in the crowd • luke hemmings

4. cherry red

and yet here he was, feeling guilty for a conversation that couldn't even have lasted a whole five minutes.

a conversation where he pushed much harder than he should have - and for no real reason. he had no clue who nate was, and he truthfully didn't care much. but he'd pushed for the sake of pushing, and he'd made lola cry and he simply couldn't shake the image of her dark brown eyes overflowing with tears.

and god, if that didn't make his stomach twist.

***

"you can come over after work if you want? i'll just make us some stuffed peppers or something?" lola's voice was hushed to match the quietness of her local supermarket.

she pushed the small trolley down the aisles, filling it with the obligatory items a healthy ballerina required, and more teabags.

she needed a comfort cup after her night last night. in all honesty, she did feel like maybe she overreacted a bit. but it also wasn't luke's business to be so nosey, and she'd made it clear from the start he was crossing boundaries.

they weren't even friends. so she had every right to be upset.

right?

lola pulled herself back out of her thoughts, inspecting punnets of strawberries as she re-engaged with bella's excited tones.

"lola it was amazing! i think i saw god, honestly, he was-"

"bella i thought the point of dinner was for this gossip?" lola teased.

"the point of dinner is i didn't want to cook. and believe me, i won't get tired of talking about this for a long time!"

"using me for my cooking, it's good to know where i stand with you."

"shut up, you know i love you. but i have a deep need to just talk about this constantly. my whole life has been leading up to this moment. i mean, kissing him, oh my god! he loved the pink outfit by the way." a wide smile covered lola's face as she listened to how ecstatic her best friend sounded - the fact that it was in reference to another best friend was just the cherry on top.

"i can't wait to hear more about it bell - i've got to go now though, i'm going to pay. i'll see you later, i love you."

"i'll be at yours for half five, i love you too."

lola tucked her phone into the back pocket of her straight legged jeans, and got out her shopping bags in preparation for the task of now putting all her shopping away at the same rate that the cashier was scanning it - and she was never fast enough.

***

after a solid hour of running, luke decided he'd suffered enough to earn a break, and slowed his pace down to a walk.

he'd reached the parking lot of a supermarket - it was fairly empty so he assumed no one would be bothered that he had just run halfway through it.

a puff of air escaped his lips, and he was incredibly grateful to past-luke for remembering to bring a water bottle. it was exactly what he needed after sixty minutes of cardio - he had been slacking on that front lately.

luke turned his face towards the wind, pushing his hair away from his face - when he noticed a vaguely familiar figure walking through the parking lot.

she was holding two large bags of shopping - in reusable shopping bags decorated with bees and bright flowers.

with bags almost as big as she was, lola was doing an heroic job at carrying them to her car.