you are in love · luke hemmings

xiii

It was Wednesday and Cierra was driving to Emma's house.

Her friends were getting together just for a casual hangout, and Emma roped her into it. She did want to talk to Emma, so she figured she could come for an hour or two and then dip, since she wasn't feeling the most social tonight.

Luke couldn't come, which made him very upset. Cierra had called him earlier to see if he wanted to join her. That was their new form of communicating when they weren't with each other - calling. They had scrapped texting almost entirely and only called each other now, even if it was for the most minuscule things.

"Aghh," Luke said when she had asked him to come. She could almost imagine him pulling at his hair, which he did when he was frustrated. "I'm sorry, I have a huge psych exam tomorrow. And you know how much I suck at psych."

He did suck at psych. So although she thought this hangout would be better with Luke there, she knew it was for the best, on his side of things at least. And she didn't have to be nervous about the inevitable Matt and Luke interaction she was dreading.

She had parked outside Emma's house when she got a call from her. She thought it was odd, so she picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" Cierra said, in a more questioning tone than usual.

"I'm in the bathroom," Em said, in a hushed tone. "When are you getting here?"

"Okay?" Cierra said, still confused. "I'm parked outside your house."

"I don't want anyone to overhear me," She explained. "Don't come in yet. It's Matt."

"Great," Cierra said, which was usually her response when it came to Matt-related things. "What did he do?"

"Well..." Emma sounded hesitant like she was unsure whether she should be telling Cierra. "He's been saying some... stuff about Luke."

"Luke?" Cierra was really confused now. "What could he possibly say about Luke?"

"Well, I guess he saw your Instagram post. He says he has friends who know Luke, he called him 'a real dick.'"

Cierra had posted on her Instagram earlier that day. It was one of the photo dump types, which was pretty typical for her Instagram. Since so much of her life surrounded Luke these days, of course, there was a picture included for him. Nothing crazy. Just a picture of them in the mirror. They weren't even standing close to each other. No one could suspect anything from it.

"I think that's bullshit," Cierra said, but she felt a pain in her chest.

"So do I," Emma agreed. "I mean, you know him better than anyone else, I think. Better than whoever these friends who supposedly know Luke do."

Cierra chewed on her lip. She didn't know what to say. Sure, she felt like she knew Luke. But now she was questioning it. How much can she really know him in only a month?

And even if Luke was a dick - like Matt had suggested - he was never one to Cierra. Ever. He treated her like a princess. She couldn't imagine him behaving any other way with other people, either. And she had seen him interacting with his friends. It was the same Luke she knew.

But now she was just overthinking everything. She knew Matt was probably just behaving out of some weird jealousy, but it didn't make it sting any less.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have told you," Em said, sighing. "He's probably lying anyway. I just thought you should know. In case he says something when you're here."

"No, I'm glad you told me..." Cierra replied. One thing she knew for certain: she was never telling Luke this. She felt like it would break his heart.

As she walked up to the house, she took a deep breath. Luke is not a dick to you. That's all that matters.