Photos [Luke Hemmings]

Chapter 8 - Tough Cookie

Chapter 8—Tough Cookie

{ a u t u m n }

          “So you two have kissed… Twice?”

          “That’s what I just said, Dani, yeah.”

          “I thought you hated him?”

          I let out a sigh, my shoulders slumping as I remained seated in my chair. We were in physics class and were completing a worksheet our teacher had handed out, and I took the time to also fill Danielle in on what had happened with Luke during the past few days. Especially the damn charity dinner we had attended.

          I don’t know what had come over me—all I knew was, in that moment, that I really wanted to kiss Luke. He looked so hot in a suit and the need to kiss him was just there. It was too hard to ignore it. I almost groaned—why did he have to be so damn good looking?

          “I thought I hated him, too,” I finally said in response to Danielle’s question. “But then we were just talking and shit and next thing I know we’re kissing and it was just… Nice.”

          “Nice?” she repeated, raising an eyebrow. “It was nice?”

          I rolled my eyes. “Okay—it was fucking awesome, actually.”

          A wide grin spread on Danielle’s naturally pink lips at my words, leaning back in her seat as she tapped the end of her pen repeatedly on her notebook. “I’m actually so glad you two finally kissed,” Danielle said after a while, right after she filled out the answer for one of the questions on the sheets. “The sexual tension between you and Luke was unbearable.”

          “Wha—” I almost yelled in the middle of class, before quieting myself down and leaning towards Danielle, not missing a beat to send her a glare as I hissed, “What the hell are you talking about? There was no sexual tension!”

          She snorted, shaking her head as her eyes remained on her paper while she answered more questions. “Are you kidding?” she retorted. “It was there, trust me. Besides, ask any of the other guys or Erica. I guarantee you they’ll agree with me.”

          I huffed in annoyance, leaning back in my seat as I put my pen down, no longer in the mood to finish the rest of my worksheet. Sexual tension? Between Luke and I? That seemed highly unlikely, but it also seemed like something not too hard to believe that it would exist—which annoyed me even more. I was supposed to hate this kid, so why the fuck was I feeling things that were opposite of hatred for him?

          “That’s ridiculous,” I muttered, looking out the window.

          “Is it really?” Danielle mused, quirking an eyebrow. “I mean, you two have kissed twice already. Are you sure you don’t like him?”

          “Of course I don’t like him,” I responded quickly, clenching my hand into a fist. “He’s annoying and obnoxious and rude.”

          Her smirk widened, much to my irritation. “You mean hot and funny and adorable,” she seemingly corrected.

          I rolled my eyes at her comment, but mentally, I couldn’t help but agree. Ugh, fuck.

         

          “Autumn’s got a crush!”

          I glared at Danielle as she sang those words too loudly, plopping down next to Erica on the grass under the tree. The three of us decided to eat lunch out in the school courtyard today, so here we were, and I was already making up a plan on how to kill Danielle if she didn’t shut up soon.