Got No Shame » l.h.

15. Lover

S T E L L A

"I can't believe you guys don't have an AC system in here."

"Sorry, blondie. Maybe you should bring your car to a Victoria Secret next time if you wanna work in more suitable conditions."

It was as if I could hear Calum's eyes widen at my words from under Luke's hoisted car, following up with a breathy laugh.

I sit up, poking my head out of the car door and taking in the elevated view of the autoshop from the driver's seat of the Mustang. Luke's somewhat amused gaze met my annoyed face from down below as I watched him walk over to the base of the car hoist.

"Someone is rather chippy today," says the sarcastic blonde, peering up at me.

"She gets a bit punchy when it's hot out," Calum chimes in while he works on the car.

I shrug, nodding with acceptance as I recalled the multiple occasions in which my fuse was cut short by the unbeatable heat. The autoshop somehow always managed to amplify the humid discomfort, making work breaks more frequent and sometimes squeezing in a mid-day nap.

Calum was used to my temperament, knowing that sometimes all I need is to lay down in the car we're working on and to turn on the AC for a few minutes. Any longer would probably kill a car battery without the engine running. So, that is what I chose to do during my second break of the day.

Did the car happen to be suspended ten-feet in the air? Yes– but that was never a problem. One could consider it nice even, as that meant I was also ten-feet above the blonde racer that could not stop complaining about how hot it was.

It's also a really good view of him, my inner voice echoed as I rolled my eyes at the very thought.

"So you get to sit in my car's AC while we're working and nearly dying of heat stroke?" Luke pipes up, wiping sweat from his brows with the back of his wrist.

"Listen, hot wheels," I begin, taking the keys out of his ignition, "I've worked in this shop every business day for the past three years and you haven't even been here for two weeks. Take it down a notch."

Luke smirked, almost as if he forgot he was upholding an argument with me. From my knowledge of the racer's personality, I wouldn't be surprise if back talk was his love language.

"Whatever you want, princess." Luke replied mockingly. However, it was as if I felt my insides jump from the choice of words.

Playing down my uncategorized tension with Luke in front of Calum has not been as easy as I thought. Intentionally or not, it was as if the blonde took every instance he could to grab my attention. Every time my gaze stumbled upon his, his eyes never hesitated to hold contact until I was the one to break it. I liked to think that it's just all in my head, but a part of me wanted to believe it was slightly more than that.

I was confident that Calum thought nothing of it, as he made it quite clear to his friends that it wasn't even an option to look at me that way. Yet, I am sure that Luke of all people would like to consider himself a sneaky exception.

"AIright, well that's that. My arms are shot and it feels like nap time." Calum called from below, as he seemed to have finished up his task. "Ready to come back down to Earth, Stel?"

"Not really, but sure."

As Calum slow releases the car lift and I lower to the ground with it, toying with the metals on Luke's keyring. For a man who I presumed was up to a lot of mischief, he do not have many keys. He did, however, have a single keychain. The silver locket looked worn, but remained a shining silver tone despite some scratches. It's rounded heart shape was one of the last things I expected to be hanging from the racer's keys, but the engraved letters left me to think there was a good reason for it.