Photographs (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 8

"Okay fine," I said caving into Mrs. Hemmings, making her smile.

"Do you need any help?" I asked her.

"No i've got it, thank you honey."

I looked up at Luke who nodded, showing me to follow him. He led me out to the patio, taking a seat in one of the chairs. He then tugged his shirt on over his head. I sat down waiting for Luke to ignite a conversation, but he didn't so we sat in silence.

I pulled out my phone and sent my dad a text saying to pick me up when he left work. We sat in silence and I frantically tried to think of what to say. I looked around his backyard noticing a treehouse and a tire swing in the right corner.

"You have a treehouse and a tire swing? That's awesome," I said, thinking of how fun Luke's childhood probably was. I never had anything like that. My parents only bought me a bike and a small kiddy pool.

"Yeah I built it with my dad and my brothers when we moved here," he said showing a small smile at the thought.

"That's really cool," I said looking over at him. He nodded in agreement. Him not saying anything began to worry me. I didn't want him to feel annoyed with me being here.

"So did you hear about Casey and Ashton?" I asked, desperate for conversation. The silence was killing me.

"No what about them?" he asked, looking at me intrigued.

"They're a thing now."

"Oh you can't say you didn't see that coming," he exclaimed leaning back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and stretching out his long, lanky legs.

"Well I thought it would, but guys are hard to read so I wasn't sure," I said challenging him.

"Girls are a lot harder to read then guys are," he said challenging me back.

"No way, guys suck at showing feelings," I said, shaking my head at him.

"I guess, sometimes," he said in defeat as his mom called us in for dinner.

When we walked into the dining room, the table was already set and the food was in the center of the table.

"Help yourself," Mrs. Hemmings said taking a seat.

I grabbed a small amount of pasta, scooping it into my dish. I ate slowly and kept up normal dinner conversation with Luke and his mom.

"Thank you Mrs. Hemmings, the food was great. Chicken alfredo is my favorite," I said with a sweet smile.

Not only was Luke's mom nice, but she was a math teacher and she could cook. I admired her talent because I was terrible at math; my grades at school were average, and I couldn't cook very well.

"Thank you," she said standing, beginning to clear the table.

I stood up, picking up the remaining dishes on the table and beginning to walk over to the kitchen to help clean up. Before I knew it Luke stood in front of me, his tall body towering over mine as he grabbed the dishes out of my hand.

"Let me help clean up Luke," I exclaimed with a smile.

"You're a guest, park it Parker," he said nudging me to sit down with his elbow. I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.

He walked back into the dining room carrying a plate.

"Mom made cookies," he said smiling and placing them in front of me.

"I have to go to walmart. I'll be back in an hour. Do you need a ride home Bailey?" Mrs. Hemming asked, walking in as I took a bite of my cookie.

"No my dad should be here in a few minutes, thank you for everything," I said with a smile.

"It was lovely seeing you. Come by more often," she said giving me a small hug.

Once the door locked, Luke turned to me but no words left his mouth.

"I can wait outside, my dad should be here soon," I said awkwardly walking towards the door.

"It's fine," Luke said sitting on the couch as we walked through the living room. He leaned over grabbing his acoustic guitar off its stand. I leaned against the couch watching him strum a little bit.

"You can sit ya know," Luke said laughing at me.

"How do you move your fingers so easily?" I said staring at his fingers on the strings.

"Lots of practice."

"Yeah that was probably common sense," I said laughing at myself, "Sorry."

Luke continued to mess around on his guitar and I watched him. My eyes traveled from his foot which he was tapping, to his hands moving swiftly on the neck of the guitar, up to the side of his face.

I studied his face; he licked his lips often and he bit his lip whenever he messed up a note. He turned his head to look at me, and I smiled at him. I then looked straight down at my phone to avoid the awkward eye contact, and the fact that he basically caught me staring at him.

"You play really well," I said looking back up at Luke.

"Thanks," he said cracking a smile.

"You make it look easy," I said looking back down at his fingers.

"You should try and learn sometime," he said as our eyes met. I studied his face; from his eyebrows, to his eyes, to his lip ring, and then back up to his eyes.

"Maybe one day," I said lowering my voice to almost a whisper, as I looked down at my shoes.

"If you do decide to try and learn, you should let me teach you," he said giving me a smile.

"Okay," I agreed with a quiet laugh. My phone rang and I recieved a text saying my dad was out front.

I stood up, "my dad's here."

Luke stood up and followed me to the door.

"Thanks," I said turning the knob.

"Yeah, and I'm serious about me teaching you guitar," he said, giving me one last smile.

"Alright," I said with a nod as I made my way out the door with a smile on my face.

-

It was a rainy Thursday and my dad got a ride to work, leaving me with the car. I layed in bed listening to the rain tap against my window. I loved laying inside and listening to the sound of rain, it had to be one of my favorite sounds in the world. I had been stuck inside the past few days with a cold, but I was finally starting to feel better. I was also starting to feel lonely since my dad had been working late this week. I had enough of being cooped up in my room, so I put on my shoes and a jacket before making my way out of the house.

I drove around aimlessly for hours, but I finally decided to get a smoothie to cure my craving. After ordering my usual, I threw my spare change in the tip jar. Since it was raining, no one else was in the smoothie shop so I got my smoothie immediately. I made my way out to the parking lot and sat in the car for a minute, enjoying my smoothie. I thought about what my next destination should be since I still had plenty of gas, and tons of time, but I decided to just go home.
I turned the key to start my car, but the engine wouldn't start. I tried several times before getting out and lifting the hood of my car. The engine was smoking so I let out a frustrated groan.

I got back into my car to call a tow truck.

Once I got to the gas station, I looked up at the time. It was barely 4PM and I needed someone to pick me up seeing as my dad wouldn't be home from work for a few hours. Casey was on a date with Ashton, and Ally didn't pick up her phone, she was usually busy.
I scrolled through my contacts before putting my phone up to my ear.

"Uh... Hey Luke... Could you do me a huge favor and come get me from the gas station?"

-

A/N

Here's another small chapter since the last was a filler!

I'll update Sunday.

This story gained 120+ reads within 24 hours and that's awesome. You all are awesome.