Luke ran his hand through the dry sand, watching as the small grains slipped through his fingers. His attention soon turned back to Audrey, who was laying down beside him, staring out at the lake in front of them.
Luke couldn't believe how peaceful it was, especially since it was so close to the school. The only sound that could be heard was the end of the day bell, signaling to all of the students at Byrne High that it was time to go home.
"Why did you want to sneak out so badly?" Audrey finally asked Luke, but she didn't look at him. She simply stared at the water, the sky, the birds. Anything that caught her eye, really.
Luke didn't even have to think about his answer.
"I hate it there," he stated. "Everybody is so boring and they never do anything."
Audrey nodded, knowingly. "I get it. I've had to deal with them my whole life."
"Is that why you sneak out?" Luke asked her, but she shook her head.
"I do it for a number of reasons, Luke. One being that people don't generally like me at that school. It's like, anybody who is even remotely different is immediately a threat, you know?" she told him.
Luke nodded, knowing very well that what she was saying was true. Nobody had even smiled at Luke when he'd first arrived, not even the teachers.
"So, why'd you come here?" she asked him.
"I was in homeschooling for most of my life, but my mom was busy at work lately, so she wanted me to spend my last year in an actual high school," he explained.
Audrey finally looked at Luke and smiled. "Awe, that's so cute."
Luke scratched the back of his neck, blushing. "It's not cute."
"Awe, now your face is all red. You're totally cute."
Luke sighed, sitting up and looking at Audrey.
They had both been at the lake long enough for their clothes to dry. Luke was now back in his jeans and shirt, and Audrey was still in her leather jacket.
Luke liked that nothing had really changed between them even though they'd seen each other half naked. They were comfortable with each other, which was rare to see between two teenagers who barely knew each other.
"So, uh, why do you always wear that thing?" Luke asked Audrey with curiosity.
"She's my baby," Audrey replied, referring to her jacket and pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair was now dry and flowed beautifully halfway down her back.
"But girls don't usually wear leather jackets," Luke pointed out. He'd only ever seen people wearing leather jackets in movies like Grease or The Outsiders.
Audrey rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Luke. I wear what I want."
"Stay gold, Audrey," Luke found himself saying out loud.
Audrey looked at him in confusion. "You did not just quote The Outsiders."
Luke chuckled. "It seems that I did."
Luke had only seen the movie once, but he'd read the book three times. Secretly, he had always wanted to be like Sodapop or maybe even Ponyboy, however he had no idea why someone would name their child something so unfortunate. He was glad his name was Luke.
"That's literally my favorite book and movie in the whole world. They're one of the reasons why I started wearing this old thing all the time," Audrey told Luke, gesturing towards her jacket.
Luke smiled. "So, you're one of the greasers at this school, huh?"
"Yeah, and you might as well be one too. We should start our own group, though. Everyone will call us The Sneakers. Get it? Cause we sneak out?" she said, suddenly getting excited.
"I don't want to be referred to as a pair of shoes," Luke laughed, which caused Audrey to roll her eyes.
"Okay, fine. It's a work in progress."
Luke checked his phone and saw that it was now five o'clock. He was happy to see that there were no alerts out concerning his minor disappearance, and no angry texts from his mom. He'd actually done it. He didn't get caught.
"We should do this again sometime," Luke told Audrey, and she smiled up at him and nodded.
"Hey, do you wanna come to a party with me tonight? It's downtown, and I was just gonna go alone, but if you want to like tag along or whatever-"
"Sure," Luke said, cutting her off. "Where is it?"
"It's actually at a park. It's one of those sort of illegal ones but whatever. Those are the best kinds, right? It'll be fun," she smiled. "But, you can't go dressed like that. You look like a dork."
"Well, how do I un-dork myself?" Luke questioned her, looking down at his worn out blue jeans that were far too baggy for his skinny, long legs.
Audrey smiled, then stood up, taking Luke up with her.
"Where do you live, again?"
Luke and Audrey ended up driving to Luke's house in Audrey's car. Luke didn't have a car because he didn't really need one. Other than going to school, he rarely ever left the house.
They entered Luke's small home and immediately headed towards his bedroom. Luke scurried around, attempting to kick his dirty underwear under his bed before Audrey could notice.
Audrey instead looked around at the walls of Luke's room, admiring the many posters and pictures on his walls. She noticed that he seemed to really be into bands like Green Day, and had a very close relationship to his mom. She smiled to herself, then focused back on Luke.
"What are you doing?" she questioned, seeing Luke stumbling over himself as he attempted to pick up a piece of pizza that somehow ended up stuck to the floor.
"I- I have no idea how this happened," he said, but Audrey only rolled her eyes and walked over to his closet.
"Got enough flannels?" she chuckled, searching through a rack filled with them.
Finally, she pulled out a Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt and handed it to Luke, then raided through his drawers searching for pants. She pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans with rips in the knees and handed them to him.
"That should be good. I'm gonna go eat some of your food while you get changed," Audrey said, then walked to Luke's kitchen, closing his door behind her.
Luke changed into his clothes-which he rarely ever wore-and slid into a pair of vans. He wasn't sure what exactly he was getting himself into, but he wasn't nervous, for once. If Audrey was going, then he definitely had to go. Especially since he didn't want her to go alone. He was sure that it wouldn't have been the first time that she'd gone to one of these parties alone, but for some reason, he felt himself needing to protect her anyway.
After all, aside from his mom, she was probably his only friend.
He quickly combed his hair, then walked into his kitchen to find Audrey eating a brownie that his mom had cooked the night before.
"Did your mom make these?" Audrey asked, and Luke nodded. "Tell her they're fucking delicious."
"I will," Luke laughed. "So am I party worthy?"
"Totally. My friends will love you. Do you drink?"
Luke shook his head. "Nope, I never leave the house. Plus, my mom would kill me."
Audrey looked at him, trying not to laugh.
"You're the biggest mama's boy I've ever met, and it's adorable, but do not tell anybody what you just told me."
Luke laughed and nodded, knowing very well how lame he sounded. He was just being honest, but due to his lack of social interaction with people his own age, he always found himself saying things that he shouldn't have.
"Shall we get going?" she finally asked him, adjusting her jacket and twirling her car keys around her finger.
Luke took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's go."
🌿
I FUCKING LOVE TØP AND PATD MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD SHAHAKLALA
OKAY SORRY I GOTTA GO BEFORE I BREAK A CHAIR YIKES
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER ILY :-)))) REMEMBER TO VOTE AND b IF YOU WANT AND MAYBE CHECK OUT MY OTHER BOOKS??? >:)