Ichor // Luke Hemmings

| 8 |

It was a week before my birthday. I was turning 20 and would no longer be able to hold onto my teenager status.

Sloane and I walked around town that day - talking about our upcoming exams and how we were in desperate need of a holiday - while I looked for some new clothes to treat myself for my birthday.

I was yet to find anything I liked enough to justify buying. Sloane let out a sigh, watching as I scanned through the rail of dresses in the shop. "You know you're not going to buy any of them. Can we please go get food?" she pouted, attempting to convince me with puppy eyes. "One more shop, and then we can get food. I promise," she whined at my response - this is why I avoided shopping with Sloane.

The next shop we went to, I wandered around. Hoping something would catch my eye. Fortunately, something did - for the first time all day. I walked towards the dress. It wasn't anything insane or unique for me, but I liked it and thought it would be 'a good' dress to put aside for my birthday celebrations. "See, this is why you can't rush me!" I said, admiring the dress. It was a little pricier than I thought, but I supposed I could justify the steep price, seeing as it was essentially my birth week.

"I must admit it is a cute dress," Sloane said as we left the shop. "Very grateful you found it because now we can get food!" I laughed at her comment and told her she could pick where seeing as she was far hungrier than me. "I can't be bothered walking anywhere else, so there." she pointed towards a small café across the street, and I nodded, satisfied with her choice.

As we walked into the café, a bell jangled at the door. It slightly startled me. There were only a handful of people in the café. All sitting nearer the back: quiet talking and the sound of cutlery could be heard. "No way!" Sloane shouted, running to the counter.

I looked over at her, confused, before realising Luke was behind the counter. When I looked over at him, worry struck me. The bags under his eyes were a dark purple, his hair dishevelled and looking in dire need of a shower. I so badly wanted to ask if he was okay, but I didn't want to pry or embarrass him while he was working and in front of customers.

"Oh, so this is where you work?" I inquired. Studying the small café in an attempt to distract my brain.

"Yep. What can I get you guys? It's on the house." his voice was unusually monotone.

"What food would you recommend?" Sloane asked as I sat down at a table, sliding my bags under the table.

"We've got homemade soup, some different sandwiches. I could even whip you up a good cheese toastie."

"One cheese toastie and a black coffee for me then!"

"And for you?" Luke said, shifting his gaze to me

"I'll have a cheese toastie too. Do you guys do peppermint tea?"

"Yep, so two cheese toasties, a black coffee and a peppermint tea on the house."

We nodded and thanked him. Sloane flung herself down dramatically onto the chair across from me. "I am so sickeningly in love, Dais."

I smiled, truly happy for her. She told me how she had met Lizzie's parents a couple of nights ago and about how kind her mum was to her.

After around 10 minutes, Luke appeared at the table, plates and mugs in hand: "A cheese toastie and black coffee for you," he exclaimed, placing the plate and mug down in front of Sloane before turning to face me. "And a cheese toastie and peppermint tea for you." I smiled as he placed down the plate, sliding a napkin under the plate and sending me a smirk as he did it. I raised my eyebrow at him and slightly lifted it to view the other side of the napkin. I could see a message, smudged ink and his child-like handwriting. I shook my head at him, trying to withhold from laughing. "Thank you," Sloane stated before taking a bite of the cheese toastie "Damn, this is one good cheese toastie!"

I glanced at my tea "Oh. Luke, do you by chance have any milk?" he looked at me in confusion "Why do you need milk?"

"For my tea..." I replied. I had never been interrogated for some milk before. His mouth gaped open "I'm sorry, what now?" he laughed in shock. "What? What is so crazy?" I looked at Sloane, who was holding back from laughing, watching the two of us. "Dee, you got to admit having milk in peppermint tea is kind of weird."

"Since when? I thought that's what everyone did?" I looked between the two, shocked at the sudden revelation that maybe I had been drinking my peppermint tea wrong. "But it's like drinking a candy cane." I pouted. "How about you try it like that, and if you hate it I'll give you milk to add." He spoke while simultaneously clearing the table behind me. "I second that. Give it a try the normal way." Sloane added.

"Can I not just drink my tea free from peer pressure?" I joked, staring at the liquid. Fuck it, I thought, picking up the mug and taking a sip of the hot tea. I swigged it about in my mouth.

"You know what..." I paused, trying to dramatise my opinion, "It's quite good."

"I still want the milk, though." I slyly smiled over at Luke. He shook his head at me and brought me over a small cup of milk. "Mmm, thank you," I said. Staring him in the eye as I poured the milk in, the liquid turned an unsettling grey.

"I'm blacklisting you from here for that." He joked, pointing at the cup before walking back to the counter to serve a customer who had just walked in.

Sloane tapped my hand. I turned to face her, "What?"

"Did you hear about him and Tara?" she whispered...