"Raven!" I screamed cheerfully while standing at the foot of her bed.

She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head.

"Get out of bed, silly." I demanded, tugging at her leg.

"Get out of my room." She kicked at me.

I hopped up on her bed and started jumping. "Get. Out. Of. Bed."

Her small frame was bouncing uncontrollably underneath the large comforter she'd covered herself with.

She was awake though. Her eyes were wide and she was trying to hold the headboard to stay still. "Okay. Okay. I'm up. Please stop assaulting me."

I jumped off the bed. "Get ready. We're leaving today."

She rolled out of bed and glared at me. "What time is it?"

"It's 4:30 pm. Our flight leaves at seven. Get ready." I said and skipped off into my bedroom.

I checked my bags to make sure everything was packed except for the outfit I would be wearing and what I needed for my shower.

I walked into the bathroom and looked in the full length mirror, cocking my head to the side slightly. I wasn't very happy with my body, but I didn't necessarily hate it either. I wished it could be better, but I could accept how I looked.

I looked different. My hair looked lighter, probably from being bleached by the sun. It was getting crazy long too. If I left it natural and curly, it hung halfway down my back. But if I straightened it, like I had it, it touched the top of my butt. My hair and my bright blue-green eyes were my favorite features of myself. The rest was just, eh.

My boobs were average sized, nothing spectacular about a C cup. My butt was a bit larger than most and made almost entirely of muscle. My legs were skinny and short, just like my arms, and the rest of my body for that matter.

I was perpetually tan though. And after all the time I'd spent outside with my sister, I was as a dark as my favorite chocolate flavored donut from the coffeeshop a few blocks from my house.

I lifted the bottom of my tank top to expose my stomach. It was flat mostly. Just a tiny layer of fat over the muscle.

My hand laid over my stomach and I cocked my head to the other side. I twisted and turned in the mirror. With a huff, I let my shirt fall. Then I looked to my face.

My eyes were bright but a bit tired from having just woke up less than thirty minutes ago. My bangs fell in my face and I brushed them back.

"Ugh." I groaned and leaned closer to the mirror. "So fucking unspectacular."

I turned away and turned the shower on and let the water heat up as I get undressed.

I looked at my back in the mirror before the steam from the shower clouded it up. You could see my ribs a little and each of my vertebrae were visible. Part of me wished my bones didn't show as much, another part begged to see them more clearly.

I stepped into the shower and cringed back as the too hot water hit my cold skin. I turned the temperature down a bit before stepping under the shower head.

Usually I liked to relax and take my time in the shower but today was not the day for that. I just wanted to hurry up and get dressed so I wouldn't have to look at myself.

I finished within ten minutes and quickly dried off and wrapped the towel around myself before stepping back into my bedroom.

I slipped on my favorite pair of purple lace panties and the matching bra before putting on the outfit I'd laid out. Denim shorts, flip flops, Luke's You Complete Mess shirt, and my favorite Chicago beanie.

Raven walked in as I was pulling a comb through my wet hair. "Hi."

"Hey." I said.

"If you look in the mirror while you comb your hair, it tends to look a little better." She said.

I frowned. "The mirror isn't my friend today."

She smiled sadly and grabbed the comb out of my hand. "Then let me help you."

"Thanks." I whispered as she gently combed the tangles out of my hair.

"Do you want me to dry it?" She asked when there were no knots left.

I shook my head. "No. I'm going to let it go natural."

She nodded. "It looks cute when you leave it. I'm pretty sure Luke likes it that way too."

I couldn't help but grin.

"Oh fuck." She said.

"What?" I asked.

"We never called Luke and Michael." She shouted.

"Oh fuck."

She ran to her room and called Mikey as I dialed Luke's number.

"Hey, babe!" He answered on the second ring.

"Hi!" I chirped. "What are you doing?"

"Eating." He said.

I laughed. "When aren't you eating?"

He laughed too. "I'm always hungry, you know this."

"Yeah, babe. I know. You ate an entire movie theater jumbo popcorn by yourself. Then went to get candy. And you ate all of that too." I said, referring to the time we went to the movies to see this lame romantic comedy together.

"You ate all the nachos!" He retorted.

"Because you asked if I wanted anything and I said nachos and you got popcorn and when we were watching the movie I asked if you wanted nachos and you said 'No. I don't want any.' Yeah. You refused the nachos. I tried to share, you eggplant."

He was quiet for a second. "Did you just use eggplant as an insult?"

"Shut up."

