Vanished || l.h. au

one

chapter one

Beth.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm even with you." Luke joked, watching as I covered my cheese fries in a more than necessary amount of ketchup.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm with you." I retorted, peeling off a cheese fry from its clump and taking a bite.

"Well, obviously because I'm me. Who could resist?" He stated smugly, shooting me a teasing smirk, as he relaxed backwards into the diner booth.

"Oh yes, everyone just absolutely craves a cocky boyfriend. I should count myself lucky." I replied, sarcasm dripping from my words as I rolled my eyes, shooting him a smile.

"Damn right you should." He agreed, smiling at me. We both secretly enjoyed our playful banter. It was just the way we were. We only became official a few weeks ago, but what Luke and I had extended beyond that. We weren't the clichéd couple you would see cuddling up, eating each other's face off in public. Instead, we were the type to mock them. We were close friends; close friends who also just happened to have strong feelings for each other.

"So I talked to Ashton today." He started, changing the topic. He grabbed one of his own plain fries, looking at it distastefully before eating it.

"Really?" I asked, perking up slightly. "What did he say?"

"You were right. I barely had time to finish my sentence before he agreed to talk to his dad and help me get the job. I'm definitely going to need it for this summer anyways." He said nonchalantly, grabbing another fry and dipping it in my ketchup.

"Luke, that's huge! It's your first actual paying job. How do you feel?" I asked, reaching across the table to grab his hand.

"Scared." He answered honestly, giving my hand a gentle squeeze in return. "It means I'm actually growing up. But hey at least now I can take you out on real dates without begging my mom for money." He laughed, trying to steer the mood from his momentary vulnerability.

"You and I both know I'm perfectly fine with snuggling up on a couch and watching Disney movies all day." I smiled at him, stating the truth. It was a frequent habit of ours; randomly showing up at each other's houses to have a random movie session. But that was us.

"Yeah, but you deserve more than just movies on one of our couches for dates, babe. Now, I can make that happen." He winked, letting go of my hand to continue with his fries. He looked at his plate of plain fries with a huge frown, his eyes flickering over to my small stack of delicious cheese fries.

"Hey, do you know that kid?" Luke asked, nodding his head in the direction behind me. I furrowed my eyebrows, turning my head to look behind me. I didn't see anyone that stuck out in particular, but I did see Luke's friend, Michael, who seemed to be sporting black and red hair this week. He sat on a red stool at the bar table, looking down at his menu.

"No? I didn't see anybody, just your friend, Michael. Hey-" I started, turning back around to see my cheese fries gone, replaced with Luke's plain ones. "What happened to all my cheese fries!" I exclaimed even though I could clearly see them on the plate Luke had in front of him.

Luke shrugged, picking one apart from the rest. "They looked too appetizing to resist." He said, then ate one, looking at me with large mocking eyes.

"You could have just asked, you know." I told him, pretending to be upset as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

**

"So where to now?" Luke asked, holding the door open for me as we exited the diner. I apologized to a random man that Luke almost hit with the door, not even noticing his presence, before replying to him.