oxford comma [l.h.]

august-proposal

"anomalistic."

"that's not even a word!" luke protested as heidi layed the rest of her scrabble pieces down on the board, winning the game.

"yes it is. it means... to be different. extraordinary. it's one of my favorite words," heidi rattled off, playing with a piece of hair by her shoulder.

a few nights ago, at luke's appartment, heidi had been binging a bit. luke was asleep. that was the first time in a while that she had wanted to throw up. she tried not to. she really did. but it happened. and the guilt had been eating at her.

she found a pair of scissors in the desk in luke's room. she didn't want to admit it, but she knew what her original plan had been. she was scared- no, horrified. at herself, at what she had become.

so instead, she chopped all her hair off. well, to her shoulders at least. luke still liked it, it still swept across her cheeks in the wind and it still looked wavy and wound all the time.

"hey, i think that's all the scrabble i can take," luke finally objected, leaning back into the couch.

"no way, one more round," heidi pleaded, pouring the pieces back and shuffling them up a bit.

luke liked to watch heidi do simple tasks such as this. she always looked so effortlessly beautiful and bright. her eyebrows always drew together in deep concentration, as if messing up would be the defining moment of her entire life. but maybe that was just the sarcasm that had always been deep rooted in the soil of her brain.

"fine one more," luke melted.

there was something luke wanted to tell her. something really important that he wanted heidi to be apart of. but luke was nervous. would she laugh? would she be happy?

he found the pieces he needed and quickly spelled out a few words on the scrabble board before heidi could continue.

'i have to tell you something'

heidi looked down at it and smirked, hiding her fear. was he about to confront her? did he know?

she playfully replied.

'are you pregnant hemmings'

luke chuckled.

'im meeting with a record label manager on tuesday about getting signed'

luke looked up at heidi for a reaction. her eyebrows drew together in confusion and luke knew she was going to speak.

"luke, is that serious?" she asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"i guess i'm a good singer or something i don't know," luke replied, his palms sweaty as he patiently waited for approval.

"that's so great, luke!" heidi smiled, leaning over the ottoman in which the game was on top of and throwing her arms around luke's neck. luke signed in relief and relaxed into her.

"i wanted to invite you along. we're going to dinner and he said i could bring someone along if i wanted," luke grinned, his hand automatically lacing with heidi's.

"i would love to," heidi grinned right back but silently unhooked luke's hand from her's.

ever since that night it's been hard for heidi to look luke in the eyes let alone hold his hand and be all cute with him. they weren't anything more than good friends but they were that: good friends. best friends even. luke, heidi had decided, was the hardest person to lie to on the face of the planet. it's those damn eyes.

luke stared down at their hands, no longer connected, and resisted the urge to ask what was wrong. he always assumed he was being too boyfriendy and it made her uncomfortable.

"but shit, i don't have anything to wear," she exclaimed.

"sure you do. wear that tight black one."

"with the waist cut-outs?"

"yeah i like that one."

"okay," heidi smiled, internally giggling at the fact luke even remembered that dress. she hated that dress. but she didn't hate luke and luke liked the dress.

"then it's settled. you're getting a record deal," heidi concluded, standing up and sitting on the couch as her butt fell asleep from sitting on the floor too long.

"i don't have it yet."

"luke shutup. you're going to get it."

"fine."

"good."

"fine."