Lost - LRH

Chapter 3

We step out of the front doors of school. The frigid air immediately hits me. I pull up the collar of my sweatshirt with my right hand, Luke is still tugging on my sleeve.

The crisp snow crunches under our feet as we walk in sync. I look up, watching the snowflakes continue to fall, a couple land on my eyelashes.

I breathe out, "Wow I love winter.."

Luke chuckles. I look over at him and see his breath form from the cold. His cheeks are a faint pink from the frost nipping at his skin, I assume mine are the same. We stop walking when we reach a park, our usual shortcut when we walk home.

"You really are something, huh?" Luke lets go of my sleeve and looks up the the sky with a faint smile.

I do the same, "I guess.." I ponder about the question I asked him back at the library today. "You still haven't answered my question you know."

He hums, trying to think of what I'm referring to.

"Why do you choose to hang out with me?" I clarify.

"Well when you asked it, it didn't seem like much of a question." He chuckles again, still looking up at the sky.

I nod, not knowing what to say. I remain silent in hope for Luke to finally answer my question.

After a few moments Luke replies, "Why not?"

I kick at the ground, sending chunks of snow flying. That wasn't the answer I wanted. Yet again, what answer did I want? Instead, I ask another question.

"What are we?" I don't know what to classify our relationship as. Friends? Classmates? Acquaintances? Might as well make Luke label it.

"Friends." He replies without hesitation. He turns his head away from the sky and smiles at me, "Friends who know nothing about each other."

I nod, agreeing. I don't know anything about Luke except his name and that he is smart. "Funny, we've been hanging out for 3 years and all I know about you is that you're smart." I put my thoughts to words.

"Well then, this is a good time to get to know more. But lets get out of this snow first, I'm freezing." Luke shivers.

"How about some coffee? I know a place across the park." I point in the direction to walk.

Luke nods and for once, I lead the way.

-

We approach a small coffee shop called Cece's Café. As I open the wooden door I hear a ding. We walk into the warmth of the small place and sit at a high table with two stools.

A tall boy with light brown hair walks up to our table. "Hi" he flashes a huge grin that seems to light up the room. "I'll be your waiter today, what would you like to order? I recommend the hot chocolate with whip cream drizzled with chocolate shavings." He looks at me with green eyes and his eyes travel to Luke.

He looks familiar, I just can't put my finger on it.

"Hey, Luke!" The mystery boys nearly yells.

"Hey mate, long time no see." Luke replies with a smile on his face.

I tilt my head, Luke knows him too.

"Hey Cynthia, this is Ashton. He graduated from our school last year." Luke introduces.

Ashton.. Irwin? The senior class clown. I remember seeing him in the year book for "best smile". He did have a nice smile.

"Hey, I remember seeing you around school." Ashton offers a hand.

I reach out to shake it and nod.

"Heh. Still not much of a talker, eh?" he jokes.

I smile, "No."

"Well, we should all catch up one day. I'm on shift so can't really talk now." Ashton takes out a pen and notepad. "Soo.. how about your orders?"

Luke orders the hot chocolate Ashton had suggested. I ordered a vanilla bean coffee, my favorite. Ashton leaves us to turn in our orders.

Luke looks at me and wrinkles his nose, "Ew coffee."

"Guessing you don't like it?" I raise a brow.

"You guessed right." Luke gives me a face and smiles. I learned two thing about Luke within a minute. He doesn't like coffee and he likes to converse and joke around.

"You know, this is probably the most I've ever heard you speak." Luke says as he stares at me.

I shrug.

"Hey, don't stop now. I like your voice." He smiles.

My cheeks warm. "Well back at you, you rarely joke around like this."

"Hm true. Guess we both kind of opened up." His voice is light but there is some seriousness in it.

"What's your favorite color?" He asks.

"Pastel blue." I like the calming color.

"Mine is blue also, but like and ocean blue." Luke replied. "How about your favorite animal?"

"Arctic fox, how about you?"

"Penguin." He smiles.

Luke and I continue our game of asking questions while we wait for our drinks. Within 5 minutes I found out that some of his favorite bands are Sleeping with the Sirens and, All Time Low, and Blink 182, also his favorite movie is Anchorman.

We got our drinks and Ashton excuses himself with a big smile.

"Soo what's your birthday?" Luke askes as he sipped his hot chocolate.

"December 2nd." It was in a couple of weeks.

Luke nearly choked on his drink. "We always have school on that day, why haven't you said anything about it?"

I shrug. I stopped celebrating my birthday since 2011, my father was always working late so he was never home. I didn't see the point in celebrating by myself.

"That's in 3 weeks." Luke rubs the back of his neck. "What do you want?"

I shake my head, "I don't want anything."

"Boo. You must want something." He stares at his half empty cup.

I sip my cup of coffee. "I already got what I want, I'm fine."

He looks up from his cup.

"A friend. I have a friend, thanks to you." I take another sip.

"That's corny. I'm still going to get you something." Luke jokes.

I smile. We finish both of our drinks. I offer to pay but Luke shrugs it off, leaving a $20 bill behind. Our drinks were only $7.59 but I guess he left the huge tip for Ashton.

We walk our usual route, towards our houses. We don't talk but its comforting, as it always has. We stop at a path where we part, I go left and he goes right.

"Hey Cynthia, I'll see you tomorrow." Luke smiles.

I nod, "See ya." We both turn and walk our own way.

I walk the same trail I had been walking for the past 3 years but today feels different. I don't feel as empty, thanks to Luke. I smile to myself and continue to walk in the snow.