Sugar and Spice / l.h ✔️

21

~Maeve's POV~

Luke and I left his room, heading down the hallway towards the living room. Instead of finding just the one guy in there, there were also two other guys who were just chilling out on one of the couches.

When he and I entered the living room, the guy that Luke had called Cal glanced over at us two and grinned with amusement. "My bad. Didn't mean to interrupt you guy's while you were getting on your way to doing the dirty." He teased Luke, making the both of us blush brightly. I kind of wished that I had worn makeup today because my red face was completely given away for them all to see. "That's not where it was going, you moron." Luke grumbled in embarrassment, making his friends snicker at his humiliation. "You sure because it really looked like it." Cal continued to tease, eventually making Luke scowl.

"Thought you were like, celibate or whatever now." One of the guys on the couch said, looking rather confused. Luke sent him a flat look and dimples appeared in his cheeks when the stranger smiled. "We weren't gonna do anything..." Luke huffed, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

I glanced up at Luke, clinging to his side as his friends eyed me with curiosity. "So, who's she, then?" Dimples asked, cocking his head to the side. Luke smiled and looped his arm around my shoulder, glancing down at me. "This is my girlfriend. Her name's Maeve." He answered, making me awkwardly wave at the three of them and offer them all small smiles. All of them looked surprised by the news, not just Cal. After Luke introduced them all, I learned Cal's name was actually Calum, Dimples was Ashton, and the guy with the messy blonde hair on the other end of the couch was Michael.

"You got a girlfriend?" Michael squawked in shock, blinking rapidly in surprise. "When the hell did that happen, and why are we only finding out now?" He complained, pouting at Luke, who just smiled in amusement. "We've only been dating about three weeks, man. I guess I just didn't really think to mention it." He shrugged.

Calum eyed me curiously. "Your name's Maeve?" He asked me, to which I nodded my head. He grinned at me from where he sat on the couch between Ashton and Michael, his brown eyes darting between Luke and I. "She doesn't look like the type you used to go for." Calum observed, making me frown a little bit. I wasn't sure whether or not I should've been offended by his words. "There was no type that I used to go for." Luke retorted, shooting his friend a glare. At that, Michael raised a brow. "Well, I think he means we've just never seen you with a girl who looks so..." Michael trailed off in thought as he looked at me, trying to find the right word. "Preppy." Ashton supplied for him, making both Calum and Michael nod hurriedly in agreement.

A confused furrow in my brow, I tilted my head up to Luke and he met my gaze. "I look preppy?" I asked, a little bit surprised. That was the first time I'd ever been described as preppy and, again, I didn't know if it was a compliment or not.

Luke's lips twitched. "You kinda do. Especially with the way you're always bounding around to try to make friends with everyone you meet." He admitted, chuckling to himself while I quietly died of embarrassment. "I-Is it the annoying kind of preppy?" I asked quietly, praying that the answer was no. And thankfully, he hurriedly shook his head, ignoring the fact that his friends were watching our conversation. "Thank goodness." I breathed, glancing back over at his friends.

Awkwardly, we just stood there while they sized me up, probably trying to get a read on me. "Can you guys stop trying to intimidate my girlfriend?" Luke spoke up eventually, rolling his eyes as their gazes all snapped over to him. All three of them frowned. "But...how do we know if she's even chill or not?" Michael protested, sending me a slightly suspicious look. If I hadn't dated someone who was total scum myself, maybe I'd have been offended by their uncertainty of me dating their friend. But I had, so I didn't mind their hesitancy. In fact, I thought it was sweet the way that they were trying to simply make sure I was good for their friend. It made me wish I'd had someone who did that when I had dated Nicolai. But like me, my friends had been fooled by him too.

"Trust me, Maeve's not going to dump me or cheat on me or treat me like shit or something. She's great." Luke said confidently, my face warming as he looked down at me and kissed my cheek.

Humming, Calum narrowed his eyes at me. "How'd you meet Luke? This guy never makes friends. All of us probably wouldn't even be friends if it weren't for the fact that we grew up together." Calum said, causing me to pause and shuffle slightly. "I met him in the hall. He was sitting on the floor during lunch time, reading a book, and I thought it was a little unusual. Plus I assumed he was new and thought maybe we could become friends." I recounted to them all, hiding a little smile at the memory. That seemed like so long ago.

Michael raised a brow. "Sounds like Luke." He snorted, earning a glare from Luke himself.

I giggled in amusement and, when Luke pulled me over to the couch, sat down beside him. "Have you made any other friends? Tell me you haven't replaced us already." Ashton pouted, and the idea of Luke making friends with anyone at our school seemed almost comical considering how he'd completely ignored basically everyone who'd tried to befriend him, even now.

With a roll of his eyes, Luke shook his head and pulled me closer by the arm around my shoulders. "No. There's just a bunch of assholes at that school." He said, making my lips twitch a little bit. I couldn't necessarily blame him for thinking that, even if I did disagree. Everyone he'd spoken to or been around had not exactly made themselves seem like kind, genuine people—well, aside from me and Priscilla, quite frankly. He didn't really speak to Priscilla either, though. It was just me.

Ashton snorted. "Still not making friends, even at a new school, I see." He remarked with a little smile, but Luke just shrugged. "I've got you guys. What more do I need?" He said casually, but there was something within his tone that told me he really meant it. He didn't feel like he needed many friends, just ones who he knew he could rely on.

And, even though that wasn't something I could really relate to, I came to respect him more for it. It was sweet, knowing that he treasured his friendships in such a way.