Poignant

/ˈpoin(y)ənt/

adjective

evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret

The next morning I woke to arms wrapped around my waist and mine wrapped around Riley's. The events of the night before were still distinctly in my memory. Even the ones I was half asleep while creating.

I turned my body towards the one of the now named boy. Luke. The name fit him. He looked absolutely stunning in the twitching light above us. His blonde hair had grown out on his chin to create stubble and it only made him more masculine. My hand came up to his face, gently touching it and running my finger against any crease in his forehead. It was hard to decide if I liked him better with his eyes open or closed because he looked so beautiful either way.

The concrete wall was heard rumbling a few minutes before it opened to show a concerned Michael and Ashton. I unraveled Luke's muscular arms from me and stood, grabbing Riley in my arms as I did so. When I approached Ashton, he looked as if he could cry, tears building up in his eyes as he looked at his sleeping sister laying in my arms.

He picked her up and kissed all over her head, grateful to have her back in his arms after thinking he would never see her again.

"Thank you," is all he said to me, but I understood. He was wanting time with his sister and I was not about to deny him that.

Silence came between me and Michael as he just stared at me, then shifted his gaze to Luke who was still lying with his arm extended to where I was only seconds ago. The tension in the air was enough to choke someone.

"Don't worry," Michael spoke, catching my attention and causing me to spin on my heel to face him. "I won't tell anyone about you two."

I was confused at first, but then realization dawned on me. He thought? No way. A laugh came from my mouth, receiving a questioning look from Michael.

"We aren't, like a couple," I explained to him. "He was just keeping me warm last night."

Michael shook his head at me, beginning to turn to enter the bunker again.

"Luke isn't protective over many people," he spoke over his shoulder, continuing to walk away.

"Why not?" I asked him, taking a few steps forward as Michael visibly tensed at my question.

"More people you care about, the more people you fail in the long run," he vaguely responded before going inside the bunker, leaving me outside with Luke still asleep on the ground.

What was he talking about? I wondered to myself as I stared at the tired boy in front of me. He looked so peaceful as he slept, the worry lines etched in his face smoothing out to reveal his young state.

Sleep took over my body as I laid back down on the blanket sprawled out on the concrete. Luke's arm wrapped around me when he sensed my arrival, causing butterflies to erupt in my stomach as I melted into his chest.

'This is what it feel like to belong,' I said in my mind, never once having a sense of belonging. The past few days of living in the tiny colony had changed me more than I would ever know.

His arm only tightened when I tried to move again, making it impossible for me to get out of his iron tight grasp. His face looked relaxed as he slept but his arms and back were tense as if he was still waiting for someone to come out and attack him.

My arms came up to his biceps and began to massage them gently, working away the stress knots in them despite his arm not releasing me from his grip. When his bicep was fully relaxed, my hands move to his back, which I shouldn't have done.

When my hands came in contact with the skin on his back, he freaked. His once relaxed arms tensed around me, his legs untangled with mine, and my arms were pinned above my head before I could take in what was going on.

His blue eyes opened, full of grogginess but still fierce, looking as if he could kill whoever woke him. At first they filled with confusion when he saw me, but then the memories of last night obviously came to his mind because he looked slightly embarrassed as he moved his body from above mine to lie beside me.

"Sorry," I muttered quietly, embarrassed of my actions. He didn't acknowledge me at all, but instead moved his body to face the other side. "Luke-" I began, but was cut off by his husky, deep, morning voice.

"Forget my name, I shouldn't have told you anyways," he snapped. His back stayed facing away from me, and tears came to my eyes at his harsh tone. His attitude was rude and I couldn't decide if he was acting as if I was a prisoner because he didn't want to get close to me like Michael said or if I was just plainly not his friend.

"C'mon Luke. We're friends, right?" I asked him, touching arm to try and get his attention, but when I did come in contact with him, he pulled his shoulder away from my touch.

"We are not friends," he spat out, moving farther away from me. When he reached a good amount of distance, he turned around to face me, daggers shooting to me from his cold blue eyes. "And we never will be."

His body slumped to the ground as sleep overtook him, but I couldn't let sleep cocoon me as it has him. Tears welled up in my eyes. To think I thought he cared.

I stood from the makeshift beds on the floor, and took the bag of supplies lying next to me before entering the bunker to find Michael. His red hair wasn't hard to miss across the room. I walked over to him, swallowing down the sobs threatening to break free from my throat. When Michael saw me, the smile on his face dropped almost instantly.

"Excuse me," he asked-more like demanded- to the adults he was talking to. He made his way over to me, taking longer strides to get to me quicker. "Lissa, what's wrong?"

I shook my head, indicating that I don't want to talk about it. "Is it safe to go back to my room?" The words tumbled out of my mouth quickly, but somehow he could still process them.

"Yea, we are just keeping everyone down here for the time being, but if you want to go up, you can." I nodded my head at his answer and began turning on my heel to head out until his arm grabbed mine just as Luke had yesterday when he spoke to me. "Lis-" he started.

I raised my hand and shook my head again, this time speaking the words while indicating them. "I don't wanna talk about it."

