Duplicity (Luke Hemmings AU)

Ten

The light of my phone screen brightened my dark room. I knew I should have gone to sleep, because the morning would be dreadful, but I couldn't will myself to go offline. The internet at one in the morning really had its perks. First off, it was the one and only time I could go on uninterrupted by my parents, or even homework. I was done with everything I had to do. Plus, it was also the only time I could look up Halloween costumes without getting any input from Katherine. The party she was dragging me to was in a more than two weeks, and she had been bugging me since September about costumes.

Unfortunately, Katherine had lost all modesty she ever had after I met her, and had now concluded that she had to wear the most revealing costume she could find. She had urged me to do the same, claiming that my chest was bigger than hers, and that I should flaunt it. I politely declined the offer. If it was up to me, I would have worn a band shirt and said I was going as a fan. Better yet, I could have dressed like a literal fan. That would have been nice.

After I found out Luke was going to the party, a little part of me had convinced myself to try to find something decent. It was weird to think I had only known Luke for barely a month, yet I still found myself confused about him. The first week was spent loathing him, the second was spent ignoring his annoying tendencies, the third was spent becoming friends, and this past week was spent as friends. The problem was, I didn't know what exactly I was feeling for him. After detention, I kept finding him attractiveness. It was aggravating. I was not supposed to like him, so I pushed the attraction away. But I still felt something.

Or maybe I was just lonely.

......

I scratched at the ant bites on my foot. Perhaps walking barefoot in my driveway was not my brightest moment. I had been running late to school, however, and I literally had to pull a shirt on while running out the door to Katherine's car. Of course, instead of worrying about my itching foot, she had interrogated me about my Halloween costume. Thankfully, I hadn't finalized one, so I was able to put off the snide remarks about my modesty. Katherine was a very opinionated girl.

"Raelynn, are you even listening to me?" Katherine whined, turning the volume of her crappy bubblegum music down. Thankfully.

"What? Of course!" I lied.

"You obviously weren't." She rolled her eyes. Ashton was so rubbing off on her. I cringed at the thought of them together. Rubbing. Gross.

"What makes you say that?" I asked. My foot was still itchy. Curse those stupid ants.

"I asked you if you like Luke Hemmings."

I nearly spit out my coffee.

"No!" I yelled, angrily scratching my foot. I probably didn't seem very intimidating with all of the foot scratching and blushing. Way to go, Raelynn.

"Are you sure?" Katherine asked, turning up the radio. She was trying to make me crack. I hated the song Billionaire so freaking bad, and she knew it.

"Yes." I grit my teeth. I didn't want to admit it to myself, much less Katherine.

"Well, I don't believe you." She giggled.

"Why not." I grimaced. She would never let this go, and I knew it.

"Well for starters, you blush a lot around him. You have a staring habit, too." She laughed. "Not to mention you left campus to go to lunch with him. You don't even do that with me!"

"I was sad from detention!" I argued.

"Which you claim he landed you in, yet you still went out with him." She pointed out.