have it all (l.h)

bonus - "you wanna do that again?"

"You like these kinds of places?" Luke asked before throwing back the last of the drink he had ordered.

"Absolutely not," I told him through a snort. "I like going out when I've had a long week, but... these places aren't my go-to. We usually just go to a local bar if we go out—the vibes are less suffocating, you know?"

"We?" Luke asked, his brows knitting in confusion.

"You think I came here alone? I don't have a death wish."

"Fair," Luke said through a breathy chuckle. "But who's we?"

"Why are you so interested to know my business, stranger-I-met-five-minutes-ago?"

"What the hell am I supposed to be doing? Is small talk out of season?" I laughed at Luke's sudden whiny tone.

"I came with my friends—do you have any of those?" Luke sent me an unamused look and I genuinely laughed; I watched as he sprouted a small smile.

Madalyn and Howie both had been obsessed with his band for half a decade, but I'd never paid much attention. Seeing him this close, however, made me think I'd possibly been missing out. Something about him was so charming—he was incredibly attractive, of course, but there was something else about him. He had a sort of aura about him that just made you want to smile.

"I also came with friends, thank you very much."

"Do they have as cute of an accent as you do?" I asked him, smiling like a dope as I leaned in a little closer to him.

"Hmm, I'd say I have the cutest of the bunch," he said proudly, which caused me to laugh. "You might not agree, though."

"Lucky for you, I'll never meet them," I told him with a smile. I moved my hand up to his face, moving a stray strand of hair from his forehead. "You know, usually I don't have such good-looking guys coming up to me in these places. I'm the one who's usually doing the searching for a decent guy. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, really."

"Aw, how sweet—I'm a needle."

"Whoa, hang on a second. I didn't do any searching for you. Don't flatter yourself," I joked with him and watched as his eyes rolled.

"I don't know if you should be doing so much searching. No dipstick is worth that kind of effort—even if you think you're weeding the worst out, you're just as likely to get sacked with some bloke that's not worth your time." Luke's words made him seem more sober than his previous comments, and my head tilted to the side.

"You're not making me feel great about giving you the time of day," I continued to tease him, wanting to know how he'd try to cover his tracks this time.

"I'm nothing like those dolts, of course—you got lucky with me. But that's beside the point. I'm just saying that... well, do I even know what I'm saying?" Luke suddenly began to laugh and I shook my head in amusement. "In the most respectful way possible, I think anyone would be stupid for not coming up to you to shoot their shot. You stand out amongst a crowd, in my opinion."

"You really think so?" I asked Luke as my eyebrows raised in surprise. I wasn't unfamiliar with compliments from nice-looking strangers, or just in general, but that didn't keep me from feeling surprised that Luke Hemmings would feel such a way about me.

"I have eyes, don't I?" Luke turned away from me and motioned the bartender over, leaving me to react to his comment without him watching. Luke ordered another drink and I took a moment to look around the room; I couldn't see over anyone, so I definitely couldn't locate the group. I hoped they weren't worried about me. "Hey, do you want something else?