university ☼ hemmings [a.u]

Three ; Dorm parties are always small.

Luke spent the next hour just sitting in the Quick and Easy Café, sitting at the exact table where Quinn was at before she rejected him. He sipped his coffee every once in awhile, but he kept quiet and just stared at the table in front of him, not acting like himself at all.

While Cherri worked, she noticed his odd behavior and how he had walked back into the café looking very glum. Usually if he ran after girls, he'd return with his head held high and a cocky smirk on his lips, but that wasn't the case this time.

Cherri's shift ended at four, so she clocked out and quickly walked over the Luke's table. She sat in the seat across from him with her eyebrows raised. When he didn't glance up, she coughed slightly to get his attention. "Ahem."

"Oh. Hey, Cherri," Luke finally said, looking up at her glumly. "So?" Cherri asked, tapping her fingers on the table impatiently. There was an awkward hesitation before Luke answered.

"I don't get it. Nobody's rejected me before, why now? Have I lost my edge? I thought I was irresistible, Cherri!" Luke exclaimed, his blue eyes wide in confusion.

"Well, some girls have rejected you.." Cherri pointed out, but after receiving a harsh glare from Luke, she continued quickly. "But, you always seem to get them, anyway. Ya know? Remember that one girl at the beginning of the semester? She was known for being really into that one band, and you actually pretended to be just as interested in them just because she had a good body. That worked didn't it? You thought she would be hard to get, but you got her anyway!"

Luke shrugged halfheartedly, thinking about that. Kaylee Smith was one of the girls Luke actually had feelings towards. They were together for a few weeks, then Luke realized how annoying she actually was and dumped her. She was a senior, but Luke did think she had good taste in music. Admittedly, Luke did enjoy music and had a soft spot for it. He grew up listening to many bands and actually learned how to play guitar. But instead, he became friends with the wrong people and had to keep his admiration for music a secret, since it wasn't really considered cool to like bands in his group of friends.

Instead, he had to pick up the interest of soccer and being a fuckboy really quick. As a junior in high school, Luke was in between friendship groups. He had his best friend, Michael Clifford, who hung around a bunch of people who had a soft spot for music and just fooling around amongst themselves, and he had his other best friend, Ashton Irwin, a senior, whom he met that year. Neither of the two had gotten along very well. Ashton was more involved with the jocks and popularity, and Luke had to decide whether popularity or having just a few close friends was more important.

But, of course, he chose wrong. He started hanging out with Ashton more often than his other friends, and he learned quickly how to use his looks to his advantage and get laid. Junior and senior years were the best years of high school for Luke. He still tried to hang out with Michael and his other friends, but they noticed how distant he had become once he met Ashton, and knew he would never be the same Luke he once was.

Luke's new friend group of jocks soon influenced how he acted towards people, specifically those 'not as popular as him' and girls. He disrespected Michael and his old friends because of how his new friends acted, he disrespected girls because he just wanted to get laid, and most of all, he disrespected himself by becoming this way, whether he knew it or not.

"Luke, you okay?" Cherri snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good," Luke nodded, trying to convince himself. "I just don't know how I'll get this girl. I don't know what she's like, or who she hangs out."