GOLDEN, luke hemmings

I: THE SUBWAY STATION

chapter one; the subway station.

Ava climbed aboard the late-night train, her palms sweaty and her long brown hair sticking to the back of her neck. The heat of the city made the pungent smell of hot dogs and car exhaust even more nauseating, but she ignored the odors around her due to how tired she felt at the moment. It had been a long day of work during her job at the comic book store and her other job at the nearby club - and the humid weather only made everything worse. It didn't help that she stayed behind extra late due to shortage of staff.

She sighed once more as she pulled out a wipe from a compartment in her purse and cleaned the metal bar before placing her hand on top of it, disposing the wipe off to the side next to some more litter. She was sure that nobody would notice. There were barely any people on anyways.

Just as the subway train was about to begin going forward, loud bangs from one of the doors caught everyone's attention - especially Ava's, since the doors were the ones closest to her, and the vehicle stopped once more. She gulped when the metal doors whooshed open, damp and polluted city air greeting her. She hoped that whoever was coming aboard wasn't a creep considering that, whoever that said person may be, was in her section.

A tall boy, whose pale face appeared red and flustered, then entered, doors closing behind him. To Ava, he looked rather messy and unkempt. His blonde, curly hair appeared as though it had been ruffled over (Ava made a small notation by calling it sex hair before realizing what she was doing) and his clothes were wrinkled. Upon seeing that his fly was still unzipped from what Ava assumed was a sexual event considering the smug smirk on the young man's face and his disheveled appearance, she held back a small chuckle.

Her stifled giggling faltered when his surprisingly piercing blue eyes shot towards her. Slight embarrassment and fear ran through her body: had he heard her? Had she angered him? For all she knew, this boy could be a serial killer or a hoodlum, or a stalker. Paranoid like usual, Ava prepared for the worst and accepted the fact that she may have pissed off this potential murderer and she was going to die. She held a breath when he opened his mouth to speak to her.

"Somethin' funny?" Though it was a genuine question, his tone sounded a bit snarky, but not in an alarming way. Non-threatening. Ava relaxed realizing that he didn't seem as intimidating when he wasn't smirking.

Her cheeks still turned a bright red, contrasting against her tan skin, and she felt the heat radiating throughout her face. "Uh, your fly, Sir. It's - your fly's down."

Now it was the boy's turn to blush, and he quickly pulled the zipper to his black skinny jeans up. "Oh. Thanks."

Ava didn't know what else to say, so she said nothing. She simply gave him a polite nod. Hopefully that was the end of their social interaction.

The boy, however, opened his mouth, "Don't call me Sir, by the way. It's not exactly the most appealing thing."

Ava furrowed her eyebrows and stared at her shoes rather than the boy. She didn't want to talk to him, hadn't she made that clear enough? She wasn't a social person, especially to strangers on a subway train with the time nearing midnight. She could tell that the boy was waiting for her to speak, so - while holding back a groan - she replied.

"Oh, okay. Sorry, I didn't know what else to call you."

"My name is Luke, but you'll probably be moaning that later on." He sent her a wink.

Luke knew that his approach was cliche and downright awful, but he at least had to give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe this chick was into that. The last three girls, and the two guys, he tried it on were. He didn't know what it was the made him cockier than normal (though, it was probably the leftover buzz from his latest one night stand) but it made him feel confident.

As for Ava, her world came crashing down. Could her day possibly get any worse? She didn't even want to know the answer at this point. She just wanted to get home to her shared apartment and fall asleep to countless episodes of her favorite TV show. Biting her tongue to keep back snarky remarks of feminism and comebacks, she mumbled, "You're repulsive."

Luke, who had grown accustomed to leaning on one of the metal poles, scoffed. "Oh come on, it was joke."

He adjusted his signature leather jacket, gazing at Ava. Truth be told, Luke wasn't a bad guy - at all. He just needed a better way of showing it. Unfortunately, lame and degrading pick up lines weren't doing the trick. He watched as Ava grumbled something out of her breath until she decided to say something back to him.

"I barely know you," Ava said pointedly, finally looking up and glaring at Luke, taking in his features, "You don't get to joke with me."

They had kept eye contact for a couple seconds; Luke's deep blue eyes locked on her hazel ones. Ava, feeling her heartbeat quicken in her chest, turned her head to focus on her scuffed platform boots. If he hadn't made such a bad impression, she would've been attracted to him.

"You got me there," He responded sarcastically, taken aback by the girl. She was plain, but she was cute. Very cute. He felt nervous under her stare all of a sudden. "What's your name?"

Luke knew he might've - okay, definitely - come off as a weirdo or a psychopath (most likely both) since he was pestering this girl, but she was the only one on the train who seemed his age and gave him attention, so he figured why not. He had nothing else better to do while he waited the next thirty minutes to get home. It's not like he was going to make another move on her, she had already said no, and Luke was old enough to know that no meant no. But that didn't mean that he couldn't at least try and be her friend, right?

Ava ignored him this time, discreetly rolling her eyes. He seemed harmless enough, like a confused fratboy, but damn was he annoying. He didn't say anything after she refused to reply and she smiled. She glanced at him when he wasn't looking and found that he gave up; earphones placed in his ears blasting rock music.

Finally, she thought, some peace. She closed her eyes for a moment, appreciating the quiet.

Just then, the train halted to a stop, Ava almost flying to the ground, eyes wide open. Several other people on the bus shook with shock, befuddled chatter buzzing through the air. Ava peered out the tinted windows and saw the the station she was now stopped at was still a couple blocks away from her apartment. She readjusted herself and nearly cried when words boomed through the speaker.

"Sorry, passengers, this is your conductor speaking. The train is having some technical difficulties so I ask you to please exit the subway train. If you wish, you can wait on the platform until the train is fixed in a couple minutes. As of now, please exit the train."

The words came through as staticky and a bit distorted and stuffy, but it was clear enough for people to understand. The doors opened again with a creak and passengers began flooding out. Ava stepped out as well, an expression of dismay plastered across her face.

Her bad day just got worse.

•••

well this fanfic officially started so i hope y'all like it. i hope you enjoy how weird this is because yeah. this is inspired by many other fanfics and its all mushed together kind of. anyway...that's all...