senseless | l.h

ROUND 14: ONE DINNER, LOTS OF FEELINGS.

The awkwardness started before Nellie could control it. A good portion of it happening before she even saw Luke that day. She was so caught up in her plans for everything to go smoothly she forgot about the part of her plan that was more than likely destined to be anything but smooth. As Nellie worked all of this out in her apartment with her sister and Yanna, Luke stood outside of the apartment building with a cigarette between his fingers and his phone in the other hand. Smoke fell past his lips as he tried to sort out the mess of feelings he had piling up in his mind, a lot of them being about Jules; yet, a lot of them were also about Nellie.

He stood there with his fingers flirting with the thought of texting her, the boy mostly having nervous feelings due to changing up his holiday routine. He usually spent his time alone, and he liked it a lot better that way. When he was alone, he knew he could be sad and it wouldn't matter. He didn't want to ruin Nellie's plans though, and he was also the one who forced them upon her; so now he was stuck. He cursed to himself as he took another drag, the feeling in his chest contradicting then feeling of the cold air on his skin. Luke pressed the power button on his phone, shoving it back into his pocket before he ran his fingers through his hair. He let more smoke fall past his lips and as he stood there, a noise caught his attention. The taller boy turned his head to see Nellie. The girl stepped over to him as she began to rub her arms from the chill that tickled her soft, brown skin.

"Hey, Bambi," he said. Nellie smiled slightly at him, the boy still looking at the ground as he said it. He glanced over at her, dropping the cigarette on the ground before he started to take his jacket off. He handed it to Nellie, not letting the girl say no to the gesture.

"Thank you. Been out here a while?" She asked, tilting her head as she looked up at him. He only shrugged his shoulders, making Nellie smile to herself as she reached up and fixed the collar of the boy's shirt. She knew he was lying and Nellie only knew this because her dads had passed Luke on the way inside (and they had been inside for almost a half hour). She brushed it off as she smoothed out the fabric of his shirt, the boy still finding himself caught up in her touch even when fabric separated the tips of her fingers and his skin.

"C'mon," she gestured. "I told everyone I have a date; if you don't arrive soon, they'll think I lied," she joked. He bit back his smile at this before he grabbed Nellie's hand, which she had held out for him. He liked the thought of the gesture and he liked it even more when Nellie intertwined her fingers with the boy's, the feeling of his hand in hers making a fuzzy feeling spread in each of their chests.

Nellie continued to hold the boy's hand up until they reached her apartment door (where even then she didn't want to let it go). She paused before they stepped in, the girl placing a hand on the boy's chest as she began to ramble off a warning about what her family was like. He ended up smirking with amusement during most of it, as Nellie chose to whisper just in case Lainey had chosen to be nosy.

"So, I'm going to give you a Ford family rundown," Nellie said, making Luke nod slightly. "I'm adopted—not Lainey, though—she was from a surrogate. Lainey also never stops talking, as does the dad you haven't met; you know, the one that's feelings would get hurt easily? And cool dad—the one you met—he's not sure if he likes you, but I do. I like you, a lot," Nellie said, blushing softly as the boy chucked quietly. He liked her, too, and all the effort she was appearing to put in to help him was adorable, regardless of the fact she was being hypocritical about the talking situation. He actually found utter preciousness and admiration within Nellie's seemingly endless stream of words. After all, he never had that many to say.

"So," she continued, breaking the boy from his thoughts. "It would help if he liked you, too. And then there's Yanna. She's super nice, can talk anyone, and she's Lainey's girlfriend. She always smells really nice, too, like roses—"