STARDUST ⭑ LUKE PATTERSON

four and a half

"I JUST CAN'T STAND BEING AROUND HER. All she does is shit on my dreams, but she doesn't get it. I'm gonna make it big one day. I'm gonna sell out stadiums. I'm gonna have groupies and fans and everyone's gonna love me!"

    "And the rest of Sunset Curve," Emmy teases. Luke, though still frustrated, laughs at this. Suddenly, he can hear himself and he plops down on the couch, body sprawled over all the cushions.

    Em was sitting on the floor, back pressed against the front of the couch. Her head was so close to Luke's. She tries to steady her breathing, but there's just something about him.

    "We just always fight," Luke says quietly, eyes staring into his best friend's. "I love my mom. I don't want to keep fighting."

    "It's just teenage angst, Lu." Without another thought, she turns her body slightly and begins to brush away some pieces of his hair, heart stuttering when his eyes fall to close. He leans into her, like two magnets that will never repel the other.

    Her heart twists. She goes to pull away, but he could feel her touch grow lighter. In response, he gently takes her hand, but instead of keeping her there, their fingers interlock. His warm palm presses against her's and he squeezes her hand delicately.

    His hazel eyes flutter open, hands still intertwined.

    "Can we never fight?" he asks innocently, as if they have control over that. "I never want to be mad at you, and I never want you to be mad at me. Also," Luke laughs, "I just know you'd write the meanest song you could about me."

    "Don't act like you wouldn't do the same, Patterson."

    He shakes his head fondly at her. "I would never," he says, as if all the love songs in his journal weren't about her.

    Luke takes one last look at her, one genuine, analyzing look, and he realizes just how much he loved her, and how incapable she was of loving him back.