neighbors | lrh

0.3

stella sat silently on the wooden floor, examining michael's very old yet still perfectly working grandfather clock. she recalled back when she was little, where she and michael would always sit under the huge clock while eating cupcakes that michael's mom made.

her eyes bore onto the rugged material and the dull mahogany color of it, making the clock looks unappealing and shabby- there were even parts of it that was worn away. but the funny thing is, the clock is still working properly.

"what are you looking at?" luke interrupted stella, as he casually leaned back onto the wall. stella quickly turned her head to luke, who was looking at her way.

"uh," stella's eyes widened, "i was just looking at that clock." stella answered honestly, as she tried her best to ignore the sound of her beating heart.

luke then glanced to his left, as his blue eyes lingered on the object a lot longer that stella expected. luke's eyes flickered around the object, as he narrowed his eyebrows to see some detailed parts.

"i was thinking about something earlier," stella trailed off, as she looked back at the clock.

"hmm," luke replied, "what was it?" he asked, fixing his gaze onto the beautiful girl who was sitting a couple foot away from him.

"you see how unattractive and disgusting the clock looks?" stella asked luke, earning a nod from the boy, "but see the clockwise that's ticking inside it. the part that's actually still functioning perfectly." stella spoke.

"i don't get how people humiliate and mortify other people- i mean, strangers would never know about someone's terrifying past or their contemporary anxiety. or they would never know the authentic quality a person actually has. people see one quality out of you and they conclude as what they desire inside their heads." stella explained, as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

luke himself was staring at stella. he observed how her lips moved, how she blinks occasionally. and every word that came out of her lips remained inside luke's head. he knew something was different about this girl. but he liked it. he liked the difference in stella.

"stella," luke sighed, as he tried to sum up the words inside his head, "people put you down and disgrace you. they take one of your uncommon quality and make you feel awful and unloved. that's what people do- it's like a natural habit of ours. sometimes you don't even know what you did wrong at the first place, but that's just because people are envy of you." luke explained, leaning off the wall.

stella frowned slightly, completely fazed with what luke just said earlier. she knew luke was talking about acacia, but it doesn't seem fair to stella.

"so what am i supposed to do?" stella asked bluntly, "stay quiet and let those people fuck up my life? godammit luke, my life is already fucked up." stella stood up hastenly, not wanting to blow up in front of luke.

"stella wait," luke called, standing up from the cold wooden floor.

somehow luke wanted to chase after stella. he wanted to grab her hand and tell her that it's gonna be alright. he wanted stella to know that she's worth more than what acacia thinks she is. he wanted stella to feel okay.

but that's the thing. that's what stop him from going after stella. luke was utterly confused. he's confused why he felt that genuine towards a girl he barely knew.