiling. "Do you want to do anything today?"

I shrug. "I was thinking about going to see Delilah at work."

He stays silent for a little.

"Would you want to try driving?" he asks.

I shake my head quickly. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Just thinking about driving makes me anxious.

"Okay. Let me know if when you want to because I think it's time you learn. We can do-"

"I don't want to. Not right now," I say, cutting him off and getting up from the couch. "Maybe another time." I'm not sure I will ever want to.

"I didn't mean to make you upset, Luke."

"I just don't want to drive, that's all."

I've been trying to avoid learning how to drive, but I knew he was going to ask at some point. My mom never bothered asking since cars and driving have been a touchy subject since Delia died. I'd be fine with having everyone drive me everywhere for the rest of my life. I can always take the bus, too.

I can't imagine myself behind the wheel. I'm still getting used to how the cars are here, too. Everything is on the opposite side, it's weird.

I quickly take a shower and get dressed before calling Ashton to see if he'll drive me to see Delilah. As usual, he says yes. He almost always is willing to drive me places. It's close enough to walk, but it is way too cold outside, and there's too much snow on the sidewalks now since it snowed a few days ago.

"What's up?" Ashton says when I get in the car. Every time I see him he acts like he hasn't seen me for weeks. I see him almost every day.

I shrug. I never know how to answer that question.

"Do you have a therapy session or just wanna see Delilah?" he asks, starting to drive.

"See Delilah. I'm only having therapy once every other week now."

"That's great!"

"Mmm hmm. Can we stop at the bakery that's near there? Delilah always gets hungry at work."

"Yeah, of course. Do you know what she wants?"

"Yep. A cinnamon muffin and hazelnut coffee with three sugars."

"Look at you being a good boyfriend."

I feel my cheeks heat up, and I rub my nose. "I guess so?"

We get to the bakery, and I quickly order and head back to the car so Ashton doesn't have to wait too long. Plus, I want to see Delilah as soon as possible.

"All set?" Ashton asks.

"All set."

Ashton drops me off, he doesn't stay since he is picking his brother up from his friend's house. I walk inside and see Delilah behind the front desk. She's concentrating on some papers, and her eyebrows are scrunched together when I walk up to the desk. She doesn't even notice me at first.

I decide to sit in one of the waiting room chairs until she sees me. I clear my throat, and she looks up. She smiles widely when she sees me.

"What are you doing here? You don't have a session today. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. Can I not come here to see my girlfriend at work?"

She laughs. "Please don't start referring to me like that. We will not turn into one of those couples."

"Fine. Can I not come see you and bring you some coffee and a muffin?" I say, walking over to her and putting the muffin and coffee in front of her.

"Aw, you're so cute bringing me food. Thanks!"

She starts unwrapping her muffin and takes a sip of her coffee.

"Is it okay if I kiss you here? Or is that, like, a no?" I ask her quietly.

"It's a yes."

"Okay, good."

I lean over the desk and quickly kiss her lips. I blush like I do every single time.

She laughs quietly. "You can come behind the desk if you want."

"Alright," I say, jumping over the desk.

"Luke! You can't just jump over the desk! What if you broke something!" Delilah says, slapping my arm.

"But I didn't!"

She laughs. "Next time use the door like a normal person."

"You should know by now that I'm not normal," I say, picking off a piece of her muffin and tossing it in my mouth. "You wanna do something later? When does your shift end?"

"12:30. We could probably go out for lunch, but nothing else," she says,"I haven't done any of my homework."

"You're no fun."

"You don't have to worry about school," she says.

She's right, I don't. I don't have to wake up early every morning and go to school for six hours. I don't have to come home and work on homework and studying for another four hours. I especially don't have to worry about tests and grades.

It's weird how a few months ago I was a normal teenage boy living in Australia and doing normal teenage boy stuff. Now I'm sitting here behind the desk in my psychiatrist's office with my girlfriend while she eats a cinnamon muffin. I never would have guessed that I would be here right now, that's for sure.

"Are you sure it's okay if I'm behind here?" I ask.

"Yeah, there's no one in the waiting room right now. As soon as someone comes in though, I'm kicking you out."

"Fair enough."

I annoy Delilah while she's trying to finish up some papers, and then I see Michael walk through the front door.

"Hey, Michael!" I say, using the door this time to get out from behind the desk.

"H-hi, Luke."

I notice that his eyes are red and puffy. He sniffs and rubs his eyes.

Delilah looks at us concerned. "Want me to get someone?"

Michael shakes his head.

"What happened?" I ask him, quietly. I have him sit down in one of the chairs, and I crouch down in front of him.

He sniffs again and avoids looking at me. "I-It's n-nothing. I sh-shouldn't have c-come."

"Yes, it's something."

He picks at the hem of his shirt and takes a shaky breath. "M-My m-mom said th-that I'm n-not im-im-improving," he struggles saying the word improving and has to pause for a second before saying anymore. "And soon I m-might have t-to go t-to an insta-inster..."

"Institution," I say for him, knowing that he won't be able to say it. I usually don't speak for him, but he's having a lot of difficulty right now. He's so upset right now that he can barely talk. His stutter is worse than it has ever been.

"Y-yeah. That." A tear falls from his eye, and he quickly wipes it away. "I- I don't w-wanna go."

"You are improving, I promise. I've been to one of those, they're not too bad." I hated it, actually. I don't want to make him more upset though. "We can work on it together though, okay? You improve every day. Your mom is probably just worried about you. She wants what's best for you. I'm not sure that's the best possible solution for you. She just needs to see that you're working on it, which you are."

"I- I am. A l-lot."

"I know. Now you just need to relax. Take some deep breaths. Do you want to see your therapist?"

"N-No. She's n-not in today. I t-texted you but you d-didn't r-respond. A-Ashton said you w-were here."

I had put my phone on silent earlier because I didn't think anyone would need me. It makes me happy that out of everyone, Michael was looking for me to help him.

Michael takes some slow breaths and starts to calm down. People start coming in and out of the waiting room, and I try to distract Michael so he doesn't get more nervous with the people looking at him.

"Better?" I ask him, after a few minutes.

He nods and takes a sip of the water Delilah had gotten him.

"Th-thanks."

"No problem. Want to go do anything? Do you need us to take you home?"

"I-I don't want t-to go h-home."

"Okay. You can stay at my place tonight, how's that?"

"Th-that'd be g-good. Are you s-sure?"

I nod. "Delilah's done soon so she can drive us back to my house. We can all go get something for lunch, and then go right to my house. I still have a spare bed in my room from when Calum was here."

Michael doesn't have his license either, so he wouldn't be able to drive himself anywhere. He probably walked here, even with all the snow. He walks everywhere.

I used to be in a place where I couldn't even help myself, and now, I've not only helped myself, but I'm helping others too. It's amazing how much things can change in a short time.

Michael smiles a little. "Th-Thanks," he says again.

I feel like he's saying thanks for more than just helping him today. I think he's talking about everything. Just being his friend and sticking with him.

"No need to thank me. We're in this together."

idek I feel like a lot happened but nothing really happened in this but I hope you like it

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ REMEMBER TO FORGET BEFORE READING THIS STORY

and make sure you're reading broken record bc i'm gonna keep updating that too.

tweet me what you think @singsongash

THANKS FOR READING

-ashley