the only reason // l.r.h. [under construction]

six

[ filler chapter ]

Kaylie

After his blow-up at Michael, Luke grabbed my hand and pulled me outside to the car. He kept mumbling things under his breath that I didn't quite catch. But it wasn't hard to guess what he was saying.

I expected him to open my door for me like he usually does, but instead he let go of my hand and went around to his side, climbing in the car to start the ignition.

He reached over and popped open the door from the inside, asking me what I was still doing outside. "Babe, get in the car. C'mon."

I snapped out of my thoughts and hopped in the car, shutting the door. Luke turned up his music which practically eliminated any conversation that might have happened - unless we wanted to scream over it.

I thought about what went down tonight. My intention was to come over, forget about everything, and leave with Luke without any problems.

My head has been reeling since before I got to Michael's house. I feel terrible for causing this situation to arise. Yes, he made the choices that led to this, but I'm the one that made him dance with me in the first place. So instead of leaving with no prolems, I drank too much and dragged Michael into this mess, causing more problems. Awesome.

I glanced over at Luke for the first time this entire car ride. His hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, knuckles white from the grip. He was staring intensely ahead.

I hated seeing him upset. Even if it was over something as silly as this. Tentatively, I sat up in my seat and reached across the center console.

When my hand touched his arm he flinched at first, making me pull my hand back for a second. I tried again, this time putting my hand on the back of his shoulder, making small circles with my fingers.

Luke relaxed a bit instead of pulling away; his glare softened and he was no longer holding the steering wheel as tight as before. He took one hand off of the wheel, using it to turn down the music first and then setting it down on the center console, palm up.

I moved my hand away from Luke's back and laced my fingers with his.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what happened in there, I shouldn't have made Michael dance with me when you stopped. I'm sure he meant no harm by it, you know how he is..." I said quietly. He just shook his head.

"Damn right I know how he is. It's not your fault. He knows where his boundaries are and he just crossed them," Luke replied, his words slowly fading out, his grip tightening on both my hand and the steering wheel.

The conversation was dropped as we neared our side of town. My hand was no longer in his and the cold feeling was back in the air.

We pulled into our driveway, him not saying a word as he stopped the car. Luke made no effort to open the door, or even unbuckle his seat belt. I didn't want to leave him in the car alone so I stayed in my seat as well, reaching over to turn the engine off and take the keys out.

Luke grabbed my hand before I could reach the ignition. "No, wait. I'm thinking," he mumbled. I just nodded. He didn't release my hand, he just slid his so that our fingers were now intertwined.

After a couple minutes of silence, he rubbed his thumb gently on the side of my hand, saying, "Let's go somewhere, yeah? Tonight never happened. Whatever is bugging you doesn't exist, the problem from earlier doesn't exist. We'll just have fun. You up for it?"

I looked at him in the eyes for the first time this whole car ride, seeing a light in them that wasn't there when we left the house. I didn't know what he had in store, but I agreed, figuring it couldn't be worse than what had just happened.

"Sure, let's do it. Where do you have in mind?" I asked.

Luke just smirked, saying, "It's a surprise, princess."