Strung (Rock & Romance I.)

Chapter 17. - Exquisite

A/N: Low-key, romantic date my a**. You all should know by now that Lukas is out of touch with how normal people do things ;) Let's see what else he has in store!

Oh, and btw! kenya_giggles you issss right!

***

Lukas helped me onto the back of his motorcycle, and pulled my arms around his waist. I no longer felt like I was clutching on for dear life, but rather hugging my-

-date.

"Are you ready?" He asked, his voice carrying over his shoulder over the roar of the engine below us. I tapped his stomach twice as an encouragement, not ashamed to admit that my hands lingered a little longer than necessary over the flat squares of his defined abs. "Hang tight!"

And just like that, we were off once more.

I snuggled close to him for most of the ride, with my eyes closed, just enjoying the way Lukas' warm body felt against mine, and the breeze that snuck under our clothes to caress us around a steeper corner.

We stopped in front of a large building, with two sides made entirely of glass. There was no light coming from it, so I couldn't see inside as Lukas drove us around to the back. The motorcycle came to a stop, and I jumped off first, before he gracefully kicked it to a standing position, and lifted himself off.

"Where are we?" I asked, handing him the helmet that was now a part of me, and fluffing my poor hair underneath to make me look at least a tiny bit acceptable. There were no writings on the side of the two-story building, only solid, dark grey stone walls.

And yet, despite the rough appearance, it wasn't uninviting.

"You'll see." Lukas had a small smile playing on the corner of his bubblegum colored lips. He held his hand out for me, and I intertwined our fingers as we walked through the back door of the mystery place. While Lukas had a key to it, this hardly seemed like his home – partly because of the location, and also because of the giant parking lot behind it. We were in a public establishment of sorts, but I didn't know where, until he flicked a switch, illuminating the entire floor around us.

There were paintings hanging from every surface, statues lining up the walkways in between. Extraordinary inventions were strategically positioned around the open space, and little couches sat in front of a few of them, giving the admirer a chance to catch their breaths.

I turned to look back at Lukas, who was - despite the beauty around us - starting at me.

"What do you think?"

"It's..." I trailed off, turning back to the magic all around. The right words wouldn't come to me, no matter how much I've tried. Of course, I've been to my fair share of art galleries, and exhibitions, but the raw talent of every single little piece around kicked my brain into overdrive. "Why is there no one else here?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lukas shrug. "It's closed." He said simply.

My brows lifted in question. "But you have a key."

Lukas nodded. "Correct." He grinned. "I'm one of the benefactors."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't hide the small smile playing on the corners of my lips. "So you are."

He shrugged casually, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "The exhibition won't open until Wednesday." We started walking around the room, stopping in front of certain pieces, examining them longer than others.

I stood with my side to him, inhaling the art - and the feelings that come along with it. Noticing the emotions, and trying to figure out the story behind every painting, every statue, every knick-knack in the vast vicinity of us. "It's beautiful." I said, stopping in front of a painting of a woman. I've always enjoyed art, but my favorites were the ones that showed humans. They somehow captured their facial expressions, their feelings, telling a never ending tale that the artist wanted to commemorate for all eternity.