GOLDEN, luke hemmings

XVII: BLASHDKF

She needed her sass back, her tough front. Luke was making her so soft, not weak or any less strong, but he was peeling back the layers and breaking down the walls and he was uncovering the deeper sides to the spunky, galling girl who liked messing with people and shutting them away. Uncovering too much of her. And Ava wasn't sure if she was ready for all of that just yet.

She needed him to be patient, she just needed someone to lean on for now, nothing less, nothing more.

"You're a complete and utter goofball," she covered up, scoffing with a revealing grin on her face. "But I wouldn't have any other person as my best friend."

"I know you wouldn't, my little Daffodil," he cooed, leaning over to pinch her cheek, causing her to groan and try and poke him away. During her haphazard poke-fest, she unwittingly poked him in the eye.

Stupefied, Luke yelped in pain, making Jerry drop a plant pot, breaking it. As Luke soothed his eye and Ava made an expression full of guilt, Jerry scowled and hobbled away, grabbing a broom from behind the counter.

"Can't you crazy kids flirt elsewhere? I actually do my job!" He chided, fixing his bucket hat and sweeping up the broken ceramic and dirt.

"Jerry, I'm sorry. She poked me in the eye," Luke explained, his right eye red and watery.

He continued glaring at Ava who simply howled with laughter in the background, muffled sniggering coming from her as Luke slapped his hand over her mouth to get her to stop making him feel like a fool. Ava, who was entertained immensely, licked his hand which made him screech in horror and feverishly wipe his hand on his shirt, trying profusely to get rid of her saliva.

Jerry huffed and rolled eyes, "Boy, I don't care what your little girlfriend poked. Just get out of here before you make more mess. Your shift is over."

Luke was discombobulated; had time really passed that quickly? Either way, he was so glad he didn't have to work any more (and that he luckily and fortuitously didn't encounter the bratty teenage from before) that he dismissed that Ava was mistaken for his girlfriend for the second time today. He hopped onto his feet, clocked out, and then came back, glancing towards the girl who still remained swinging her feet.

"You coming, or do I have to make two trips back home," He inquired rhetorically and Ava crossed her arms and gave him a smug smile.

She shrugged, sighing. "I don't know. I'm pretty comfortable up here."

(Jerry rolled his eyes once more at them, saying something along the lines of "Idjit, kids.")

Luke's face slowly morphed into a suspicious expression, a smirk developing. He tsked, coming towards her with open arms. "You've left me with no choice."

He hoisted her up by her thighs and swung her over his shoulder, carrying her to the door, her shrill laughter and protesting filling his ears as she slapped on his back and they exited the shop onto the busy sidewalks.

"Luke! I know I said I wanted us to hang out, but this isn't what I meant!"

He changed her position, moving her down so that she was no longer dangling from the waist down, but instead clutching onto Luke by his neck. Their faces were centimeters apart and her legs heedlessly wrapped around his torso. His heart swelled so much it could've exploded. He stared into her brown eyes, regardless of the people bumping into them (including the same mime from the night they met), not sure what to do. Another person brushed into them, Ava only pushed into Luke some more, their lips slightly colliding for a mere second before they parted, letting go of each other. Completely accidental, but still—in the short time their lips touched, they felt something.

Something good.

Ava's feet finally reached the concrete and she sucked in a huge breath of air. She didn't show much reaction on the outside, but inside a microscopic cell in her entire being was running around and rejoicing like crazy. She opened her mouth to say something, but another voice beat her to it. It was neither Luke's nor her own.

"Luke? Is that you?"

Ava watched as Luke contorted a look of gaping surprise and turned around to face whatever—or whoever—he was looking at.

It was a girl, around their age. She was tall and skinny, with dark hair and big, round green eyes. She was pretty, very pretty and Ava suddenly found herself feeling insecure. Though, besides her self esteem dropping, Ava also felt an aura of familiarity upon seeing the girl.

Luke had a case of cottonmouth, his words coming out quiet and stuffy. "Delilah?"

Ava widened her eyes, everything hitting her. She could see the flashes of pain and recognition on her best friend's face.

It was the girl from his pictures.

•••

this is an incredibly short chapter compared to my usual long prose but i have been struggling to come up with a proper way to convey all my plans for this story. i was contemplating if i should write this chapter the way i did with Delilah coming back, but if all works up like planned, it'll all end up okay. luke and ava's relationship will be tested a lot throughout this book because in order to see what your characters are made of, you must break them. they will go through a lot because no relationship is ever completely happy-go-lucky though our two friends seem pretty damn close to it.

also luke and ava's thinking?? it was based off how confused and complicated i am when i like someone because i overthink everything. also, their accidental kiss :-)) everything is gonna take a turn.

also—YES MICHAEL WILL BE IN HERE SOON IM SORRY OKAY. HE'S TOO BUSY AT THE COMIC BOOK SHOP. and Becca, Calum, and Ashton are more important characters than they seem because i know everyone thinks they're just here to tease or play the good cop/bad cop act when it comes to luke and ava. and i know they just seem like the occasional roommates that just show up once in a while but they'll be helping out soon. and before questions, i just wanna say that Jerry from the flower shoppe is based off of Bobby Singer from Supernatural i love spn and bobby so much. (i'm only on season 6, no spoilers please).

—do you think Delilah will be a good character or bad character? will she be manipulative or has she changed?

—whose thought process do you agree with more or understand more? how do you feel about them causally ignoring their chemistry?

—do you want the employees from Carolyn's Flower Shoppe to make more appearances? do you think they will be important in the long run?

—how do you think Delilah will affect Luke and his relationship with Ava? Luke's attitude with himself?

—do you want any other details from this book focused on? (for example; i mentioned something that you think would be interesting or important but i didn't bring it back up again, would you like to see more of it? if so, what is it?)

that's all! thank you if you're reading this! and we reached 1k! thanks for all the support guys, i love you.