in the crowd • luke hemmings

19. gone for good

waking up, wearing luke's t shirt, wrapped his in arms and breathing in the scent of his skin was the closest lola had ever felt to paradise.

his body was somehow always warm, and he managed to be somehow both solid and soft at the same time, and lola really couldn't get enough.

lola traced her fingers lightly across his chest, drawing mismatched patterns on his pale skin and both waiting for him to wake up and perfectly content for him to stay asleep as long as she stayed in his arms.

luke stirred slightly, and lola lay her hand flat over his heart, suddenly feeling bad for disturbing him.

he pulled her closer, nuzzling his face in her hair and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"good morning pretty girl." her cheeks flushed a bright pink and she wrapped her arm around him.

"good morning pretty boy." luke let out a soft chuckle, bringing one of his hands down to cup her cheek, stroking his thumb against it slowly.

"i have training today."

"so do i." lola yawned softly. "i have a class to teach too."

"want me to drive you home?" luke offered, unwilling to part with the small girl but at least being confident in the fact he would see her again soon - a safe feeling he couldn't understand how he'd ever gone without.

"is that alright?"

"of course baby."

"but first we have a cup of tea?" lola's wide, hopeful eyes made luke's heart explode and melt, and he nodded, unable to keep the fond smile from pulling at the edge of his lips.

"first we have a cup of tea."

***

it felt like forever since luke had woken up to lola in his arms, when in reality, it had only been two days.

two days filled with excessive training and an impromptu match that had left him wishing he could just go crawling back to lola and fall asleep with her, rather than return to the gym under his coach's insistence.

another hit landed on the punching bag; luke's legs were growing wearing and beads of sweat were threatening to fall into his eyes, but he pushed through, determined to go for at least another twenty minutes and test his endurance.

hit after hit; the dent in the punching bag grew deeper and luke narrowed his eyes as the sweat began to collect over his brows - five more minutes, just push for five more minutes.

five minutes ended after what felt like a lifetime, and luke let himself breathe for a moment before climbing out of the ring and making his way over to the bench where a bottle of water stood.

a sharp ring broke the silence, causing a furrow in luke's eyebrows, and he put his water bottle down, answering his phone without looking at the name.

"where are you?" his mother's voice sent a wave of anger through his body and his jaw clenched painfully.

"why does it matter?"

"because there's no one here to let me in your house luke. i look like an idiot standing outside-"

"you're what?" luke felt his entire body become seized up with rage, dark spots clouding his vision and his fists knotted so tight that his knuckles were about to burst through his skin.

"what the fuck are you doing at my house - how do you even know where i live-"

"your dad managed to locate your phone. you need to stop-"