Love To Hate You | 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙷𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚜 ❈

After

♡

LYLA
FOUR YEARS AND THREE
MONTHS LATER

My phone vibrated in my pocket, alerting me that I had yet another text from my beyond annoying best friend. I fished it from the depths of my brown leather backpack, a small grin tugging at my lips and forcing me to acknowledge that I did love him, he was also just the bane of my existence.

I was pleasantly surprised upon grasping my phone, to find that it hadn't been a text at all, and instead, an incoming call from the man himself. I swiped the screen of the device, unlocking it with a playful sigh.

"What do you want, Hemmings?" I groaned, though the tone of my voice gave me away immediately. He chuckled through the line, catching my real feelings in an instant. Dammit.

"Where are you, loser?" he teased, and I could just imagine him standing like a twerp with his hands on his hips in the middle of the hockey stadium. "The games about to begin and I swear to god if you miss it on the very first game of the season, I'll kill you myself."

"Jeez," I mumbled. "So needy."

"Just get your ass here, Lyla Jones."

He hung up abruptly, causing my eyebrows to pull into a frown and my lips to switch from a smug grin to a childish pout. Stupid Luke. Stupid Prudential Centre and its freaking maze-like hallways. How the hell was anyone supposed to find their way around here? It was completely different to the rink at home, which had been simple and elegant and much easier to find the stadium doors.

Who the hells idea was it to move to New Jersey cause they missed their best friend? Oh yeah, it was my dumb idea.

I guess I should probably give you guys the run down, right?

Well, little old second year of University Lyla had made the stupidest decision of her life, apparently. Abroad study wasn't for me, as it turns out, and I learnt that quickly upon arriving in Europe. It wasn't that I didn't like the country, or the people, or the school, because all of those things were great. It was just that . . . I was lonely, and quite honestly, I was really sad.

And so, I packed up my life for the second time, applied for a transfer back home and here I am--starting community college in New Jersey, Todays my first day back, obviously, and if I can be completely candid, I'm beyond lost trying to find Luke at this hockey game.

Things between Luke and I had been pretty tense at first, particularly at the end of summer all those years ago, but he'd apologised to me profusely, and several several times. He had also insisted he spend every day with me, once he left. He picked me up for work every day, shared his food with me, told me everything about him, I'm still not sure I needed to know most of it, but that's okay.

To be quite honest, I'm pretty sure Luke glued himself to my side back then because he was lonely. Especially once . . .

You know, never mind.

Whatever the case, here we were, best buds, two peas in a pod. Just little old Lyla and her mega dork of a best friend, attending the same university. I was sort of excited, to be honest, to be back in USA with him again. I loved spending time with Luke, and, hey, I had a really sweet new roommate who I'm pretty sure he's in love with.

My phone vibrated in my hand, reminding me that he was still waiting, and that I was still lost.

I really had to find my way to this stadium door, but I seriously had no idea how.

Groaning under my breath, I tucked a loose strand of curled hair behind my ear. Did I mention it was short now? Yep. That's right. I chopped off twenty whole centimetres, leaving me with shoulder-length locks that I'd dyed a super fun dirty blonde, just to get into the spirit of the whole fresh start thing.