Lucifer a.k.a Luke Hemmings

Chapter 4

I found a spot down the street from the diner to park my car. I checked the time one last time. 1:47. I'd run into some traffic on the way. I hoped Luke wouldn't think I had blown him off, I didn't check my phone at all or text him because I like to think I'm a good driver. I got out of the car and slammed the door. I walked at a fast pace down the block to the diner. Opening the door, I looked around until I spotted a blonde boy sitting in a booth in the far corner. I couldn't see his face, but the hairstyle and leather jacket were clearly that of Luke. I walked over to the booth and sat across from Luke. He looked up from his hands, he'd been twiddling with his fingers prior. He flashed me a relieved smile.

"You're here," he stated. "I wasn't sure if you were still coming." I looked at him inquisitively.

"Of course I'd come. We planned it," I said to him as if it were obvious.

"It's fine. So what did you want to eat? I didn't order yet," Luke said. That was sweet. He waited for me. It was almost two o'clock and he waited til I got there to eat lunch.

"They have really great fries. I get them every time," I said excitedly. "They come on a really big plate, so I never finish them."

He smiled shyly over at me, "We can share them then." I nodded in agreement and, when a waitress came over, we ordered out fries and two iced teas. Once she took our order, she walked off toward the kitchen.

"So Lucifer," I began, "tell me about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Anything you want to tell me," I said.

"Well, I'm from Sydney. I have two brothers. My best mates are Michael, Ashton, and Calum. They also happen to be the guys I live with, and they're from Australia as well. I'm also really into music." I gave him a big smile, I was intrigued.

"What kind of music do you like the most?" I asked him.

"Mostly rock," he said.

