Little Love Letters

16.

So yes, Luke is Dylan O'Brien. Picture Luke as the character Dylan played in The Internship, with glasses. Kinda a geeky role.

Enjoy.

16.

Luke kissed me.

And I completely friendzoned him.

I remember pulling away and slapping his face, even so that his glasses slipped off of the bridge of his nose. It was pure instinct.

I just wasn't used to somebody else's lips, you know? Zac always had soft lips, and he knew exactly what to do with them. But Luke. They were rough, like he doesn't kiss often, and he doesn't worry about it.

I know I kinda chose him, well it sounded like that when I was mentioning the pros and cons, and maybe I was looking for something new. I wanted a first thrill of everything. That feeling you get when you first date that person. Your first kiss together as a couple. You're desperate need to be together the whole time.

But I don't need that. I need Zachary. I can't be without him. And I made up my mind: I would want to try. I would want to try a fully fresh and new relationship with him.

"Oh my, Luke. I'm so sorry." I kept whispering it over and over while I picked up his glasses. His cheek was blushing red from the slap.

"I thought that was what you wanted. I thought I was." Luke couldn't look me in the eyes at all. He bowed his head, like he was ashamed. I tilted his face so that he looked up.

"Luke. Listen to me." A small tear slipped out from my right eye. That didn't keep me from speaking. "I love you, as a friend. I know you have much more to offer than Zac does, but Zac gave his everything, his whole being, to me. I threw that away."

"Elle, he is toxic. I've said that so many times before. He is going to hurt you again. I promise you that." He blinked and swallowed, calming himself, before he continued. " Don't come running back to me when he does. I won't be here." Luke jerked away from my touch and stormed out of the room in a heartbeat.

I stood there, too stunned to run after him. To apologize.

The front door slammed shut. He left.

"Elle?" Ally's soft voice came out of nowhere, and before I knew it I was seated on the couch again. I stared into nothingness.

"Did you hear me?" Ally touched my arm and brought me back into the world. "I- um, sorry, what?" I rapidly blinked.

"I need to tell you something. I know you and Luke are strangers at the moment, but maybe that's for the best. Luke hasn't mentioned it to you, but you deserve to know the truth. It's about that night we went to the club, and you ended up in hospital."

"Why is this important now? I just lost one of my best friends, and you bring that night that means nothing to me, up?"

"Elle. You already lost one friend, so don't be stubborn and lose me too." She warned. "Okay." I agreed to let her continue.

"The doctor said you were drugged that night, right? And you fainted in Luke's arms?" She refreshed my mind. "Yes, and I was weak with a few bruises."

Ally struggled to say the next words, but she managed to spit them out."Ever wonder why you had bruises if you fainted in his arms? And when you were drugged at the club, so nobody else touched you before that?"

I frowned, not exactly being able to believe. "He..?" I felt like vomiting.

"No, no, no. Not him. Keep listening. At the club, I saw him handing you a drink. I remember trusting him doing that because he wasn't a stranger. And then when he left with you, I stood by the back door of the club and watched you leave."

"Ally, what happened then? Please don't tell me he.. Oh my gosh." My hands started trembling.

"Not him. But some other gang. I saw him drag you down an alley, but not roughly. You were so weak, so you didn't know where you were going. I saw this group of guys appearing out of nowhere. At first I wanted to scream for help, but then Luke started talking to them. Like he was part of their gang."

I hid my face in a pillow, clutching it so tightly that I could barely breathe.
"Then they started attacking you guys, like he owned them something. The leader of the gang started touching you, and when you resisted, he threw you to the ground and kicked you."

A gut clenching feeling erupted in my stomach. Hurt. Betrayal. Disappointment in Luke. The pillow started feeling soaked in tears. "I screamed. As loudly as I could. The gang heard, and they ran off. Luke was pushed up against the wall with a bloody nose, but he wiped it off and spotted me. Afterwards he didn't know that I was the one who screamed. And he didn't know that I saw everything."

I started crying, even so that my head hurt. I grabbed the vase with the one of the bouquets Zac sent and threw them on the ground.

Shattered, just like my heart . In pieces again. I shrunk into a ball on the floor, and after a while, when Ally couldn't calm me down, somebody else did.

Somebody with strong arms, and a cologne that I've known since fourteen years of age.

My breathing slowed down and I slowly looked up at him. He grabbed the hair tie which was on my wrist, and tied my hair in a ponytail. Just like old times, I thought.

I was then lifted up in his arms and carried to my room. He laid me down on my bed, and whispered in my ear, "I know you probably don't want to see me now, but I can't leave you like this. Ally called me because she couldn't get you still. Let me stay, please?" I nodded and grabbed his shirt, pulling him down towards the bed, so that he could be next to me.

And so I fell asleep, smelling my favorite scent.