GOLDEN, luke hemmings

XXIII: COOL KIDS

Then in the middle of her sentence, she was interrupted. Not by words, but by Luke's callused fingers grabbing her cheeks and turning her face in a different direction until she faced him and he could take her seriously as she scolded him. "Wrong way, princess. I'm over here."

Blushing brightly and thankful for the darkness covering it up, she put her hands up in the air and aimlessly frisked them around until she felt something. "Is this your face? Wait, yeah I think this is your nose. It's pointy and has that cute slope thing. Oh my God, I'm too tired, I'm doing that word vomit thing again. Also, how in the hell did I end up in your bed? I'm filing a complaint."

"Becca, Calum, and Ashton drove us home after you," Luke threw a playful glare at the tan girl who simply chuckled at him, "Fell asleep as I generously gave you a piggy back ride."

"Oh okay! And first of all, I was really tired so I had every right to fall asleep, and second, I'm a gift from God, you should be honored to have such an amazing person—with incredible makeup and personality—like me on your back, Sir," She gloated in response, leaving her head head alone as the pain from Luke's jaw attack went away.

Giggling ("Oh my God, Luke. Did you just giggle?") at the girl that he found so adorable, Luke wished to see something other than her shadow and leaned over her, feeling the breath hitch in her throat, and turned on the lamp. A faint and sunshine yellow glow illuminated the room and Ava's tired features could finally be seen and he sat silent for a moment while she adjusted to the bright change, just admiring her. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to take in every part of her, like he was never going to see it again, because he hadn't seen it.

It had only been weeks, but in Luke's world, it felt like a strange, timeless place where each day would just drag on into the next, nothing really affecting him besides the things that weren't there. He had managed to keep his job by actually showing up, but changing to Green House Duty from being previous cashier because the green house was not only beautiful, but in the back of the building where no one would talk to him except for Jerry. And since the day he last saw Delilah, he hadn't seen much of her, rather than spotting her across the street or at the coffee shop, but even those happenstances were occasional, and with each day that passed in the mental health break he took, he found it less painful to see someone from his past.

This only made him feel better and more committed to spending time with Ava and getting ready to actually admit his feelings for her. If he could, anyways. He enjoyed being let back into her life without too much struggle because it meant that they could be best friends again. But another part of him, a bigger part, found it sad that she had accepted his earlier apologies so easily when they had left the party and walked around, talking things out. He didn't want her to be pushed over—which she really wasn't in a way; if there was someone with the mental strength of titanium in the relationship they had, it was definitely Ava, but he felt like she deserved better anyways.

From what Ava told him about how her life had gotten uber-problematic in the past month, he suspected that she had only forgiven him so quickly because she was slowly eliminating her issues one by one and trying to solve them in a manner she could handle without completely breaking down. Luke had admiration for that and learned that the way people deal with things says a lot about them. He agreed that she definitely had a lot on her plate, with her family and dealing with regular daily crises, so the fact that she was handling everything so professionally was impressive and admirable. Then again, maybe she was just acting like an adult.

"Take a picture," Ava said smugly, a smirk on her lips that didn't suit her kind face, "It lasts longer." Then she laughed to herself, complimenting her humour in whispers, thinking that he couldn't hear her.