cigarettes & coffee / l.h.

three

- violet -

"This is beautiful." Luke breathed from beside me, his blue eyes sparkling as he stared at the scene in front of him.

I wasn't entirely sure why I was bringing Luke here. I hadn't ever brought anyone else here, not for any particular reason, just because I didn't really want to. And I had no idea why, but I really felt like showing Luke.

I finally nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's like my favourite place to come when everything sucks." I let out a quiet laugh as I moved my eyes from Luke to the clearing.

Luke and I had walked for a couple of minutes through some trees to get here, and it really was beautiful. The moonlight shone onto the grass, illuminating everything in the area. I walked into the middle of the clearing and took a seat on the dewy grass.

"Join me!" I yelled to Luke as I lay down. I heard him come closer and finally lay down next to me, his body brushing against mine as he did so. We silently stared up at the stars for a few minutes, before Luke spoke.

"How did you find this place?" He whispered, as if talking loudly would ruin the moment.

"I had just been suspended from school for the first time for smoking on the grounds, and my parents were so mad. They grounded me for like three months. So I was pissed off and I went for a walk, that's when I found this place." I sighed, rolling my eyes at myself. I was about 15 when this happened and only now did I understand why my parents were mad about me smoking at school. It was kind of stupid. 

Luke laughed. "That happened to me in Sydney. But I just stayed in my room and listened to music instead of finding a secret getaway."

"Did you have anything like this in Australia at all?" I asked, genuinely interested.

"Yeah...It was my girlfriend's house - my ex-girlfriend's house." Luke sighed. Both of us had started facing each other at some point, but now Luke was turning his attention back to the sky.

"Oh?" I tried not to sound too nosey, that's what made us fight earlier, but I wanted to know more about Luke and why he came to New York. I had a feeling that it had something to do with his ex-girlfriend.

"I used to go to her house when I just felt sad. Her parents were hardly ever around, which bothered her, but it was great for me." His voice sounded strained, like it was the hardest thing for him to talk about. Maybe it was.

Suddenly I felt really sorry for Luke. I realised that I didn't actually know much about him at all, aside from what kind of music he listened to and the fact that he liked cigarettes. I took a deep breath and covered his hand with mine.

"Luke, you're a really good guy. And if you ever just feel sad, you're welcome to come to this clearing. And you're always welcome to come see me." I spoke softly. I watched the corners of Luke's mouth turn up slightly, causing me to smile too.

"You know what, Violet?" I raised my eyebrows, silently willing him to go on. "You're pretty great."

Luke and I spoke for hours, once again. We watched the sunrise; we had a perfect view in the clearing. After that, we went and got coffee.

We walked out of the empty café, brown takeaway coffee cups in our hands. I had told Luke that earlier that I needed gum, so we were on our way to the dairy across the road.

"It's almost 7, my parents are going to be pissed." I sighed, rubbing in between my eyes. I was tired and stressed, maybe I would just skip school. I knew it was only the third day of the year, but I really could not be bothered with school today.