*Laurel's P.O.V*

"Hey, dad? Do you mind if I borrow your car for a couple hours?" Luke asks Andrew in next morning after the wedding.

"Where are you going?" Andrew asks him, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Somewhere, with Laurel. It's a surprise" He glances at me winking, and I swear I think my legs won't be able to keep me standing.

"I think it's running out of gas so perhaps you'll need to stop at a gas station."

"No problem. Laurel, get a bag and put some clothes on it. Wear bikinis." He turns to me.

"Are we going to the beach?"

"No, silly. To the desert, haven't you ever swum in the sand?"

I whisper a fuck you at Luke and he smirks. I quickly head back to my room and get a bag, putting a red shirt and shorts, picking up a bikini and putting it on.

When I leave my room Luke is waiting for me sitting on the couch.

"I'm ready for the desert" I joke as he stands up.

We get to his dad's car and drive to one incredibly beautiful beach after stopping at the gas station.

"Wow." I gasp. "I can't find anything else to say, this is just... it's wonderful"

"This is Bondi beach. Not your ordinary swimming desert, right?" Luke mocks.

We hop out of the car and step on the sand. The warm breeze hits me, running through my hair. I take a deep breath and a good look at the ocean in front of me.

I love the fact that it's summer in Australia.

It doesn't take long until Luke and I are in the sea, throwing water at each other like two kids. I glance at the sand, where a few surfers are running.

"I wish I could surf." I admit. "It must be so cool."

"I can" Luke proudly smiles at me. "I could teach you sometime."

"Calum told me you can barely stand on top of the surfboard" I raise an eyebrow, teasingly.

"What does he know, anyway?" He rolls his eyes. "I'm one hell of a surfer. I would show you but I don't want to leave you alone."

Also back on the sand, I spot dozens of people fully dressed, holding something in their hands and pointing at us.

Freaking cameras.

"Luke," I turn to face the horizon. "there are a lot of paparazzi back there. What are we gonna do?"

Luke looks at them and then turns to me, sighing. After that something seems to click inside him and he smirks at me.

"Well, let's give them something to photograph."

And with that, he pulls me by the waist and kisses me deeply.

I'm truly surprised.

And I'm also overwhelmed.

I grab his hair to pull him closer to me, and he deepens the kiss. I don't know what's wrong with Luke, he never did that and I thought he never would.

I pull away, breathless.

"I'm worried that waves are gonna hit us." I say and he chuckles, running his thumb over my cheek. "Oh, and sharks. White sharks. Also rays, jellyfish and whatever else that might be under these waters waiting to kill us."

"What about the Little Mermaid?" He raises his eyebrows. "Scared of her too? Not everything in Australia wants to kill you."

"You don't know that. They might want to eat me, I may taste good."

"True, I don't. But I would if you let me taste you" He smirks.

My heart races and my legs shake.

"Fuck" I curse, starting to laugh, nervously. This is something I do when I'm extremely ashamed or embarrassed. And after laughing I become as red as a tomato.

Which I am now.

Luke laughs and kisses the tip of my nose.

"Laurel, sweetheart, it was a joke, I'm just messing with you, don't be uncomfortable."

"I know, babe" I frown, playfully punching his chest.

Why is there a part of the feeling crushed because it's a joke?

"What's that? A pool? Right by the beach?" I inquire, looking at some spot away from us.

"Yeah, probably" Luke responds, glancing at the paparazzi, still on the sand. "They won't leave. Not while we are here. I'm sorry, I didn't know they would show up"

"They might have been following us since the gas station" I shrug. "There's nothing to apologize for... actually, why don't we give them more material?"

His eyes wide open at me and I smirk, kissing him again.

Shortly after we are out of the sea. Paparazzi start asking who I was, why I was always with Luke and, as always, where A is. We put on our clothes and swiftly drive to McDonald's hoping they aren't able to stalk us anymore.

Everything they said about McDonald's in Australia? True.

This shit looks like a real restaurant, with huge meals and all. We order and as we wait some fans stop by to ask for Luke's autograph. They glance at me but don't give me much attention.

"Let's play a game" Luke proposes, joining his hands on top of the table. "We've known each other for quite some time and I still think there's so much for me to discover about you and vice versa. So we could do a question and answer game"

"Okay" I beam. "I'm in."

"So, what's your favorite color?"

I raise my eyebrows.

"Is this the kind of question you're gonna ask?"

"Everything is on. You can ask whatever you want to and I want to know what your favorite color is." He insists.

"Okay, it's blue. Yours?"

"Blue as well. Cat or dog person?"

"Cat."

"You can't be serious."

We start discussing about how much Luke hates cats and how adorable I find them.

"My turn now" I say. "What if we play 'Never have I ever'?"

"What is that?"

"You raise your hand, five fingers up. I'm gonna say something and if you've done that before you put one finger down until they are all that way. Ready?"

Luke and I raise our hands and he begins.

"Never have I ever kissed more than 7 people on the same day."

I blush, remembering that one time I was in high school and got so drunk that I ended up kissing 8 guys at a party. Not that I'm proud of it, but they were college boys and hot. Well, most of them.

I contract my thumb and Luke laughs, surprised.

"It was once, no judgement. Now me. Never have I ever gone to a strip club" I raise my eyebrows. Luke clears his throat and bend one finger down,
chuckling.

"The perks of being on tour" He winks and I roll my eyes, giggling. "My turn. Never have I ever asked Laurel on a proper date"

I let my hand fall on the table, gasping.

"What?"

"Yeah. I was thinking about it yesterday, like, we've hung out so many times but I never actually said 'Hey Laurel, let's go on a date; you and I'. And I thought, I don't know, that it would be cool." He shrugs, glancing at me.

I feel like I could melt at any minute.

"There's a concert tomorrow night. ACDC. I know you like them. It's been a long time since their last performance so I'm guessing it could be fun." He grabs my hand over the table, smiling at me. "During the day we could go to the zoo or anything like that so you can see the kangaroos and the koalas. I would like to show you some other places as well. I mean, if you want to."

"Would I ever not want to?" I crack a huge smile. "That sounds awesome."

"Great!" He chuckles. "You're gonna have a good time, I promise."

"When I'm with you it's always a good time, anyway"

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