Not that bad // Rhea Ripley

3- Of All The Gin Joints In All The World

"I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive, now I only waste it dreaming of you."

Fall Out Boy

It's Saturday, and to the guys and I, it means skateboard day. And to be quite fair, I was really happy for once, because I needed to get out of my house and get my mind off things. I walked towards Michael's house, and saw that Calum was already there. I gave him a bro hug and we both waited for Michael to come down. He eventually did, after 5 minutes. The three of us skated to the park we usually spend our free time at. We sat on the grass, and talked about heaps of things, until the topic I hated the most came on.

" Hey Roxanne, didn't see any guys that you would like to hang out with yet ?" Calum teased.

" I already have you two motherfuckers, and I am completely satisfied with it." I chuckled. "Wouldn't want to bother myself with another one of you."

" Hey that hurts!" Michael whined while hitting my shoulder playfully. "You perfectly know that Calum didn't mean 'hang out' in a friendly way."

" I know, but I don't really want to talk about it." I sighed. "Last time I got close to a guy that wasn't one of you, it ended up badly because I figured out too late that he was a dickhead."

" I know that, but it's not because it happened once that it's going to happen all your life!" Calum patted my back gently. " And if someone even dares to hurt you, I'll fucking beat them up like they've never been."

I smiled a little at his comment and thanked him. We moved forward to another subject when we heard skateboard wheels coming our way. I recognized the blond quiff and blue eyes pretty damn quick. I mentally sighed. I barely spoke to him during the math class we share, and he's been avoiding me. Well who could blame him? I might have gone a little too far with the poor guy, and I really want to apologize, but I have been doing that sincerely pretty rarely lately.

" Hey Luke!" Cal called after him. "Come over here!"

He smiled at him and Michael, but it faded a little when he saw me sitting on the grass next to them. He stopped moving, and seemed to be trying to make up his mind about whether he wanted to come or not.

" I-I don't want to interrupt you guys." He said shyly while rubbing the back of his neck.

" Ah, come on, you're not interrupting anything !" Michael said in a friendly tone.

Luke looked directly at me as if to ask if I was okay – I guess – and I just shrugged. After all, I've been kinda hard on him, but he stills think I'm a weird ass girl, so who is to blame. He walked towards us and sat on the grass between Michael and I.

" I didn't know you could skate !" Calum said to start a conversation, I assume.

" I started during summer break " Luke said quickly. This guy seems so shy, it's unbelievable.

They continued talking together for a moment, and I realized Luke wasn't as annoying and boring as I thought he would be. He was extremely shy, that was a fact, but absolutely not boring. Then the topic of music came on.

" Roxanne here plays bass, guitar, and sings." The sound of my name falling from Michael's lips took me out of my daydream. "Hey why don't you sing us something ?"

I glared at him, because he knew I hated to do that. Don't misunderstand, I love singing, with all of my heart, I just don't like to know I'm being listened to.

" I don't know what to sing Mikey, you took me off guard with that one." I tried to lie.

" Don't try that on us Roxanne, we know you can sing well !" Calum added. "If you want, we can all sing something on our own after you, how does that sound Luke ?"

" Erm, sounds like a plan."

I was somewhat happy on the inside, because I love to hear Michael sing, and I would get to hear what this Luke sounded like. I searched through my phone what I could sing, and finally settled down on Emperor's New Clothes by Panic! At The Disco. I missed a few notes, but overall, I did pretty good. Even though I sang as quietly as I could, and had my eyes glued on the ground. Michael sang right after me, and he settled down for some All Time Low. I listened to him amazed. He's truly good, even if he doesn't want to admit it. Then Calum sang one of his own songs, Bad Dreams. Then it was Luke's turn. I've never really heard him sing, but considering his musical preferences, I was looking forward to it, even if I would never admit it. He searched through his phone and smiled when he saw the song. I recognized it on the first notes. You Found Me by The Fray. One of my all time favorite songs to play. I listened to him carefully, and he didn't even miss a single note. It kinda killed me so say that, but oh man, this boy has got talent. When he stopped singing, he blushed and looked at the ground. I decided to speak first.

" You are amazing Luke."

My tone ended up a bit colder than expected but eventually he looked at me and blushed even harder.