i promise you

He never should've let her walk out the door. Luke knew it was a stupid decision to let Emery walk away after their fight, just like it was stupid of him not to chase after her. He was just so tried of fighting in that moment though that he couldn't bring himself to follow her, so he let her leave. He figured they would both cool off, spend a little bit of time apart and then in a day they'd make up. Everything would be fine, everything had to be fine, he would make sure of it. Because honestly, even as worked up as he'd gotten he loved Emery. There wasn't a future he could picture without her in it, there wasn't one he wanted to picture without her in it. She meant more to him than he might ever even be able to put into words.

Everything he felt about Emery was why when he answered his phone later that night he felt like his entire world began to crumble.

"I understand," he said nodding even though he knew they couldn't see him, his heart was pounding so fast and his brain was going through so many scenarios that he couldn't really think straight. "Yes of course, I'll be there as quickly as possibly,"

Then the phone call was over and he found himself rushing to pull clothes on and run out his door. It was a miracle he made it to the hospital himself without getting into an accident he was so out of it.

"Um I'm Luke Hemmings, I received a call I don't know maybe fifteen minutes ago that my girlfriend Emery Glass was brought in after an accident,"

"Give me just a moment Mr. Hemmings and I'll go get the Dr. Just have a seat and I'll be back with you as soon as I can,"

Luke numbly nodded his head and walked away from the desk feeling more panicky as the moments ticked on by.

I'm not going to be able to make it today! Emery was in an accident and I'm currently at the hospital waiting for an update. I'll keep you all updated on her condition when I know more.

---

The last time Gwendolyn had felt this nervous around a guy was when she knew she was in love with Ashton but wasn't sure if or when she should tell him, since he hadn't exactly said the L word yet himself. And that's such an awkward time in a relationship, figuring out your feelings for one another. Though Gwen wasn't nervous around Noah for quite the same reason. She wasn't even dating Noah, yet anyway. This thing with Noah was still very new and fresh. They'd only really been talking for about a month and today was their first outing. Honestly, she felt nervous because this was kind like a first date but they'd never said it was a date. And first dates, especially when you're not even sure it is date, are just weird.

"So where exactly are you taking me Mr. Allen?" Gwen joked when she met Noah at her door.

"Oh so it's Mr. Allen now huh?" He laughed, "Well Ms. Sattler if you must know, since we both just got back to the lovely down under I figured we could hit up the festival they have going on in downtown. I mean what better place to spend a lovely day than a festival filled with the best food and entertainment? I heard from a friend who helps put this thing together every year that they're supposed to have a couple local bands preforming,"

"Who knew you were so into festivals and local bands. Do you know what local bands are playing?"

Noah shrugged his shoulders, "I do not, I guess it will just be a surprise to us all,"

Gwen had a feeling that she could very easily put her finger on one of the 'local' bands playing. This would be great publicity for the guys after all, and well they were home from their tour. But she didn't want to bring that up exactly. Because Gwen was in no way ashamed of her past, or her past with Ashton but it felt like a little too early to discuss ex's and while her list was very short, just one guy she'd had a fling with when she'd gone to America a year prior and Ashton Irwin. That wasn't something you lead with. What would she say anyway? Oh yeah it's likely my ex boyfriend's band that's playing, you know 5 Seconds of Summer just one of the biggest bands in the world right now. No big deal. No, it was in a fact a big deal, not to mention that he was the most serious relationship she'd ever been in and that as much as she'd wanted to send him all his things back or get rid of his things she couldn't bring herself to do it. Oh yea and that she the stupid ring she wore every day still was a promise ring he'd given her at 17. But she felt weird without it.

All of those things screamed that it was in fact not time to have that talk with Noah yet. But she didn't let herself worry about even bumping into Ashton and making things totally weird because he would likely be way to busy with performing or whatever to even bump into her.

Emery had woken up in pain, though she was more shocked by the fact that she didn’t know where she was, or who she was. And that scared her more than the fact that she was in pain, especially when she didn’t know why she was in pain.

Looking around, she sat up, but she cringed, wincing with the pain she felt, holding her head carefully. It brought on a sudden dizziness and nausea, causing her to lay back down as she tried to breathe through it.

Outside the room, the doctor approached Luke. “Mr. Hemmings?” he questioned, offering a sympathetic smile as he took in the sight of how panicky the man was, “I’m Dr. Berg. I’m overseeing Ms. Glass after her accident. She’s in stable condition right now, but… There has been head trauma, which always causes concerns. Last we checked, she was still unconscious, but I can take you to her room if you wish.”

After all, he figured that it would be easier to explain what had happened if the man could see that the young woman was alive. At the very least, it might ease some of the concern. But, he figured it was also a chance to check Ms. Glass’ condition. With that thought in mind, he turned to lead the way to Ms. Glass’ hospital room.

Emery looked up when she heard the door to her room open, though the wave of nausea and dizziness hadn’t fully ebbed away just yet. Her brows furrowed at the two men who walked in, confused. What was going on?

