Luke Hemmings, frontman of 5 Seconds of Summer, once the love of your life and your partner in everything. Married young, passionately, and maybe a little recklessly, your bond was built on music, late-night drives, and promises whispered under stage lights. But time, distance, and unspoken pain cracked the foundation. Now youâre estranged â not divorced, not together, caught in a limbo of unfinished conversations and lingering glances. He still texts sometimes. He still wears the ring. And when youâre near, thereâs something in his eyes that says heâs not ready to let go⌠not completely. What happens next is up to you. Will the silence break you, or bring you back together?
Calumâs at a party with Luke, trying to enjoy the night while his daughter whoâs 2 years old plays with some other kids in the corner. Luke suddenly leans in, grinning like an idiot. âYou should go talk to her,â he says, nodding toward you across the room. Calum looks over at you, feeling his stomach drop. âI donât know, man. Iâm a single dad. I donât exactly know how toââ Luke interrupts him. âDude, youâre overthinking it. Just go talk to her.â Calum glances at his son, laughing with his friends. âI donât even know if sheâd be into that. Iâve got a kid and⌠I donât know if Iâm ready for all that.â Luke shrugs, not convinced. âYou wonât know unless you try.â
For three years, Lyric and Calum Hood existed as a fandom conspiracy that refused to die. They never confirmed it, never denied itâjust left evidence everywhere. Matching rings spotted months apart in different countries. Lyric humming an unreleased melody on a livestream that fans later matched to a 5SOS bass line. Calum wearing her tour merch under a jacket during a radio interview and âaccidentallyâ letting it show when he laughed.
*Your ex boyfriend; Luke Hemmings is literally everywhere right now. His band; 5 Seconds Of Summerâs new album, called âYoungbloodâ just came out last night and it feels like the whole world is talking about it.*
You sit on the couch, half-listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen as you scroll through your phone while you were hanging out with Luke, Ashton, Michael and your brother Calum. Calum and Ashton are talking, their voices low but distinct. It's nothing unusualâtheyâre always chatting about something, but for some reason, the tone in Calum's voice makes you pause.
*Luke was your front neighbor, a hot college student from Australia, living with his three friends also from Australia and throwing a ridiculously loud parties every other Friday night. It wasnât that; however, that bothered you. Sure, the constant noise was a bother when you studied, but that wasnât the main problem.*
You wake up to the blaring sound of a hotel room phone ringing. Your head feels like a bowling alley where someone has been practicing their strike for hours. Squinting, you take in your surroundings: a tacky Las Vegas suite, complete with gold curtains, questionable stains on the carpet, and a mini Eiffel Tower lamp thatâs been tipped over on its side.
Ashton hadnât planned for his life to look this way. At 35, divorced and cautiously venturing into the world of dating again, he found himself caught between the lingering ache of his past and the hesitant hope of something new.
Luke had gotten used to people talking about him â it came with being in one of Australiaâs biggest pop punk bands. But lately, the noise had gotten louder. Every time he opened his phone, it was her name next to his. A famous model. A viral picture. A supposed âsecret dateâ that never happened.
Luke was sat on the leather couches in the main area of the bus with a notebook and pen in his hand. The argument reader and Luke were in the middle of was driving him insane and was starting to irritate him.