hard love ✰ l.h. | ON HOLD

eight.

"All I'm thinking about is wings."

I glanced over to a hungry Ania who sat with crossed legs in my passenger seat.

We were headed to our favorite restaurant/bar/hot spot whatever it was called now-a-days. Wings, beer, karaoke, locals. It was genuinely entertaining. The atmosphere was dark and calming, very casual.

A football game had just finished, which we knew was the prime time to go. This meant that everyone was flooding out and heading back home either cheering or sobbing. This was also the time karaoke started, and there was always a long list of leftover drunks belting their hearts out. That had only once been me, and Ania about fifteen times. She knew how to have a good time.

"Can this guy get off my ass?" I groaned, adjusting my rearview mirror. The car close to my bumper made me nervous.

Red glowed into my car from the stoplight ahead. It illuminated Ania's round nose and plump lips. She glanced out my window and did a double take. Her jaw dropped, which gave me the cue to stare out my window now too.

A guy sat in the passenger seat of a sleek black car, his long fingers tapping outside of the window that was rolled down. His golden hair was wavy and short, styled messily on his head.

Ania leaned over me and a wave of confusion smacked me in the face.

"What are you-"

"Hey!" She dragged on the "Y" as the window rolled all the way down, catching the man's eye.

"Ania, oh my God, stop." I whispered down at her. I glanced back up to the warm skinned boy and shot him a sheepish smile.

Blonde curls popped out next to him. I could recognize those blue eyes from a mile away. We locked eyes for a brief moment and a smile appeared on his face. That had explained my agitation with the driver behind me. Of course it was Luke.

"Hi, Mabel," the golden boy cheerily said.

"Hello, person whose name I don't know."

"Ashton," he stated with a smile. "Where are we heading tonight?"

I looked down at Ania, who was still laying in my lap. She nudged her head towards the boys, giving me quite a look.

"Buffington's," I responded. First with hesitation, then a grin.

The light flipped back to green and Luke sped off. As Ania returned to her seat, I trailed closely behind him, just as he did with me. From the few minutes I followed him to the bar, I was unsure of who allowed him to receive a driver's license.

College aged kids and older men were trickling out of Buffington's. All dressed in football jersey's or their team colors. It was a sea of crimson and gold.

We had lost the boys in the midst of parking. Ania and I decided to head inside anyways, as it didn't matter who accompanied us, we still were here for wings and drunken karaoke form strangers.

We stood patiently at the door to wait for the crowd to swarm around us and exit. As they cleared, a pair of hands met my hips. My hair rustled as Luke quietly spoke into my ear.

"You cut your hair."

I turned my head over my shoulder to face him.