"You used eggplant as an insult." He laughed.

"For an entire week you cursed in ice cream flavors." I reminded him.

"Alright, fair enough."

I grinned. "So, what are you doing around three pm tomorrow?"

"Are we talking three pm in Chicago or Sydney?" He asked.

"Sydney." I responded.

"Nothing that I'm aware of. Why? Skype date?" He asked.

I smiled. "I was hoping you would be willing to give me a ride."

"But you are in America." He said.

I facepalmed. Actually and literally facepalmed. "Luke, I need you to pick me up from the airport at three pm tomorrow."

"Oh. Oh! Oh my god. You're coming in?!" He shouted.

"Yeah, Lukey. We're coming in."

He laughed. "Raven obviously just told Michael because I just heard him yelling."

I grinned. "So you guys will be there?"

"Absolutely! We'll even tell Ash and Cal to come, if you want." He said.

"They already know." I admitted.

"YOU TOLD MY BEST MATES BEFORE YOU TOLD ME?!" He screamed.

"It was a surprise, eggplant."

He cracked up. "Stop calling me an eggplant."

"Stop acting like an eggplant." I shot back.

"I miss you." He said quietly.

I smiled. "I miss you too."

"When does your flight leave?" He asked.

"About two hours." I said.

"Could you have waited any longer to tell us?"

"Okay. Well, honestly, it kind of slipped our minds. We were going to tell you like two days ago but we were so excited and busy with packing that we like, didn't." I explained.

"Smooth." He commented.

"Right?" I asked with a small laugh.

"Don't forget to get to the airport and hour early for your flight." He reminded me.

"I know."

"Do you have your passport?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Everything's packed?"

"Yes."

"Toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"All your clothes?"

"Yes."

"Shoes?"

"Yes! Luke, calm down." I laughed.

He chuckled. "I can't wait to see you."

"Same."

"I'll let you get ready. Call me when your flight lands. We'll be waiting at the airport." He said.

"Okay. I'll ask Raven and text you which gate we'll be at and everything."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you." I said and we hung up.

Raven walked in as I was hanging up. "Phoe?"

"Yeah, Rae?" I asked.

She looked like she was about to cry.

I jumped up and hugged her. "What's wrong?"

She hugged back. "Nothing's wrong. I'm so happy."

I squeezed her. "Me too."

She shook her head quickly, willing the tears to go away. "No crying today. Nope."

I laughed. "Exactly. Today is a happy day. No tears allowed."

I glanced down at the outfit she was wearing. A cropped Chicago Bulls tank top, ripped up black denim shorts, black Nike Air hightops, and a grey beanie. "You look great."

She smiled. "Thanks. I tried. You look good too."

Upon looking at my phone screen, I realized we had just over an hour until our flight left. "Fuck. We have to go."

Raven and I scrambled to round up all our luggage and take it out to Mom's car. We were just buckling our seatbelts when Mom sprinted out of the house and got into the car.

She drove us to the airport quickly and followed us inside. We took our luggage to get checked and went back to talk to Mom until we had to go through the last part of security and board.

"I'm gonna miss you." She said and pulled us into a tight hug.

We stood like that for a few minutes before separating.

"You'll come home when you can, right?" Mom asked and we nodded.

"Will you come see us sometime?" Raven asked.

"Absolutely." Mom said.

We smiled and hugged her again.

A woman's voice came over the speaker system and announced that our flight would be boarding.

After sharing a few more hugs and I love yous, Raven and I left our mother to go through the metal detectors and get onto our plane.

"We're going home." Raven whispered as we got our seats on the plane.

I smiled. "Yeah. We are."

Before take-off I texted Luke and told him what gate we would be arriving at before shutting off my phone and leaning my head back against the seat.

Raven and I were both asleep before take off.

I woke up just an hour before we landed and scurried into the bathroom.

I straightened up my hair as best as I could without having my brush and washed my face off before walking back to my seat.

Raven's head was hanging forward and I could tell her neck was going to hurt if she didn't move it soon.

I pushed her head back against the seat but it fell forward again.

So I pushed it back once more, and it fell.

This time she woke up and looked around, seeming a little confused. "Did you touch me?"

"I didn't want you to have a sore neck." I said.

"Don't touch me." She muttered and leaned her head back.

"Don't go back to sleep. We're landing in a little bit." I said.

"Really?" She asked and I nodded.

She stood up and slipped past me to go to the bathroom.

She sat back down just before the pilot announced we would be landing in a few minutes and that we should return to our seats and buckle our seatbelts.

