Again | Luke Hemmings

xiv

Thirty minutes.

I've been waiting for thirty minutes.

The sky is now dark, and here I am, playing with the ends of my dress.

It literally took me more than an hour to get ready because I was excited and in doubt at the same time.

"I don't think he's coming." I sighed, twisting a piece of my hair.

"Maybe he's just running a bit late." Bailey shrugged.

"A little too late." I scoffed.

"If he doesn't show up in twenty minutes, we'll just go out or something."

"Sounds like a plan." I half smiled.

Bailey and I talk some more and we finally heard a knock on the door.

"So late." I rolled my eyes and we both giggled.

We both stood up but Bailey stops me, "No, you stay here."

I sit back down and wait. My heart beating fast, my stomach twisting.

Footsteps could be heard from behind me and I hear a door slam.

I turn around on the couch and see Luke standing there with a bouquet of tulips. My favorite. Even after two years of no contact, he still remembered.

I blushed as he gave me the flowers, the thought of him being really late is thrown out the window.

This is so un-Luke like. At least that's what I heard over the year.

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized, scratching the back of his neck. He eyed me from head to toe and bit his lip after.

I'm starting to feel more self conscious than I already was.

I take a quick look at him; black shirt, black jeans and black shoes to complete his look.

"It's okay." I mumbled, fighting back a smile.

"Well, I'll just go in the room. You kids have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do." She warn. I actually forgot she was there.

"We aren't-" She cuts me off with a wink before going to my room. What a sudden change of mood, Bailey.

The sound of the door closing signaled that she was in my room.

"So . . . are you ready to go?" He smiled but it was a nervous one.

"Yeah, let me find a vase first." I hurried towards the kitchen to look for a vase or anything to place these.

"Okay." I hear him say from the living room.

-

Luke blindfolded me as soon as we got in his car. This wasn't exactly what I thought of we-need-to-talk kind of hangout but with Luke, he always had other plans.

It was then I realized that he took me to this little restaurant that I've never seen before after living on this side of Sydney for a year.

I recognized this place as the same Chinese restaurant back home but a different branch.

We scanned menus on the table and distracted ourselves. I take a quick peak at Luke and watch him try to pick. He looks up and I immediately look back at the menu in front of me.

I felt him looking at me but I don't bother to look up because my cheeks were flaming.

A quiet chuckle filled up the tiny space between us and I sighed. This is so weird. This is so not me.

"See anything you like?" He sets his menu down and rest his arms on the table.

I shrugged, I wasn't really paying attention to the menu the whole time. My mind was swarming with confusion and Luke.

"I'll just get what you're getting." I managed to say.

"O-okay."

He looks at his menu again, seeming as if he wasn't paying attention to it either. I can't help but smile at his face looking all flustered.

He called for the waiter and gives him our orders. Every time Luke speaks, he takes a quick glance at me then back to the waiter whose name was "Alan".

I felt my cheeks heat up so I distract myself by playing with the soy sauce in front of me.

Alan finally leaves and Luke coughs to get my attention. I stopped what I was doing and looked at him.

His blue eyes are bluer than before, his hair is much, much longer now and there were still a few pimples on his forehead.

"You look pretty." He says and I looked away, my stomach tied in knots.

I'm supposed to hate him.

"Don't look away, you should know the truth." I looked at him again and he has the biggest smile on his face.

"It's probably the make up." I forced a laugh but it ended up sounding like a sigh.

"You're pretty with or without it." He winked and that was enough to keep my cheeks looking like a tomato for the rest of the night.

"So, what are you gonna talk about?" I decided to change the topic since this it was definitely going somewhere.

His lips formed into a slight frown and he shifted on his seat.

"I don't know, really." He shrugged, his expression was blank.

"Oh."

The part of me that was in doubt is dancing, chanting that she was right.

"How's Chloe?" I forced myself not to cringe in front of him.

"I haven't seen her since . . ." He trailed off. He fixes the collar of his shirt and gulps.

Oh.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I say quietly. As selfish as this sounds, I was happy about this. She doesn't deserve someone like him.

No offense to Chloe.

"It's okay." He smiles but it looks forced.

"She probably meant a lot to you." He looked at me straight in the eye. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

"I only dated her to try to forget you." He mumbled but being this close to him, I heard it clearly.

He can't . . .

His eyes widened when he saw me grabbing my purse.

"I-I need to go, uh," I stuttered, leaving the booth.

"Joey," Luke followed, grabbing my wrist.

"Girls room." I forced a smile, pulling away from him.

The walk to the comfort room felt long but I needed to stall as much time as possible.

I needed to get out of here.

****

IT'S SHOW TIME YES FINALLY HAHAHA.

I'm sorry the first part of this chapter was boring. )-:

I promise this will get better (I hope)

SHOUTOUT TO ISABEL SINCE SHE TOLD ME SHE WAS READING THIS (unless you stopped lol)