"No." I scoffed. "No, no, no, no, no." I repeated to Luke, brushing past him and walking out of my room.
"Why not?" He whined as he chased behind me. I sat down on the couch and crossed my arms over one another, not even attempting to give him my attention.
"I'm not going on one of yours and Cianna's 'play dates'." I put the words in air quotes as I was clearly annoyed by the idea of her.
"It's not a 'play date'." He said, mocking me. He sat down next to me only to have my body shift away from him. "It's just a small party and she invited me. I only thought it would be fun if you went." I felt his eyes burning through me even though I couldn't exactly see him.
I grimaced back at him as I eyed him up once. He had the most needy look in his eyes, like if I didn't go then the world would actually end. I shifted my body towards him as my idea on this whole party was lightening up. If he really wanted me to go, then I would, but the fact that it was at Cianna's place was just ruining it for me.
"Come on, Autumn." He spoke and softly put his hand on my shoulder. This was something he did only when he really wanted something. I glanced down at my shoulder then back into his eyes that were more blue than usual. "Just come with me. I'll leave whenever you want to."
I looked away from him, trying to decide if I wanted to give into it and completely go against my own priorities, but eventually I made up my mind. I groaned loudly then turned back to him. "Fine." I plainly said. "But-" Before I could finish my sentence Luke had stopped me by jumping on me and engulfing me in a hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." He repeated, his voice now giddy. Because of his forceful action, we were now laid down on the couch and my arms were glues to my side from the grip he had around me.
"Don't touch me." I plainly said, having no hopes of him actually getting off of me. As his grip became tighter I finally decided to speak up. "Luke!" I shouted. "Get off me!" I struggled to pry him off of me, but it was still no use. "Why are you even so excited about this? It's just a small party." I huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of my face since I couldn't actually move it with my hands. He sat up right after, giving me a questioning glare.
"It's our last party before school starts, don't you want to have a little bit of fun?" He was right, I was all for a little mischievous, we both were. But I just disliked the idea of Cianna and that was all that there was to it.
"You're right." I sighed, propping myself onto my elbows and getting a better look at him. "I'll make the most of it."
-
"You look like a slut." Luke popped up behind me in my mirror, scanning me from head to toe.
"I do not!" I scoffed, smoothing out the bumps on my black dress. It was a little tighter than I had wanted, but it wasn't too short and barely showed my chest. He was probably just confused by the drastic difference since I'm all for baggy t-shirts. "Who are you to say anyways?"
"I'm your best friend. I'm obligated to tell you that." His arms folded across his graphic black t-shirt, something that he had about 400 of. I squinted my eyes at him through our reflections in the mirror.
"Well," I began, leaning over the counter. I caught him taking a quick glance down at my nearly exposed butt and once he realized that I'd seen him, he raised his eyebrows at me, as if that had proved his point. "Shouldn't I have a little fun?" I stated, mocking his words that he said to me earlier.
"Are you ready?" He asked, completely ignoring my last words. I stood back up, raking my hands through my hair for more volume.
"The question is if you are ready." I said, referring to his t-shirt and jeans. He looked down then back up, fixing his beanie on his head.
"Umm," He fixed a few stray hairs on his head. "Yeah." He retorted. I rolled my eyes and faced him which he sure enough did the same.
"Take it off." I commanded.
"I mean.." He started pulling at the collar of his shirt. I reached out to swat his arms away, but he moved back away from me. "I'm kidding." He laughed after taking in my reaction. A few moments later he spoke up once again. "I'm not taking off my hat." He said with a more serious tone, looking at the mirror then back at me.
"Take it off!" I repeated more loudly this time.
"You can't tell me what to do!" He raised his voice at me in a joking manner, sounding more like a little kid then a 'grown adult'. I puffed out in frustration then jumped up and grabbed the hat for myself. "Hey!" He shouted as I ran out the bathroom door. Before he was able to catch up, I slipped off the heels I was wearing and then continued to run around the house from him.
