cinnamon ♡ lh [discontinued]

12: the paper towns

pretty please read the note at the bottom of this chapter :)

12: the paper towns

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"What do you mean you 'hired a detective'?" I ask him wide-eyed while he calmly chews on the bacon I've made him for breakfast. "Luke, it's literally called stalking."

Luke keeps chewing for a while and ignores my question, staring at the TV with a tired expression. We barely got any sleep last night because I invited him over for a movie marathon to chill a bit from the tasks we're forced to do.

"Luke, talk to me."

"Yes, I hired a detective to find John Green and send me his current location so that we can go and meet him," he says, turning his head to me and blinking a couple of times. "Why?"

I sigh and shake my head. Some things about Luke Hemmings shouldn't surprise me by now.

"Yeah, you're right," I say while taking away his empty plate and taking it to the kitchen. "Have you heard from him yet, though?"

Luke stands up and follows me into the kitchen, resting his hip on the kitchen counter and crossing his arms. I take an apple from the fruit basket and start peeling it.

"He's now in the area of New York but not in the city. The detective's heard that John is going to attend a book signing of Rainbow Rowell in NYC so we could try and catch him there," he speaks and I can't help the small giggle that escapes my lips.

Luke furrows his eyebrows at me and takes the apple from my hands to peel it himself.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You sound like a serial killer," I smile at him. "Please try not to kill John Green while we're there."

Luke's face brightens visibly and it takes all my strong will not to hug the shit out of him right here and right now.

"So you really want to go?" he asks with disbelief. "I thought you would just laugh it off and say that she probably didn't mean this task seriously," he admits, handing me the apple.

I kiss his cheek in a silent 'thanks' and bite into it.

"I mean, why not? What else do we have to do? Some more pointless things that we have on the list. This might turn into an adventure if we want it to," I smirk at him and wrap my arm around his torso. "But before we start planning, you really should shower, Luke. You stink really badly and I won't kiss you today if you don't get into the shower within the next minute."

He looks at me for a second then smirks maliciously, and before I know it, he pecks my lips twice.

"Too late, Moongirl. Good thing you're not a woman of your word," he laughs but pushes himself off the counter and heads towards the bathroom obediently.

The goofy smile on my lips seems almost impossible to fight.

♡♡♡

Before I know it, I'm holding Luke's hand in the queue to the airport's check-ins with Georgia and Tristan following directly behind us and Nia with Peter and Hugh somewhere in the airport stores to get snacks for the flight.

Luke wasn't, at first, a fan of my idea to bring our friends with us but after I promised him to get us a separate hotel room so that we can hide from them from time to time, he agreed reluctantly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I hear from behind me so I turn to see Georgia's worried face, eyeing her boyfriend with furrowed eyebrows.

Tristan has her flower backpack on his shoulders and his sports travel bag in his left hand, texting someone and not paying attention to the queue and my sister. Georgia shakes his shoulder gently and he lifts his confused gaze to meet hers.