FINALLY I can put chapter 5 up! I was having some issues earlier! Sorry about that!
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Luke sure liked to play games. I had been waiting right where he told me to meet him for fifteen minutes, my thumb hovering over his contact in my phone, debating whether or not I should text him to see what was up. That was probably exactly what he wanted. Forget he’s a prick, I reminded myself. Holding up my end of our bargain was proving to be very difficult, especially considering the fact that he was now keeping me waiting for a date I was meant to enjoy. Great start, Hemmings, great start. I glanced around as students milled about, trying to pick him out from the crowd, to no avail. I shook my head, feeling strangely disappointed, and picked up my bag, turning on my heel to go.
“Penny!” I heard the all-too-familiar voice behind me and turned on my heel to see Luke walking toward me. He’s not a prick, I made myself believe as I smiled widely.
“Hi!” I greeted him, scrunching up my shoulders and letting them fall again. “Did you come out of the library?” I asked, craning my neck towards the Homer DuBois building as we started walking.
Luke fell into step beside me. “Yeah, sorry I was late, I was tutoring.”
“You do not tutor,” I replied snidely before remembering to play nice. “I mean, you tutor?”
“I tutor,” Luke said proudly. “Mostly freshmen, some pledges, you know. They’ve never had college finals before.” We both laughed and Luke stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You look very nice,” he said simply.
I smoothed out my sheer dress and picked a piece of fuzz from the thick belt I’d added for flair. “Thanks…you look good too,” I granted him. For once, he wasn’t broadcasting his fraternity; instead, he wore a pair of light blue shorts and a navy polo, the collar folded down, thank goodness.
“Why, thank you! Sorry again, about making you wait. I was going to text you, but…” he trailed off with a smirk and I laughed, nodding my head.
“I told you not to,” I finished, putting on my sunglasses. For a setting sun, it was incredibly bright, and we had to walk right into it to get to the bus stop. “Touché. So, where are we going?”
Luke smiled. “That, Penny Lane, is a surprise.”
“You know my last name is Taylor, right?”
“I know. But that’s no fun.” I cocked an eyebrow but said nothing as Luke hopped up onto the curb and started walking on it as if it were a tightrope. “We have to catch the red line, that’ll drop us off right outside the res—where we’re going,” Luke informed me.
“I’ll follow your lead,” I said, laughing as he struggled to maintain his balance. “You look like you’re taking a sobriety test,” I giggled as he fell.
“Ha, ha,” Luke said, his hands in his pockets again. We got to the bus stop just as the bus pulled up and piled on with about ten other students going out on the town, joining about thirty others already on the bus. Luke let me go first and we squeezed onto the almost full vehicle. “Here,” Luke said, pointing to the last empty seat. His chivalry surprised me and I sat down, slinging my shoulder bag across my chest before looking up and jumping at the sight of Luke bending over me, his face a foot and a half away as he held onto the overhead bar and stooped to eye level, no doubt giving whoever was sitting in the seat on the other side of the aisle a face full of ass. “You’re going to like this place.”
“You think so?”
“I hope so! Otherwise that would make for a pretty shit date,” Luke laughed, swaying with the motions of the bus. “I go there all the time, I know the manager and everything, it’s really cool. You’ve probably even heard of it.” I hoped for his sake that he was right; he looked like a little boy about to show me his favorite Hot Wheels car, and it was actually kind of cute.
