Consequences |LRH|

Chapter 9

Evie

I didn't know it was possible to snort milkshake out of your nose but I was doing it. And oh my, i should have been embarrassed but to my surprise I wasn't. Luke had me in stitches, telling those same stupid jokes he had told at the photoshoot earlier in the day.

"Guess who I saw today?" He grinned, I took another sip of my shake, raising my eyebrows in question.

"Everyone I saw." I snorted, having expected him to actually tell me some famous person he had seen at the AMA's.

"Luke." I admonished, wiping off the corners of my mouth. I couldn't help but smile at him when he started laughing like he was on some kind of drug. He had cracked himself up and I have always found people laughing at their own jokes adorable.

It was quiet for no more than a minute but it felt like time had frozen, like it was the part of the movie when the camera spun around the main characters slowly and they could only smile shyly at each other like they were the only two people in the world. It certainly felt that way. It felt infinite, like we had forever just to sit in that moment and be with each other, laughing without care that they had to be up in the morning for their respective day jobs or school. It was limitless, weightless, suspended.

I didn't want to think, especially about how it would feel to come down from this.

His voice broke through whatever we had paused, soft and gentle like a whispered caress.

"Why did you come here?"

"Why did I come out with you for a second time?" I questioned, voice going up an octave at having to explain how I felt around him.

"No, I know why you came. I'm charming with a great sense of humour and style to match. I mean why did you come to LA to study photography?" He smirked at me, laughing as I smacked against his shoulder and tried not to smile.

"Do you want the honest answer or the one I tell everyone else?" I huffed as the tendril of hair fell from my messy bun and into my eyes once again, I couldn't get it to stay. Long fingers entered my view and I held my breath as Luke pushed it softly behind my ear, his face closer to mine with how his body leaned across the table.

His shirt's top button had come undone, a shiny silver chain hung down with the charm pressed to the table. His smile was brighter, hair a bit less done up and his eyes a little droopier and I had to wonder if he felt it too. How relaxed it felt being at this tiny retro 50's styled diner in the middle of nowhere sharing cakes and milkshakes over stupid jokes and life stories. How comfort crept into the what was once tense muscles and soothed them so much I could fall asleep.

I wondered if he felt how thick the air had become around us as his eyes looked into mine. I wondered if it were possible to pull out my camera in time to capture this moment, if it would even capture the true essence of purity, how real it was.

"You never need to lie to me." He extends his arms forward and his hands grasp upon to mine, holding them in his with his thumbs gently drawing soothing circles on the top of my hands. I wasn't breathing, having held my breath at his simple touch, but if I had been, it would have caught in my throat and choked me by how honest his words were. I didn't have to lie to him because he understood me, he didn't judge me or make me feel like I needed to lie.

"Honestly." I hesitate, he hardly knows me. Does he really want to know or is he just making small talk? I take in a deep breath; he wouldn't have encouraged me to open up if he genuinely didn't want to know.

"Honestly, I had started watching the walls around me like they were closing in. I felt like I wasn't living my own life, it was more like I was living in someone else's life. One which I had imagined inside my own head. I was already missing from that place before I decided to leave, I didn't belong there. It was just me and my shadow, everything I regret. I asked myself Who am I? I had no idea and it terrified me. I just felt invisible so I decided to make a change and do something for myself, create something for me and only me."