boxer ⋆ luke hemmings ✔️

29. Nothing To Lose.

Fortunately, Sophie's parents had to leave for work early, and Mali had a session at the studio to attend. And she knew that Calum wouldn't wake up until three in the afternoon, anyway, at a time when it wouldn't be so weird for her not to be tucked up in bed- meaning, she got to spend a little longer at Luke's apartment than initially expected. Not that anybody was complaining, or whatever.

Their morning was quiet, but peaceful. Bowls of colourful cereal that Luke had willingly gone out to purchase, just for her, in front of a few of his old, dusty photo albums from his high school days- it was like the setting scene to a film, the peaceful aftermath of a plot's climax.

And to Sophie, that's exactly what their morning was; Rick would leave her alone now, and she had Luke. There was absolutely nothing else in the world that she wanted.

He was enough. He didn't feel like enough, but he was.

With her seated right next to him on the floor, legs crossed and one of his oversized hoodies draped lazily over her figure, she watched the soft expressions trail across Luke's face as he flicked carefully through the old photos.

"Look at this one," his chuckle was low as she looked up, a photocard small enough to fit into a wallet making it's way into her line of vision, "Recognise anything?"

"Oh, my god," she took it into her hands, eyes wide as Luke nodded, satisfied with her reaction.

"Mhm. That weird little blonde streak your brother used to have in his hair,"

Sophie smiled, scanning the memory in front of her with careful eyes. She could remember that day very clearly; Calum had come home with a highlight in his fringe that she'd found undoubtedly amazing at the time, causing their mother to go A) on a grounding spree, and B) absolutely insane.

Of course, Joy Hood managed to drag Sophie into the conversation, yelling at the top of her lungs at the middle child about how he was setting such a bad example for his younger sibling. Calum just hung his head in shame, though he never got rid of it- the only reason he actually dyed it back in the end was because of the job he'd landed at his father's law firm. They required nothing but sensible attire, and it was the least he could do.

"I really liked that blonde," Sophie stated, looking at Calum's smiley face and the way he had his tongue sticking out in the picture, eyebrows raised, "Jeez. He looks so different,"

"Yeah? I don't think so," Luke said, constantly slipping one picture behind the other. He was going through them pretty fast, though that was to be expected; the boxer absolutely detested going through his old memories. They were just like little reminders, things he wanted to forget due to all of the shitty stuff he used to do as a teenager. "Still has the same face, same clothing style..."

"Different hair, broader shoulders,"

"Same humour, same habits, same... well, you get it," Luke couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt sting his chest. His best friend of more than a decade- the one guy he'd always expected to stay loyal to- currently being betrayed, for Luke had decided to break the 'pact' just to spend his entire morning with the man's little sister.

Thinking crude thoughts about her, doing things with and to her that Calum would completely flip over if he ever found out. Luke found himself to be the sleaziest guy he knew, making him cringe internally at the thought.

He had to stop. Take a deep breath; in, and out, in and out, and in again. Thankfully, Sophie hadn't noticed his short pause, and he could continue like normal.

She crawled carefully over to one of the photo piles, scooping a few up before resuming her seated position next to Luke again by plopping herself down onto the rug.