you'll never fade to me. - a Luke Hemmings story

8.

I stared down at the phone upon hearing Luke's voice. It was an unsaved number; I thought it had been Bev calling but it looks like Luke called me from his phone.

'Luke? Why are you calling?', I asked, while getting into my car and starting the engine.

'Bev said you weren't answering her so she asked me to call instead, why did you storm out of the house like that earlier?', his voice sounded concerned but it must have just been the nerves from probably hearing Bev shout for hours.

'Why do you care?', I asked, not knowing whether I wanted the honest answer.

'Bev was asking for you, she went to the flower store and apparently they thought we had ordered roses instead, it was a whole big mess. Either way, we gotta go now to fix it.'

'How's that my problem?', I asked, not caring if I sounded rude at this point. Why did Bev have to treat Luke and I like her personal slaves? I get that it was a big day for her but I think even my parents were getting annoyed at this point.

'By 'we', I meant you and I. She said she needs to take care of something else. Where are you? I'll come get you.', he said and my heart stopped for a second. Just when I had thought I could ignore him, now Bev sent me on a mission to spend the whole day with him.

'I'm on the way to the house in the car. What do we have to do?', I asked.

'Bev saw my suit and she kinda hates it so I have to return it and get a new one.' My eyes widened at that, why was Bev being such a bitch recently? Shouldn't he be able to pick out his own suit?

'Why can't you just go alone then? I won't be much help', before Luke could answer, I pulled up at the house and saw him sitting on the steps of our front porch, holding the phone in his hand. He gave me a bright smile when he saw me and ended the call, getting into the car.

'Anyways, Bev said you have good taste but I think it's just because she doesn't want me to pick out a shitty one like last time.', Luke said. I sighed; I'd have to take him to the shop that sold designer suits all the way across town. It seemed like every time I wanted to avoid him, we ended up being alone as if life was joking around with me.

'Fine.'

I didn't talk most of the way to the shop and Luke seemed to pick up on it. His eyebrows furrowed in a way that I refused to say was attractive and he moved in his seat, facing me more obviously.

'Do you not like me or something?', he asked and I almost swerved the car. It's like this guy knows exactly what to say to make me nervous.

'No, why would you think that?' I asked, deciding to play it off like I didn't realize how rude I had been acting towards him recently. I focused on the road ahead and didn't even bother making eye contact with him, knowing that as soon as I looked at him I might actually tell him the truth about how much I've been thinking of him since he'd arrived and how much that bothered me. Clearly, he wasn't going to drop it.

'I'm not stupid, Val. I can see you've been trying to avoid me recently and if I've done anything to annoy me I'd like to know.', he sounded irritated, which annoyed me even more. Why would he be angry at me? He barely knew me and it's not like he's put in that much effort into talking to me either.

'You haven't done anything, I just don't sleep well so I'm always tired and cranky. Sorry, now please drop it.', I said, hoping he would but when he turned back to face the window, I couldn't help being a bit disappointed. Luckily, we had arrived at the store so I didn't need to feel bad for too long. We both got out of the car and walked towards it, Luke opening the door for me. I brushed off the gentleman-ly gesture like it wouldn't make me smile if I was in a better mood.

However, it seemed that life had even more shit to give me today. Not only did I have to wait for Luke to pick out 4 different suits to try on, but he also made me talk to the owner because he felt too awkward to ask about the materials.

'Are you 5 years old? You ask him!', I exclaimed, laughing.

'No! It's too embarrassing. You're here for moral support so support me, Val!', he shouted in a whisper. Secretly, I found his shyness cute; here was a hunky 6'4 guy who couldn't even talk to someone because he felt anxious. I rolled my eyes playfully and went up to the owner who told me 2 were made of 100% cotton while the others were half polyester.

I ushered Luke to the changing rooms quickly before he could change his mind, handing him the navy suit with a slim cut first. Shortly after, he walked out with it on and it hung like a bag on him, which led to me having a laughing fit in the middle of the store. He pouted his lips slightly and went back in to take it, calling out to me to bring in the black suit next with a matching black dress shirt. I went up to the fitting room and before I could call out to him, he had already shoved the curtain to the side, revealing his naked shoulders. My eyes travelled involuntarily down his chest, stopping slightly at his protruding collarbones; his skin looked soft and I wanted to reach out to touch it but I felt a pang of guilt as I remembered I'm supposed to be helping pick out a suit for his wedding. I cleared my throat awkwardly and he laughed lightly as I handed him the suit. Our hands touched momentarily and his smile disappeared. As I looked up, his blue eyes seemed darker than usual and he quickly shut the curtain, leaving me shaking my head in shame at myself. Pull yourself together, Val!

I sat at a seat near the end of the fitting rooms and watched him come out minutes later. The black suit hung at this body perfectly, making him look elegant. My eyes followed his body, stopping at the silly Spiderman socks he was wearing.

'I think you should definitely wear these on the day', I laughed and he rolled his eyes at me but his smile told me he wasn't annoyed.

'I'm just joking, you look amazing', I said before I could stop myself. Did I really just say that? Luke looked confused for a second before giving me a warm smile, his cheeks flushing. Trying to change the topic from the stupid shit I had just said, I decided to make fun of him.

'Are you blushing? Awwww', I said, dragging it out and laughing.

'I'm not, shut up. I just rarely get complimented.', he said.

'You rarely get complimented? Are you high?' I said. Why can't I stop this stupid shit from leaving my mouth every 5 seconds? Luke's face turned into a frown and he asked,

'What do you mean?' I didn't know what to say, should I just tell him the truth? It's just a harmless compliment, I compliment people all the time.

'You're not exactly ugly so I'd expect many people to find you attractive, let alone girls.' He pursed his lips slightly but his eyes got brighter, I could tell it meant a lot to him.

'Do you?'

'Do I what?'

'Find me attractive?', he asked and the air left my lungs. I didn't want to talk about this because wasn't it inappropriate? And why did he care about what I thought?

'It doesn't matter what I think. But I'm sure Bev would love that suit.' I said trying to change the subject. He noticed but dropped it and if I hadn't known any better I'd have thought it was dissapointment I saw in his eyes.

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Next chapter is up! Hope you guys liked it! x