Shots - Frat!l.h.

Thirteen: Nora

"Maybe there's something you're afraid to say, or someone you're afraid to love, or somewhere you're afraid to go. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt because it matters." -Looking For Alaska, John Green

Nora Keilee

The sun was just barely rising over the horizon. It was beautiful, how the dark blue of the northern California sky faded into a mixture of pinks and purples and oranges. It was like a painting. It made me wish that I could take a picture of it, but I didn't have a camera, and my phone was in the car.

I took a mental photo of it, not wanting to move to go get my phone. Hoping that I'd be able to remember every detail of it. 

Luke's arm was just barely brushing against mine, and it felt weirdly good. His skin was soft, yet rough and calloused, a light splattering of blonde hair over his forearm. He wasn't a very hairy man. From our time at the lake together, I could tell that he didn't have any chest hair, or barely any. His chest was marked with a light amount of muscle, the perfect mix between muscular and lean. However, I wasn't really paying attention to his muscles. What had really captured my attention was the splattering of scarring that started under his shoulder blade and spider-webbed over the nape of his neck. It was mixed in with freckles and a slight amount of acne. It was... beautifully destructive. I wanted to know what had happened, but I felt as though it wasn't my place to ask.

"Nora?" Luke asked, his eyelids fluttering shut. His long eyelashes rested over his cheekbones, his lips barely parted.

"Hmm?" I hummed in reply, looking over at him.

"What are you thinking about?" His face turned towards me, the side of his head pressed against the glass of the truck and his legs spread out in front of him.

I felt a blush cover my cheeks. I had just been thinking about how attractive he was, and the thought of revealing that made my temperature go up a thousand degrees.

"Nothing," I coughed. "You?"

He shrugged, looking back to the horizon. "You."

"W-what?" I spluttered.

"You're interesting. It's weird. You've got this... thing that I just can't place my finger on. You're guarded as hell, and you don't tell anyone anything, and it wouldn't surprise me if you were keeping secrets from Kailee."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "You know Kailee?"

"Sam's really into her," He nodded. "And Emma tells me about her sometimes. She says that they party together."

I swallowed thickly. Not only had Kailee been hanging out with Emma more often than she was with me, Luke was also into her. I felt myself turn red over the fact that I found him attractive. Emma was older. She was prettier. She was perfect. And so was Luke, which would make sense as to why he would be into her.

"Yeah, they do," I said.

"You don't party a lot, do you?" He asked, but he said it more like he knew.

I shook my head. "I'm not into it like you and Kailee and Emma are."

He rose a brow. "Who says I'm into partying?"

"You're in a frat," I looked at him dumbly. He turned his shoulders so that his body was facing me. 

"What, so just because I'm in a frat suddenly means I'm into partying and drinking till my liver decapitates?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "That's basically what fraternities are."

He snorted. "You need to stop watching TV. Frat houses are more than that. As cheesy as it sounds, it's a brotherhood. I help some of the other guys with their homework and they help me with my shit. Like when I—" He cut himself off, shaking his head. "It's something more than just that. We help each other out."