the buddy system / lrh 🍒

5:wet virgin

Katherine and Luke sat in soaking wet silence side by side with their backs against the empty dolphin tank.

"I genuinely think i swam around in dolphin pee for two hours" the blonde announced finally, breaking off the awkward silence between them.

Katherine cringed at just the thought of that possibility, shivers running down her spine. "That's disgusting" she said.

"You're disgusting" he shot back, more playful than asshole-ish, though.

The redhead just rolled her eyes, a smile tugging slightly on her lips as she tilted her head up to look up at the stars and constellations scattered across the night sky.

"So," she started, her voice soft. "What do we do now?"

Luke stayed quiet beside her for a long time before an overdramatic gasp escaped his lips. He swiveled his body to the side so that he was facing her, his eyes twinkling in excitement under the moonlight, a sight that could make any girls heart beat a little faster. Even Katherine's.

Not that anybody had to know though. She just liked to appreciate art.

"Tell me all your secrets" the blonde said rather bluntly, looking at her expectantly.

"What the fuck? Why?"

"Because you're my buddy" Luke said, a smile evident on his face. "I want to get to know you, y'know other than the fact that you're an asshole."

Katherine blinked at him just about ready to nod before she narrowed her eyes cautiously. "Wait was that an insult? And i thought you didn't want to be my buddy."

Luke frowned, running a hand through his short, damp blonde hair

"No. Everyone's got layers, Katherine" he explained. "There's more to you than just that."

"Oh and also, i'm stuck with you all night. We might as well find a way to pass the time" he added quickly after.

The girl pursed her lips and nodded. "Fine, but on one condition."

"And that one condition is?" the blonde asked, his eyebrows raised in slight curiosity.

"You tell me all your secrets too" she ordered, holding a finger up in the air as if she was taking mental note of whether or not he agreed with her.

Luke nodded.

"Sure. We'll go back and forth" he said. "I'll go first."

Katherine waited as he thought, noticing how he had a tendency to chew at his lip ring and furrow his eyebrows in concentration while he sat thinking.

It stayed silent for a while before the blonde finally spoke up, hesitating just a bit.

"Why are you so bitter?" he asked, his bright blue eyes fixating on her.

"I mean theres got to be a reason" the blonde then further explained. "Not everyone's as much of an asshole as us for no reason."

Katherine frowned, though noted the word us being used, as if Luke Hemmings, too had a reason for being an all around asshat.

She thought for a while and shivered at the memory, looking upon it in distaste.

"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to" Luke laughed awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck and shuffling in his spot a bit.

Katherine shook her head. "No, its ok" she smiled, "i agreed to, which means i have to."

The red haired girl took a deep breath, her fingers fumbling with the sleeves of Ashton's sweater nervously as she spoke.

"My dad- well, my step-brothers dad died a few years ago" she explained quietly, her eyes focused on her pale hands in the moonlight as she willed herself not to cry.

"I don't know why it affected me so much, but it did, y'know? He was like the dad i never had. And i blamed it all on myself, i still do, because if i had just been fucking patient and not texted him while he was driving, he wouldn't be dead and it wouldn't still fucking hurt like a bitch" she muttered, cringing at each time her voice gave out on her, which, when she really thought about it, was a lot.

The air went silent between them fairly quickly and Luke just found himself staring at the girl beside him in awe, trying to find the right words to say, if there were any to begin with.

"I'msorry" he blurted out before he even had a chance to have a second thought on whether or not those words were appropriate for the situation.

Katherine sniffled and shook her head, shaking it off as if the weight on her shoulders were nothing. "Nah, its okay, Hemmings. It was a long time ago" she said reassuringly.

"Is that why you don't have a phone?" He questioned and she nodded, letting out a long sigh as if it were her own little way of composing herself.

She then turned towards him and smiled with that perfect smile of hers, Luke swearing to the stars and constellations just above their heads that his heart might have just skipped a beat.

"So, Luke Hemmings," she said. "What are your deepest darkest secrets?"

"Other than being a shameful virgin, I don't think i have any" he joked around as the sound of her laugh invaded his ears.

"Thats a joke right?" She asked, genuinely amused and curious.

Luke shook his head, his cheeks flushed a bright pink that seemed o contrast beautifully with his eyes. And Katherine laughed, a genuine, beautiful, perfect laugh.

"Shut up, i know it's embarrassing" he huffed, crossing his arms like a child.

"What are you five?" Katherine snorted, rolling her eyes. "Its okay to be a virgin, you idiot. You're just, what? Seventeen?"

"Yeah but everyone's been laid and i'm just a wet virgin that swam in a dolphin pee filled tank for two hours" Luke groaned, even his own words seeming to embarrass him further.

"Well its no use being ashamed of it. Lots of people are still virgins. Might as well be proud of it, scream it out into the world!" The redhead exclaimed in a hearty voice as if she was reciting a passage from a Shakespeare play.

It was Luke's turn to roll his eyes now. "No" he said, simply. "I've done some stupid shit in my life, but i am not doing that."

"What's so bad about it?" She pouted. "All you have to do is say "My name is Luke Hemmings and i'm a wet virgin! And y'know what, world? i'm fucking proud!"

Luke shook his head, unable to stop the giggles from escaping his lips as the red haired girl went on and on.

"No" he responded, yet again to her pleas, making Katherine whine.

"What are you a kid?" He mimicked her from earlier.

"You have to do it" she urged, her normally low voice high pitched and childish sounding just to annoy the living fuck out of him.

And it kind of did.

"Whats in it for me?" The blonde muttered, raising his eyebrows at her in the darkness.

"i don't know, enlightenment?" She questioned, as if it were the best thing in the world since sliced bread.

Luke shook his head and thought for a long moment, a smirk spreading across his pale face. "How about a date?"

"Yeah, sure" she rolled her eyes yet again, her tone joking and carefree and the boy beside her stood up, clearing his throat.

"What are you doi-"

"My name is Luke Hemmings and i'm a wet virgin! And y'know what world? I'm fucking proud!"

--
So if you haven't noticed, Ashton and Katherine aren't related by blood at all (hence why Katherine has red hair) and Ashton's mom in the book isn't Anne-Marie since basically ash's mom died years before and his dad (who Katherine grew up with but died last year) re-married to Katherine's mother.

Also, Luke isn't exactly as perfect as everyone thinks he is (which he hints like a thousand times) and i'll go into more details about that later???

Anyway peace out girl scout