It's like everyone's eyes are immediately focused on me. I blush a crimson red.
"S-sorry," I mutter, never feeling so humiliated in my entire life. The stage lights are blinding and hot against the back of my neck, and a thousand eyes silently laugh at me. Having straightened my top and picked myself up, I start to head back stage in embarrassment.
"Wait, Jade!" Luke calls, making me stop dead in my tracks.
I look over my shoulder and see him motion at me to come back. I give him a questionable look, and he just shakes his head, motioning again.
When I walk back to the center of the stage, Michael gives me a slightly dirty look. Calum seems indifferent, and Luke is beaming, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead.
He puts his arm around me, and leans into the microphone. "Thank you for listening tonight," he says. The audience bursts into applause, and I take that moment to check out the turnout of tonight's show.
Quarterbacks, scene kids, tomboys, drama queens, and even Hailey...the blogger. Check. They're all here.
Hailey meets my eyes from behind her camera, a smile faint on her face. I grimace.
Luke waits patiently until the applause dies down. Then he clears his throat and announces; "This is my girlfriend, Jade, who the show would've been impossible without."
He grins down at me from his ridiculous height. "Jade, I want to thank you for being at my show tonight. I was nervous to perform tonight, but you were there for me."
I'm confused, at first. But Luke looks at me with these emotionless eyes, so unlike his passionate speech, and I realize it's a stunt. A publicity stunt. So I play along.
And for the first time, I let Luke do all the talking.
He turns on his charm like a light switch. "Without you, I'd still be that socially awkward boy who ate lunch alone."
The girls in the audience let out a harmonized 'Awww'. The boys groan.
I wrap my arms around Luke's neck and get on my toes to reach his ear. To the audience, it looks like a sweet exchange between a couple. "I think we can stop here," I grit through my teeth.
Luke ignores me. "I'm the luckiest boy in the world," he declares dreamily. (God, I'm about to gag.) Then he swoops me into his arms, that charmer, and pulls me closer. The audience swoons
The power couple of Cedarwood.
I see the angle he's playing.
Luke brings his face closer, and all of a sudden I realize what he is doing. "L-Luke!" I hiss, my heart pounding in my chest.
"Just kiss me," he hisses right back. "They're loving it."
In the midst of all that chaos and panic, I don't know who leaned in first. But in the blink of an eye, Luke's hot mouth is fitted over mine.
Luke's not a bad kisser. But he's not amazing, either. He struggles to follow my lead for a second, but then moves his lips in sync with mine. When he presses his body closer to mine, I tune out the sounds of whistling and clapping, as if a pair of earmuffs are over my ears. The only thing that echoes through my ears is my own heart beat.
Ba-thump.
Ba-thump.
...
The kiss is over as quickly as it began. Luke pulls away and meets my eyes, not even flustered.
"Thank you, thank you!" Michael says tiredly into the mike, nearly yelling over the whistle-blowing and clapping. The boys get on their feet, packing up their gear and heading backstage. Luke is the last to leave; he notices my cold feet and has to guide me back, holding my hand the whole way.
YOU ARE READING
Project Publicity || l.h
Fanfiction[BOOK ONE] Jade and Luke have known each other since childhood. But as they grew older, Jade became glamorous and beautiful, while Luke stayed a loser. With time, the two of them drifted apart, never to speak again. This year, everything changes. A...
