Critical || Luke Hemmings

Chapter Twenty-Four

Shortly after Luke went barreling out of the room, I went up to my room and pulled out almost every piece of clothing I owned, trying to find something that wasn’t too dressy, but not casual either.  I wanted to look impressive, and worthy of being seen with Luke.

I picked up a pair of black leather skinny jeans and paired it with a cute flowing top, deciding that was going to do for the evening unless I wanted to be late.  I let my hair fall over my shoulder and ran a hand through it, making sure it fell into place perfectly before starting to apply the perfect winged eyeliner. 

Minutes later there was a knock on my bedroom door, causing me to jump slightly and smudge one eye.  “Shit,” I muttered as I attempted to wipe it off, opening the door some.

“You ready?” Luke questioned, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“I just need to fix my eye,” I gestured towards my smudged makeup, running back over to my mirror.  Luke followed close behind me and watched in amazement as I ran the eyeliner in a quick motion over it.

“You girls have to be literal artists,” he commented.

“It takes a lot of work to be this pretty,” I mocked, tossing my hair over one shoulder as I walked past him and out of the room.

“Actually, I think it comes pretty natural to you,” he said from behind me, placing his hands on my hips to slow me down. 

“Smooth,” I heard Ashton chuckle from his spot on the couch.

“So where are we going?” I asked as we approached the front door.

“Out,” he grinned as he opened the front door and ushered me outside. 

“See you later love birds,” Michael yelled out after us as the door closed. 

“Are you really not telling me where we’re going?” I sighed, as he nodded his head firmly.

Once we got to the sidewalk, I saw a familiar black SUV pull up and a driver get out, opening the back door for the two of us. 

“You got us a car?”

“I wanted at least some privacy,” he grinned, placing a kiss on my cheek before helping me into the car and following closely behind me.

“You do know that New York has awful traffic, right?”

“Will you just trust that I’ve got this date completely under control?” he said glancing over at me as his fingers slowly intertwined with mine.

“I’m just not used to you having things so planned out, it’s kind of weird,” I grinned as the car turned down an unfamiliar street.  “Where the hell are we going?”

Letting out a loud groan, Luke slumped in his seat at my curiosity and constant questions.  “You’re going to love it.  I swear you will.  You just really have to trust me on this,” he sighed defeated.

After a few moments, we approached a small tram station I had never seen before.  Following Luke’s lead, I hopped out of the car and walked quietly beside Luke, trying to put together where the hell he was taking us.

“So I did some research on things most tourists don’t do here in New York and I found this,” he motioned towards the tram station victoriously.

“You found a tram?” I mumbled, trying to hide my confusion.

“Well.. Yeah, but it’s more than a tram.  This tram takes us to Roosevelt Island,” he said with a grin. 

“I’ve never even heard of that island..” I muttered.

“It’s not so much about the island as it is about the view.  I know you, and I know you love your sunsets and this is by far one of the coolest places to see it happen.”  He said excited as a smile slowly spread across my face.  “I know it’s not much, but this tram takes us directly to Roosevelt Island and gives us a different, sky view of the city, and it’s almost sunset so if we time it just right we can watch it go down as we pass.”

The smile on my face spread further as I pulled him into a tight hug.  “You’re good, Hemmings, I’ll give you that.” 

He shrugged as I pulled away, a smirk apparent on his lips.  “I know.” 

Just as we were approaching the station, flashes of light from different directions started to surround us, causing me to squint.  Luke sighed and put on his best fake smile, gesturing for me to walk towards the station.

“Luke! Is this your new girl?” One of the paps shouted in his direction.

Luke didn’t seem fazed as he replied with a simple “she’s an old friend,” comment and smiled for his camera.

“You’re Sydney Anderson!” One pointed at me accusingly. 

“Uh, yeah,” I nodded, blinking rapidly as more flashes went off.

“You used to work with 5 Seconds of Summer right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded once again, quickening my pace. 

“Can you both just look this way for me please!” Someone else shouted.  Luke glanced in their direction and gave them a wave before shoving the door open and leaving them out in the cold. 

“I still can’t get used to that,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief as they continued taking pictures of us from outside the building. 

“It’s a little ridiculous, but if you annoy them enough, they eventually leave you alone.  Michael’s really good at it.” 

Shortly after our run in with the paparazzi, we were in a tram all to ourselves.  As we road over Manhattan the sun began to set across the city, causing everything to have an orange tint.

“I love this,” Luke whispered from beside me, grabbing my hand lightly.

“By far a very impressive first date,” I nodded in agreement as I let my head rest against his shoulder. 

“There’s more where this came from, Anderson,” he grinned, placing a chaste kiss on my forehead. 

“Is it safe to kiss you?” I whispered, too unsure to look at him. 

“We’re hundreds of feet in the air and alone, I’d say it’s pretty safe.”

Without any hesitation, I lifted my head from his shoulder and pulled him closer to me until I felt his lips mold against mine.

“Best.. Date.. Ever,” he mumbled between kisses, causing me to giggle. 

Pulling away so I could look at him properly, I gave him a stern look.  “Shut up and kiss me you loser.”

“Yes ma’am,” he grinned, pulling back towards him, getting rid of the space between us completely.

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This took forever for me to actually get out because 1.  i'm an idiot and 2. I'm also lazy as shit lately idk.