Sunshine || l.h. {complete}

Three

(a/n): sO SO SO okay so here's chapter 3 and i'm sorry for being a bumhead and not posting but a lot has been going on lately so whoop it's up now :) not sure if anyone is reading anyways lol so i hope you enjoy this chapter xx

4:57 p.m.

Thursday, October 26th, 2014

She doesn't say good bye.

She doesn't even say bye.

She doesn't even want to look him in the eyes.

Belle hates the fact that Wesley thought he could just reach under the table with his long arms and grab her thigh and squeeze. She hates the fact that he thinks he's so smooth, so slick, that he can just touch her whenever. She knows it isn't right, she knows it isn't fair, but that doesn't change his attitude.

She slams the car door and drives off, not even bothering to buckle up her seatbelt in the process. The entire drive home her knuckles are white and her mouth is bubbling with insulting words she wishes she had the gall to fire at Mr. Hot Stuff himself.

The sun is just beginning to set in the sky, a painted swirling mess of reds and pinks and blues scattered in the air. If she weren't going to have to stop in a mere ten feet, Belle would've missed the dark figure ducking into the woods thanks to the beauty that's been captured by the evening skyline. She cranes her neck as her car rolls to a stop at the four-way, trying harder to make sure that the person she sees is who she really is seeing.

Luke Hemmings.

"No one goes out here," she mumbles to herself as she turns on her blinker and pulls into the parking lot of the old beat up gas station that stopped selling gas a long while ago. "What's he doing out here?" As she steps out of her car and locks it with a click, she forces herself to push her feet forward.

With a deep breath, Belle walks past the side of the building near the trees and just as she's about to go in, she begins mumbling to herself. "Okay, Belle," she whispers, "you're about to follow a maybe-murdered into the woods to see what he's up to. This is probably a really bad idea but..." The curiosity outweighs the fear that's pent up in her chest and she finds herself stepping over the vines that overrun the floor of the woods. She gulps and pulls her jacket further around her arms, trying to rid the creepy feeling from the back of her neck with a slight rub of her fingers to the prickled skin.

The opening where Luke ducked into isn't very large, just barely big enough for his broad shoulders to slip through. She swallows hard, pushing the growing lump down into her chest and trying to forget the conversation she and Wesley had about Luke as well. The sun is long gone from the sky, a residue of faded shades of gray and blue painted haphazardly with sparkles of constellations dotting the night air.

Belle pulls back the few branches barring her from inside whatever other world Luke has ducked into and then she crouches and walks in, her breathing fighting to be labored. As she continues walking through the small tunnel created by the trees and moss hanging from them, she holds her arm in front of her face to keep spider webs and other debris out of her eyes. The light of the moon is just barely visible in streamers that look as if they're hanging from the limbs of the slowly decaying trees that are surrounding the trail that continues on for a couple more feet. Belle slows down her footsteps on the soggy ground, trying to keep quiet as she hears drunken voices hollering.

"Luke!" A loud voice calls and Belle presses herself against a tree trunk, hoping that the darkness will shroud her and keep her from being spotted. "You got any money? I need a beer."

She hears the dark chuckle and suddenly a sharp breath fills her lungs and goosebumps splatter across her forearms as she squeezes her eyes shut. "I wouldn't have you fifty cents even if I liked ya." Luke's voice is close but far enough away that she doesn't really have to fret about being seen, but it doesn't dull the erratic beating of her heart caged inside her ribs.