"Same. I like all the subcategories too. Alternative, grunge, punk, emo, pop, you know," I told him. "Do you play at all?"
He chuckled to himself, as if he had some sort of private joke. "Yeah, I play guitar. Piano too, but guitar is my favorite. I'm really into singing too."
"That's so great," I exclaimed. "You should let me hear some time. I'm not good at any instrument, so I love it when I meet someone who is." As I was speaking, the waitress brought out our order and we began eating.
"Well, when we get back to my place, I'd love to. Do you like singing?" I wasn't sure how to answer. Yes I liked to sing, but I wasn't sure if I was any good.
"I do, but I'm not the best. I mean, I only know how it sounds to me," I responded truthfully.
"I bet you're great. You have such a nice voice, you must have a cool singing voice too." I was flattered by his statement. "Maybe I'll sing for you."
"Sure," I said.
"On one condition."
"And what is that?" I asked.
"You tell me about yourself. And sing with me, also."
"That's two conditions," I pointed out. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but I wasn't going to say no just yet. We kept talking for a while and I told him a few things about myself. I mentioned that I had a strange sense of humor, being able to find a joke in almost everything. But I simultaneously could not stand puns. I said that I wished I was shorter, being 5'9", at which point he laughed, saying I should try being six-feet tall sometime. I told him that my natural hair color was actually dark brown, but I always thought it was boring. I explained to him that I thought 90's and early 2000's cartoons were some of the best ever made. We discovered that we both shared a taste music as well as television. Our favorite show was How I Met Your Mother and both loved bands such as Blink-182 and All Time Low as well as The Offspring, Paramore, Sum 41 and others.
At around three o'clock, we paid for our food, or Luke paid for our food and I argued about it, and we left. We decided to take my car to drive back to his apartment, since Luke walked here. It was a very short drive, less than a mile. We arrived at a nice apartment building, nicer than mine, and Luke told me to pull into the garage around back. I did as he said and pulled into a garage that turned out to be a parking lot under the building. After I parked, we got out and went into an elevator in the middle of the lot. Luke pushed the button for the tenth floor, the top floor.
"My the boys are still home, so it may be kind of crazy," he hurriedly explained as the floors ticked away. "They're loud and weird, but you'll like them." I nodded away as he spoke. I'd explained to Luke that I m the kind of person who is, in general, go-with-the-flow and carefree and wild. He told me, in return, that was also how his friends were. "They are most likely playing video games, but on the drive here, I texted Ashton saying that I was gonna bring you over. So they may have prepared an inquisition of sorts for you. I don't really know what to expect either," he tried to inform me while laughing. I had to admit, from what he'd told me, his friends sounded wonderful. I missed being around sane people of my own age. He told me that he was the youngest of the four, and Ashton was a few years older. I think he said Ashton was 20.
Soon, the elevator stopped on the tenth floor and the doors opened revealing a beautiful, long hallway with only two apartments in it. We went to the right, over to the door numbered 1002. I imagined these apartments had to be huge for there to only be two on the floor. Luke pulled out a key and unlocked the door. As soon as we entered, three boys jumped off the couch all with curiosity evident on their faces. I took in their appearance first.
The shortest one, but not short by any stretch, had shaggy, blondish brown, curly hair that fell almost in front of his eyes. He had nice brown-green eyes. The next boy had green hair. Bright green hair. I automatically liked him. He had very pale skin and green eyes. The final one had dark brown, almost black, hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. I also noticed that all four of these guys dressed in a similar fashion, wearing black skinny jeans, black shoes, and either a muscle shirt or band tee. I immediately took a liking to them all.
The one with curly hair walked over to me, the others hanging back at the couch. He stopped a maybe a foot from me and looked me up and down. I tucked my hair behind my right ear, waiting for him to say something. Luke just stood by my side with a knowing look playing on his face. After what had to be a minute, the boy smiled and wrapped me in a hug. I didn't really know what to do, so I hugged back and laughed. He pulled away and said, "I'm Ashton. You must be Scarlett?"
"Yup," I answered, nodding my head. "I like your shirt," I told him while gesturing to his tank that said Joy Division.
"Where did you find this girl, Luke?" Ashton said with a smile that showed his perfect teeth and two dimples.
"You mean Lucifer," I giggled and nudged Luke, looking at Ashton.
"She calls me Lucifer," he responded. He then went on to explain how we met.
"You would be the one to literally stumble across the perfect girl. Way to go man," Ashton high-fived Luke. The other two guys walked over then. The green-haired one spoke first.
"Hey Scarlett. I'm Michael. It's nice to meet you," he said. I shook his hand and laughed when I realized that our outfits matched.
"Hi Michael. Nice outfit," I joked. He smiled back.
"Thanks, I picked it out myself."
"You must be Calum?" I said to the remaining boy.
"Yup, that I am," Calum said. "We were playing FIFA. Do you like FIFA?" I laughed before I answered him.
"Sports games are my favorite video games. Of course I like FIFA," I told him.
"Luke," Michael said, "I'd like to thank you for finding my future wife for me." I threw my head back in laughter, knowing that he had to be kidding.
"Yes, thank you for leading me to my future husband," I said smirking, hooking my arm in Michael's. We all had a good laugh about this, even Luke.
"So Lucifer," I began, "how about that deal we made?"
"What deal?" Calum inquired.
"He promised to sing for me if I told him about myself, which I did." This intrigued the other guys.
"That's not the complete truth," Luke stated, smirking at me. "You also promised to sing with me." The boys looked at me, in search of the truth. I nodded my head to indicate that this was true.
"Well Lukey boy, go get your guitar," Ashton prodded. Luke sighed and went back to what I assumed was his bedroom and came back holding a well-worn acoustic. We all walked over to the living area and Luke sat down on a large leather chair while the other boys sat on the couch. Luke patted the space beside him on the chair, but I just gave him a skeptical look.
"Oh come on, Scar. If we are going to do this, we should sit next to eacthother," he reasoned with me. Sighing, I walked over and sat beside him on the seat. I was almost, but not, sitting on his leg. "You ready?" I nodded. "I have a feeling you'll know this song." He focused his eyes on the guitar before he started playing the chords to a song I knew all too well. I smiled as he started singing the first verse to Adam's Song by Blink-182.
"I never thought I'd die alone. I laughed the loudest, who'd have known? I traced the chord back to the wall. No wonder it was never plugged in at all." I then started to sing the next few lines.
"I took my time, I hurried up. The choice was mine, I didn't think enough. I'm too depressed to go on. You'll be sorry when I'm gone." Luke continued playing the guitar and Ashton was patting on the couch with his hands in beat with where the drums would be in the song.
"I never conquered, rarely came. Sixteen just held such better days, days when I still felt alive. We couldn't wait to get outside." We sang the rest of the chorus together and then switched off every few lines. After we finished the song, Luke looked down at me and hugged me lightly with his right arm.
"That was great," he said, sounding amazed. "We should do this more."
"I wasn't that good," I said nervously. I'd never sang for other people before.
"Scarlett, that was amazing," Ashton said. "Your voice is so unique. It's deep, but you can hit high notes perfectly. It's gritty, but breathy at the same time." I was beyond flattered. I'd never thought of myself as a great singer, I still don't. But his words were nice to hear.
"He's right. It's really great," Calum said.
"See," Luke said, nudging my arm. "I told you you'd have a great voice."
"She's definitely a keeper, Luke," Michael said.