try hard // luke hemmings

Chapter Twelve

We entered Cici's Pizza, right in the middle of the lunch rush. I saw other teenagers from other schools, obviously o their lunch break, but nome of the adolecsents were from my school. Luke bought two adult buffets, which he shouldn't have; I wasn't going to eat anything.

I put some lettuce on my plate anyways.

We sat down at a booth, him on one side, me on the other. I twirled the lettuce in the ranch, only to create the illusion that I was interested in what was on my plate. "Is that why there aren't any new ones?" His voice is so sudden, I drop my fork. "W-What?" I stammer.

"There aren't any fresh cuts because you've come up with a new method." Luke predicts. I advert my gaze. "I- No. What are you talking about?" I say, picking the fork up again, absentmindedly. "I haven't seen you put one piece of lettuce in your mouth."

I stick a forkful of the food into my mouth.

After I chew, I say, "There. I ate."

"You haven't been eating. You've been getting thinner, Cheyanne." Luke says. I lean onto the table. "Stop it. I thought you said you were going to try being nice. My boyfriend even. But you're making me change my mind pretty fast, Hemmings." I whisper, close to tears.

Luke, also, leans forward. "A boyfriend worries, Cheyanne. I, for one, am worried. Your clithes don't seem to fit you anymore. They kind of just hang off your body."

"Did you come here to critize me? Because I don't appreciate it. Oh, and if you wanted to know how you were doing on the whole "getting closer to me" front, your still in square one." I say, throwing down my napkin.

I walk away from the booth, heading to the back where the restrooms are located. I wipe my nose with the back of my hand and wait for whoever's inside to get out. I lean on the back wall. Did I really believe that Luke would change just because he wanted to get into my pants?

"I don't want to get into your pants, if that's what you're thinking." Says a voice from behind. Whoever it is, is so close to me, that I can feel his breath hit my neck whenever he breathes. I turn around, thinking it's Luke. "But I would really like your number." He concludes.

I look up, slightly confused. Is he really that tall? I back away. "Um..."

The stranger smiles. "Sorry, that was really forward, wasn't it?" I nod slightly in aknowledgement but keep my distance. I've had my fair share of creeps, but I was really starting to miss Luke's prescence. "The name is Charlie. And I know I shouldn't strike up a conversation with a girl in front of me for the bathrooms at Cici's Pizza, but, I saw the back of your head and I thought, 'That's a nice back-of-the-head. I wonder if she has a nice front-of-the-head, your face.' Then you turned around and I thought, 'You were right, Charlie. Now say something nice.' But I didn't. I said-"

" 'I don't want to get into your pants, if that's what you're thinking.' " I finish for him. Charlie blushes. "Yeah." Then, the door opens and a little girl in pigtails rushes out. "I'm Cheyanne." I sniff.

A smile breaks onto his face. "Were your parents fans of George Strait?" He asks. "My dad." I laugh. Did I just laugh? I did. And it felt good. "Well, Cheyanne. I know this is quite the conversation stopper, but I really gotta take a piss. But could I interest you in date?" Charlie asked.

I couldn't stop my actions as I typed away my phone number into his Galaxy. Charlie never sropped smiling and I giggled when he said, "I'll call you later, gorgeous."

I return to the table, where Luke had leaned his had back, eyes closed, in his fist a couple napkins.

"I'm sorry." I apologize. His eyes snap open. "What?" I scooch back into the booth. "I said, I'm sorry. I shouldn't let every little thing you say bother me." Were these words really coming out of my mouth? Because I wasn't sure I meant them.

"Chey. I should be the one apologizing." Luke says, sitting up straigh again. "Then why aren't you?" I counter. "Because I'm a dick. Let's finish lunch." He says. "You still haven't said sorry."

"I'm sorry."

I eat my salad because I didn't want hum saying anything, but when he offers me pizza, I refuse it with a simple, "No thanks."

We were making our way to the exit when three girls, not much younger than I, blitzed us. "OHMIGOSHITISLUKEHEMMINGS!!" Her sentence was rushed and squealed from her mouth. I step away from the raging hormone girls as Luke signs autographs and takes pictures with them. My herat stings just a bit when he presses his lips to the cheek of a girl super tall, skinny, and flawless.

"Is he famous or something?" Charlie, again. I look over my shoulder to face him. "He's in a band." I respond.

Once the girls have had their fill, Luke walks back to me. "Who's this?" He asks, somewhat defensivly. "Luke, this is Charlie. Charlie, Luke." I awkwardly introduce. "Your boyfriend?" Charlie asks.

"No."

"Yes."

Charlie's confused. I glare at Luke. "He's not my boyfriend." I clarify. "He's... an accquaintance." Luke wraps his arm around my shoulders. "He doesn't care. C'mon." Luke starts to pull us away, clearly jealous. "Don't forget to call me!" I confidently call ove my shoulder to Charlie. Luke nearly trips on his untied Vans.

Once in the car, Luke flips out. "Call you?! You want him to call you?!" He roars, revving the engine to his Porsche. He peels out of the parking space, making a woman stomp on the brake and make me hold onto the dashboard for dear life.

"What about us, huh?" He asks, the speed slowly accelerating. I grip onto the dashboard so hard, my knuckles turn white. "I don't think they'll ever be an "us"." I say through gritted teeth.

Luke swerves behind a semi and I clench my jaw. The speed was unfathomable. "Luke. Slow down." The car lurched to a stop at a red light, only to take off again the second it turned green. "I mean. How did he even get your number that quick? I didn't even get it until I had to manually put in your mobile." Luke continued. He jerked the steering wheel to the left, nearly knocking out a red Mini Cooper.

"Luke, I-"

"Then you tell him that I'm not your boyfriend."

"Because you're not." But he doesn't hear me, he just plows on. And the car slowly picks up speed. I glance over at the speedometer and I see the arrow inching to ninety. "Luke. We're gonna get hit. You don't even have a seatbelt on. We're gonna hit somethig. Luke stop," I whimper.

But Luke is deaf. He's blinded by madness and he can't seem to hear a word I'm sayingI have no idea what is going to happen, he's at ninety five and I'm trembling in my seat. In my head, I'm replaying the crash that killed my dad, over and over. I shut my eyes and hope there's a cop near by.

The jolt was so hard, I snapped to the dashboard and then back, hitting ny head on the headrest. I snap open my eyes and I see Luke, hands on the steering wheel, knuckles snow white. We're at a stopsign, somewhere in my neighborhood. His head was resting on the wheel. "What am I doing? I could've killed you. Come on, I'm taking you home."

We drive home and silence and when we got to my house I got out and he didn't follow. "I'll see you around. Have fun on your date with Charlie Whatshisname." And with that, he squealed away.

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Short update (idek how namy words bc mobile) in honor of the 5SOS livestream today (or yesterday). Tell me what your favorite part was, who made you laugh the most, and were you just as surprised as I was when Niall popped out from under the horse head?

I preordered the She Looks So Perfect EP. Tell me if you did, what's your favorite song?

Oh, you can also tell me that this was a shit chapter and that you will kill me. But be aware that my sister reads this and knows where I sleep so she'll probably beat you to it. I also apologize for any grammer/spelling errors, I'm on mobile and I will revise tomorrow. Omg wow, this author's note is probably longer than the whole chapter.

oh and barbara palvin wins, i believe, 2-1. you can stilk vote chachi or barbara haha but i'm leaning towards barabara.