So we did.

Raven grabbed my hand as we had a slightly rough landing. "Oh lord."

I laughed. "Calm down. You're fine."

"I don't like that part. It freaks me out."

"You don't like turbulence or any unexplained movement on planes in general."

She nodded. "Obviously. It's sketchy."

Then it was time to get off the plane.

My heart started hammering in my chest as we filed out.

Raven grabbed my hand as we headed to security again.

I found my red luggage as Raven searched for her black and white bags. We couldn't carry all of them at once so we found the little trollies and piled our bags onto them and I texted Luke that we were coming.

He sent me back a smiley face.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and we hurried down the hallway towards the doors. The boys would be just on the other side.

The automatic doors slid open as we approached and I started looking around as soon as we stepped out.

There were a lot of people around so it was hard to see.

I looked to my left and I saw a head of blonde hair sticking up above everyone else's. Luke.

"Come on." I said and Raven followed me as we squeezed through people. There was a break in the crowd and I saw him.

He stood there in black skinny jeans, a white Drop Dead tee, a black jacket, and a beanie. He held a gorgeous bouquet of flowers in his right hand.

When he saw me, his eyes lit up and he gave me a huge smile.

I abandoned my trolly a few feet away and threw myself into his arms.

His arms immediately went around my waist and he caught me, holding me close to his chest as I wrapped my legs around him.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you." I said back.

I could hear Raven and Michael talking beside me but I just buried my head in Luke's shoulder.

"I missed you so much." I said, tightening my arms around his broad shoulders.

"God, I missed you too." He said.

He placed my feet back on the ground and leaned in for a kiss.

I immediately kissed him and begged myself not to cry. I'd missed him like crazy and I forgot how great it felt to be so close to him.

When we broke apart, he handed me the flowers.

"They're gorgeous, Luke. Thank you." I smiled.

"They're kind of cheesey, but I'm a cheesey guy." He said.

I laughed. "That's what I love about you."

He kissed my forehead. "I love you."

Then I saw Ashton standing a couple feet behind Luke.

"Ash!" I squealed and jumped at him.

He grabbed me a tight hug. "Hey, Phoe."

He tucked me into his chest and I smiled. "I missed you."

"I missed you, sweetheart." He said and kissed the top of my head.

When I stepped away from Ashton, Raven was attached to Calum so I turned to Michael.

He'd died his hair again. "I'm sorry, I don't hug weird guys with green hair."

"Shut the fuck up." He said and gave me a hug.

"I didn't miss you." I teased.

"Good. I didn't miss you either." He said.

I laughed. "You are such a dick."

He grinned. "I know."

Then I finally turned to Calum.

"Cal!" I said, running into his arms.

"Hey! Phoenix, guess what." He said when I wrapped my arms around him.

"Did you rob a bank? Calum, we talked about this." I sighed.

"Nope. But we have pasta at home. Maybe we can make proper spaghetti tonight."

I laughed. "Yes! Oh my god. Hopefully it won't burn this time."

"How did we do that?" He asked.

I shook my head and looked up at him. "I have no idea."

He smiled and gave me one last squeeze before letting go of me.

I turned back to Luke who had retrieved my trolly. "Thanks."

"Let's go home, babe." He said.

He pushed the trolly and I wrapped my arm around his and everyone else followed us outside.

Luke and Michael fit our luggage into the trunk of the car and Ashton got in the driver's seat. Raven sat in the middle in the front, and Michael sat beside her. I sat in the back between Luke and Calum.

Once everyone was in, Ashton started the car and took off.

We pulled up onto the street a few minutes later and I smiled when I saw the house.

When we pulled into the drive, the boys got our luggage while Raven and I sprinted into the house. We flung ourselves onto the sofa and laughed.

That was it. We were finally home.

The guys came inside and laughed when they saw us.

"Plot twist, they missed the sofa more than us." Calum said.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Don't you have to go be naked somewhere?" Raven teased.

"I will take my pants off right here and now. Don't even tempt me." He challenged.

"STRIP." I screamed and he began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Calum, no." Ashton begged, followed by his signature giggle.

"Ashton, I missed your giggle more than most things." I admitted.

He grinned. "Of course you did."

Luke excused himself to the kitchen to get food and I hopped up to follow him. I perched on the counter while he pulled things out of the fridge to make some sandwiches.

"So, I've been thinking." I began and he turned to me briefly to show he was listening before continuing to prepare food. "You turn 18 in four days."

