Lucas ✔️

Fifteen

I couldn't feel the chill in the night air. My body was on fire, burning with a weird mix of desire and nerves. We crossed the road in silence and I dared a glance next to me at Lucas as he rolled a ghoul around in his hand. His lit cigarette dangled from his mouth gently and he looked at me, catching my gaze. Heat flushed up my neck and I looked away quickly, focussing on the dark street ahead.

"Why are you nervous?" He asked quietly, leaning close to my ear, his warm breath fanning across my cold skin. A shiver ran down my spine and I took a step away, even though I desperately wanted to take a step closer. He sent me an evil grin which made my heart skip a nervously.

"I'm not, haha," I laughed awkwardly, wishing I could disappear from embarrassment.

"Your heartbeat says otherwise," he said, sending me a narrowed gaze. His eyes were dark, almost pitch black, but then they suddenly lightened as he looked away. 

"My heartbeat? What, do you have super-hearing?" I scoffed, kicking a pebble on the ground and wishing I had bought more chocolate bars at the deli. He said nothing in reply, but he stopped and grabbed my hand, causing me to stop and turn to face him. 

His skin was smooth, yet oddly hard, and his skin felt neither warm nor cold, it was simply there. I wanted to continue touching his hand - the smooth and pale skin of his long fingers felt like soft feathers - but the lack of warmth felt unnatural and weird, so I quickly pulled my hand away. Lucas let out a quiet sigh and grabbed it again gently, lifting it up and opening my palm. I cringed internally at the weird feeling of his hand but let him keep it. He placed a ghoul in my palm slowly and I resisted the urge to throw it away.

"Why are you nervous?" He asked again, his eyes boring into mine as they darkened in colour.

I looked away and shrugged as he gently closed my fingers around the ghoul. I watched in fascination as the ghoul settled and eventually stilled, as though it were content to sit in my palm. Lucas let go of my hand and continued walking, leaving me awkwardly standing there with the ghoul resting in my palm. I moved my arm to let the ghoul go but paused, watching as it rolled around in my palm softly. Shaking my head, I jogged slightly to catch up with Lucas, shrugging at him as he raised an eyebrow at the ghoul still resting in my hand. 

"I don't know you," I said quietly, looking at the ground. 

"This is true." 

Lucas nodded his head softly, causing the hair hanging from his bun to sway. He really did have the longest hair I had ever seen on a man. Who knew I would ever be jealous of a man's hair? Although his hair was shiny the streetlights didn't reflect from it, almost like it sucked up the light into its blackness.

"People say you're bad news," I whispered, feeling like an idiot for even saying it. 

My hair fell across my face and I glanced up at him between the strands, eying him as he looked up at the night sky. He took a slow drag of his cigarette and let the smoke blow out before he nodded slowly and looked at me, meeting my eyes behind the curtain of my hair.

"This is also true." 

The ghoul in my hand stirred so I opened my palm, using the opportunity to try and gather my thoughts as the ghoul headed back to Lucas. I curled my fingers in slowly, not daring to look at him. He just admitted he was bad news, someone I shouldn't associate with, yet I didn't seem to care. An image of Dad popped up in my mind and I could imagine him telling me to go home, stay in school, study, and avoid boys. 

You should have been here, Dad.

"You don't seem to care, though," Lucas said softly, his eyes meeting mine briefly before he looked back at the night sky. "I wonder why that is." I couldn't place the tone of his voice - was it sarcastic? Angry? Curious? - but it caused the hairs on the nape of my neck to rise.