In Too Deep//l.h

Five

 

A few days had passed since the party, school was starting again soon. Every time I thought about it, a tight, heavy feeling clutched onto my chest. I despised that place. Lessons were okay, bearable even, the learning wasn’t the problem. The danger lied within the groups of hormonal, self-indulged, middle-class brats that I had to spend over 6 hours of my day with, and the problems they had with me. That was one of the things that forced me on that walk. The walk that led me to that sleazy, scumbag infused street that held home to the most disgusting kebab shop on time. The kebab shop that I met Luke. I put the thought of school and the anxieties that came with it in the back of my mind, why should that matter? I had just under a week left to enjoy.

My parents were both at work again, apparently their overtime pay meant more to them than seeing their daughter- that figured. I loved them both, but a lot of the time, I just wished they would acknowledge my existence- highly unlikely. As my mind rested on that thought I grabbed my phone and jacket and headed away from the house, towards town- I had no reason to stay in, right?

I put my headphones in and let the world escape me, the soft vocals of Alex Turner filled my ears as he groaned his way through No. 1 Party Anthem. I liked my own company, it soothed me. Lauren was out with Ashton again, to whom she had grown increasingly close to apparently, and none of my other friends wanted to know me recently, so it technically wasn’t through choice; but I made them most of it all the same.

I kept my phone on shuffle as I sat down in a busy starbucks in the town centre, I felt like a typical white girl but starbucks was probably the highlight of the crappy town I had adopted as my home. My earphones started to blare of the opening guitars of an old pop punk song from my childhood that I didn’t care enough to recall the name of when a dark figure sat down on the seat opposite me. I didn’t even need to look up.

“Are you making a habit of stalking me?” I muttered as I looked up to be met with his slightly bloodshot blue eyes staring straight at me.

“Well excuse you! I thought I was supposed to be the dick in whatever this is!” His voice adopted a mock offence.

I poked my tongue out at him back. I was tempted to flip him off, but the middle of starbucks somehow didn’t seem like an appropriate place.

“I was in the area and saw you looking like the damsel in distress that you are and thought I’d cheer you up”

That time I did flip him off. Damsel in distress? What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway?

“Well, Dr Hemmings, what do you suggest?”

“Let me take you out”

“Out?”

“Well, nowhere nice, somewhere shitty, so you can fully appreciate my amazing personality and dashing looks”

I just looked at him, raised my eyebrows and sighed. He took it as I hoped, an agreement. Although I didn’t want to admit it, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my afternoon.

 

The backs of our hands kept brushing against each other as we walked towards the old bridge on the outside of town. Every time our pale skin collided, even for the tiniest second, sparks flew through my body, thoughts of him raced through my mind and my brain released various joy inducing hormones and chemicals into my body. I knew the bridge he was taking me to well, I’d spent hours of my life there in the past. It sounded dodgy, and in honesty, it wasn’t the most classy of places; but not many people knew about it, it was kind of a safehaven for me when I wanted to be alone. What confused me was how Luke knew it, every time I’d been there it had been deserted, and it didn’t seem like his sort of place. Although every time I’d met him he’d been alone, he’d always struck me as one of the “cool” or “popular” boys who would usually despise the social misfits that hung around there.