Deadline≫hemmings a.u

2.6

Luke was still there the next morning, his arms tight around me and his lips slightly parted as he breathed softly, still asleep.

I blinked a few times, my lids feeling a lot heavier due to how puffy they were from the night before. I groaned slightly, knowing I must look like a mess. I let my head fall forwards, burying it in Luke's chest one last time before I unwrapped my arms and untangled my legs from Luke's long ones. I carefully slipped away, putting the blankets back over Luke. He mumbled something I couldn't hear and his arms reached out, bunching the sheets up in him as he tucked his knees up to his chest and hid his face in the pillow.

I smiled softly at the sight of such a tall boy compacting himself in a tiny ball, his messy hair sticking up in all sorts of ways. That was Luke for you.

I quietly padded over to the bathroom, grabbing a change of clothes for myself and a towel. I turned the shower on and undressed, feeling the steam cling to my body like a clingy dress. My eyes found the mirror and I used my forearm to wipe away at the fogged surface, my own reflection peering back at me. My eyes were puffy and there were dark circles under my eyes. My cheeks were flushed from the heat of the room and to put it lightly, I looked like hell.

But I felt great.

I stepped into the shower, the hot water stinging my skin. I grimaced and turned the knob, feeling the temperature drop to the right degree. I sighed, relishing the feel of the water running over me as if it could somehow wash away what happened last night.

I was in the middle of washing my hair when I heard footsteps over the rush of the water just outside the shower. Then without warning, the curtain was pulled open.

"Luke!" I shrieked, throwing the tiny hotel shampoo bottle at him, hitting him square in the middle of his forehead as I pulled the other side of the curtain in front of my body.

"Um, ow?" he chuckled lightly, rubbing his forehead as he stepped into the shower, completely bare.

"What do you think you're doing?" I raised an eyebrow at him, my cheeks heating from something more than the heat.

"Taking a shower," he responded, holding his hand out to test the water temperature.

"But I'm taking a shower," I argued, holding the curtain tighter around myself.

Luke let out a sigh and came closer, the water dampening his hair so it clung to his forehead and ran off the tip off his nose. He held his hand out in front of me, making no move to pull the curtain away. I stared down at his hand for a moment, glancing up to his face and back questioningly. He shook his hand again and raised his eyesbrows at me.

I got the message and took his hand. Luke immediately retracted his arm, pulling me to his body. Luke looked down at me, his blue eyes soft and careful as he smoothed my hair back off my forehead. "I didn't know that when I woke up, though," he tilted his head down to press his lips to my forehead. "I thought that you had left."

My eyebrows raised Luke's confession. Yes, Luke had stayed the night, which was something he had never done before. With anyone. But we didn't talk about anything in relation to us. I wasn't sure if anything had changed, or we were still no strings attached. When he pulled back that shower curtain, I wasn't sure what to expect.

"What do you mean?" I reached up and pressed my hand to his face, the water falling between us like a veil.

"When I woke up and you weren't there, I thought that maybe you had taken what I said last night into account - about making you stay was cruel - and left," Luke shrugged, staring at the ground for a moment before shaking me off and stepping back, just out of the water's reach. "Forget it, though, it's nothing. You're still here."