He nodded his fiery red head and embraced me in a bear hug. My hands latched onto his shirt near his shoulders as I allowed a sob to rip through me, unable to take the pressure of holding it back any longer. It wasn't a romantic embrace at all, neither would we want it to be. It was a brother and sister like hug from the TV shows I would watch, when one would be angry or sad and the other one would comfort them.

"Shh," he whispered, gently stroking my hair.

Despite his best efforts to calm me down, nothing did. I was a sobbing mess, falling apart in his arms as he so desperately tried to piece me back together.

I pulled back from the hug, trying to make myself recover. My hands still held Michael shoulders for support, but I was mostly supporting my own weight.

"I'm going to go," I mumbled, standing more upright and trying to turn my heel as I once had before.

"Wait," he called, again gripping my arm. "Who made you upset?" His eyes held a spark like a protective older brother's in the movies did when the girl had her heart broken.

"Ask Quiffie," I told him, resorting to not even calling him by his real name. Michael's eyes widen to the size of saucers. I pulled my arm out of his lose grip and began walking away. "Thanks for the help Michael," I called back to him, over my shoulder.

"Call me Mikey," he shouted back to me, putting on a smile for me as I gave him a thumbs up.

He put his thumbs up back at me before I turned my body forward and made my way back to my room where I collapsed into a puddle of tears when I arrived and fell asleep on the soft surface.

Michael's POV

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My fists clenched and unclenched as I make my way toward the door of the bunker. Luke just ruined any chance he had with Melissa because of his jerk attitude, and he made the person whom, despite only knowing for one day, I thought of as a little sister cry. He was going to explain, and now.

When I reached Luke, he was sitting up on the blanket he was previously sleeping on, staring at Melissa's now empty blanket. He kept looking down after staring at it for a while, only to look up again as if she would appear just because he looked away.

"She's mad, isn't she?" he asked, not even looking over at me.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity, but stayed where I was standing against the wall. "I would be mad if I were her." I paused, letting my words sink in to Luke's now defeated state of mind. "But she's not."

He looked up at me with slightly bloodshot eyes from crying and a confused look covering his blotchy face. I sighed, but not out of pity; out of anger and frustration.

"She is sad. Not mad in the least. She's just sad because she was falling for you, and any girl is sad when the guy they happen to fall for turns out to be a douche without the capability to show any emotion!" I began to raise my voice near the end of the sentence.

"I get it Mikey," Luke mumbled, trying to get out of my speech.

"No, Luke, I don't think you do get it," I spat back at him, tired of him trying to get out of all his life problems. "She came in crying to me. She can't even call you by your name!"

Luke stood to his feet and came charging toward me, his fists clenching together in one hand. "I do understand," he pointed his finger at me, "I understand perfectly that you were there and I wasn't. There! You win!"

I shook my head at his childish behavior. "You let your walls down only to build them back up. And you need to grow up. You aren't that thirteen year old kid anymore, and don't expect me to pity you just because you lost your family," I spat in his face. A scowl tugged on his lips, but I continue anyway.

"Everyone here lost their family, so grow a pair and learn to stand on your own Hemmings!" I screamed at him mercilessly, staring hard into his defeated blue irises. "I'm sick of your-"

I was cut off by a punch landing on my jaw with extreme force. Luke stood above me as I fell to the ground, his face still holding a scowl. I sent him a glare, getting back up on my feet. Without an ounce of hesitation, I landed my fist against his cheek, on his upper jaw.

He didn't fall, but it was obvious he was shocked by my actions as his head slightly flings to the side. Before it registered, we were in a full out brawl on the floor.

Luke was throwing punches at me, trying to land one in my stomach, but was failing miserably as I deflected each one. My arm wrapped around his neck and held him in a headlock as I landed punches in his gut. Groans of pain were released from his mouth as I continued to land punches and kneeing him in the stomach.

Seconds later, Bob came running out with Calum following behind him in shock. Bob ran up to us and separated us from each other, making my torture on Luke stop short. Calum's arms wrapped around my waist, preventing me from hurting him any more as Bob held him, his lip bleeding and blood coming from his mouth as he coughed.

"Grow up! And stop acting like hoodlums!" the older man screamed at us. I rolled my eyes at this as I relaxed in Calum's grip.

Luke, however, still struggled to get out of Bob's hold, trying to come after me.

"We have a meeting in ten minutes and I expect you both to be cleaned up and there by then, understood?!?" he asked, screaming so loud I'm surprised we still have our hearing.

We nodded, scared of what he would do if we spoke. He nodded his head and let Luke go as Calum let me free. Both of us head up to our rooms and clean up before making our way back to the meeting room, not talking to each other at any point.

When we get there Ashton, Calum, and Bob are occupying their seats, but there was an extra chair between me and Calum. In the seat sat a person I would have never thought would be in a strategic meeting, but apparently she was.

"First order of business is to get Miss Jennings to join the Core," Bob announced.

Melissa looked bored, like everything he was saying was going in one ear and out the other, and my eyes widened to the size of saucers at this revelation.

He wanted her on the team.

Edited: 17 October 2016