Dark Blue | l.h au|

chapter two

CHAPTER TWO

  The second day they knew each other didn’t make much sense to Jessica. She didn’t understand why he still wanted to hang around. She didn’t quite even understand why she let him sleep in her bed. She didn’t understand her dreams from the night before and she hardly understood herself.

  Jessica was lost.

   Luke had a day off and decided he wanted to spend it with Jessica. He didn’t really give her much of a choice because he refused to get out of bed and he refused to let go of Jessica. Luke didn’t want to admit it but he deeply missed being able to wrap his arms around someone and just sleep.

  He was tired of lonely hotel rooms and empty spaces in beds that didn’t even belong to him. He wanted fresh sheets and sunrises. He wanted tired eyes and lazy smiles. He wanted morning kisses and whatever else came along with it. He wanted to feel like be belonged somewhere.

  He loved the fans, but little did he know he loved her more.

  Jessica sat at the small wooden coffee table in the kitchen area of her flat across from Luke. She wasn’t too big of a fan of that taste of caffeine but it kept her awake. She stirred the light brown liquid in her cup whilst Luke took a drink of his.

  It was 2 in the afternoon and here they were in their pajamas drinking coffee in silence. Neither of them minded it. They quite liked it.

  Jessica admired the broadness of Luke’s shoulders and the definition of his unshaved jaw. His posture was horrid but she didn’t mind.

  Luke looked tired but he felt as if he had slept better than he had in months. He felt refreshed and couldn’t enjoy it anymore than he was. He watched Jessica as she took small sips from her coffee. She scrunched up her nose at the steam invading her space.

  She pushed her dark hair behind her ears and smiled up at Luke, she hopped he didn’t see it because from what she could see he was looking away. She didn’t know he saw it all and couldn’t love it anymore.

  He watched her every move. He liked how her fingers were so bony but the rest of her was not. He liked her ambition and he liked how was she was 3:30am. He liked how she was so closed down until after midnight when every damn feeling flooded out of her mouth.

  Luke liked Jessica from the moment she saw him.

 Jessica liked Luke, but she liked New York more.

  Jessica was completely and utterly infatuated with New York City. She liked how it was so highly populated. She thought since there were so many people she’d never feel alone. She liked the idea of watching the sunrise as the city of lights slowly powered off.

  She was also very fond of the idea of sitting in a living room by herself watching the world below her. She may have been already doing that but the view wasn’t for her.

 Jessica was sick of the rain spitting on her window in the late hours of the night. She wanted to wake up to each day with a new sun, not a storm. She wanted to feel happy for once and have it permanently stay. She knew that was too far ahead of herself but New York is one of the cities of dreams.

  Thoughts wandered into her tired brain about taking Luke with her but then she realized he was famous. He was loved all over the world by adoring fans. He was constantly in the spot light and he was everything she wished to be.

  Thoughts also wandered into Luke’s head about his feelings for Jessica. He didn’t believe in love at first sight or let alone love. But the moment he saw Jessica he knew that had changed rapidly. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t know her favorite color or the name of her childhood pet but he knew her favorite bands and how she looped the A in her name and it ended up looking like an E.

  Luke phone constantly buzzed as the two of them bonded over left over cookies and muffins from Jessica’s work. Jessica worked at a small coffee shop a few streets away. Every night she’d take home the left over baked goods from that day for breakfast the next morning. Her boss, Martin was Jessica’s father’s childhood friend and band mate. He recognized Jessica the moment she stepped through the door. He had said she had her father’s eyes.

  Her father was a musician when he was in his early twenties. He had always told her she had the voice of an angel but Jessica didn’t hear it. She liked punk. She liked loud with meaning. She didn’t want to make music that sounded like a machine spit it out. She wanted to make something that was worth buying.

 Martin was the drummer of her father’s three piece band. Her dad played guitar and sang lead vocals. The other guitarist died in a car accident once the band finally set off. It was a tragic ending to the band after all the work the three of them put into it. She was in awe with the fact that her father’s voice was captured on tapes that she could rewind and replay when she was younger.

  She wanted to be like him.

-

  It was raining.

   It was wet, miserable and horrid weather outside when Jessica and Luke decided they wanted to run to the store together. They literally ran down the street to the corner store. The rain drops hit like bullets on the hoods of their coats, water slowly seeping through the fabric they so desperately wished was water proof.

  Once inside the store, Luke pointed out the mascara Jessica had dragged down her cheeks looking like a mix of black and grey watercolor paint. Luke cupped her cheek in her hand, slowly wiping away the color with the pad of his thumb.

  The pair wandered around the store in search of something to fill Jessica’s cupboards with for the week. Luke had been ignoring his band mates for the last 19 hours and was willing to ignore them more. He gave in and told them he was hanging out with an old friend. They questioned it, but went along with it.

  Jessica was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a soaking wet half zipped sweater half hanging off her shoulder, exposing a black lace bralette. Luke on the other hand was still wearing what he slept in expect he had a shirt on and a beanie covering his messy blonde hair. The two of them looked like they had just rolled out of bed but that didn’t matter to them.

  Holding a green shopping basket, Jessica handed Luke multiple items. He neatly organized coffee filters, a carton of milk, soup crackers, and multiple other things. He watched Jessica as she walked ahead of him. He kept trying his hardest to avoid looking at Jessica’s hips as he walked.

  “Red or blue?” Jessica held up two small boxes of Kool-Aid.

  “Blue, reminds me of your eyes.” Luke said quickly. Jessica felt her cheeks heat up at his comment.

  Luke liked grocery shopping. It made him feel normal. He missed walking around in public without people coming up to him. He didn’t mind carrying the basket for Jessica because he knew that’s what he should do. He liked how Jessica asked for his opinions on Kool-Aid she’d probably never touch.

  Jessica looked behind her shoulder when she stopped hearing Luke’s loud footsteps behind her. He distracted by a magazine on a rack with his face plastered on the front with the caption “TEEN HEARTTHROBE AND MEMBER OF AUSTRLIAN ROCK BAND 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER DITCHES BAND MATES TO HANG OUT WITH NEW GIRLFRIEND?” A picture of Luke and Jessica from the night they met was in the corner. You couldn’t see Jessica’s face but you could see Luke’s.

  Jessica walked over to him as he picked up the magazine. He sighed loudly before looking at Jessica with sorry eyes. Jessica was amazed with the fact that she was on the front page of a famous magazine even though you couldn’t see her face. She was in love with the idea of her being known.

  “Shit, I don’t wanna drag you into anything.” Luke said sadly.

  “No, no. It’s okay.” Jessica said sweetly. She didn’t want to use Luke for fame but if it was how she had to get it, she was willing to do anything.

  Luke was falling for Jessica, but Jessica wasn’t falling for Luke.