vanilla // lrh

twenty two

"I need to go home."

"For what?" Luke asked, right hand wrapped around the top of the steering wheel.

"I'm not dressed for something like this!" I explained, referring to the black jeans and white polo of my uniform.

"Don't worry about it," He said, cooly.

"I am worried about it."

"Eloise, god damn it. There's clothes in the back for you to change into, calm the fuck down."

I turned my head to the back seat of the sports car, on top of the shiny leather seats sat a plastic bag.

"Are we going straight to her?" I asked, grabbing the bag and sitting it in my lap.

I untied the bag and pulled out a floral off the shoulder top.

"This is mine."

"Yes, we're nearly there. And your neighbor is one of my best friends it wasn't too hard to get my hands on." He answered, and I could tell he was beginning to get annoyed with me.

I began to unbutton my polo, glancing up at Luke in between each button.

A pair of expensive sunglasses framed his face, a few curls falling in between. His lips were pressed together but so gently that they still looked plump, and the afternoon sun radiated his skin.

"Don't look." I ordered, pulling at the hem of my shirt, and over my head.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before." He muttered, as I slid the floral top down my torso.

"That was a one time thing." I said, rolling my eyes, as I saw a sly grin spread across his lips.

"Actually it was twice," He corrected smugly.

"There won't be a third." I said, uncomfortably, remembering when Luke caught me reading a note he had wrote, exposed in just my undergarments.

"We have unfinished business." He said, switching the hand that gripped the wheel from right to left, as his left arm fell to the arm rest in between us.

What did he mean by that?

Mia interrupting our drunken hookup?

I was unsure how I felt about nearly hooking up with Luke. There was no denying I imagined it happening dozens of times in my head, but that was before he was Luke, when he was just the dickhead that turned me down at a party.

"Ellie, my god. I'm talking about our actual business. You are a little pervert."

Thank God.

He was surprisingly not making the situation awkward at all, it felt almost like it didn't even happen.

"I'm supposed to fight Al on Wednesday," He said.

"I'm not sure your whole deal with him or whatever, but I'm just letting you know."

"Do I have to be there?" I asked, thinking of the note that Alec left me, telling me to stop running. I was definitely not going to stop.

"Of course, you're my rep."

"I don't know if I can do that." I told him, uneasy.

I was giving my best attempt at avoiding Alec, being at his fight would be the exact opposite, I would practically be giving myself away to him.

"He scare you?" Luke asked, his voice was strong, demanding.

"Yeah," I mumbled under my breath, embarrassed to admit my fear.

"He's there to fight me, El, not you."

"I've never fought him before, he isn't in my class. But for some reason he requested me."

I knew exactly why Alec would request to fight Luke, he wanted to hurt him.

"Please be careful."

Luke turned his head toward me, smiling softly.

"Ellie, no one is going to hurt me."

He sounded so sure of himself, I loved it. I could only wish to possess the kind of confidence Luke had.

The midday sun was beginning to fade into the dark clouds that swarmed it.

Luke pulled into a parking lot of a tall, white building, rows of cars scattered for miles. The now clouded weather seemed fitting, as I noticed the large red cross painted on white tile.

As soon as the car was parked, Luke quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, and moved his sunglasses from their hovering position over his eyes, to his forehead, acting as a headband for his curls.

"C'mon, we don't have much time."

I blinked rapidly, realizing I had been staring at Luke, and got out of the car.

"Is that car really yours?" I asked, trying to avoid the thought that we were visiting his mom at the hospital.

"No, I stole it." He answered automatically, paused, then shot a laugh as loud as the thunder that was soon to strike.

"You're so gullible. Yes it's my car!"

"It's really nice," I commented. "Looks really expensive."

"It pays to be good, sweetie." Luke smiled, spinning his keys around his long index finger.

We walked through two sets of automatic doors, to find a hefty woman in scrubs sitting professionally behind the front desk.

"Luke, honey! Go right on up, i'm sure she's been waiting for you," The lady said kindly, her words warm and inviting.

I felt Luke's hand find it's way into mine, grabbing me firmly, but softly all at once.

"Eloise you are one slow walker." He whispered, shaking his head.

"Not everyone can be seven feet tall," I rebutted, glancing at his legs.

If you had only seen Luke from his bottom half, you'd think he was skin and bones all around. But contrary to his waist down, Luke's upper body resembled that of exactly what he was, a fighter.

We approached an elevator, Luke pressing the 'up' button.

The falling of the machine sounded faintly, as the door opened and a mother, wheeling a young girl with only one strang of hair, out of the elevator.

"That's Gretchen, and her mom Sally," Luke said, entering the elevator, not breaking contact with my palm.

"She's going to die." He finished, morbidly.

"That isn't very optimistic." I commented, feeling my heart break a little for the girl and her mother. No one deserves to go through so much pain.

"It's just the truth," He said, plainly. "She's an amazing singer."

The elevator began to work its way upward, causing a sinking feeling in my stomach. I always hated that feeling.

"You know her?"

"Pretty well, actually," Luke responded, and I looked up at him, his bottom lip between his teeth. He had a different look in his eye.

The machine door opened, and in front of me read a sign, bright red, with an arrow pointing to the left and right.

I heard Luke cough in attempt to clear his throat from beside me, as he squeezed my hand.

"To the left." He said, his voice small.

Beside the left arrow wrote the words 'Burn Victims Unit'.

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GUYS
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