Photos [Luke Hemmings]

Chapter 28 - Royally Pissed

Chapter 28—Royally Pissed

{ a u t u m n }

Luke was acting weird.

Not to say he never acted weird before—on the contrary, the boy was the goofiest, strangest boy I've met—but today seemed to be different. He seemed a bit jittery; constantly checking his phone and excessively trying to keep a conversation going. I mean, I loved talking to him, but he was sort of forcing it, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on.

Sure, I asked him, but he would just wave it off and say it was nothing and then start up another conversation. He had picked me up at my house at ten in the morning, claiming that he wanted to hang out for the day. Of course, I didn't mind—any day spent with Luke was a day well spent. So we had gone back to his house and watched movies upon movies, before taking his dog out for a walk and then doing other things.

"Let's go to the diner for lunch," Luke spoke up, not looking up from his phone. We were currently at the local park, sitting on swings next to each other as I watched little kids shriek and run and play around.

"Yes," I cheered, drawling out the end as I stood up, "I'm starving."

Luke chuckled, and I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the swing—well, he just stood up, seeing as I wouldn't be able to lift him for the life of me—before making our way to where his car was parked.

We drove to the diner singing along to Don Broncos and Twenty-One Pilots, before Luke pulled into an empty parking space in the not-so busy lot. Stepping out of the car, I followed Luke into the diner, but just as we stepped inside, Luke paused and turned to face me.

I looked up at him in confusion, raising my eyebrows expectantly as I noticed the nervous expression washed over his face once more. "You good?" I asked, brows furrowing in concern.

"Yeah," Luke responded with a not so convincing smile, twisting one of the rings on his fingers as he looked at me. "I just—you're probably gonna hate me for doing this, but I promise I did it for your own good."

Instantly, my expression became one of bewilderment, having no idea as to what Luke was talking about. He looked jittery once again, pressing his lips together, before letting out a sigh and taking my hand in his, leading me towards the back of the diner. "Wha—Luke? What's going on?"

He didn't respond, leaving me to just follow him and stare at his back in complete and utter puzzlement. Luke led us to one of the last booths in the diner, and he stopped facing the table, as did I as I looked at him in anticipation. But he stared at the table, and I followed his gaze until I felt myself physically freeze in place.

Richard sat there, a cup of coffee sitting in front of him as he laced his hands together, staring up at me with a knowing expression. He was staring at me, waiting for me to blow up, freak out, throw a tantrum. But an eerie, devastating calm took over me, feeling my insides churn uncomfortably as I ground my teeth together.

Tearing my gaze away from Richard, I turned my head and looked at Luke, who was pressing his lips together and looking at me with a expression that was a mixture of guilt and nerves. He was rubbing the back of his neck, something he did when he was extremely nervous, and boy, did he have a reason to be.

Just by looking at his expression, I could tell that this was a set up by Luke. No fucking wonder he had been so damn jittery all day—he had been planning to reunite me with Richard, and he knew how negatively I would react to this. The fact that he had the nerve to do this, despite knowing very well how I felt about my biological father, ignited an angry fire inside of me. It didn't matter what his intentions were—Luke had royally pissed me off.