The Book Thief 》Hemmings A.U

30.00

    THE CRAB INTRUDING ON Luke and I had moved on, but whoever was calling his phone certainly hadn’t. At least, not from my mind.

     My lips were rubbed raw from our incessant kissing (not that I minded), and I was completely out of breath. Every so often Luke would sigh of contentment and with him smiling again my mouth, gently twisting strands of my hair as we were both at such ease; everything felt perfect.

     I would have loved to ignore the vibrating that ceased to exist up until a few minutes ago, I really would have. I had finally owned up to my feelings and things were okay for now. I still didn’t have my story, my parents were still getting divorced, I was still lying to my best friend, and I was still potentially not going to college. But besides all of that, I was happy. For right now, I was completely and genuinely happy. But I felt like I couldn’t be, like I shouldn’t be.

    Lucy didn’t know about what we were doing right now, and that was one thing. But something was telling me to pull away from Luke and get him to answer his phone because it was important, because it shouldn’t have been ignored. I didn’t know why, but it was the way that I felt, and ignoring feelings never really got anyone anywhere.

    Assuming that he would probably ignore my request just like he had earlier, I take the initiative and do it for him. Begrudgingly, I pull away from him and reach for his pocket, smiling as I draw his phone out. Luke frowns, eyebrows knitting together.

     “Cohen-” He starts, placing his hands over mine and tugging me closer.

    “My lips are swollen and your phone was ringing for a good fifteen minutes. Then it just stopped all of a sudden, I don’t know... I think it’s pretty important, Luke.” I tell him seriously, unable to push aside my worry.

     “Okay, fine,” He sighs, complying as he takes the phone from my grasp and presses the home button. When his phone lights up with a stream of notifications from missed calls, texts, and voice mails, he pales; growing visibly nervous.

        “What? What’s wrong?” I say softly, swallowing the lump in my throat. So I wasn't just uselessly worrying, something had happened. Something had gone seriously wrong.

     “It’s...it’s Lucy.” Luke says, voice barely above a whisper as he quickly unlocks his phone and goes to his voice mail, playing one of the two recorded messages. He raises the volume and puts it on speaker so that we can both listen.

     “Luke, I’ve called you a million times. This is important, okay? I’m not calling you to drive me for coffee or something stupid like that I just...I need you, okay? I need you to be my big brother and protect me like you always do.” The message stops instantly and we both pause, exchanging fear ridden glances. Lucy’s voice was frantic and shaky, her breath raspy and louder than the words leaving her mouth. She sounded like she had been or was in the process of crying, and spoke in a whisper; almost like she was afraid that someone would hear her.

     Luke plays the second message. “I wouldn’t be calling you if this wasn’t important. I need you to get me out of here." After it's over, he says nothing and does nothing except move on to his text messages. He starts standing as his blue eyes scan across his phone screen, growing increasingly more concerned by each message that he reads.

       “Where is she? What happened?” He grabs his guitar and jacket, shoving his phone into my hands wordlessly. I take it and follow him as he hikes up the sand, moving faster than I have ever seen. Faster than when we were trying to outrun the police, and even faster than at which the rate my heart is currently beating.