"This is fact." He nodded.

"I have yet to get you a kickass present. I have a fairly good idea of what I want to get and no, I'm not giving you a hint. But, it may be a few days late considering I will probably have to order it. Anyways, I was thinking if that was the case, I could get you like a small pre-present. Would you like that?" I asked.

"Babe, you don't even have to get me anything. You being here is present enough." He said with a small laugh as he cut up a few slices of tomato. "By the way, we don't have bacon so I hope you're okay with a lettuce and tomato sandwich."

I laughed. "It's fine. I'm so hungry I'm fairly sure I would be okay with eating dirt. Anyways, about your party. What did you have planned? Or have you really planned anything?"

"I figured we would all just go out to some clubs and you know, get drunk." He shrugged.

"Okay, so, I'll ask Ashton what he has planned. Because if that is your only idea, you best know Ashton has something up his sleeve." I said.

He smiled. "Ashton does 90% of the planning in this house. You should know this by now. Everyone else just usually goes with it."

I nodded. "True."

"So what did you have planned for this 'pre-present'?" He asked.

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise."

He groaned. "I hate surprises. You hate surprises. Everyone hates surprises. Why are you putting me through this?"

"Because you're turning 18, eggplant."

"I swear to god, if you call me an eggplant one more time, I will pee on all the things you love in this world." He threatened.

I laughed. "Have fun peeing on yourself, eggplant."

He put the knife down and abandoned the sandwiches to turn to me. "I missed you."

"I missed you." I said.

Luke stepped towards me, still towering over me although I was on the counter. I grabbed his hands, so much larger than mine, and squeezed tightly.

He bit his lip and stared at me.

"God damn it, it's so hot when you do that." I blurted and turned red. "I wasn't supposed to say that out loud."

He smirked. "It's hot when you do a lot of things."

I blushed again. "When did you get so confident with your words?"

He shook his head. "I'm not, really. Just with you. A lot of times I shut down and get quiet when I'm nervous around girls. You have the opposite effect. You make me say things I normally wouldn't."

"Are you saying I make you nervous?" I teased, grabbing his belt loops and tugging him closer to me.

He nodded vigorously. "Yes. Very much so."

"You make me nervous, too." I admitted. "But it's this amazing kind of nervous where I feel like my heart's about to beat right out of my chest and my hands shake and my stomach feels tight and it's scary and exciting all at the same time."

His eyes bored into mine and I shivered. His eyes killed me in the best way.

"If you're going to stare at me, can you like not? Because it makes me nervous and also aroused at the same time and that's a weird fucking feeling." I said.

Luke let out a low chuckle and pressed his lips to my cheek.

"Babe." I whined and I felt him smirk before he pressed a chaste kiss to my lips.

He disengaged my hands from his belt loops and went back to making sandwiches and I sat there a little shocked.

"You're a little tease." I chastised.

"Oops." He smirked.

I slipped off the counter and started to walk out of the kitchen but his large hands encircled my waist and placed me deliberately back onto the counter.

"I have to pee." I lied.

"No, you don't." He said.

I groaned. "Lukey."

"Phoenix." He mimicked my tone.

"Would you just make out with me for like two minutes?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Maybe later."

My jaw slackened a little. "Luke Robert Hemmings, so help me god."

He raised an eyebrow. "What? What are you going to do?"

"Don't test me."

"Babe, I live to test you." He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and stared at me.

I grabbed his belt loops again and pulled hard.

He stumbled towards the counter, his hands bracing on the cabinets behind my head.

"Cheeky." He muttered before I knotted my fingers in his hair and kissing him.

His hands went to my hips and I wrapped my legs around him, locking my ankles tightly.

I bit his lip and he groaned when I pulled away.

"Oops." I smirked and let go of him.

He stared at me in much the same way I'd stared at him.

I slipped off of the counter and grabbed the plate of sandwiches and sauntered into the living room, Luke followed a few moments later.

He sat beside me on the sofa and everyone dug into their sandwiches.

When we were done eating, Michael put in a movie I didn't catch the name of and Luke pulled me into his lap.

His hand rested on the inside of my upper thigh and my breath caught.

"Oops."

This boy was going to be the death of me.

~!Hey, guys. This chapter was fairly long and all over the place and a lot happened but I enjoyed it, I guess. The next chapter is going to focus on Raven and her relationship with the boys so I hope you're excited for that. Thanks for reading. Review pretty please, they make me smile and encourage me to write faster. Love you guys! -Aly!~