A/N: In case it's not clear, this skips forward a few weeks :) I'm gonna be skipping around with time a lot, so I hope you don't get too confused!

Chapter 18: "Would you stop touching me? You're giving me a rash."

"Oh my god, Richard, how could you set me up for another abortion without telling me?" I heard Mum yell as the front door slammed shut loudly.

"Delilah, you better be home early because the operation took less time than planned!" Dad warned right back, not bothering to hide the rage in his voice.

I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to concentrate on my Calculus homework now that they were going at it again. I couldn't believe that Dad had actually had the balls to go ahead and tell Mum that she had a doctor's appointment when he'd really scheduled an abortion. Again.

"Richard, you now that I'm four months along! Abortion after three months is illegal!" Mum screeched. I winced, my hands itching to clutch anything and fling it at the wall.

"Then why did you cancel when I signed you up last month?" I rolled my eyes. He was seriously relentless. I didn't understand why it didn't click with him that Mum was having the baby, regardless of what he thought. Those two were both so goddamned stubborn.

"My god, Richard, I refuse to abort and you know that! Why do you have to keep doing this?" I could hear how Mum's voice was beginning to quiver. This was around the time that Dad would quit, knowing that her wonked-up hormones would make her cry easier than before.

"Why are you doing this, Delilah?" No, Dad, stop. My hands curled into tight fists, my nails digging into my palms at the sound of his hard, cold voice, devoid of the usual anger and desperation. "Why are you insisting on keeping this thing? You're breaking this family apart! You're not the one who's going to be taking care of the baby! You're going to be-" Don't you dare finish that sentence, Dad.

"I'm the one breaking this family apart?" Mum's voice was steadily climbing, growing shrilled and higher by the second. "This family was never even fixed to begin with! When was the last time you called Seth voluntarily? Did you even know that his wife is pregnant? Did you even know that he's married? What about Jordan, huh? I don't think I've ever seen you two interact normally! How old is she, huh? How old is she, Richard?" I couldn't take it. I couldn't take it anymore. I was going insane. 

"When are you ever going to realise that I'm like that because I love you?" You certainly weren't acting like it, Dad. My god, please, no more arguing, no more fighting. Please, why wasn't it ending? I couldn't take it. I just couldn't.

I was shoving my books to the floor and stalking to the stairs before I even realised it. "If you love me so much-"

"Stop." I didn't even recognise the aloofness of my voice, the emotionless void it had, the way it seemed to freeze the very room.

Dad's face was bright red and his greying hair was literally standing on end as he breathed heavily, glaring darkly at the ground. At the sight of me, Mum's face immediately paled in guilt. "Darling..."

"No, that's enough," I said crisply, so sharp that she actually flinched back. I would've felt bad it I wasn't just so tired of it all. Tired of the fighting, the crying, the insomnia.

"Jordan, do not talk to your parents that way," Dad responded harshly, finally speaking to me for the first time in days.

With that one command, I broke. "Don't talk to each other that way!" I snapped back. "Mum's going to be gone in five months, Dad, and all you've done for the past three is scream at each other! If you love her so much, why don't you show it instead of acting like such an asshole?"

"Darling!" Mum gasped.

Suddenly, it was all too much. I had a splitting headache, a broken heart, and a clouded mind from all this negativity. I had to get out of there before I went absolutely mad.

"I'm going out," I declared, stalking to the front door and grabbing my coat and purse off of the hook.

"Darling, please," Mum cried pleadingly, but I refused to look at her, because if I saw all the pain on her face, I might just break down. Dad simply stood stock still, an impassive expression on his face.

I'd never hated him so much.

I glazed over them with my eyes and took a deep breath. "Until you two get yourselves sorted, I'm out of here," I told them firmly. Without a backwards glance, I wrenched open the door and sauntered outside, ignoring my mum's crying and my dad's silence.

After all, there was only so much I could handle.


***

"Fancy seeing you here."

I looked up from under the shade of my tree, not even startled when my eyes came in contact with Luke's twinkling hazel eyes. He looked really happy, as usual, his golden skin glowing with health.

And, as if on cue, my heart stuttered in my head at the sight of him, not used to these strange feelings, even after harbouring them for weeks.

"Alright, Luke?" I greeted, unable to offer him a smile. For the past two hours, I'd been sitting under my tree, just thinking about my screwed up life. My parents - so in love for so many years - were on the verge of a divorce barely months before my mum's due date.

Luke tossed me a careless grin and plopped down beside me, deliberately knocking our shoulders together. Without even thinking, I shoved him away from me, almost smiling when he began to whine.

I'd thought being in a fake relationship with him would make things awkward between us, but, weirdly enough, they hadn't. We were just the same as before, albeit with holding hands during school.

At school, we were constantly being hounded by girls and boys alike over whether our relationship was real or not. And why wouldn't they? Up until a couple of months ago, I was constantly at his throat, and the entire student body knew that. I mean, the President making a boyfriend out of one of the most untouchable guys in school? It was almost scandalous.

