tiptoes • luke

5%

she's freaking out. they're squatting in the corner of the main floor and she can see beam of a flashlight coming towards their hiding place. 

without thinking, she reaches out and grabs hold of luke's hand, squeezing it tightly. he sends her a reassuring smile, standing up and pulling her with him. 

they narrowly miss getting the light shone on them, and luke knows this kind of fear isn't the good kind because it's not just him on the line here; it's her too. he quickens his pace before stopping abruptly and pressing his back against the wall. 

they stand like that for a second, breathing heavily, before luke begins walking on his tiptoes towards the back exit. 

"why are you walking like that?" she asks, laughing a little bit despite the situation because he really does look ridiculous, with being 6 foot 4 and walking like a child who's about to go get an extra cookie or something. 

he sends her a sharp look, "do you really want to get caught?"

she shakes her head. getting caught would be the end for her. her father would get very mad if she were to get arrested, and let's just say he wasn't exactly pleasant when he was angry. 

they make it outside, but just barely. and then they're running so fast that all the trees go by in a blur and the only clear thing is their side profiles and she looks so beautiful with the pale glow of the streetlights hitting the concaves of her cheekbones. 

"i kept my end of the deal. pay up," he whispers with a smirk when they've finally skidded to a halt, sitting on the curb about three blocks from the school. it's almost morning time now, but neither of them have made an attempt to get up and leave. they've just been sitting there, talking about nothing important because if they wanted to do that they wouldn't even have gone to the school in the first place.

"it's marissa," she says softly. 

"that's a nice name. i'm luke."

and everything seems almost okay when they're lying on the sidewalk together at 5:38 a.m., even though marissa pretty much hates luke and he pretty much is infatuated with her. it's like the adrenaline of the chase has fueled two completely different people. 

the asphalt is sort of digging into their backs and luke is almost sure he's scraped 90% of his body and they both have to go to school in like thirty minutes and they haven't slept or showered, but fuck it, they're young and invincible and it can only get better from here. 

right?