Cancer Perks || Luke Hemmings

Nine

Trudging I to work the next day was a struggle. My motorcycle had run out of gas half way here and I had to walk nearly four miles to get gas. Next it began raining and my hair and outfit were absolutely ruined. And finally when I had finally made it to the shop I realized that I had forgotten the keys to unlock the door and had to ride all the way home to retrieve them. You could say I had a pretty shitty morning. Surprisingly enough my mood didn't even lift when I saw an all too familiar blond stroll into the shop like he owned the place. As he came and sat himself on the register counter I continued to angrily stomp around the store while attempting to sort out new arrival records.

Luke sat quietly for a long while and didn't say a word. He observed my every move and made small smirking faces every time I dropped a record or stumbled over a pile of boxed.

Eventually when I was fed up with his silent judgment, I stopped what I was doing and loudly turned to him yelling, "What's so funny?"

This of course only made Luke laugh harder.

"Oh nothing." He spoke, hopping off the counter and sauntering towards me.

"Need some help there missy?" He indicated to the large cardboard box on the floor full of records that needed to be put into an overhead compartment that was far out of my reach.

"No." I said in a agitated tone, reaching down to pick up the box.

The weight of the box however was much more than I had expected, and when I went to stand, I could hardly lift it up.

I tugged again. And again. Trying to put all my strength and aggression into picking up this box but still it wouldn't budge.

"Audrey." He said laughing slightly, but I refused to stop.

"Audrey." He spoke again, his tone growing a little more concerned as he hopped of the counter and came closer to me.

"Audrey!" He yelled one final time, loud enough to scare me back into reality.

I stood up, straightening my back, but still refusing to face him.

"Audrey what's wrong?" He said reaching out his hand and laying it softly on my shoulder.

When I didn't respond Luke gave a slight tug and spun me around so we were chest to chest.

I averted my gaze to the floor as the first few tears began to slip down my face.

"Audrey?" He asked, "are- are you alright?"

I lifted the back of my hand towards my eyes and quickly brushed away the tears.

"Yeah yeah I'm alright." I replied, taking a step away from him and going to sort a different stack of records.

"Are you sure." He asked, picking up his pace and following after me.

"Yeah I've just had a bad morning that's all." I spoke in an attempt to convince him.

"Oh." He replied, his tone not completely convinced.

"Look." I said, turning to face him.

He came to an abrupt stop bumping into me slightly.

"I think I'm going to close the shop up a bit early today." I finished.

"Early?" He said sounding slightly disappointed, "why?"

"I'm just kind of out of it today I guess." wiping at my eyes again.

"Oh yeah, totally." He fumbled for his words.

I turned again and continued to walk up the aisle, placing items in the correct boxes before finally doubling back to the cash register.

I counted the total in the box as Luke watched me. I took the money and locked it in the safe in the back room before grabbing my coat and keys. When I came back out in the main room Luke was staring at me thoughtfully, as if he wanted to say something. I stopped behind the counter and looked at him.

"Audrey." He paused.

"Luke." I said walking towards him.

"Since you're closing up early." He spoke.

"Yeah." I said trying to get him to continue.

"Would you want to go do something?"

"Something." I asked, "like what?"

"I have a place I want to show you." He spoke in a low voice, reaching out his hand towards me.

I looked from his hand to his face and the look his eyes shocked me. Without speaking, his was telling me to take his hand.

So I did.