Lost - LRH

Chapter 7

Luke and I walk to class as Calum's words linger in my mind. I stare up at Luke as we walk side by side down the empty hall.

Luke's hair is sloppily styled up, not like how it is usually but he still looks effortlessly good. I notice bags under his eyes, which are usually a nice bright blue but they seem to have dulled. He wears his blue flannel, which I assume is his favorite because he wears it every week.

Luke glances me but immediately looks away. Something is wrong. I stop in my steps and grab the sleeve of his flannel to stop him from going any further. "Luke, what's wrong?" the words feel dry as the come out of my throat.

Luke turns to me and smiles, "Nothing's wrong, why?" His smile is so genuine that I almost believe him but as I look at his flannel, the buttons are in the wrong holes. Luke is never like this, he is a perfectionist and he wouldn't look over something like this if nothing was wrong.

I point at his chest, where he missed the first button, resulting in the incorrect buttoning of his flannel. He looks, and chuckles as he puts a hand to his head, "Oh silly me, ha I was in a rush this morning." He begins to unbutton the flannel but his fingers fumble. I step closer as I move his hands aside, unbuttoning it for him. "It's fine to lie from time to time but at least make it believable", I sigh. He hums in response.

There is a silence as I fix his buttons, when I finish I step back and look at him. He is facing me but, his eyes do not peer into mine, instead he is looking behind me, his eyes fixated.

I slowly turn but his hands catch my shoulders, "Erm.. Let's get to class already its late." he looks at me but then takes a quick glance behind me once more before taking me under his shoulder and guiding me in the direction of our English class, away from whatever his eyes were fixated on.

As we walk away, I begin to hear footsteps echoing though the hallway, but they are not in the same rhythm as mine and luke, they are slower and more steady as compared to our light, quickened steps. As we walk away, the sound of footsteps begin to fade and the hallway is once again filled with the sound of only our footsteps.

As we turn a corner at the end of the hall, Luke's grip on me begins to loosen. "Luke..?" he stops as I stare up at him, "Are you okay?"

Luke looks down at me, "Yeah, I already told you, everything's fine." he smiles slightly.

"But what happened back there?" I point behind me.

"Nothing, nothing. Everything is alright." he pauses as he checks his phone, "It's already halfway through English, do you still wanna go?"

I shake my head, quite frankly, I want answers.

"Yeah.. I don't want to go to class either." he rubs the back of his neck, "Wanna ditch and go to the cafe? I mean, we don't have to."

I nod, I've never really ditched before but having a warm drink does sound good plus, if I push hard enough, Luke may tell me whats up.

Luke grabs my wrist as we head out the door and head to the cafe.

-

Ding. The warmth and smell of coffee hits us as we walk into the empty cafe.

Ashton stands at the counter, behind the cash register as he counts the money. He looks up and smiles at the sight of us, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

Luke lets go of my wrist as he walks over to the counter and sits on a high chair. I follow, sitting next to him.

"We were already late to class so we decided to ditch." Luke explains.

Ashton looks at him, "Ahh, not very like you Luke, feeling a bit rebellious today mate?" Luke smiles in response as he looks down at the menu, deciding what to get.

"And Miss. Cynthia," Ashton turns to me, "Did this rebellious teenager convince you to ditch too?" he says as he ruffles Luke's hair.

"Hey, hey watch it." Luke pouts as he attempts to fix his hair.

I begin to laugh until I hear a loud noise from the back, "Umm... Aaaashh..?" the voice calls.

Ashton sighs and curses under his breath, "I'll be right back aha" he turns and walks towards the noise.

I turn to Luke, whose hair is returned to its slight quiff. He continues to stare at the menu. "Luke, why were you absent yesterday?" the first question slips out of my mouth.

Luke hums as he turns a page of the menu, "Hmm can't tell you" Luke doesn't even glance at me.

I feel slightly offended that he didn't tell me but yet again, I'm not very open with my personal life. "Well can you at least tell me what happened back at school?"

Luke looks up this time, "Ther-" Luke is interrupted by another loud noise from the back, "God Dammit!" an unfamiliar voice speaks.

"Shhh! Michael don't cuss!" Ashton hushes the unknown voice, Michael, I assume.

Ashton walks out from the back, "Heh sorry. Cynthia, meet Michael." A guy with bright red hair walks out from behind him. "Hi there, I'm Michael. I would reach out to shake your hand but as you can see they're occupied." Michael gestures to the boxes he is carrying. He sets them down on the counter and reaches out to shake my hand. Ashton grabs a rag that hangs at his waist and begins to clean the counter.

"Hey Luke!" Michael grins. "Long time no see buddy!"

Luke looks up from his menu, "Hi Michael, I should of assumed that ruckus back there was you."

"Shut up Luke." Michael replies in a joking manner.

Well Ashton and Luke know each other and they both know Michael, hmm. His name doesn't sound familiar and neither does his bright red hair ring a bell.

Luke turns to me, "This is Michael, an old friend from Sydney." Oh that explains the accent.

A thought comes up in my head. "Hey.. If you all have Australian accents and know each other, do you happen to know a Calum?"

All three of them stopped what they were doing, Ashton froze with his arm extended nearly half way across the counter and Luke and Michael stopped their conversation.

Luke cleared his throat as he stood up from his chair, "I uh.. I need to use the restroom." he walked away from us and left Michael, Ashton, and I.

Ashton returned his rag to his waist, "Wait, correct me if I'm wrong but did you just say Calum?"

I nodded, Michael stared at the floor with his eyebrows scrunched together, he was deep in thought. There was a silence before Michael spoke, "I-i don't understand, Calum.. he..."

Luke returned from the restroom and sat back in his chair. His face was slightly wet, I assumed he must of splashed water in his face.

Something is wrong.