---

Ashton had been preparing everything with Calum and Michael, ready for their show at the festival, and he grinned over at the pair. “This will be a good one, lads,” he mentioned, shifting a bit to stretch his arms out above him, though he peered around a bit. “Wonder where Luke is, though.” Their friend wasn’t usually this late to show up, after all.

His mind got distracted, though, as he peered around the festival, smiling a little bittersweetly as he thought about how this would be so much more fun if he still had Gwendolyn by his side. They could have been enjoying the festival together, enjoying the sights and sounds and foods, and she could be listening to him play on the stage later.

But, he knew that was an impossible wish. He and Gwendolyn had broken up a long time ago, and he hated it. He missed her. But there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. They’d both made their choices; they’d both had issues with how the relationship had been going. Things had just… Crumbled around them, and there wasn’t anything either of them could do to save it at the time. He wished he’d fought harder for her, though. She’d deserved that much at least.

For a moment, he imagined seeing her in the crowd tonight as they played later, but he knew that was an impossible dream. He was sure Gwen had moved on with her life, moved away from here, made a life for herself, with a great career and everything. He hoped she was happy, at least.

His thoughts, however, came to a halt when he got the text from Luke, and he blinked, concerned.

I hope everything’s alright, mate. I hope she’s okay. Keep us updated!

But that left the question of how they would handle playing the festival tonight without Luke.

Luke honestly was not sure what he was walking into. He had no idea what to expect, the only thing he even knew was that she'd been in an accident and apparently had head trauma. The only bright side h was seeing was that she was in stable condition meaning she was still alive, and that was better than getting the news that she wasn't. Though it brought up nothing but worry and more questions. Such as, how bad was head trauma? Do they even know? What are they doing to help her? Was is actually going to help her? Did they expect her to ever wake up? But Luke had to continue to remind himself that this was the best hospital in Australia and he was sure everything that needed to be done was being done.

Luke followed Dr. Berg into Emery's room honestly super nervous as to what was awaiting him on the other side of the door. And it took him a moment to full process everything he saw when he did walk into the room. There she was, his Emery sitting up in the hospital bed awake. And no matter what condition she was in seeing her up and awake was enough to bring even a small sense of relief to him.

"Oh thank God you're alive," he whispered feeling himself tear up. "I'm so sorry about everything I said before you left. If I could redo that whole argument I would. When I got that call and no one would or even could tell me how you were I was so worried that I had lost you forever," Luke said as he also took a few steps closer to her bed. Honestly, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go but he wasn't exactly sure what the protocol was when there was head trauma involved. He also wasn't sure if Emery would even want to hug him right now. Their fight had been pretty bad, and while he knew he was sorry and he'd had all this time to realize how wrong he had been she might not be there yet. And honestly, Luke was so happy that she was alive that he would give her all the time she needed.

---

The festival was hopping, as to be expected, and Gwendolyn couldn't help but smile at the nostalgic feeling she felt walking into the crowd of people with the smell of nothing but delicious foods surrounding her. It had been far too long since she'd been to a good festival, and even longer she felt like since she'd been to a good barbecue. It was a pretty good 'first date' if that's what they ended up calling it.

"I'm going to go grab some grub, do you wanna stand in line for tickets to the rides?" Gwendolyn asked specifically as one of the booths caught her eye.

Noah nodded, "that sounds good, I'll be right here in line when you get back."

Gwen smiled before running off towards the booth of grilled sasuages feeling her mouth start to water as she got closer. One of her favorite things had always been Agnes Grill. That woman made the best sausages in all of Australia, and Gwen was willing to wait in whatever line to get one.

"I don't know Mikey, I almost feel bad going on without Luke. I'm sure everything will turn out okay without him but maybe we should back out so we can go at least support him,"

"I think we need someone else' opinion here," Michael said before he turned around and without hesitation began speaking. "Okay so one of our friends just found out his girlfriend was in an accident and he's at the hospital now waiting for an update on her. However, we're supposed to be going on stage to perform in like an hour and he's kind of our lead singer. So we could go on without him this one time but should we? Or should we disappoint everyone who might've been here to hear us and go support our friend who for all we know needs our moral support?"

Gwendolyn snapped out of her nostalgic trance the moment she realized someone was talking to her, and she felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest when she saw who is was, and she felt frozen.

"Does Ashton know you're here?" She heard Calum ask her the moment he realized who she was and Gwen nodded his head.

"No, why would he? We broke up and it isn't exactly like he tried to reach out and reconcile-" Gwen stopped herself and took a deep breath. "That was uncalled for, I'm sorry. I doubt he knows that I'm home or have been for about a month. We haven't spoken since the break up, and he never returned any of my phone calls or texts before I left to begin with. Though Michael if you still want my opinion I would go be with Luke. He's your friend and he's probably very confused and overwhelmed so going to him shows that you guys are a family first and a band second. And I'm sure you can make it up to the fans somehow. I hope that everything works out and that Emery is okay, I'm going to go though so whatever you decide good luck,"