no strings attached :: a.i.

07 : Luke

I jolted awake to the blaring sound of my alarm. Groaning, I rolled out of bed. Today was the next therapist's appointment. As quickly as I could, I got dressed. Pulling the hair band out of my hair, the natural waves cascaded down my back. I threw on a pair of black skinny jeans and a white tank top with the words 'I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim' on it, lyrics to the song "Can You Feel My Heart" by Bring Me The Horizon. After lacing my black combat boots, I made my way out of my room.

The thought of seeing Tony and Kyle motivated me to get downstairs only fifteen minutes after waking up. Over the past few days, I had texted Tony multiple times, his date went great and he really enjoyed spending time with this girl, Nicole.

I haven't talked to Kyle since the last appointment but as I reached for the door handle, a knock came from the other side. Standing outside my door was none other than Mr. Andrews himself.

"Hey," He said. I waved, slightly frowning. "I wanted to see if you needed a ride to the therapist's."

As he talked, he fixed the black beanie that was placed on his head. Kyle wore a blue flannel and black skinny jeans along with a pair of black Vans. The sleeves of the flannel where rolled up to his elbows and I could see a small tattoo on his wrist. Was he even old enough to have a tattoo? He bit his lip and starred at me, questioningly.

I thought about his question for a second. One of the reasons I had gotten up so early was because it took a while to walk to the Counseling Center. If we left now and drove, we would get there almost thirty minutes before the scheduled appointment. I reached for my phone to point this out to him but couldn't find it.

I reached for a pen on the counter and ripped part of a paper towel off of the roll next to my sink.

But we will get there too early.

Kyle laughed, "I know that. I was thinking that maybe we could stop and get breakfast."

The last time someone had asked me out to breakfast was almost a two years ago.

"Paris, don't forget your math homework, you left it on the kitchen table."

"Thanks grandma, I'll see you this afternoon." I kissed my grandmother on the cheek and headed for the door, grabbing my homework on the way out.

Ever since my grandfather had died I wondered what my grandmother was finding to do in her spare time. I walked down the driveway and prepared myself for another day at school. I didn't have any friends and that was one of the worst feelings in the world. As I waited for the bus, a noise came from across the street.

"Hey I think the bus is almost here I need to go!" A skinny boy came out of the house across the street. The house had been for sale as long as I could remember so I had stopped noticing the 'for sale' sign in the yard a long time ago. Now that I look, I couldn't see it.

"Bye sweetie, have a great first day!" The boy closed the door and turned away from the house. He saw me across the street and waved, smiling.

"Hey!" He called.

The boy had honey colored hair that was styled into a quiff. He wore black skinny jeans and a black, All Time Low tank top. His black converse kicked a rock as he started down the driveway. All Time Low just so happened to be one of my favorite bands.

"Hi." I waved back but quickly looked down at my feet. "The bus doesn't get here for a while."

"Oh? Then why are you out here?" He didn't look both ways before crossing the street. What a little rebel, I rolled my eyes at him. A car would probably be the death of him.

"I don't know," I mumbled. As he got closer I could see that he had a single dimple in his right cheek. The boy towered over me, he put a hand under my chin and lifted my face until I had no choice but to look at him. The longer I stared, the deeper I fell into the ocean that was his eyes.

"I can't hear you, please speak up." His voice brought me out of my trance.

"I'm sorry." I pulled my eyes back to the pavement.

"There are two things that I can't stand. The first thing is mumbling, and the second thing is when people say sorry for things that aren't there fault. I'm Luke by the way, Luke Swindle. I live across the street," Luke gave me a half smile, extending his hand for me to shake.

I looked back up at Luke. "I'm Paris Embry," I smiled back and took his hand. His large hand covered my small one and it felt oddly comforting.

"How long did you say it would be until the bus gets here?"

"Oh, ten minutes, maybe."

"Well I have an idea. Instead of going to school, where they crush dreams and kill brain cells, we go get breakfast, or maybe some ice cream." Maybe I was wrong, maybe he did more than just cross the street without looking both ways.

The next word that came out of my mouth would change my world forever, "Sure."

I shoved the memory from my mind. I looked over at Kyle and then scribbled something on the paper towel before running upstairs.

Sure, just let me grab my phone.