Plus, the people at school were complete airheads.

So, at school, we were "that" couple. The one always talked about, always stared at, always hounded out to do PDA...it sucked. I mean, sure, it had accomplished what Luke wanted - to stop all those ridiculous confessions he'd had to deal with before. But it still sucked. And it was hard.

Knowing that our whole relationship was fake, despite how I felt when our hands touched, or when he casually kissed my temple, or when he gave me that heart-melting smile...it hurt. I knew I wasn't good enough for him, but it still hurt like a bitch. A stupid, fucking bitch.

However, at home, we were still Luke-and-Jordan, the most oblivious and stubborn teenagers of the century.

We hadn't actually kissed lip-to-lip yet. I'd carefully explained to Luke that lip-locking crossed the line of how far I was willing to go with this. So whenever we were asked to kiss as proof, Luke would just kiss my cheek, palm, or forehead. Platonic kisses that probably meant nothing to him but made me turn fifty shades of red.

"Jordy-kins, are you okay?" Luke's deep, probing voice shook me out of my reverie and I glanced up at his worried expression.

"I'm fine," I responded faintly, barely audible even to my own ears.

He shook his head and turned so that he was facing me. "Bullshit," he said, his eyes narrowed in suspicious. "What happened, beautiful? And don't even think about lying to me, because I'll know." The scary thing was, it was true. For some reason, he could read me as well as I could read him, and it scared me shitless. What if he already knew how I felt about him?

"Mum and Dad," I whispered as a way of explanation. For the past few weeks, since we'd begun "dating," my parents' fights had steadily escalated. Rita knew all about them, because Mum would alway come sobbing to her place after a particularly nasty dispute. And so, by default, Luke understood my family problems as well.

Luke's hard expression softened and he made a small noise of exasperation. Before I could figure out what he was thinking, he'd gathered me in his arms and pulled me onto his lap, neatly tucking my head under his chin.

My heart was beating faster than I could've believed possible, and so I decided to cover it up with some sass. "Would you stop touching me? You're giving me a rash," I quipped, completely lying through my teeth. Truthfully, it felt like Heaven on Earth to feel his strong arms encircling me with his warmth.

"Would you just...just let me hold you for awhile?" he murmured, his hot breath tickling the skin of my ear.

My breath caught in my throat at his words and I let out a deep, mournful sigh. Luke was like a drug - one look, one word, one touch and my mind was wiped completely blank. He was saving me without even realising what he was doing. "Who knew that you were capable of such poetry?" I joked, trying to ease the heavy air that had settled over us.

"Poetry?" he repeated, highly amused. "Well I am great at all things. Of course that means I'm a poet as well."

I leant back away from his chest and smacked his arm. "That ego of yours is going to make you explode one day," I stated matter-of-factly.

Luke rubbed the spot where I hit him and pouted, and as soon as I saw it, it instantly melted the hardness off of my face. "You're so mean!" he complained, shoving me off of his lap.

"Hey!" I cried in surprise, my ass hitting the ground hard. "What the fuck, Luke!"

"You're the one who was saying that you were allergic to my sexy touch!"

I paused in the middle of my scowl to stare at him incredulously. "Did you just say...your sexy touch?"

He stared back. "Do you have a problem with that?"

My eyes widened slightly, my down-turned mouth twitching up at the corners. "Kind of?" I replied, unsure how to respond. "What the hell Luke, do you even listen to the rubbish that comes out of your own mouth? Sexy touch? What is wrong with you?"

"Hey, I may be loony, but at least I got you to smile, right?" He smiled softly at me, making my knees quake slightly. My eyes widened further when I realised that I was, in fact, smiling, and it was all thanks to Luke.

I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't even believe this," I muttered to myself. Why was it that he had such an effect on me? I knew that I liked him, but I didn't realise that I was really like that around him.

Just one short conversation with him and my completely shitty mood was turned upside down.

I didn't realise that I was staring at him until I blinked and saw that he was watching me also. And was it just me, or was he leaning closer-

"1, 2, 3 do you see what I do? Truth or dare, yes I double dare you!" My phone sang out my ringtone. I closed my eyes in annoyance and let out a huff of air as I answered, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hello?" I replied, slapping away Luke's tickling hands. A short giggle escaped my lips and I clamped them shut in order to listen to whoever was speaking on the phone.

"Darling." My mum's voice came through, breathless and teary. Those better be joyful tears, I swear to God-


"Mum?" I said, startled at the tone of her voice. "What's wrong? Where's Dad?"

"Dad-" She stopped mid-sentence, her voice too choked to continue. "H-he..."

"Mum," I said firmly. Luke, noticing the no-nonsense look on my face, widened his eyes in worry and quit his teasing fingers in favour of watching me closely. "What happened?"

"Y-your father darling..."

"What about him?" I swear, if he had hurt her-

"He's gone."

______________

Hallo my loves! Here's the next chapter as promised :) I hope you like it!