𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑⁰¹ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ✓

⁴⁴coffee breaths in booths

clementine

As much as I want to easily get over it, it's harder than I want it to be - as most things usually are. It's clever how the universe makes you into a fool, a complete idiot in a time you need to be sharp and quick. But when you need to stay calm, keep your mind and tone level, you explode like a bomb because you've kept everything in.

Right now, I feel like an idiot.

Now that I recall the article I read about Luke and I being spotted within each other's arms and how it so casually name-dropped a certain "Sierra Deaton", sitting with Luke seems a little harder than before.

He waited until we were in a small cafe with drinks in our hands and seats under us before telling me who Sierra Deaton was and why he wanted to go as soon as he could.

He sat beside me, I supposed not for comfort but so he didn't have to look me in the eyes when he said it.

"She was my girlfriend," He said, taking a long pause to give me some space to process.

"What happened?" I asked, suddenly worried that I might lose him again, this time longer than I'd wish. "Between you two, I mean,"

He shrugged and looked down at his coffee. "We came to each other at the wrong time. I thought she was moved on from her ex-fiance, but the second he said he loved her again, she was walking away like we never mattered,"

I hear no sign of disdain nor despair in his tone, no hint of longing as if he wants her back. He's simply explaining, and this assures me in the very slightest that he isn't the kind of man whose heart roams to whoever had it last.

"She was cheated on by him, and I didn't understand how she could go back," He continues, tilting his coffee cup left and right and watching the drink stain the insides of the mug. "But they were together for five years, and I understand why she felt she needed to return to him. I don't know, quantity over quality, I guess," He puts on a smirk and drinks his coffee as I scoff and narrow my eyes at him.

"Wow, you got a lot of nerve there, saying that," I chuckle, sliding one leg under my thigh and sitting to face him.

He chortles and gives me a smile. "It's true! I mean, she's broken up from him again, right? She was with her girlfriend earlier in the party,"

I nod, seeing his point. "And you? How are you feeling?"

He looks at me, contemplating, by the looks of it. "I feel good," He says calmly and confidently. "I just had to get out of the party earlier. Seeing her after so long... it was overwhelming," He furrows his brows, chewing on his lip and pulling on skin lightly. "It was sort of strange how I felt different,"

"Different how?" I press, watching him think deeply, blue eyes sunken into hos ocean-like thoughts.

"Just that I didn't feel hurt anymore," He gives me half a smile and sighs. "Before, I was all up about her, and I thought that every time she'd be mentioned or if I'd ever see her again, I'd feel the way I felt when she left - and the thing is, when I saw her earlier... besides feeling awkward, I just wished she was happy with whoever she was with,"

You've grown, I want to say proudly, that he isn't confined to how he felt before, but I take a second and think it over, realising how similar he and Sierra were to Aiden and I now.

Granted, I wouldn't return to him, but he's a hurricane that sucks up what joy you have when you're around him. Admittedly, now, I hope he's doing decently for himself, considering what he did last week.

As the silence prolonged, I put my head on Luke's shoulder and give out a sigh. I can't deny that we're similar in a lot of ways, yet so different in the other aspects that it just shuts me up for a second.