in the crowd • luke hemmings

24. october 23rd

the week after luke had asked lola to be his girlfriend was idyllic.

it was everything he could've wanted and more.

waking up to the scent of strawberries and lola in one of his t shirts with her hair strewn across the pillow and her arms wrapped around him - luke truly had never been happier than he was in that week.

his cuts and bruises were healing and the white bandages had been replaced with pink plasters and soft kisses. it felt strange, but a good strange - the happiness didn't feel fleeting; he felt safe within it.

in her house, in her arms - the hits luke took didn't matter any more now he was coming home to lola.

he looked down fondly as lola moved to brush her hair out of her face, her eyes never leaving the pages of the book held carefully in her hands. she hadn't realised yet that he was awake, and luke was happy to let her read.

not wanting to disturb the peace, but craving more attention, luke finally let lola know he was awake by readjusting his arms around her and squeezing her tightly, prompting her to place her book carefully in the coffee table before shuffling onto her front to kiss him.

"i didn't know you were awake." she giggled, stroking his hair away from his face as he shrugged.

"i didn't want to disturb you."

"you don't disturb me." lola kissed his nose.

"you looked so peaceful; it was sweet." he replied, not missing the shy smile that pulled at her lips before he caught them in a soft kiss.

"you're sweet." she breathed out, kissing him more deeply than before. "you taste sweet."

"i taste sweet?" luke repented in confusion.

"you taste like strawberries."

"i taste like you."

***

luke woke at sunrise, tangled in lola as he usually was - except this particular morning he woke up feeling like he might die if he didn't get a glass of water.

careful not to wake his sleeping girlfriend, luke removed his arms from around lola's waist and gently placed the covers back over her sleeping frame, a fond but sleepy smile covering his face at the sight of her.

he closed the door behind him quietly, not wanting the noise of the tap to disturb lola, and wandered idly around the kitchen as he drank his water.

her calendar hung on the wall adjacent to the fridge, and luke stepped a little closer to make out the photograph of bella and lola dressed as the twins from the shining - he remembered hearing about the personalised calendar ashton got lola for christmas the previous year, and couldn't suppress his smile at the photo.

october already? it's october already?

luke's eyes scanned across the crossed off dates, smiling when he saw the words boyfriend acquired <3 written neatly in the box for october 17th. his eyes trailed along the series of crosses until it landed on that day, the words practice + class written in the box.

the box that read october 23rd.

luke felt his pulse drop, and the glass almost slipped out from between his fingers.

october 23rd.

he hadn't realised they were there yet.

the air had been sucked out of the apartment and luke couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe with his chest so seized up.