THIS LOVE | luke hughes

xxxv.

THE BASEMENT OF THE lake house was crowded with a filming crew and a journalist, all of their eyes being on the three Hughes brothers who stood around the pool table. Penelope had her head rested on Angie's shoulder with Cash laying in her lap. Quinn had managed to convince the two girls to sit in on the first segment of the interview, saying that the girls could give the boys tips throughout the video.

"How do you put this thing on?" Jack mumbled to himself as he tried to attach the microphone to his shirt, eyebrows pulled into a furrow.

Angie sighed as she stood up from the couch causing Penelope to groan as she made her way towards Jack. "You better be glad you're pretty because there's no one home in that head of yours." She told him, clipping the microphone to the hem of his shirt.

"You think I'm pretty?" He smirked as he looked down at the girl, his left eyebrow perking up as he leaned in closer to her.

Angie's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "And very punchable." She retorted, watching as his face fell before he jokingly rolled his eyes before grinning down at her. He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek before she turned to walk back to the couch.

"How did you get the smarter one?" Angie sighed as she took her spot again, looking over to Penelope.

"Pure luck." Penelope answered as she leaned against Angie, petting Cash.

"I need some of that luck." Angie sarcastically remarked, watching as the three brothers began the interview.

"Tell us about the leaderboard. It's pretty deep." The journalist said, nodding her head towards the chalk board that was propped up against the wall, resting on the fireplace.

"Yeah so, all of our buddies like on the weekends will come over. It's just like fun, we just always come in here on the weekends. You know, have some drinks or play pool. Keep it pretty casual." Quinn began to explain from where he sat, watching as Luke aimed his stick and hit the cue ball.

"Lukey was the best pool player in the family I would say, or in the house. He had like the best win percentage and then he bought a pool stick." Quinn pointed towards his younger brother that rounded the table.

"For like two hundred bucks." Luke chirped up, rolling his eyes at the thought of his unlucky pool stick.

"Yeah, and he just, his game, went down the — down the rails." Quinn said while looking up to the blonde. "He was like one in ten." He added on before standing up from his chair, switching out with Jack.

"Are you the cook of the house?" The producer asked as he watched Quinn.

Penelope zoned out for a moment as she watched Luke hit another ball, watching as it fell into one of the pockets before he lifted up from the pool table, joking with Jack.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she wondered what it'd be like whenever she got back to school. She remembered last school year she could barely stand being away from him, her best friend. But this year would be different. They were no longer just friends and instead, they were dating. Committed to one another.

She couldn't help the 'what if' thoughts that raced through her head. She didn't know if they'd be okay because of the distance and what if the distance broke them?

She was pulled out of her thoughts as the cushion next to her dipped, startling her a little as she looked over to see Luke who was still holding his pool stick. He didn't say anything besides rest his head on her shoulder, watching as Jack hit a ball.

"Oh my go — You scratched!" Quinn pointed out to his younger brother whose face flushed as he walked away from the pool table. "Keep that one." He said while pointing towards the camera with his pool stick.