TO SAY that Lennon was upset would be an understatement. Luke had every right to be upset with her. She knew that and she was going to respect whatever came out of this situation.

School felt slow and conversation with people felt even slower. Lennon messed up and she knew that.

She didn't know if being sad like this was okay. She didn't feel heartbroken and maybe because she knew she was at fault. Most times she felt like she was overreacting then she would try and do something productive which then made her feel like she didn't care about the situation, which she knew she cared about.

She didn't know what to do with herself. She wanted to know what he was thinking. She did most of the talking last night and he really just stood there and listened.

"Anything from him?"

Lennon peaked behind her locker, her glasses slowly falling down the bridge of her nose. Carrie held a small smile as she waited for her answer.

Carrie decided to stay at Lennon's last night. Never in her life had Carrie been in a house so "small", she was use to the bigger things in life. The first thing she said when walking inside the Sunder household was, "This is very cute."

"No."

Carrie let her smile drop. She thought that Luke would've at least called the girl, then again, Carrie also thought the boy was living.

Lennon drew her attention back towards her locker, truly staring at nothing.

Carrie couldn't really read Lennon at this point. She tried her best to put herself in the girls shoes but she couldn't. She didn't even know if everyone would experience the same soulmate treatment like Lennon and Luke.

Would Carrie's soulmate sing to her or would they just be someone she looked at and instantly just know as soon as they said or did something in front of her?

"Hey, he said a couple of days alone right? It's not like he's completely gotten rid of you."

Lennon looked back at Carrie, "Not- not saying he's going to get rid of you. Like, not rid of you like your trash. We just don't know what he's going to do is all."

She was right. She didn't know what Luke was going to do. She was completely thinking of the worst, horrible, she would know, but she put herself in this situation, which she also knew.

Carrie was the first to knockout last night. Leaving Lennon up with her thoughts.

What if Luke pushed her away? She told Luke she liked him and he said they needed time to think alone. Luke never let the words, "I like you" or anything similar leave his mouth.

He heard it. He thought he could've been dreaming because he had felt the same way, he knew he felt that way, but Caleb had gotten his grip back on Luke's words and no matter how much Luke fought him off. He couldn't let the words leave his mouth.

So, if Luke never said how he felt about Lennon to her face, of course she was going to feel some type of way. Of course she was going to feel some type of rejection.

She pushed her glasses up and fixed her already messy bun. She wasn't going for the "I'm sad" look, but her facials didn't help, no matter how much Carrie tried with Lennon's outfit.

"Wear something nice today. It will probably bring you out of your funk." Carrie told her early that morning.

For sure Lennon felt nice, but she didn't feel that great.

"Look, I know you're sad. You've been sad all night, but you need to get your mind off the situation until Luke is ready to talk."

Lennon shut her locker and the sound of the bell rang.

"Yeah, maybe chemistry will do that."

Lennon did need to get her mind off of Luke. She had work that night and if Patterson was going to be on her mind while making people's coffee she might as well start calling on all the burn marks she would receive.

She was working on one of the busiest and most hectic of days. Her job, a literal small café, was hosting their annual singing night. Tons of record executives were going to be there to scout out any new talents.

They decided to put Lennon out there on one of the busiest and most hectic day. Hopefully chemistry would get her thinking about other things.

Spoiler: It did not.

LENNON WASN'T a baker. She will never be a baker. She was glad cake mix with instructions existed.

Lennon, if being honest, hated her job sometimes. She was asked to make cupcakes for tonight's events and she was truly scared to say no. She didn't want to be fired.

She always thought baking would be fun. It would've been fun if her thoughts weren't running a mile a minute.

She held the bag of frosting in her hands. Preparing to do her absolute best to try and decorate said cupcakes to the best of her ability.

"Looks delicious."

She looked up. She, at this point, wasn't spooked by the voices she heard.

Alex looked down at the mess of front of them.

"We can only hope."

Alex knew her demeanor was off. Luke didn't spill much from last night. Only saying that he just wanted some sleep and that he didn't feel like himself while talking to her.

Something along the lines of, "She knew." and "I didn't want to make her cry."

Though both Alex and Reggie wanted to ask Luke what happened in full detail, it was best to just put it off until he was ready to talk about it.

"Um, can we talk?"

She set the bag of frosting down on table. It was already half empty and she still had what felt like hundreds more to cover. If she knew she had to make her own frosting, she would've told her dad to stay a little longer to help.

She honestly couldn't listen to what Alex had to say if she wanted to get the cupcakes decorated, drive to work, and work up until then end of the last act. She was busy. She needed a break.

"If this is about Luke, he doesn't want to speak to me right now. I've gotta respect that right?"

She bent down to pick up a bigger bowl. She really hated this job sometimes.

"But maybe you're the person he needs right now."

She sighed, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know what happened between you and Luke last night. What I do know is that you're his soulmate and you're connected." Alex started, "It's his birthday today, and Julie is pretty upset with him and us for not showing up to the dance. She called him selfish and just left. We know Luke can be hard to work with, but he has his reasons. I know you know about the song. The one about Emily."

"I do." Lennon answered, "How could I not?"

"She's really important to Luke. I just wanted to know if you wanted to see who Emily is?"

Emily was obviously a important person on Luke's life. Lennon had heard mumbles of her name by Luke on a handful of occasions, most likely writing the song that Julie had read early. Lennon had only heard in it's entirety twice.

"I don't know, Alex. He doesn't-"

"He does. Trust me. We'll talk to him, but I think this is important."

LENNON AND Julie peaked behind the taller plants as they looked inside the Patterson household. Luke sitting on the counter, crying as he watched every footstep of the people inside.

"So, Emily's his mom?" Julie questioned.

"Yeah." Alex answered, "Yeah, Luke comes here a lot."

