Tattler || 5sos

Eight

~Luke~

            The holding cell is a relief to be taken back to after the interrogation. I guess I'm a pretty good liar, which I'm not so sure is a good thing, but lying about something as huge as this makes my stomach crawl. When the officer leaves, I summon up my courage to walk over to Britt. She sees me coming, of course, and gives me such a cruel look that I contemplate giving up for a moment.

            "Britt," I say, my voice strained. "Can you just talk to me before you go into the interrogation?"

            She didn't answer, just kept giving me that cruel glare. I felt a stab in my chest. "Listen-"

            "Do you even realize the hell I went through?" she interrupts. I'm so shocked by her speaking to me that my mouth stays open, barely forming my next words. "First my boyfriend cheats on me, then this happens," she gestures at the others sitting in the cell. "Then my dad passes away not two weeks later."

            I look down uncomfortably. I know what she's going to say.

            "In my mind, it was a domino effect, Luke. You break my heart and then my life literally breaks apart in less than a month."

            "Britt!" I say, frustrated. "I swear that I didn't mean to hurt you!"

            "But you did, Luke! I walked out of that restaurant and saw you kissing her! For just one second can you stop trying to get out of it and own up to it?"

            She sounded exhausted, like this had been weighing her down for years. It had been weighing me down. Yes, I'd tried being in other relationships after Britt. Some of the girls I couldn't even remember their names. They all ended up annoying me. None of them made me feel the way I felt when I had been with Britt.

            "I'm sorry," I sigh, wishing for the millionth time that that night hadn't happened. "But can you please let me get through my side of the story without yelling at me? For once?"

            Britt doesn't say yes… but she doesn't say no either, so I continue.

            "Contrary to what you think, I really was going out to start up the car. You know it had been acting up all that summer. I walk out of Chipotle and see Ivy leaning against a telephone pole. I had never spoken to her before, and I wasn't going to then- we all knew her reputation. But I already had my keys in my hand, and when I walked past her she snatched them out of my hand," I stared into her eyes intently, trying to make her understand. "I went to grab my keys back, but she grabbed my wrist and that's when she kissed me."

            The anger has almost completely drained out of Britt's eyes now.

            "That's when you must have walked outside," I say, almost giddy with relief. I finally got the truth out. "You never let me finish. I love you, Britt, why would I have left?"

            "Love?" she says, not as much as a question as it was repeating my own words. I had said 'I love you' instead of 'I loved you'. Shit.

            We both recover from the awkward moment quickly, and Britt crosses her arms carefully. "How can I believe you?"

            There's suddenly a chipped-nailed hand on my shoulder. "You can believe him, darling," Ivy says lightly, like she's telling someone a secret. "Luke here almost never lies."

            Britt looks away from her almost immediately. I shake her hand off. "Haven't you caused enough trouble," my voice is full of poison, and Ivy only smiles at me before slinking off again. I look back at Britt, biting my lip. "Can you forgive me?"

            She looks at me for a long time, then shakes her head slowly. "Luke, I want to, I really do. It's just, when I look at you, all I see is the pain I went through. I don’t want to go through any more."

            I grab her hand instinctively. "Can you try? I can take you for coffee or something once we get out of here. Give me another chance."

            She looks down at my hand holding hers and takes a deep breath. My heart swells.

            "I'll think about it, okay?" she says and walks away, sitting down next to Michael on the bench.

            "Okay," I breathe to myself, a smile flicking across my face.

- - -

luke's first chapter!! (and possibly his last it was hard to write for some reason)

but i love luke hes such a little penguin i cant

in other news, THEY DID SO GOOD ON THE TODAY SHOW I WANNA CRY

:))