tourniquet, luke hughes

ten

Since me and Luke had reconciled our friendship, it all of a sudden felt like old times again.

While now we were adults and weren't as care free as before, we made sure to spend time with eachother whether it was hanging out at my apartment or accompanying him to one of his teams events.

I knew deep down I wanted more than a friendship with Luke, but I had enough respect for myself to not put myself through that with him again.

About two months after our reconciliation, me and Luke were having lunch somewhere in New York near my next class.

"I met someone last week, I feel like you would really like her," He said normally while taking a bite of the salad he ordered.

I paused and looked up at him, "That's really good Luke, I'm happy for you."

I was happy for him, but I couldn't help but feel jealous of the girl.

I was here having lunch with Luke, wearing the necklace he bought me, and he was talking about another girl. I knew I did this to myself but that didn't help it.

"I was wondering if you wanted to meet her tomorrow? Me and Jack are having one of ours dinners with some of our teammates."

"Of course! Sounds fun," We continued the rest of lunch as normal and went our separate ways so I could attend my next class.

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I knew you had to go in eventually so you bit the bullet and knocked on the door of Luke and Jacks apartment. I could hear the rustling and laughter of people inside the apartment.

Right about now in my head I was condemning Audrey for being busy and not being able to accompany Alex, and more importantly, be my lifeline tonight.

After a couple seconds, I was greeted with a grinning Jack opening the door and immediately engulfing me in a hug.

I reciprocated the hug, "Nice to see you Jacky."

Once we both let go, both me and Jack walked into their dining area.

Having only the title of "Luke's best friend" while attending the Devils events never really hurt me, until now when I realized the reality of just being seen as his best friend.

Once Jack sat down, I followed him sitting next to him in the only vacant seat. Next to me sat Nico Hischier who I had become quite fond of and acted almost as a protective older brother towards me through all the times we'd interacted at Devils events.

When I finally got settled in and had a chance to look around, at the opposite end of the table from me, Luke was sat with his arm on the back of a beautiful blonde girl.

I couldn't help but scoff, questioning if I was even his type.

"How are classes Addie?" Nico asked once we all started eating.

"They're alright. My math class is kicking my ass right now," I said honestly. Being a business major didn't pair well with being mediocre in the math area.

Luke spoke up from across the table, "Good thing I didn't stay in college for long, I didn't have to take any hard classes," Everyone at the table laughed, as most of them also didn't finish or probably didn't even attend college.

After Luke said this he looked at me and smiled, since everyone was always sitting down when I arrived we never got a change to greet eachother.

While he was looking at me, the girl who I had yet learn the name of, asked him something. He looked at her and his smile widened.

I continued for the rest of dinner with small talk with everyone around the table.

When everyone was done and everyone started to leave, I made my way back to the dining area to start cleaning things up.

I didn't feel obligated to, but it was sort of my way to repaying them for hosting. When I was picking up plates I heard footsteps from behind me and when I looked back and found Luke walking up to me, smiling.

"Hey Ads," He said smiling while I put down plates to give him a hug.

"Thank you for having me again, these dinners are fun." I said while we shared a quick hug.

"You're always welcome here, now stop cleaning up and come meet Emily. I think you're gonna like her a lot."

I had been dreading this all night, she was probably a sweet girl but it hurt me to think of Luke with another girl.

When we both walked into the living room, Emily was sat on the couch not making conversation with any of the people around her.

We both walked infront of her, I smiled big at her and held out my hand, "It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

Hesitantly, she shook my hand and replied, "Oh, nice to meet you too. I guess."

My smile faltered a bit after our hands disconnected, but it was 5 seconds before Alex came up to me trying to leave so we could head back to my apartment, so he could see Audrey.

I nodded at him while Luke joined Emily on the couch, extremely close to her.

I went around the room saying goodbye to everyone with Alex, but only gave a slight nod to Luke when passing by him.

I knew I had no place to be upset with Luke, but I couldn't help but feeling jealous. ౨ৎ