A/N: Can we get at least 15 votes and like 10 comments pls bc ain't nobody voting/commenting
So like if you're reading it'd be fab if you'd just press the vote button rn and leave a lil comment after
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7: The number of days it had been since Luke had visited the pawn shop.
0: The number of ideas he had about what he could get Ellie, except for the damn ring.
No matter what Luke thought of, it seemed shit when compared with what he had originally planned to give her. He had looked on every website, in every jewellery store, but nothing caught his eye. It was typical - the one thing he wanted, and he couldn't have it. Well, he thought, one of the two things he wanted and couldn't have.
He hadn't gone back to the pawn shop since. He hadn't even wandered back to that side of the town. He had tried his best to block out the whole incident and try his best to go back to the way he was before. It was stupid, but the first two nights after his conversation with Rick, he'd had nightmares. Nightmares that involved him agreeing to the crazy deal and getting wrapped up in a world that wasn't for him, until it all came crumbling down. He'd woken up at around four in the morning, both nights, with a thin sheen of sweat on his bare chest, before getting out of bed and taking a shower before school, too afraid to go back to sleep in fear of being dragged back into the scenario again.
So, there he was, the following weekend, sitting in his kitchen. He still had remnants of bags under his eyes, the aftermath of the lack of sleep he had gotten the previous days. He'd slept for almost 13 hours the night before, but that only caused him to feel even groggier. Ellie had asked him if he wanted to go over to watch a movie, but he'd told her no. Despite his best efforts, he knew he'd been acting distant from her for the last week. Not that she should take it personally, he was acting a little distant from everyone, if he was honest. He just felt like he needed to shake the last remainder of his anxiety before he hung out with her again. The last thing he wanted was for her to become suspicious.
His fingers scrolled through his Facebook newsfeed, purely out of boredom, as he sat back in his chair. He heard a door open and close down the hall and turned to see Ben entering the kitchen. Luke glanced at the clock on the wall. It was half-past ten.
"You're up early for a Sunday morning," He remarked, despite the fact that he himself had been up for just over an hour already.
"So are you," Ben replied, not bothering to look at him as he put two pieces of bread in the toaster.
"Is mum here?" he asked, and Luke looked up from his phone.
"No, why?"
Ben pulled a chair over to beside Luke, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Good," he commented, "Because now I can ask why the fuck you've been acting so weird the last few days."
Luke's mouth went dry as he tried to keep eye contact with his brother.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he scoffed, hoping he could brush off his brother's concerns.
Ben raised his eyebrows and sat back in his chair.
"So, we're gonna play it like that, are we?" he asked. "You've always been a shit liar, and you're no better now than you were last week when you came back from that shop. Mum may be gullible enough to believe it, but I sure as hell amn't."
Luke took a breath and clenched his jaw, wishing Ben would just get the message and, well, politely fuck off.
"Ben, I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth, "So can you just drop it, please?"
His brother sighed, running a hand through his hair, and shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine," he agreed, "But you'd wanna stop acting weird, or Mum will eventually get suspicious."
His toast popped and he got up to butter it, Luke standing up at the same time. Just as he was about to leave the room, he heard one more thing leave his brother's mouth.
"Oh, and if you bring any trouble into this house that makes things hard for mum, or even me, I'll make sure it's the last time you set ever foot in here again. She put up with enough shit from me when I was younger, the last thing she needs is a repeat."
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Luke kept his head down as he walked into school the next morning, resisting the urge to push the people in front of him that were walking at a pace worthy of competing with his grandparents'. They took up the entire width of the corridor, and if they didn't move soon, he might accidently end up beating one of them around the head with his maths textbook.
He arrived into his maths class about two minutes before the bell rang, taking his usual place beside Ellie. He dropped his book onto the table carelessly as he settled into his seat, earning a look from her.
"Well, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine on this fine morning?" she spoke sarcastically.
Despite his horrible mood, Luke could feel the edges of his mouth curling into a small smile.
"Amn't I always?" he replied, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Touché," she agreed, "You've never really been a morning person."
The bell rang and the last few students strolled in, taking their seats.
"How could you be, when you have double maths first thing," Luke groaned, and Ellie laughed, nodding.
Little did she know, it was his favourite class of the week. The real reason he was in such a bad mood was because the date of her birthday was edging closer and closer, and he still had nothing for her. He'd probably end up getting her a box of chocolates and a bottle of vodka or something, but that didn't really seem like it would suffice for an eighteenth birthday. That was more like a present you gave on final results day to someone who didn't get the grades they wanted. It was perfect for that - that way, they could both eat away and drown their sorrows.
"Hey, Luke," Ellie whispered, snapping him out of his daydream.
"Yeah?" he replied, looking up at her.
"Why are those people staring at us?" she asked quietly.
Luke glanced over to where her gaze was focused, and noticed that there was, indeed, a group of about seven students staring at them from across the classroom. They didn't look away when he made eye-contact, either.
"I have no idea," he answered truthfully.
At that moment, the teacher entered the room, causing the group to break their stares at last. Luke raised his eyebrows in confusion, but opened his textbook and listened to the teacher anyway, trying to focus solely on the class. Yes, he had no idea what to get Ellie for her birthday, but at that moment, he decided it was better to focus his attention of the transformations of functions - it was a lot simpler than trying to figure out the alternative.
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A/N: Hey guys, please vote and comment because I wanna get this up and going yo
Y'all are awesome
Sidenote, happy birthday to Mr C-Dizzle !! lmao
Byeee,
~ L.
