Friction || Luke Hemmings

Luke- 13

At some point her body went limp, her chest rising and falling much more steadily than it had for the past two hours, indicating she had fallen asleep. We spent two hours in the middle of the woods, just sitting there in mostly silence. I didn't have any clue what to say, her shaking body keeping my mouth shut. I was afraid if I did say something I would just make everything worse. So I didn't. I let her cling to me, hiding in my chest and soaking part of my shirt, not that I really minded.

Her dad was awful. I guess we knew that before we walked in, but what kind of father asks their daughter, who he's barely seen and has absolutely no relationship with, to be a part of his vow renewals with the woman he threw her behind for? He left her in the dust, giving no explanation or apology only to come back after years to finally ask her to be in his life. She was already having problems, mainly because of me, but that just did her in. He broke her, and not in the way that I had. He had shattered everything she knew, taken away her hope of ever feeling whole again. She lost her father in one of the worst ways possible, he was still here but he wasn't here for her.

She took in a shaky breath, her hand that had been clutching onto my arm slipping down to fall against my thigh, her body still curled into mine. I could see goosebumps rising on her skin, the temperature dropping as a storm was coming in. I knew I had to get her out of here, but I didn't want to wake her. The very last thing I wanted to do was wake her, not after the breakdown I had just witnessed.

Being as gentle as I could, doing my best not to jostle her around to much, I placed one arm behind her back, the other under her legs, and struggled to stand to my feet. It took me a minute, almost falling straight back onto my butt a couple times, but I eventually got it, gaining my footing on the ground. She took in another shaky breath, her eyes opening slightly to look around her. I shushed her gently, her eyes closing as she laid her head against my shoulder, her non casted arm moving to wrap around my neck.

"It's cold." She mumbled, her voice laden with sleep.

"I know, baby. I'm getting you out of here."

She giggled sleepily, the tip of her nose running a line along my neck causing shivers to race down my spine. "Baby." She giggled again, a slight smile turning my lips upward. "We forgot Savannah... again."

"Yeah, it's a good thing she's just a doll." Another giggle. It was obvious sleep was affecting her behavior, and I really didn't mean to wake her, but it was too late now.

"Yeaah." She dragged out the word in a yawn, hot breath fanning across my shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Not my house. I don't want to go back there."

"Okay, we can go back to my house."

"But we need to get Savannah."

"We can get her first."

"Okay."

"Okay." She sighed, pushing her head into the crook of my neck, her lips puckering against the skin.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Coming to get me. I don't know what I would've done if you didn't show up."

I wasn't sure what to say, so I didn't. She fell back in and out of sleep as I carried her back to her house. I wasn't thinking when I ran after her, leaving my car behind even though I knew exactly where she was going. I didn't know how I knew she would go there, but I knew she would. We stayed silent on the walk back, her body tensing up as soon as her house came into view. Her father's car was still in the driveway, her grip around my neck tightening as we came closer.