boxer ⋆ luke hemmings ✔️

12. Innocent Little Girl.

The first thing on Luke's agenda the following day was to call Sophie.

He didn't know why. He didn't even have her number. But he wanted to talk to her, for some insane reason, and his main priority was to thank her for the fluffy green dinosaur she helped him make that Corey absolutely loved.

The little kid clung onto it the entire night, refusing to ditch it even when they went to the small fair and Luke won him a bigger stuffed penguin on the ring toss. Not that Luke was bitter, or anything- but in his opinion, penguins were much better than dinosaurs. Fact. Only he refrained himself from informing anyone of this random thought, even Eddie.

He kind of wanted to tell Sophie that the main source of his son's happiness that night was the Build-A-Bear, and he could see why. He knew for a fact that her face would light up once she heard it, each brown eye glinting with pride. He also knew that she'd ask a lot of questions, like what Corey named it, and even what gender the kid decided it to be.

He would also be more than happy to inform her that the little boy gave him the honour to pick a name, any name, and Luke decided on Broccoli.

"Welcome to Build-A-Bear!" a blonde girl with strikingly green eyes hopped up from behind the counter, waving at Luke before wringing her hands together. Attempting to ignore the strange looks coming his way from both kids and parents alike, Luke approached her, his smile somewhat forced, "How may I be of assistance?"

Her name tag read Chloe, and much like the girl Luke had yet to thank, her smile was nothing but genuine. He began to wonder whether being happy 24/7 was a necessity for the employees at the Workshop, for he knew that there was no way these people could feign happiness for such a long period of time without any signs of cracking.

"I'm not here for anything," he said, poker-faced, allowing his gym bag to fall to the floor, "I'm just here to see someone,"

"Oh? Who?"

"Sophie Hood," Luke told her lowly, tapping his fingers on the wooden texture of the counter, "I need to give her a quick message, and I'll be on my way,"

"You're here to see Sophie?" Chloe looked shocked, her eyebrows raising up as she took into full account what Luke looked like.

She was a little stunned, to say the least- he looked nothing like the sort of people Sophie usually hung out with.

She was friends with guys like Chase, and Rick. Guys who wore sensible button-ups on the weekdays and Ralph Lauren polo shirts on the weekends, paired with chinos or some type of sensible trouser.

Her close friend didn't seem like the type of girl to hang around the mystery man searching for her at the counter at all. There was no sign of a polo shirt, or chino material, or plain, murky brown shoes made of Italian leather.

He just wore loose grey sweatpants, a plain black muscle tank, and some scuffed converse. Had bruises on his arms, outlined muscles, a cut above his lower lip and a mark on his jaw. Long story short, he looked rough.

Definitely nothing like the boy Chloe knew standing behind the Joe's Juice bar opposite her place of work, but she was far too afraid to question it.

"Uh... yeah," Luke responded, nodding slightly. He couldn't see sight of Sophie anywhere, when at first he expected her to come bounding out of the stockrooms carrying a bunch of fluffy elephants in her arms, "Do you know where she is?"

Unfortunately, Chloe didn't. "I'm sorry," she sighed. The corner of her mouth poked into the corner of her cheek, sending an apologetic smile his way, "But earlier, her older brother called in and said that she was sick and couldn't make her shift today,"