GOLDEN, luke hemmings

III: SMILE

chapter three: smile.

"When do you think this thing's gonna get fixed?"

Luke and Ava had been sitting together on a small, silver bench ever since Ava had gotten Luke his kitkat. Luke chomped on one bar, sucking on the chocolate before eating the wafer inside and then sucking all the remains off his fingers. He was a bit weird, he'd admit, but Ava didn't seem to mind. She was too preoccupied with her cigarette, but she managed to get distracted from the burning and answer Luke's question.

"That's a good question. I wish I knew." Her words came out more rude and sarcastic than she had intended, but she couldn't help it. That's how she was. She bit her lip nervously and glanced to Luke, hoping she hadn't come off as more of a bitch than she really was and made him uncomfortable.

Luke's face held no emotion, besides boredom (or was it just blankness?) although on the inside, his stomach felt funny and he had to force his eyes on his candy to stop from staring at Ava, because he was just so attracted to her. He didn't even know why; she wasn't anything special and it's not like they were even acquainted long enough for him to like her. He shook away the feeling and pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind. Everyone who knew Luke also knew of his reputation, and he just didn't do relationships. It's not that he didn't treat the girls and guys he dated poorly, he just never stuck around long enough to even treat them well. Too much commitment and fear was involved with being with someone and that scared him. He was afraid.

He let out a sigh, partially upset that his conversation with Ava had lasted shortly, but he was simultaneously just as glad that the continuing silence between them wasn't awkward. He broke off another piece of his chocolate and chewed.

Out of the blue, Ava began whispering: "I can't believe that this is happening. Just my luck."

Luke listened as the brunette next to him began talking to herself, the cigarette hanging out of her mouth, bobbing up and down after she finished a pronouncing something. She took out her ponytail and ran a hand through her hair, which Luke just noticed was wavy, and let out a grunt of frustration.

"You alright?" The words came out before he could stop them.

Luke didn't know if it was right to interrupt her whilst she was talking to herself nonchalantly since he knew that she most likely didn't want - or mean - for him to hear her. She blushed vibrantly when he addressed her and Luke took that as a yes: she hadn't wanted him to hear her. She let out a nervous chuckle and Luke found it very cute that she rambled off to herself, and he could tell she did it often.

"Yeah, uhm, I'm fine," Ava played it off, taking her cigarette out of her mouth and letting out one last huff before putting it out on the concrete below her, as if she wasn't feeling frantic about getting home. It's only been five or ten minutes and it wasn't midnight yet; the train would be fixed in no time. Right?

Out of habit, she fished in her pockets for her lighter, flicking the flame on and off a couple times, only paying attention to that. From the angle she was holding it, Luke could finally see a smidge of what the phrase scrawled on it had said. He subconsciously scooted closer to her - frankly - broad and short frame, pointing to the item in her hands.

"What's it say?"

Ava looked up and was startled by the proximity of their faces. He had gotten a lot closer; if he had just leaned his head down a bit more, he would have been able to kiss her. Not that kissing Luke was what her main priority was right now. Not at all. She gulped, careful not breathe directly into his stream of oxygen in fear her breath stunk from the smoke, and lifted her lighter, showing it off to Luke. The phrase read, If you wanna fuck, smile when you give the lighter back, but the word 'fuck' had been written over with the word 'makeout'. Luke looked back at her in confusion, mainly since she didn't seem like the censoring type.