Michigan- Luke Hughes

6

After my photography class I go to the coffee shop down town called Little Ms Pepper. This is only my second time going, and it's my first time going without Daphne. She brought me here the day after the party. That was 2 days ago. Luke texted me that night to double check that it was me, which I confirmed, but he hasn't texted me since that. He's probably super busy with hockey, and I don't want to rush this project, but I at least want to start it. I need a basic outline.

I enter the short line as soon as I get into the cafe. The bell of the door rings soon after me, but I don't look back. "Hi, can I just get a black coffee." I finally tell the barista once I get up there.

"That will be $3.50." She tells me. I start to open up my wallet, when a large hand pushes my wallet down and hands the barista some dollar bills. I look back to meet eyes with Luke.

"Hi." I smile.

"Hi." He smirks back at me.

"You didn't have to do that." I tell him.

"I wanted to. Hey, since we're both here right now if you aren't busy, we can start on that project?"

"Yes, that will work." I nod my head and grab my coffee guiding him to a table. "Oh my goodness. I am so sorry, did you want to get something?"

"No. I saw you walk in here from a few stores down, so I just followed you." He nervously laughs. I can feel myself getting flustered at his honesty, yet I refuse to look him in the eyes.

"So, should I start or you start?" I ask him, pointing between the two of us.

"Well, I have my notebook with me, so maybe you talk and I write?" I nod my head and begin talking to him about myself.

"I was really interested in sports, because I grew up in a really big sports family, but it was my uncle that got me into hockey. My dad was always a big baseball and football guy, but we would occasionally watch hockey because of my uncle. My uncle is actually in the nhl. He plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's a goalie. Martin Jones? If you have ever heard of him. I was always super close with him, and he help me realize my love for the sport." I nervously laugh, putting a piece of hair behind my ear. I continue to talk about how I got into sports management and more about myself. It felt like I was talking for hours, but once I had finally finished it had only been an hour and fifteen minutes.

"Thank you. I got a lot of great stuff." He tells me shutting his notebook.

"Anytime." I say. He winks at me. I get up from my chair and so does he.

"Where are you heading?" He asks curiously.

"Probably just back to my dorm."

"Do you need a ride?"

"If it's not out of your way, then it would be nice. But you don't have to." I reassure him, but he insists.

"Trust me, it's no big deal." We exit the coffee shop and he guides me to his car and opens the car door for me.

"You know where I live right?" I ask double checking.

"Yup."

"Perfect." I respond.

—

"Thanks for the ride home." Luke insisted on walking me to my door.

"Of course. My house is like 10 minutes away anyways." Luke reassures me.

"Shit." I feel around my pockets for my dorm key, which I do not have, "I left my dorm without my key this morning." I groan. "I'll just have to wait for Daphne to get back from her class." I plop down on the ground on our welcome mat and bang my head against our door.

"Just come to my house." He offers. I lift my head up and see he is being genuine.

"You sure?"

"Yes. The guys won't mind." He offers me a hand up which I accept and he lifts me up from the ground.

—

"This is my home." He says with no enthusiasm as we walk through his door. "Which you know because you were just here."

"No one's home, so do you want to just go in my room?" Luke asks me. I can't tell if this is him making a move or just him being polite. The options are 50/50.

"Sure." He grabs my hand and leads me upstairs to his room.

"You got a nice room here." I say in awe. His room is two times bigger than mine and I share a room with Daphne.

"Thank you." He smiles, "Want to watch a movie?"

"Which movie?" I lift a brow.

"The Outsiders." Luke says desperately. "I haven't seen it in so long, and I have been yearning to watch it again."

"Wow, you used big vocab words. You must be really desperate." I joke, taking my shoes off and jumping onto his bed. He does the same and lays down right next to me. He turns on the film and we get comfortable. Of course we are on our phones from time to time snapping photos of each other. And boy is it cute.

By the end of the movie of course I am sobbing. "Ponyboy and Dally just started to get to know each other!" I cry at the television. "The fuck does he mean 'stay golden'! Why did they kill of Johnny. Oh my gosh I hate my life." Tears stream down my face like Niagara Falls. He wipes off my tears with his thumb continuously, but it's not use because they are falling at a rapid pace.

I stand up and slip my shoes on and Luke sits up on his bed quickly, "Where are you going?" He asks nervously.

"This movie is too sad." The credits are rolling through yet I am still sobbing. He pulls me back on the bed and attempts to make me feel better. Once I finally control my tears, I hear a familiar voice downstairs.

Luke looks at me with the same look and we both head downstairs to check it out.

"Daphne?"

"Ethan?"

"Luke?"

"Georgia?"

We all look at each other confused. "What are you doing here?" Daphne and I ask each other in unison.

"What is she doing here?" Ethan and Luke say simultaneously.

"I forgot my key, and I was going to wait for you to come home. So, Luke just brought me over here for a little while." I explain now looking at Daphne for an explanation.

"Yea, she was locked out so I brought her here." Luke repeats to Ethan.

"He picked me up from my class so I didn't have to walk and we got fast food on the way home, so I was just going to eat it here and then come back to our dorm later. I didn't know you got locked out." Daphne says back to me. Ethan just backs a face and a gesture towards Daphne for his explanation about Daphne, which Luke just nods his head understanding.

"We can both leave. But I want to finish my food first!" Daphne tells me pulling out a french fry from her bag and taking a bite out of it. I just give her a thumbs up and take a seat on the cozy couch.

———————

Opinions on this chapter? I'm kind of lost and don't know where to go from here, that's why updates will be super slow because I'm coming up with ideas! I hope you all understand. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of the love and support, sweeties!