boxer ⋆ luke hemmings ✔️

04. Sore Jaw.

Sophie could barely keep her eyes open.

Despite what the job description entailed, the 'happiest, friendliest place in the world' currently wasn't the happiest, or the friendliest. It was hardly even a place; Build-A-Bear Workshop was completely desolate of kids, adults, and employees alike. Which bored Sophie, because she didn't like inactivity.

Actually, scratch that. She loved inactivity. Just not when she was working a ten hour shift and had nothing else productive to do with her time.

Sadie- her boss- had left already, leaving the place for Sophie to lock up seeing as she was the only one working late tonight. She wasn't even sure why she volunteered to do so many hours in the first place. The job didn't even pay that well, and it was rare for her to ever come home without some sort of fluff or threading in her hair- but hey, it was worth it. It wasn't all about the money.

She had no-one to talk to, which was even more of a bummer. Usually she'd be working alongside Chloe, her preppy co-worker, and things never got boring. Or she'd be with Chase, a guy who worked at the juice bar opposite who always came in on his breaks, and due to the fact that his father owned the place, had more breaks than Sophie could imagine.

She didn't really know how to get home, either. She'd never worked this late before. Calum would never let her. But Calum had a fault of his own the night prior, which resulted in Sophie practically blackmailing him into letting her work extra hours- though now, she was slowly starting to regret scheming against him.

She'd just have to turn to Mali. Or she could be a big girl and call an Uber- but Ubers scared her, mainly because she didn't trust the people driving them. She didn't really trust anybody. But getting into a car with someone she didn't know was certainly at the very bottom of the things she wanted to do.

Letting out a small laugh, she shook her head. It was funny how ironic that statement seemed, for she climbed into Luke's car the very night before and trusted him, despite not knowing who he truly was. Nevermind the fact that he was a boxer.

Though Sophie had to admit, he wasn't that bad. Okay, so he told her off for asking so many questions, and yes, he yelled at her for being nosy, and alright, he was annoyingly persistent when it came to taking her home- but looking back on it now, Sophie was glad that he did. Anyone else would have just left her on the curb without a second thought.

To a weird, confusing extent, Luke practically saved her. And whether it was from Eddie, having to walk home on her own or having to get into a creepy taxi with an even creepier Uber driver, Sophie didn't care; she was just thankful.

"Sophie?"

She almost jumped out of her skin, her chin slamming hard against the counter as it was slowly slipping down her arm just seconds before her heart jolted. Then she groaned, rubbing it in agony; cheeks flushed red at the thought of whoever scared her witnessing what just happened.

"Jesus butts," she mumbled, moving her jaw and forming odd shapes with her mouth to get rid of the pain- or at least, to numb it. She didn't even notice the strange form of a curse word falling from her lips until she heard the deep voice again- this time, sounding more reluctant.

"Are you okay?"

It was Luke. Sophie could tell by the way his biceps flexed and his broad shoulders came into view, for she had a pretty good sight of them the day before- both in the ring, and in his car.

Luke pursed his lips, attempting to stop them from forming into a smile. It wasn't that he liked seeing Sophie hurt- he just thought it was funny how, out of all the swears she could have picked from, 'Jesus butts' was the one she had to mutter.