Crash 》Hemmings

Chapter Twenty Two

"When do you get off work?" Luke asked sitting on a stool, swirling the straw around his glass.

I glanced at the clock behind me. "In like five minutes. Why?"

"We're going job hunting."

I raised my eyebrows. "We both have jobs. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be working right now?"

Luke shook his head. "I got the day off. But anyways, your job sucks and you need a new one. So we are going to go look for one."

I've been complaining to Luke, or anyone who would listen, for a long time now about how much I hated my job. It sucked. Ashton kept telling me I should go work with him, Bianca even said that too. I didn't have the etiquette to work there though.

"Alright," I said taking my apron off. "Where shall we start Lucas?"

Once I was by Luke's side he grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. I looked down at them, smiling.

"Well Paxton," he said. I was relieved he wasn't calling me Patricia anymore. "I figured we could just walk around a bit and see what we find."

"Sounds good to me."

"Hey, do you mind me calling you Paxton? I mean, I could call you Crash still if you want."

I pondered that for a moment. I actually thought about this a lot. It was weird hearing someone call me by my name again.

I gave Luke's hand a squeeze. "I don't care if you call me Crash or Paxton. Just please don't call me Patricia."

He chuckled, bending down to kiss the top of my head. "Okay."

*

"All these places suck," I muttered, dragging my feet. "I'd rather continue cleaning disgusting bathrooms and taking out trash."

"I know that's a lie," Luke chuckled. He intertwined his fingers with mine.

I looked down at our hands. Luke's hands practically engulfed mine. His hand was slightly sweaty.

"Hey Luke?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are we?"

I've been thinking about this a lot. Since the first time he kissed me. Then again when he told Ashton and Bianca that he wished we were dating. I thought back to when we practically confessed our feelings about each other, to making out, and almost having sex.

"What made you bring that up?" Luke asked. His hand twitched in mine.

I raised my eyebrows, looking straight ahead. "You mean you haven't thought about it?"

There was a long pause. I glanced over at him once we stopped at the corner, waiting to cross the street. He wasn't looking at me. His attention was on everything but me. I was about to pull my hand away from him, but he finally spoke.

"I mean, yeah I've thought about it a couple times, but not recently. I don't even remember the last time I was in a relationship, Crash."

I took note in him switching back to Crash. I told myself he was still getting used to my actual name, but part of me was still hesitant.

"I do like you though, you should know this already. I mean, you seemed like you wanted to punch me when I said I wished we were dating."

We crossed the street with the few other people out enjoying the sun.

"That was before I got comfortable around you," I mumbled looking at the ground.

Luke gave my hand a squeeze. I glanced up at him. Upon making eye contact he gave me a small smile. "You're comfortable around me?"