The Fallen |BxB| ✓

05 | Center of Everything

"You're telling me that Ken, the boy who looks like a flower petal, broke Brandon's hand?" I chuckled when she made the exploding-mind gesture and then limped her arms in disbelief. "Damn."

"Damn indeed." Tugging my lip under my teeth, the scene played back in my head. I barely believed my eyes when he came out of nowhere and jumped in front of me without thinking. He could've seriously hurt himself.

"Did you talk to Alison?" Bella pulled me out of the memory.

A grunt escaped my mouth. "Why? I want nothing with her." I didn't even allow my mind to bring up her picture. She had no impact in my life before, and neither did she now.

"Luke," Bella said in a serious tone, her frown returning. Her hand gently clutched my arm that was pushed in my jeans pocket. "Don't do this to yourself. Talking will not put you down." I turned away from her gaze, making her move where I was looking. "I know you'll deny it, but you were with her for six months. No one else but her." She pulled my arm. Bella's blue eyes were intense like a storm. She was not kidding. "She did you wrong, don't act like it does not affect you."

"I'm not acting. I don't want to talk about it, Bella. I don't fucking care."

"Fine." Her hand slipped off me, and she shook her head. "If you change your mind, call me or something."

"Okay." Drop it, Bella.

She smiled then. "Ken seems to like you." Rolling her eyes, she continued, "Which, I know, is no big news, but since you're going on a date already..."

Date.

"...don't bully him too much." She winked, making me snicker.

"I'm late. See you around, Bells." Taking out the keys from my pocket, I unlocked my car, a beep resonating in the empty parking lot.

"I want full deets later," she said, and before she turned to leave, I pulled her into a hug. "Woah."

Her hand slowly patted my back, and I buried my face in her short curls, fruity shampoo invading my senses. "Take a break, Bella. You're overworking, and I'm worried about your health."

Her muscles loosened, and she placed her head against my chest. "I will. Thanks, Luke." Her voice was muffled against my scarf. I pulled back with a smile that she reflected.

"See you."

Turning away from her leaving figure, I opened the car gate, black-coating shining under the sun. As I sat inside, pulling the rear-view mirror down, I checked if I looked presentable. Lips broken and somewhat scabbed with dried blood, eyes thoroughly tired, and my hair going in all directions with perplexity. I looked like a mess.

A hot mess.

After getting the seatbelt, and driving towards the school entrance, I thought about Isabella calling this a date. Was it? I hadn't thought so far. For some reason, after feeling that strange magnetism when I first saw Ken, I had avoided thinking about him. But he kept coming around. He probably wants what everyone else wants from me. That thought didn't settle right within me. There was something different, and I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Taking the first turn, my hands clutched around the steering wheel, knuckles whitening. Will he even show up? As the thought bugged my mind, open gates of the school appeared into view, and a worse feeling crawled in my stomach when I saw Ken's figure waiting for me near the metal gate. His head was bent, focus dipped into his phone that he was using with both his hands. Black hair capturing the sunlight as they fell around his face. As my chest tightened and nervousness breathed down my neck, I shifted my attention to my lip that was biting consciously.