vanilla // lrh

twenty four

The time had finally come.

The approaching days seemed to blur, as they all lead up to today.

My knees felt heavy, as if my shoes were bricks and every step I took wore me out completely.

The humming of men around me became background music; the blue in my clouded sky.

My eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything, they would just fall to the floor. Until I felt a cold hand wrap around my bare shoulder, squeezing it.

"Ellie,"

I removed my glare from the dirty floor to Luke's baby blues.

"You with me?" He laughed, a small smirk sliding across his face.

I nodded slowly, admiring his beauty. He looked so good in the tinted lights, so so good.

"Stop worrying, okay?" He said confidently, without removing my shoulder from his light grip.

"Have you ever seen me lose? Hm?"

"No," I muttered, my voice cracking slightly.

I hadn't seen Luke lose, or even come close to losing. But that was only one of my fears.

"Trust me," He said. "Don't you trust me?"

Did I trust him?

My instincts always pointed to yes, but my mind wrestled the idea for hours on end.

Can I trust him?

He never had done anything to me personally that would make me not trust him, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't about to.

He was unpredictable, and to the world he was heartless.

"I do," I said, nodding. I did. I really did.

"Well then trust that I'll be fine, and trust that I'll make sure you're fine too. Okay?"

I nodded again, attempting to swallow the rock in my throat.

"How much are we betting?" I asked, before he could turn away. I didn't want him to leave me, not quite yet.

"Don't worry about it," He said smally, his eyes caressing my insides.

I was worried about it.

Before I knew it, he was gone, and I started out into the crowd.

No matter how many times I came to the ring, I would never seem to see the same faces. Every match the crowd was filled with different, new, excited faces.

I hated being there without Luke by my side. Without him next to me, I felt nearly powerless.

I was a minnow in a sea of sharks.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! My, My, What a crowd we have tonight!" Eric's eerie voice spit from his microphone, that was so close to his lips you could hear them parting with each word.

"Tonight we have a treat for you all!" The voice boomed.

"You all might know him, actually, I know you do! He's the only Aussie in the god dammed room! Luke Hemmings!"

The beating of my heart echoed in my ears, as I saw Luke bounce his way to the ring.

His bare back begged for my eyes as he waved at the crowd in all directions, the muscles in his back in full display as he threw his arms in the air.

He was breathtaking.

I noticed his eyes find me in the crowd, making me feel as if I was the only person in the room.