Eventually, he had caught me and I was now being lifted by his arms that were wrapped around my torso tightly. He carried me over to the couch, still struggling to get the stupid hat from my hands. His ability to easily pick me up whenever he wanted was definitely a downside to our friendship. Well at least from my point of view.
Without warning, I was dropped on the couch and his weight shortly followed. Profanities from both of us were exchanged and eventually it was retrieved in my hands and I stood up before he could get it again. His towering frame hovered over me, but I wasn't intimidated.
"Sit on the damn couch." I scolded, pointing my finger to the leather seat. He sat down without word and the look of defeat on his face was quite obvious. "Will you sit still for me?" I questioned, now lowering my voice. He turned his head away from me as he folded his arms across his chest. His chin was tilted slightly upwards, making him look like a kindergartner. I reached out for his hair, but he jerked back, giving me a rude glare.
"Okay then." I grabbed both of his shoulders and he flinched back from me, but then realized that I was climbing into his lap with a leg on each side of him. I looked down at my legs that had straddled him and was thankful that my dress was longer enough to cover me. "This is so unladylike." I muttered, but still loud enough for him to hear. I heard him laugh under his breath which caused me to snap my head up.
"This wouldn't be happening if you didn't rip my beanie off." He said smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and straightened my back. I brought my hands back up to his hair which luckily he hadn't pulled away from this time. I fluffed the top of his hair since it was flattened by the hat that was now tossed aside.
"You actually have good hair, you shouldn't hide it behind a dumb beanie." I half smiled down at him who was looking up at me from the brim of his eyelashes. I finished tousling his hair as it couldn't be fixed much more. "I just made it look even more good." I giggled, now becoming face to face with him and placing my hands his shoulders again.
"Thanks." He said giving me a sheepish smile. I returned the gesture then swallowed once I realized how close we actually were. Our proximity between each other was barely 5 inches apart, making it hard to focus on anything but him. "And by the way, you don't look like a slut." His voice lowered as the same smirk crept on his face. "You just look particularly good." He said, moving in closer to me.
"Thanks." I breathed out, feeling my cheeks turn a light shade of pink. I'd never been the close to him before, well not at least for this long. He sat up straighter which made my arms completely drape around his shoulders.
"You know," He began to say. His eyes flicked down to my lips as he subtly ran his tongue across the bottom of his own. "You could do this more often for me." He cheekily said. I couldn't help but watch the way his lips curved with his accent, it was driving me crazy.
"Mhmn." I quietly mumbled just to fill the last seconds of him moving closer to me. His warmth was radiating off of him and onto me. Just as our lips were about to brush, a loud knocking came from outside our apartment door. The sudden noise jerked me from my thoughts and pushed me back into reality.
I jumped off Luke, letting the idea that I had actually almost kissed my best friend in the heat of the moment when I have a boyfriend sink into my brain. I sat on the table in front of the couch, where Luke had just gotten up to go answer the door since I probably seemed traumatized by the event. The feeling of him so close to me was still tingling on my lips.
After what seemed like only a few moments, I pulled myself together once he reentered the room. I looked down at my lap and let my legs swing back and forth as he sat back down in front of me.
"That was, um, Ellis." He stated rather awkwardly. "He wanted to give you these." I looked up, seeing that Luke was holding up a bag that I recognized as the one I left over there if I ever stayed the night. I took the bag from his hands, looking into his eyes once again to see them dulled.
"Thanks." I quietly replied, hiding the confusion as to why Ellis felt the need to give this back to me. Luke got on his feet, walking over where I had thrown his beanie on the floor. "Luke?" I asked, suddenly feeling guilty for what I was about to ask. He peered over at me with a blank expression, but it was obvious that his jaw was gently clenching. "Can we not," I started as a picked at my nail polish. "You know, tell anyone what just happened?" My stomach dropped at my own words, I hated to just forget about it, because whether one of us wanted to deny it, something was there. "I don't want-"
"You don't want Ellis to find out." He finished for me. I couldn't understand what type of tone he was using, but once a faint smile tugged at his lips I felt a lot more at ease. "I understand. Let's just get going?" He suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled back, standing up and slipping on the heels that I tossed to the corner of the couch.
"Let's get going."