Hot Coffee, Cold Hands

Chapter 8 ♡

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"Are you mad at me Allens?" Luke asked sheepishly, wincing as I dabbed antiseptic on his lower lip.

I sighed a little. "No, I'm not mad at you Luke. You just shouldn't have gone and gotten yourself hurt."

He grinned as well as he could with his split lip and jokingly flexed a muscle. "I'm not hurt Indie, I'm like a macho man, I don't ever get hurt!"

I snorted a little at that. We were in the back kitchen of The Hideout by ourselves; Holly, Ollie, Jake and Josh were beginning to clear up after the party out front. Luke and I had been sent into the back to try and find something that would stop his lip bleeding. We had searched for a while in the various cupboards and draws and hey presto! We eventually found a vial of liquid that Luke said 'looked medicinal, lets use it'.

To be fair on him, Luke actually wasn't overly injured from the fight he had with Daniel the Dickhead. Just a split lip and a few nasty bruises. The other guy looked worse, as he kept reminding us all.

He sat on the surface in the back kitchen whilst I dabbed cautiously at his sore lip. It helped that we were more of a similar height when he was slouched on the counter.

"Just don't get into any more fights okay? Please?" I looked at him sternly, but there was a subtle hint of desperation in my tone. Luke getting hurt wasn't something I'd enjoy witnessing again, especially since I felt as if it was partly my fault. I should have been the bigger person and not been so riled up with Daniel. Then the fight wouldn't have happened.

Luke sighed. "Fine, I promise. I did it for you though, you know."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my brows furrowed. I put down the bottle of antiseptic and looked at him. He seemed to be burning holes in the counter with his stare, though, and avoiding my eyes.

"I wanted to intervene immediately, when you dragged Holly away and first began to confront Daniel, but you seemed to be handling yourself pretty well."

I nodded, even though he wasn't looking at me. I didn't say a word though, since it seemed as if he was going to continue.

"Then when he grabbed your arm like that and you couldn't get him away, I just got mad." Luke's eyes began to blaze again, the same way they did when him and Daniel were sizing each other up earlier on. It was as if even thinking about it made him furious.

"You didn't have to do that for me," I murmured, taking his hand in mine hesitantly and squeezing.

Once again I revelled in his soft skin and long fingers.

Luke stopped glaring at the kitchen surface and looked into my eyes, seeming surprised at the contact.

"I know I didn't have to, Indie. But I couldn't not."

I smiled a little. "Thank you," I whispered.

His face softened. "No problem Allens." The cheeky grin that I had got to know made it's way to the surface again. "So I guess I'm like your knight in shining armour now then?"

"Very funny. Let's not get ahead of ourselves." I rolled my eyes.

Luke shook his head in amusement at me, staring intently into my eyes. From the deepness of his green eyed stare, I felt as if he was looking right into my mind, my soul. I felt like if he wanted to, he could reveal any of my deepest, darkest secrets, and I wouldn't even care.