the bucket list | lrh

14 - broken

The concert was exactly how Valentine had expected it to be. Sweaty bodies rubbing up against each other in desperate attempts to get closer to the man she found herself awkwardly talking to only an hour previously.

They had simply been waiting in Luke's truck for the time to come, listening to a few of Peter's Peppers songs to pump them up. Valentine was the farthest thing from prepared, though. She felt out of her element and it showed in the way she stuck to the back of the crowd.

She hadn't been to a concert in years, since Adeline had forced her to tag along to see one of her favorite artists at the time. The girl knew none of the songs, so it was a little easier to enjoy this one over the former. It didn't bother her that she had different company this time, either.

She noticed the way Luke gravitated towards the stage, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't admire it. She enjoyed watch him mercilessly thrust his body around to the upbeat music, and she loved the way his head hung low after going a little too hard in the midst of it all.

He eventually retracted back towards the girl, finding her after having been gone for nearly thirty minutes. She didn't mind his absence, but she found herself glad that he had returned to her nonetheless. She was there with only him, after all.

"Hi," he grinned, finally finding her body amongst the many others.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked, having a permanent picture of the way he had hit his head against someone else's glued to the back of her eyelids.

"Yeah! Just needed a break," he smiles, appreciating the way that Valentine thought enough to check up on his wellbeing. Truth be told, Luke hadn't been to a concert since the previous November, and he had Adeline right there on the front lines with him. He pushed the memory away, trying his best to make new ones. He liked being there with Valentine. It wasn't as strange as he thought it would be, but it would definitely take some getting used to.

"Oh," the girl responded vaguely, knowing she would've felt bad if she didn't at least say something. As the band in front begins to play another song, she finds herself leaning more into the music and the moment.

Luke leaned down to find her ear with his mouth. He noted the way she visibly shook as he got closer, but he dismissed it because that's Valentine he's talking to. "You want to go up in the crowd?" He asked, sensing the way she was enjoying herself.

"Oh... I don't know. I've never done that," she explains, not completely disgusted by the idea but not jumping at it either. She knows exactly what happens to frail little girls like her in crowds like such, and she knows better than to throw herself into the center of it. Valentine had a tendency to be a little too cautious, and Adeline is the only person who ever convinced her to drop the habit from time to time.

"You can still stay towards the back, you know. Nobody will trample you, I'll make sure of it." Luke meant the words a little more than he had realized as they slipped assuringly from his lips. He almost cursed himself at being reckless with his wording, but the girl smiled in a way that had him wanting to say more careless things just like that.

The boy then leaned back up, grabbed the girls wrist, and pulled her towards all the action. He was careful not to bring her too close to where the mosh pit had formed, but had her bordering the edge anyways. That was exactly where Adeline loved to stand. Not too involved, but close enough to witness all the fun.

"Woah!" The girl exclaimed once they got close enough that the speaker in front of her began to vibrate the floors beneath her feet. "Yeah, I know right?" The boy responded, walking even further through the crowd, still holding her wrist in his hand. There was no way in hell he'd let that little girl get hurt under his supervision, that's for sure.