BURN CRASH • LRH

9. corner of third street

CORNER OF THIRD STREET

When Luke wakes up, before he opens his eyes, he wonders why it feels as if his arm is hanging off his bed.

That's never happened before. How did he get so close to the edge?

Attempting to move back to the middle of the mattress until he's hit with something to keep from moving, confused, he peaks his eyes open and suddenly he remembers. He's on the couch.

And Aurora is in his bed.

The memories of the night before come rushing back, almost stinging his eyes as they come back so fast he can barely make out each thought. He hopes she was comfortable enough to get some sleep, Luke couldn't help but notice the dark circles that sit so angrily under her brown eyes.

He runs through the list of things that have to be done today, once again, the list is much longer than he would prefer. But once he gets to the bottom of the list, he remembers the dinner he planned with Aurora to talk with her about the party tomorrow to make sure she's prepared, because he knows how big of a party this is. It even made him nervous the first time with how many celebrities pushed past him.

Luke smiles to himself, it's funny how she can turn a fucked up day into something to smile over because if he's honest with himself, he's only smiling because of her. The only thing keeping his step light for the many things he's dreading today is knowing he can sit down and listen to her voice.

But wait, fuck, He hasn't even asked her yet.

Luke then expects that she'll laugh in his face for asking a question on such short notice. Because he had nerves set rowling in his stomach over asking. His long fingers fiddle with the string that's unraveling from the blanket covering his body, trying to plan out everything he's going to say to her.

But before he can perfect his thoughts, he hears the door to his bedroom creak open, meaning she's awake and he has a small window to figure all this out. Jumping up from the couch, the sound of her feet barely hitting the floor rings through his ears as she walks down the hall. She's not sure if he's awake or not and would hate to be the reason for disturbing his sleep; she knows he barely gets as it is.

Luke scrambles to find the hoodie he took off in the middle of the night. As of right now, he's only in his gray sweats that are one size too small. But before his hoodie is found Aurora tiptoes into the living room, being as quiet as possible until her brown eyes land on Luke.

"I hope I didn't wake you," Aurora says, in hopes he's been up for a while. Until she becomes distracted trying to keep her eyes on his as he stands shirtless in front of her, not that it's nothing she hasn't seen before, in fact, she's seen a lot more. But they're just friends and Aurora wants, tries, to be respectful.

Luke realizes he might be making her uncomfortable standing completely still, not making a sound, and half naked. "I hope you slept well." Luke tries to make small conversation to avert the tension in the room before the big question slips past his lips before his brain tells him it's not worth it.

His usual confident domineer seems to be seeping through the crack of nerves running through his body.

Aurora rocks back and forth on her heels, not sure if he wants her to sit for a minute or to get out of his hair, she knows his schedule is packed with interviews and meetings. She almost wishes he would tell her to go so she doesn't have to fight her eyes from ranking over his body any longer. "I slept very well, your bed is really comfortable, much better than mine at home."

Luke breathily laughs, he thought the same thing when he drunkenly slept in her bed, maybe it's because it smelled like her. Reminding him someone gave up what they had for him. Why? He's still trying to figure that out. Quickly, Luke snaps from his thoughts when he realizes he's running out of time when she starts to slowly walk to the front door.