Room 206 - Luke Hemmings

forty-six

2 weeks.

It's been exactly 2 weeks since everything ended officially between Luke and I. I've been running every morning when I wake up to try and rid him of my thoughts as best as I can. It's been getting a little easier, functioning as a normal human being. It hurts like hell, but I'm surviving. 

Eleanor wanted to hang out, so I went with her to the lake to go swimming and paddle boarding. The other girls joined us, and we walked together down to the dock, stopping by the shed to get our paddle boards. 

"Hello ladies," a young man stood behind the counter, smiling at us. He had dark hair and green eyes, a nice jawline and smile. He was incredibly attractive, though I found myself unimpressed with his looks like I'd normally be. "What can I do for you today?"

"We'd like to go paddle boarding," Eleanor said, smiling at him sweetly. "The four of us."

"No problem," he said. "10 pounds each."

I reached into my bag and pulled out 10 pounds, sliding it on the counter without looking at him. 

We followed him to the equipment where all the boards, paddles and life vests were.

"It's policy for each of you to wear a life vest," he said, taking one down and handing it to each of us. "Wouldn't want such a pretty girl to get hurt out there in the water." He smirked at me as he handed me mine.

"Thanks," I said quietly, putting it on without another word. 

We'd gotten our boards and paddles and were out on the water before Eleanor said something to me. 

"What the hell, Daisy?" Eleanor said. "He's so hot and he was so flirting with you!" 

"I'm not interested," I shrugged. "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now."

"Did things not work out between you and Hemmings?" Eileen asked me.

I shook my head. "No. I guess he decided that I just wasn't important enough to him."

"I'm so sorry," Blair stood on her paddle board, joining the rest of us as we paddled through the water. "You'll find someone who loves you and will put the effort in for you someday."

When I got home, I lit a few candles in the sun room and pulled out a book, trying to immerse my mind with something else. Going outside reminded me of him. The sun looked like his hair, the sky like his eyes. I closed the book, giving up on it. 

I picked up another from the shelf, a recipe book that I hadn't touched for 3 years since I'd mastered most of the recipes without even looking at them anymore. There was no way a recipe book could remind me of him.

I flipped through the pages, examining the pictures and the recipes. It all looked appetizing but the only image that came to my mind was cooking in the kitchen with Luke, laughing as he did something goofy while I stirred something around in the skillet on the stove. The thought of his hands around my waist and his soft lips on my neck, distracting me from what I was trying to do lingered in my mind and left an ache in my chest. I came back to reality and slammed the book shut, throwing it on the floor. I blew out the candles and stomped up to my room, slamming the door shut. 

I plugged my phone into my speaker and pressed shuffle play on all my music. Every soft, bluesy or acoustic song that came on painted an image in my brain. I would have my arms around his shoulders as he held me close and swayed with me around the living room of our future house. I would laugh at how terrible we both are at dancing but we were having too much fun to stop. His white t-shirt and blue jeans were so different from how I normally saw him but there was something about the way we both were in our socks and slipping on the hardwood floors that made it all okay. He'd spin me around and my sundress would twirl around me, making me feel like a little kid again. He'd brush my messy hair out of my face the way he always did and lean down and give me a gentle kiss on my lips, just for a second. Because it wasn't lust anymore; we were in love and I just wanted to embrace every second with him, whether we were having sex or not. And he felt the same way. I'd be comfortable without a trace of makeup on my face. He'd tell me I'm beautiful. And I'd think the same thing, because he is beautiful, but it would be absurd to say it out loud so I would just look up at the human being that I'd somehow ended up lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with. 

I paced around my room, shaking the image from my head. I would never have my happy ending with Luke no matter badly I wanted that. Love can't be forced. It has to come from both sides and I should have seen that it was only one sided sooner. 

Was it always going to be like this? Everything seemed to remind me of him no matter how much I tried to rid him of my brain. Everything familiar to me was connected to him in some way and I needed out. I wanted to be out of this mess. 

I went into the bathroom, starting to run bath water. Maybe I just needed to relax. I set my phone down on the counter as the bathtub filled, looking at myself in the mirror. My skin seemed pale; paler than usual. The dark circles under my eyes were practically framing my face. I hadn't even touched my makeup in weeks. I picked up my hairbrush, taking a deep breath and beginning to brush out the tangles. It was calming almost, until I remembered the times Luke would play with it, running his fingers through it to take out the tangles. I huffed, setting my brush down. I stared at myself in the mirror. I couldn't keep doing this anymore. 

I looked around on the counter, spotting a pair of scissors and got a crazy idea. 

Gathering my hair in one hand and holding the scissors in my other, I began snipping. I cut probably 10 inches off. I let my hair drop onto the floor, looking at all the long red waves. My safety blanket for years. I'd never had my hair shorter than halfway down my back, and here I was, my hair just past my shoulders. I didn't care that it was a little choppy; I'd have my mom even it out later. I was just relieved to have it all gone. At last something wasn't about Luke. 

Speak of the devil and he shall arrive, I guess.

I looked down at my phone buzzing on the counter. Luke's face lit up the screen. Fuck him. Fuck him and his stupid timing. 

I threw my phone down the hallway. I was tired of all the pain and grief he had caused me. I was not about to open myself up to more. 

"Fuck you, Luke Hemmings," I muttered as I stepped into the bathtub. I sunk down into the bathtub, trying to will the mildly scalding water to burn away any memory of him left in my mind. 

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A/N: slightly longer but not by much I am sorry 

there will be another update (maybe two??) tomorrow as well