"was it good?"
"oh my god yes."
"woo!" bella cheered excitedly. "did he make you. . . ?"
"was that not obvious?" lola was already settled in the mindset of a hormonal teenager and really couldn't break out of it.
"so he's already better than he who shall not be named?"
"oh my god - so much better."
***
"if you weren't here to force me to overdress i would honestly turn up at his matches wearing sweaters and jeans." lola admitted, twirling around in her full length mirror.
bella laughed and waved her off.
"there's nothing wrong with jeans and a sweater - unless you're seeing your man." she winked and lola giggled, smoothing out the jacket she was wearing; rationing it wasn't warm enough to go out without one.
"and since you are seeing luke and he obviously will be spending the night here - i bet you're wearing cute underwear."
"bella!"
bella sent lola a pointed look and watched her friend's fake shock dissolve into a shy smirk.
"baby pink satin."
"i knew it!" bella yelled victoriously. "i am so excited for you tonight!"
***
there was a stirring of excitement in the pit of lola's stomach as she shuffled through the crowds to join the boys at the front, only a few steps away from the ring.
of course, she was still scared for the fight - she always was - but she'd never been so excited for luke to come back to her house afterwards; to spend the night with her.
she couldn't wait.
"the girlfriend has arrived." ashton joked, pulling bella and lola through the remainder of the crowd until they were safely in front of the boys.
"which one of us are you referring to?" bella retorted with a grin, leaning back against michael's chest.
"don't ask him questions, he'll get confused." calum ruffled ashton's hair, but before ashton could retaliate, the referee was in the ring with a faulty microphone in his hand.
"in the right corner, we have mr jack rogers, who calls himself the 'american bulldozer'." the group turned simultaneously to see a man who was about the same height as luke, but a thousand times bigger stumbling into the ring.
he looked like he'd been genetically enhanced, his muscles knitted under his skin covered in ink, his teeth grinding together painfully.
"it's the hulk." michael whispered, a look of worry falling over lola's face when she took in just how terrifying the man looked.
"and in the left corner, from our own gym here, we have mr luke hemmings!" it was only when luke stepped into the ring that lola realised neither of them were wearing gloves.
her heart plummeted and she clasped her hands together in front of her chest, desperate for some sort of comfort; some reassurance that it would be fine - that luke would be fine.
they bumped fists, a little too aggressively for lola's liking, and began to circle each other like lions, the fire in their eyes making lola's anxiety rise up to her throat.
luke swung first.
his fist landed on his opponents jaw, the deafening hit eliciting wild cheers from the drunken crowd and releasing some of the tension lola was feeling.
22. spending the night
Începe de la început
