Seniors // Luke Hemmings

3. Shopping buddies

"How's this?" Luke asked me while holding a black skinny jeans and a rolling stones T-shirt. I give him a polite smile "Yeah, I like it." This was quite awkward since I never went shopping with a boy besides James and Carter before. But with them I never actually bought something and it felt weird to be in a shop with Luke and it felt even weirder that I had searched the entire store but couldn't find anything I liked but he did find an outfit for me that I truly liked.

I guessed we have the same style but that was probably the furthest that our common things went. Luke smiled and walked over to the cashier with also a black shirt for him. "Luke... I really don't want you to pay for this", I said. "Emma, I really don't mind. I was the reason why you spilled your drink. It's the least I can do", he answered. Without allowing me to say anything more, Luke paid for the clothes and we walked out the store.

Luke lead me to the toilets, where our ways separated. "You can change in there, I'll be in the men's room", he smiled. I put on the clothes and walked towards the mirror to check if I looked okay. The clothes were fine, even though I looked like the girl version of Luke but I noticed how red my cheeks were. I quickly washed my face in an attempt to return to my natural skin colour but it was no use. I sighed at my blushing cheeks and decided to ignore it as I told myself it was because it was too hot, not because of being with Luke.

"Looking good", Luke smirked, while looking me up and down. I muffled a "thanks" as I tried not to stare at him. I didn't know what he did in there but he looked even more attractive since he went in the toilets.

"So what do you want to do now?" Luke asked. "I have no idea, I'll leave it up to you", I laughed. "Well, in the first place I'm happy that you suppose we're gonna do something together, which means you don't want to go back to your friends", he smirked. "And second, I was thinking I could buy you a drink since you still didn't got that coffee." I nodded but couldn't resist asking the question that had been racing through my mind this entire time.

"Why are you suddenly so nice to me?" He stopped walking and turned to me. "I want to make it up to you, I was acting like a jerk in school and I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me", Luke sighed. I bit my lip, thinking about what's the right thing to say right now. "Okay but I still don't understand why you were mad at me", I sighed. I already forgave him the second I looked into his eyes outside the starbucks but I couldn't understand why he acted like that earlier. "I don't know... I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it", Luke mumbled. I gave him a smile to let him know it's okay and he returned one.

• • •

I was afraid that this would become awkward but it was really nice. We sat on a bench and talked about random stuff. "Do you like Nirvana?" I asked him pointing at his now ruined shirt in the bag from the store. "Yeah, they're really good", he smiled. "Do you like them?" Luke asked and took a sip of his coffee. I nodded and also took a sip from mine. "Wow, never expected that from you", Luke said surprised. "What do you mean by that?" I asked him while slightly tilting my head. "Well most girls only like those stupid pop shit and I thought you wouldn't even know them." "Well, I'm not most girls", I joked. His mouth curled up into a light smile, like he was thinking of something.

I catched myself staring at his lips and figured now was the right time to ask him about his lip ring. "When did you get the piercing?" I asked. "Over summer break", he replied. "I like it. It suits you well", I smiled. From his reaction I knew I was probably one of the first people who asked him about it and maybe even the only one who told him they liked it as I figured his parents wouldn't approve it. He thanked me and then the conversation turned into another awkward silence. "Do you need a ride home? I think your friends are already gone and you probably don't want to walk all the way home," Luke suggested. I simply nodded and stood up from the bench, following him to his car.

During the ride we had another talk about music until we reached my house. "It's the house right there", I told Luke. He pulled up on the driveway and I got out the car. "Thanks again", I smiled. "No problem", he simply answered. "See you tomorrow!" I yelled as I ran up to the door. "Yeah, bye Emma."

• • •

"Ooh look who's back! How was it? Tell me everything!" Amanda clapped her hands as I walked in. "Amanda, please", I whined. I really didn't want to discuss my day with her. "Oh come on, Em! Tell me more! Who is he? How do you know him? Does he go to school with us? He is sooooo hot! Please tell me something", Emma shouted enthusiastic. I took a deep sigh. "Yes, he goes to school with us, his name is Luke and he's in my class. That's how I know him. But there's nothing between us, we're just friends. I don't even know if I can call us friends. He just wanted to make up for something he did earlier", I explained. I tried to walk upstairs to my room so she'd leave me alone but she blocked my way. "Oh my god! Is that why you were so absent during lunch? Because of him? Oh my god that's so cute!", she squeaked. I gave her a mad look. "Amanda! There's nothing cute about us, I barely know him", I defended myself. "Yeah sure, if that's what you want to believe. You'll see, I'm always right", she said with a cheesy smile on her face. Then she walked to the kitchen and left me standing shocked in the hall.

I spent the rest of the night at my room thinking about Luke. I absolutely didn't have a crush on him but there's something about him that made me curious. I was desperate to get to know him better. I wanted to know why he was so confusing. He could go from a total asshole to a sweet and caring guy in a few minutes and I wanted to know why. Maybe I could help him. There's a good side to everyone and today I saw Luke's good side so I knew there was way more to him than he wanted to tell me.