BRIGHT

Chapter 1

"You know, Charles, you are not getting ready any faster by running around like you're going to lose your head..." My best friend Thomas is sitting on the couch looking amused while I'm trying to get my stuff together as fast as humanly possible.
"Yes, yes sure I know. But me getting ready in a calm and collected manner wouldn't be half as entertaining for you now would it?", I reply while smirking at Thomas in the mirror as I finish putting my hair in a quick bun.

 
"Now, give me a hug and be good while I'm gone. Mommy will be home around nine okay?" I wink at him and run to the door putting on my sneakers. I hear him laughing as he puts the TV back on so he can continue his lazy day.
I am so jealous I almost want to plop down next to him. Sadly, I can't, I need to get to my internship in 30 minutes and I've got about 5 minutes until my train leaves... CRAP, did I say 5 minutes, I'm never gonna make it.

Trying to navigate between all the people in the train station without pushing them aside, I sprint to the right platform. Just as I arrive, I see the doors starting to close, I leap towards them and just as I reach to get in, they're closed.
"Oh no.... No... This... can...not... be...hap... happening", I get out while wheezing like I'm having an asthma attack. Which I am not, I'm just extremely out of shape. With my hands on my knees, I try to calm down so I can catch my breath. "Come on Charlie it's not that bad, just get on the next train and apologize, they'll understand. Just be so charming they can't even be mad at you."

While I'm talking to myself, calming myself down I suddenly notice two feet standing in front of me. My body shoots straight and I feel all the blood in my body rushing to my head. Standing there is probably the most handsome guy I've ever seen. His dark hair hanging carelessly in front of his face, a jaw that looks painfully sharp, a few cute freckles on his cheeks and dark lips that form an angry straight line. That's when I notice how mad he looks, staring at the tracks.

"Missed the train to huh? Quite a way to start the morning, right?" I smile at him. He looks up, a bit confused. When he notices me, his look turns to disgust, like I am some crazy lady talking to him. Which I am, but he doesn't know that. He grunts at me and walks to a bench nearby to go and sit down.
Wow he must have had a really crappy morning to already be in such a bad mood. But I get it, some days it's just like the whole world is against you. God, I hate those days. I walk over and go sit next to him, nothing to do but wait.

"Hey, do you know when the next train will be here?" Once again, he looks at me like I'm some kind of alien from mars but then mutters something while looking back at his feet. "I don't know, like 15 minutes or something?" he grunts. "Oh, that's awesome! I'm gonna go and get a snack from the bakery across the street then, you want something?" 

That bakery literally has the best cookies I've ever eaten, my day is already looking to be a lot better now that I've thought of this brilliant plan to go and get myself a snack. Such a genius I am, food always makes everything better! When I notice he still hasn't answered during my internal monologue, I look at him questioningly and he shakes his head to mean no. "Okay, be right back.", I say while I skip of to get my favourite cookies. I really can't explain, but these cookies, man they taste like heaven. My mouth is starting to water and I can feel my stomach rumbling for me to hurry and get these damn cookies.

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"Hey, I got some extra just in case, but no worries. I can eat them all on my own if you don't want any" I wink while I settle down again next to him. I hold the bag full of cookies open for him and I can see he smells the deliciousness because his pupils widen slightly. He looks at me again with a questioning look. "I didn't poison them you weirdo, just take one!" He looks a bit taken aback but quickly grabs three cookies out of the bag. "Greedy much." I mutter and he huffs at me in respons. I shrug my shoulders, if he wants to stay grumpy that's for him to know and I start eating my cookie contently.

We've been sitting here in silence for about 5 minutes and I can feel a stream of word vomit bubbling up from inside. I am not one for quiet, if I stay silent for too long it feels like my brain is going to overflow with thoughts. "So, not much of a talker, are you? I'm Charlie. I was supposed to be starting my first day at an internship today but since I'm obviously going to be late, I'm not so sure how well that is going to go..." I've started rambling, and I can only hope he starts speaking soon or that our train will arrive because otherwise there is no way I can shut up on my own.

*Luke POV*

"... at a record label. I'm not really a musician but my parents are, and they are not ready to accept I won't be following in their footsteps. So they arranged this for me, hopefully I didn't already screw it up before I got there, I mean my parents would be fuming if I did..." Man this girl just does not shut up does she. I can't help but notice how she plays nervously with a piece of her red hair and how she practically lights up when she smiles. That is one irritatingly happy woman, I can already feel my annoyance starting to get the best of me.

"So, what are you then?" I snap at her before I can stop myself, keeping my stare on the empty tracks. Oh boy what am I doing, if I encourage this chick, she is never going to leave me alone. She looks at me with an insanely confused look in her eyes while her brows scrunch together. "Uhm, what, hahaha, I don't know, uhm human I guess..." She answers awkwardly. I let her answer sink in before I let out a little laugh, dude she is so weird how can anyone be like that.

"No, I meant, if you're not really a musician. What are you then?" I give her a look of annoyance. I mean she can't even answer a question in a normal way. The girl, I think she said her name was Charlie, is about as red as her hair when she starts giggling nervously. "Yeah, leave it up to me to say something that embarrassing. Uhm no right, I'm in college now, getting my master's in engineering. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do after I graduate but I figure I've got some time left to figure it out." 

She looks up at me and our eyes meet. Suddenly I feel incredibly naked, like she can see right through me. My gaze instantly shoots down, and I can feel my brows knitting together. That actually sounds pretty badass, I never would have guessed she was an engineer just by looking at her. She looked more like, I don't know, a kindergarten teacher or something. Wow, that's incredibly sexist and a huge stereotype Scott, nice going. I suddenly realise she's still waiting for a response. I manage to mutter out something along the lines of "Nice" but I'm not sure it was actually understandable, so I shrug my shoulders in addition to make sure she knows I don't actually care.

"Badass right!? I think so too, what do you do?" She looks at me with a warm smile, like I literally feel myself heating up just from her smile. How can one person be so fricking bright man, how is she so unbelievably nice? It's really starting to get on my nerves.

I'm so not a talker, especially not to strangers. I'm more a keep to myself in a lonely dark corner kind of guy. I don't really like people bothering me because I don't actually like most people. "I'm in a band, Oblivion." I keep my answer short, hoping there will be no follow-up questions but somehow I doubt that will be the case.

"Oh wow, that's pretty cool. Never heard of it though, but I'm never really up to date with the newest music so that's probably on me. Are there any songs I may have heard on the radio?"
I don't know why but I'm kind of annoyed that she hasn't heard of us. We're kind of an upcoming band and we've already created a pretty large following. Usually, I get really annoyed when were recognized so I don't know why it would bother me that she doesn't.

"Yeah probably, we've had quite a few hit singles already." I reply, sounding incredibly douchy. I'm acting like such an ass, but that's probably just because I really want this conversation to be over. Though I'm not entirely sure I do.

Charlie is still looking at me with question marks in her eyes, probably waiting for me to name the songs. But at that moment the train arrives at our platform and my head shoots up. That was enough chit-chat for me, time to get out of here. I get up as fast as I can and walk into the train with huge strides. "Hey, what's your name?" I hear her yelling after me while she gets up herself.
I don't know why, but I look back at her a bit surprised she doesn't seem to be thrown off by my grouchy demeanour. "It's Luke" I snarl as I dart into the train to get away from this unusual girl.