Runaway. || Luke Hemmings

Chapter 10

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"You know what?" Luke said. He was lying across from me on the beige carpet of his bedroom floor a week after the incident outside the bar, his hand holding up his head as he looked at me with cute eyes and a little smile. I shifted positions and rested my head in my hand too, facing Luke as I bit my lip softly. "Yeah?"

His eyes half closed and for a split second, he glanced at my lips, then back up at me. "I'm going to call you Bella from now on. I think it suits you more."

I raised my eyebrows and laughed softly. "Okay, whatever you want," I tried to hide a smile. I never really thought about it, but I liked it more now that Luke said he was going to call me it.

"Wanna know why?"

I shrugged. "Uhm, well if you wanna tell me, then yeah, okay."

He laughed a little and dropped his head, which made me frown a little. What was he laughing at? "Well." He began. "Did I tell you that I speak a little Italian?"

I shook my head slowly,  smiling. "Never. Tell me what it means." I was anxious to know his reason for calling me Bella, although I already knew what it meant in Italian. And I was really impressed that he spoke it, too.

"Bella means beautiful in Italian!" he grinned, propping himself up on his elbow. I laughed softly.

"Then that name is not relevant. "

"Of course it is, hasn't anybody ever told you how beautiful you are?"

I shrugged, looking down. "I, I don't think so, I mean apart from you the other day."

He looked shocked. "Are you serious?" he asked, almost laughing. "So you're telling me that no guy has ever tried to get with you before? Jesus."

My cheeks flushed red, and I could feel them burning as I laid a hand on my face. "Ehm, I dont think so."

"So, nobody has ever tried touching like, your.. boobs before?"

"Luke." I groaned. I didn't want him to know I had never been touched before. God, that'd be embarressing. He, of all people, couldn't know it. Nat and even Ashley didn't know I was a virgin either so I guess I'd just have to pretend I wasn't until the time came to face it.

"Wow." Luke's voice interrupted me, and my glance shot towards him. He ran a loose hand through his hair and smiled. "I can't believe that, Bella. I mean if I had the chance, I'd.." His voice faded and he shook his head. He'd what?

"So. " I sighed, trying to change the subject. "You uh, got a nice place here."

He nodded and looked towards the window. "I've got a treehouse out the backyard, wanna check it out?"

I smiled in reply. "My dad built it for me." he added.

"He sounded like a great man."

"Oh he was. See that tree out there?" He pointed out the window to a large oak tree, and I had to stand up to get a look at it. We stood side by side at the windowsill, my fingers resting on the wood as the breeze softly brushed against us. I squinted against the strong sunrays to where he was pointing. "I can't see. What is it?" I looked at him. "He drew this infinity sign onto the wood of the tree," he shrugged, then started to trace the figure 8 on the sill. "See. It's like the number eight. Like a never ending shape."

I nodded slowly, and attempted to draw it myself. He gently took my hand, slowly guiding my fingers in the direction of the curved lines. "Like this." He whispered, his voice slightly crackly.

I could feel that he was standing right over my shoulder. I could feel his chest just barely brushing off my back and his warm, minty breaths faintly hitting the back of my neck. I looked into the corner of my eye and tried to stop breathing so fast. My heart was pumping so rapidly I was afraid it'd jump out of my chest. He lightly took a piece of hair and pushed it behind my shoulder, now fully exposing my neck. I scanned the garden below as I felt his lips press to my hair. No, he wasn't kissing me. I didn't know if I should move, or say something,  but I was frozen. He had me hypnotised, his hands gently resting on my shoulder. I was under his spell. I was stuck, we were stuck in this moment for what felt like forever.

After a few moments, he slowly pulled away from me but kept his grip on my shoulders. "Come with me," He said finally, and when I turned around, his eyes were closed. "To where?" I moved slightly and Luke removed his hands, opening his eyes.

"Well, didn't you want to check out that treehouse out back?"

I shook my head and looked out the window. "Oh yeah. Let's go then. "

I followed Luke down the stairs in silence, out the back door and out into the sweltering hot sun. Every sunshot to my skin made me feel as if I was melting like a snowman, blending into the ground beneath me. I crossed my arms as Luke stopped walking and stood in front of me, holding out his hands. "Whaddya think?"

"Well, it must be pretty small because even I can't see it."

"It's up there, you dumbass." He pointed upwards and my eyes followed his hand all the way up to the treehouse sitting above me on a large tree trunk of a branch. "Wow." I said, walking closer and spacing my fingers just centimetres apart from each other, holding the little wooden house between my fingers. "Its no bigger than my fingers from down here," I smiled back to him. "Look."

"Wanna go up?"

"Yeah, why not?"

I walked over to the tree, where I spotted rectangular pieces of wood pinned onto the bark the whole way up. One side of the treehouse was painted blue, with a red cross in the corner and multiple white dots acting as stars. At a glance, I'd say there was about fifty. As I got closer, I noticed it was a flag. An Australian flag. I grabbed the first step and placed my foot on it, my hand on the second as I hoisted myself up. "How old is this?"

"I'd say, almost 15 years," he answered as I took a second step and looked up. "How many steps do you think are here?"

" 'Bout 8."

"That's a lot to climb, eh? " I grinned, taking another step up and looking down.

"Its okay once you get used to it, I guess."

I grinned and looked down at Luke. "I feel as if I'm going to fall," I laughed shakily, feeling Luke's hands wrap around my ankles. " Don't worry, " he smiled. "I got you."

Another step. "Are you afraid of heights? " I asked, smiling. I was still looking at him. "No, but if I keep looking up at you then I feel like i'll fall." he laughed. "I'm only afraid of one thing."

"Oh really?" I looked down. "Spiders?"

He shook his head no.

"Snakes?"

"Nope."

"Elephant-sized koala bears?"

"Bella," He laughed. "There is no elephant sized koala bears in America."

I rolled my eyes. "What then? I give up."

"Exactly."

"What?"

"I'm afraid of giving up."

"Oh." I replied. I didn't really know what he meant but I decided to stay quiet, it was better compared to having to listen to him explain it all for the next hour or two.

I reached the top of the steps, and with Luke's warm fingers still wrapped around my ankles, I carefully climbed through the push-through door and sat down onto the wooden floor, with Luke climbing in after me.