"He thinks we don't know, but... we've been following him." Reggie said, "All he does is just hang out like this and watch them. They never really do anything though."

"They're having cake. That's something." Julie said.

"It's a- it's a birthday cake. For Luke."

"I never knew Luke was hurting this much."

"Yeah. It's even worse because when he died, he... left on bad terms. You know, his parents didn't want their seventeen year old in a rock band, so... he just left. He never got the chance to make up with them." Alex explained.

"That's why Luke was so angry. If Trevor had given Luke credit for writing all the songs, then... his parents would've known his dream was worth chasing."

"They would've been so proud."

The four of them watched as Luke, along with his parents, blew out the singular candle on topic of the cake.

"We know how bad it hurts whenever someone that should've had your back... completely lets you down. We never meant to make you feel that way."

"Julie, we love our band, and Luke does too. Please give us another chance."

"And Lennon, he doesn't want to leave on a bad note with you. If... if something happens, he doesn't want to leave with a bad foot with you." Alex explained, "Trust me, we know why you kept it a secret. Luke knows you had a good reason to keep this a secret."

"He really likes you, Lennon. He doesn't want to lose whatever relationship you guys have." Reggie added.

"We know you blame yourself for what happened, but Luke said he doesn't even remember saying he wanted time away from you. At least, whenever you're both ready, listen." Alex said.

LEAVING ON a bad note with your mother wasn't something Lennon could relate to.

The only thing Lennon remembered ( or chose to remember ) from her mother's last couple of breaths was holding her mother's hand. Her head resting against the hospital bed as she mother told her stories about what she could've done. Things she didn't think she could do. Things she wanted Lennon to do.

"Happiness comes in different forms. I'm glad you're one of mine."

Lennon kept that quote closer to her. Her mother told her that all the time. She always, always thought about the things that made her smile, even if it was faint.

Sometimes that was a hard thing to do. Some days she could easily pick one of her favorite moments of her life and just smile on the spot. Other times, it was hard. Hard to pick what she felt like was a good memory. Sometimes her mind would twist it to make it seem like it wasn't good at all of that it didn't happen.

Lennon stood back in her kitchen, blank expression resting on her face as she coated the cupcakes with frosting.

One of them sitting on the side. The styrofoam, fondant cover cupcake sat on the side. It was close enough for her to grab. If Luke came today, uf Luke came tomorrow, if Luke doesn't come at all, the year long decoration was for him.

She looked over at her laptop. The song quickly changing. The same slowed pace as the sound of the piano began playing around the area.

TOP ONE HUNDRED PLUS THAT I CRY TO
number eight: latch acoustic - sam smith
favorite line: "i'm so encaptured, got me wrapped up in your touch."

Luke's relationship with his mother probably meant more to him than life itself and if he could take that night back he most likely would.

Lennon knew she would do anything to just laugh at Casper with her mother again. To dance around to John Lennon again. She could understand losing a loved one.

She couldn't understand losing loved one and not saying sorry.

She could understand why Luke missed out of the dance. She knew he was angry with Trevor and he had every right to be angry. Trevor had claimed everything as his own and honestly Luke didn't know if there was anything he could do beside be a ghost in Julie's band.

LUKE HAD poofed back into the garage. The band practicing. Julie saying she didn't want to lose the band after losing so much and wishing Luke a happy birthday.

"Now grab your guitar. We've got to practice." Julie smiled.

"Uh, but- but first, what's going on with you and Lennon?" Alex asked.

Alex and Reggie, to the best of their ability, explained to Julie everything that they knew about the situation going on between the two soulmates.

"It's nothing you guys have to worry about."

"Luke, I know you're not a talk about your feelings type of guy sometimes, but you and Lennon have been joint to the hip since meeting, don't you think she kept this from you for a reason?" Julie asked.

Luke looked down at his guitar before sighing, "I just don't know how we can make us work. I mean, she told me she liked me and I said that we needed time alone-"

Julie's eyes widen, "Wait? Wait? What?" She questioned, "Lennon said she liked you and you needed time alone? Did you even say you like her back?"

"I wasn't thinking! Okay, I mean I was there and then I wasn't. I don't know what happened last night."

It was obvious to everyone around that Luke cared about Lennon. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Lennon knew Luke cared about her and Luke knew Lennon cared about him. Luke didn't want to hurt Lennon. Luke didn't want to see the girl crying over something that the truly wasn't that upset about after hearing why she kept it to herself and even before saying anything, Luke was that upset. He just wanted to know why she didn't tell him.

"Luke, you need to talk to her." Alex said.

"I mean, think about it man, knowing Lennon, she wouldn't want to intentionally hurt you. Let alone herself with keeping this to herself." Reggie added.

"Band practice can wait. Lennon cannot." Julie smiled softly.

Luke sat his guitar down and poofed from the garage and into the Sunder household.

There he stood, behind Lennon in the kitchen. The sound of the same Sam Smith song that could be heard throughout the household playing in loop in the kitchen.

When Lennon made the playlist she wasn't joking. It made her cry every single time. Sometimes it was good tears, sometimes bad tears. It didn't matter. She cried every time. This time around she wasn't feeling anything as the tears prickled her eyes.

Her head resting against the counter as she held a lighter in one hand and placed a candle on top of a cupcake with another.

Luke watched her every step. From when she lit the candle and when she turned around and faced him.

"Happy birthday."

- lucy has something to say!!

(word count: 2463 two thousand four hundred sixty-three)

lowkey hate this but it's fine.

if i see charlie grind on the floor one more time i will cry i am SICK of that video :)

i was gonna have luke and lennon argue but no. i would hate that :)

the ross lynch/austin moon obsession is coming back and yes, it is an issue :)

bye :)