Falling (l.h.)

Chapter 16

Luke’s POV

Once everyone arrived, we began our movie marathon. Since we were in the Halloween spirit, we all voted on horror movies, except for Bri of course. I found it adorable how scared she was of these movies.

She clenched onto me the entire night, burying her face farther and farther into my chest every time something happened. The only time she didn’t have her face hidden was when the Chinese takeout came.

We all passed out around three in the morning, which was the reason we slept until two in the afternoon, missing most of our classes.

“I’m fucking starving,” Sydney complained.

“Want me to make breakfast?” I offered.

“Please,” she smiled sweetly.

“I’ll help,” Bri offered, slowly getting off the couch we slept on.

“Make a lot,” Michael ordered, lifting his head off the pillow just long enough for him to get the words out before flopping back down.

Bri and I went into the kitchen to begin cooking.

Bri’s POV

We definitely made at least a hundred pancakes and between the seven of us, they were devoured in minutes.

Last night was hell of a lot of fun, even though I didn’t exactly love the movie choices. I’m really glad I’ve become so close with this group. Everyone was so welcoming and nice to me, especially Luke obviously.

“I need to meet up with my parents in a little while,” Kristina said, breaking me from my thoughts. “If you need me to drive you back we have to leave in like five minutes.”

Luke looked at both me and Kristina and pouted, “Do you have to steal her away again?”

“Yes,” Kristina laughed. “After all, she lives with me and not you.”

Luke rolled his eyes playfully, making me chuckle slightly.

“Yeah, I have my first day at work today so I needed to leave soon anyway,” I answered her.

“I hate you both,” Luke frowned, standing up from the floor to clean up our dishes. Yes, we ate breakfast on the floor.

After Kristina dropped me off at the dorm, I took a quick shower and got myself ready for my first day of work. I headed out a little early just to be sure I got there on time.

When I arrived, the manager was waiting to show me what to do.

He told me that my first week I would be a hostess, but I would be training to be a waitress. I really didn’t think that waiting tables required training, but I wasn’t going to argue.

It was a long first day and extremely tiring, however the customers here were much more patient than anyone back in New York. Everyone was always in such a rush they never had any time to sit and wait five minutes for a table.

Right as my shift was about to end, Aleisha walked through the doors, making my heart beat faster. I know that this girl doesn’t know me, but I sure as hell know her.

“Table for two,” she smiled sweetly at me.

“Name?” I asked, pretending I had no idea who she was.

“Hemmings,” she said.

I nodded and wrote the name down, nausea suddenly taking over me. Was she meeting Luke here?

I tried not to focus on her, I would see who she was here with when I called her table.

Finally, her table was ready. She walked over alone and told me her ‘date’ would be meeting her at the table. I walked her to her table and gently placed the menus on the table before turning away.

I swear to God if Luke showed up here, shit would not be pretty.

“Shifts over, I’ll take it from here,” my co-worker Daisy said from behind me.

“Okay,” I smiled weakly.

I went into the back room to grab my stuff and as I was about to leave, I see Luke’s car pull up in front.

I watch from the back room as he sits down at the table across from Aleisha.

“Bri, you’re free to go,” my manager said, as if I didn’t know.

I nodded and sneakily headed towards the door so Luke wouldn’t see me.

“Hey can you do me a favor?” I asked Daisy.

“Sure, what do you need?” she asked.

“When Travis goes to wait their table, can you have him listen to their conversation for me and call me?” I asked. I know I sounded pathetic, but they could just be meeting as friends, or he’s possibly telling her it’s over.

I know it looks bad, but I don’t want to believe that what Luke had told me was a lie.

“Yeah, of course,” she smiled sympathetically.

I smiled back and headed back to the dorm.

*

Kristina wasn’t around, so I went over to Calum, Michael, and Ashton’s dorm, seeing what they had to say about it.

Calum and Ashton roomed together, while Michael was assigned with some random kid, but he didn’t mind because in Michael’s words, ‘he is a man-whore and is never around because he’s too busy fucking girls’.

I knocked on Michael’s room, since I was closest to him, besides Kristina and Luke, of course.

“Hey,” he greeted happily, opening the door wide enough for me to come in. “What’s wrong?”

“How’d you know something was wrong?” I asked, shocked.

“I’m good at reading people,” he shrugged. “Did Luke do something?”

“I’m not sure to be honest,” I sighed. “I was getting ready to leave work, and Aleisha comes in and asks for a table for two under Hemmings, and I see Luke’s car pull up and when he comes inside, he sat down across from her.”

“Well this is against guy code, but do you want me to call him right now and get to the bottom of this?” he asked, running a hand through his still bright blue hair.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling anxious.

“Don’t talk,” he commanded as he took out his phone and dialed Luke’s number. He put it on speaker phone and it only took a few rings for him to pick up.

“What’s up mate?” he answered.

“What’s going on?” Michael asked casually.

“Out to dinner,” he stated simply.

“Cool, who with?”

“Aleisha,” he answered. Even though I knew he was, it still hurt hearing him actually admit it.

“What about Bri?” Michael asked, looking at me nervously.

“What about her?” Luke said.

“She’s your girlfriend, and Aleisha is your ex, what are you doing man?” Michael said rudely.

Luke sighed, “I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m out to dinner with her as a friend, okay? She asked to meet me, and I didn’t want to be rude. If she tries anything I’m leaving.”

“You better not be lying to me Lucas, Bri is good for you and I know how much you like her, if you screw this up I swear I will-“

“I’m not going to fuck it up,” Luke interrupted him. “I would never in my life want to do that.”

Relief washed through me as the words came out of his mouth, but a small part of me still believed there was more to this dinner then we knew of, whether Luke was in on it or not.