Home Away From Home

Chapter Five

DAY FOUR

I woke up on the couch, covered and propped. I don't remember falling asleep here, and considering it wasn't anywhere near night time when I first sat down, I haven't any idea how long I've been sleeping. I got up and went into my room to fix myself up a bit before I faced the Hemmings, but it wasn't even morning yet. Because I felt well rested, I didn't bother trying to fall back asleep only to fail.
I went back out to the living room to watch some television. I mindlessly flipped through the channels as my thoughts were preoccupied. I was interrupted by a crash next door and Luke's profane mutters.
Naturally, I got up and went to his door to try to listen in. I heard him scrambling around the room and cursing.
"Luke?" I whispered through the door while knocking. "Are you okay?"
I heard him let out a hard sigh before he answered. "Yeah... Actually," He paused to sigh again, and I'm assuming he was either embarrassed or annoyed. "Could you come in here?"
I swallowed the foolish fright that has washed over me and slowly opened his door, just peeking in. I saw Luke looking at me with distraught eyes. I entered the room, cautious. "What's up?"
Luke didn't speak; he only held up his bloody hands. "How did you even do that?" I asked, outwardly freaking out.
I felt embarrassed when I saw the look of regret on Luke's face. This is probably the one and only time he will ever ask for my help, and I totally just patronized him. "Sorry."
"It's fine. Can you just get me some bandaids or something? I knocked over picture frame, and my hands got all cut up 'cus I couldn't see the glass." I felt bad for Luke, I really did. Asking for help is probably really detrimental to whatever persona he has built himself.
"I think you should wash them out first." Both of us stood in his room awkwardly, waiting for the other person to make the first move.
Being that I was closest to the door, I went to the bathroom. Luke followed shortly after, and I began to run warm water in the sink. "It's probably gonna sting." I warned him.
Luke, being the tough guy that he is, decided to just plunge in. He's not so tough. Luke audibly winced, and I wanted to laugh, but I instead took over. I have this thing about touching hands. I don't know when it started, but I've always thought touching hands was a really intimate thing. Let me tell you, working in retail is not the place for a person like me.
I warily reached for Luke's hands, my own hands shaking, and he pulled back before consigning them to me. I pulled my lips into my mouth as I carefully spread his fingers away from his bloody palms. My face was already duly flushed, but I felt Luke's gaze from the mirror. I picked away the pieces of glass that were visable, and proceeded to wipe them off with a wet towel before letting him rinse them with the full water stream.
"The bandaids are in the bottom drawer on the left." He said softly while examining his hands.
I rummaged through the drawer to find the most fitting sized badages and laid them out on the countertop. "Do you, uh, want me to or?" I didn't know if Luke wanted me to continue to help him.
Luke seemed unsure, so I just progressed with the wounds. One by one, I ended up placing three large bandages between the two of Luke's hands. His hands idly rested in mine before we both pulled away due to unbearable discomfort. Luke brought his now clean hands up to his face to inspect them.
"Thank you." He said, more embarrassed than begrudgingly.
"And thank you for giving me a blanket." This entire moment was so incredibly awkward that I wish I could just fold up into myself.
"How did you know it was me?" Luke seemed nervous or perhaps he felt his reputation was being threatened.
"I saw the blanket on your bed the first day I got here when your mom was showing me around the house." I studied the contours of the tile that covered the bathroom floor rather than the contours of Luke's face.
"Oh." There was a long and uncomfortable silence between the two of us, and I wondered if he was going to walk away. I hoped he would walk away because he's blocking the door. "Why were you up?"
Luke's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Huh?" I looked up with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
"I just asked why you were up?"
"Oh, I just woke up. I figured it was morning or well past." I shrugged, still not looking at him. My fingers began to restlessly tap against my bare thigh as I was still in my pajamas.
Luke just nodded solemnly as his lips pursed. I could see him thinking, though I'm not at all sure what about. "I should probably go and, uh, finish cleaning up the mess in my room."
"Yeah. Try not to step in it. I'm not the biggest fan of feet." I joked, but neither of us were in a place to laugh. I suppose we both were feeling uncharacterstically vulnerable.
"Right, well, night. Or I guess morning. I don't know." Luke left in a flustered flurry, and I smiled in his wake.
I returned to my original resting place on the couch, but watching TV proved worthless. I couldn't pay attention for more than two minutes at a time. Nevermind why I was awake, why was Luke up? And why do I care?
I rested my face in my hands and rubbed my eyes as if rubbing my eyes would somehow erase the weight of emotions I felt piling up in my chest.
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thanks for reading sorry if it sucks xxx