ace // luke hemmings {slow updates}

ii

Vee didn’t say anything while Luke drove them to wherever it was that he was taking them, and Luke hadn’t tried to start a conversation in case he accidentally offended her again. Luke’s radio was broken too and the only thing it could actually pick up was a Christian rock station which made for an uncomfortable trip.

When Luke finally pulled into the car park of the diner and shut off the engine they were both beyond relieved. Vee was out of the car faster than Luke thought was humanly possible and he had to jog to catch up to her as she entered the building.

“I’m buying, what do you want?” Luke asked coming to stand behind Vee who was looking up at the menu board.

She just shrugged and turned around to look at him. “I don’t know, whatever’s good. Just make sure there’s coffee involved.”

Luke nodded and stepped up to the counter. While he was ordering Vee took a look around. The place was fairly poorly lit but Vee could overlook that simply because it wasn’t some cheesy themed diner. It honestly looked like it had seen better days – the walls were more grey than white and some of the covers for the seats were falling apart and torn – but Vee felt comfortable there and that was good enough for her.

She jumped slightly and was shaken from her train of thoughts when Luke placed his hand on her elbow and began to steer her in the direction of one of the booths. There weren’t many people around – two staff out front, one cook, and four other people scattered throughout the building – but Luke still led her to a booth all the way in the back, completely out of everyone elses sight.

“The girl said the food wouldn’t be too long.” Luke waved off towards the counter as he sat down.

“Cool.” Vee nodded and looked down at her hands. “Thanks for this.” The words sounded stilted and insincere and Vee almost cringed. She really was terrible at being nice to people and she hoped that Luke could tell that she really was grateful.

“It’s no problem. What are friends for, right?” Without meaning to Vee scrunched up her face at his words which caused Luke to let out a small laugh. “What’s wrong Vee? Would being my friend really be that bad?”

For the first time in a long time Vee honestly didn’t have a witty response. She stayed quiet for a few moments trying to come up with something but she just kept drawing a blank.

“I don’t think we’re at that ‘friends’ level yet. I barely know you, I’m not even sure we’re acquaintances.” She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms as Luke laughed again.

“Well how about we get to know each other then?” He suggested, mimicking Vee’s actions.

Vee gave him a blank look and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I swear to god if you say ‘let’s play twenty questions’ I’m going to punch you in the face and then I’m going to leave.”

“Why do I get the feeling you think I’m a major fuckboy?” Luke cocked his head to the side. The amusement was clear in his eyes and it made Vee feel a little bit better knowing that he wasn’t offended by what she’d implied.

“Because I do think you’re a major fuckboy.” She spoke slowly as if he was too dimwitted to get it.

Luke laughed again and Vee didn’t even bother to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “If you think I’m a fuckboy you’ve obviously never met my friend Calum.”

“Now I’m not sure I even want to be your friend.” Vee scoffed, a smile making its way onto her face. “I mean you just insulted one of your other friends right in front of me.”

Vee raised her eyebrows, challenging Luke to dispute what she’d just said. Instead of replying he just looked down at the table after shooting her a fond smile.

“Blue.” He said after a while when he finally looked up again.

“What?” Vee asked, her eyebrows pulled together and confusion lacing her words.

“Blue.” Luke repeated, smiling at how lost she was. “It’s my favourite colour. I figured since you were never going to make an effort to start to get to know me I’d do it for you.”

Vee was about to argue but he was right so she just shut her mouth and pouted slightly. A few moments later one of the waitresses rounded the corner and placed all their food down in front of them; just before she left she winked at Vee which left the girl in question in a state of shock while Luke thought it was the most hilarious thing he’d ever seen.

“Oh my god, she was totally into you.” He shook his head while he continued to laugh.

“Shut up and eat your food.” Vee grumbled, trying to hide how embarrassed she was. There was a few beats of silence before she spoke again. “My favourite colour is red by the way.”

While they were eating both Luke and Vee took turns asking each other the most boring and mundane questions they could think of. Luke thought it was funny, Vee thought it was tedious but she still went along with it anyway.

She had to admit that she may have been wrong about Luke. When she’d first met him she kind of just assumed he was some douchey high school boy, but after the little time they’d spent together she now thought that he was actually a massive dork and he was kind of sweet.

After a while they ran out of food, they never seemed to run out of things to talk about though  (which was mostly because of Luke – every time Vee answered a question he had about five more ready to go). Vee had drank about five cups of coffee and she knew that there was no way in hell that she’d be getting any sleep in the near future.

“Are you ready to get out of here yet?” Luke asked almost an hour after they’d arrived. “We’ve been sitting here so long that my ass is completely numb.”

One thing that Luke had mentioned – something that Vee had also picked up on – was that he didn’t really have a filter, he usually just said whatever he thought when he thought it. Normally that would have annoyed Vee but with Luke it wasn’t so bad.

“Yeah, alright.” She replied as she got up and stretched. She was going to make an inappropriate joke but stopped herself, worried that her new found friendship with Luke wasn’t ready for that just yet.

Luke quickly paid the bill and then, as they were walking back out to the car he slung his arm around Vee’s shoulders.

“So,” He said  with a smirk on his face as he shot her an over exaggerated wink. “Wanna come back to my place.”

-

that last bit was meant to kind of show that vee is still a little unsure about luke even though he is totally comfortable around her and thinks they're gonna be great friends (which they are but that it all beside the point).

this is 110% a filler and i'm sorry it's so shit but i just really wanted to be able to post something for you guys. the next chapter will be more interesting i promise this was just a bridging chapter so there wasn't a massive chunk of time missing. ugh, i'm mad at myself for posting this because it's so sub-par and i actually like this story but it's the best i can do for now. sorry guys.

ciao, danielle.