starlight, luke hemmings

the arrival of luke hemmings.

Luke Hemmings scattered his eye line across the entire neighborhood he drove through— watching as people talked and walked through on the sidewalk. Luke's eyebrows were together.

He didn't really like the neighborhood. It was run down, and it looked like black mold was growing on each house— he also couldn't stop thinking about how Vivian was living in this.

Luke had never been to Rhode Island, this was his first time. He had tried to stay for a week, to check on his daughter, but Cassandra always just sent Vivian to his house instead – not that he minded.

If you couldn't tell, Luke and Cassanra don't get along. If it weren't for their daughter, they'd probably never have spoken again.

"Jesus, Cassandra." Luke mumbled to himself. "Did you have to move my daughter to the worst place you could pick?"

Inside, Luke was over the moon. He was so excited to see his daughter. Luke had always been so proud of his daughter, no matter what she had achieved.

When Luke pulled into the driveway and parked the car, he noticed the piles of trash at the side of Cassandra's house, and he rolled his eyes. Luke walked to the door and knocked.

Luke had expected Cassandra or Viivan to answer the door, so when a tall man who looked like he'd smoked a million blunts opened the door, he raised an eyebrow alarmingly.

"Who are you?" The man asked, eyeing Luke up and down.

"Does Cassandra live here?" Luke asked, looking past the man and into the home.

"Uh, yeah." The man nodded and turned around, shouting. "Cassie!"

A woman, who Luke knew all too well, walked into the eyeview. When she made eye contact with Luke, she put her hands to her hips. "What are you doing here, Luke?"

"I'm here for Viv," Luke replied.

Cassandra snickered under her breath. "Did you not get my text where I said you couldn't be here? And that I would take her out tomorrow?"

"I did, yes." Luke said, "But she's my daughter too."

"And yet, I'm the one who lives with her 24/7." Cassandra scoffed.

Before the ex couple could fight further, a young teenager rushed down the stairs with an excited look on her face. When Luke and Vivian made eye contact, her eyes lit up.

Vivian ran straight into Luke's embrace, throwing her arms around his neck – so hard he nearly fell back. Luke wrapped his arms around his daughter tightly and held her, inhaling her scent of vanilla and strawberries.

"I've missed you so much," Vivian whispered into his ear.

"I've missed you more, pretty girl," Luke said into her hair. He set her down and cupped her face. "You look gorgeous, darling."

They listened as the footsteps of Benjamin and Cassandra walked away, and Luke smiled at his daughter. "How are you, honey?" He asked. "Are you doing okay?"

Vivian softly nodded. "I'm doing okay. I'm just really, really happy to see you dad, you have no idea."

I think I have some ideas. Luke thought to himself as Vivian grabbed ahold of Luke's hand and ushered him into the kitchen where Cassandra and Benjamin whispered.

Cassandra turned to Luke and pursed her lips. "Luke, this is Benjamin, my boyfriend."

Benjamin extended his hand for Luke to shake, and Luke shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Luke said, taking his hand back and putting a hand on Vivian's back. "So, Cassandra, I am going to take Vivian to my hotel tonight."

Cassandra instantly shook her head. "She has school tomorrow."

"If you remember, Cass," Luke quipped, looking down at Vivian. "Court has ruled that I can take my daughter once a day each week for however long I want."

Vivian sneaked a small smile on her face, excited that her dad was standing up for her. She squeezed her dads hand gently.

Cassandra dramatically rolled her eyes. "Fine, Luke. But if she fails any subject, it's your fault."

Luke rolled his eyes dramatically as well, mocking Cassandra. "Thank you, Cassandra. I appreciate you allowing me to take my daughter out."

Vivian, again, sneaked another laugh under her breath as she retreated up the stairs with her father following behind. When they reached her bedroom, Luke sighed deeply.

"Benjamin, huh?" He hummed.

"Yeah." Vivian shook her head, "He's a handful."

"Should I be alarmed about him? Do you have an issue, honey?" Luke frowned, watching his daughter pack.

The bedroom Luke stood in was a messy one. The walls had paint chipping off, her bed didn't have sheets on, her window screen was broken – making Luke mentally note to give her some money to buy a window screen – and not to mention, the springs coming out of her bed made him wince.

"Darling," Luke mumbled. "Do you need a new mattress?"

Vivian looked up from the bag she was packing and raised an eyebrow. "What? No, I don't."

"Your mattress has a spring shooting from it." Luke said, pointing to the bed.

Vivian glanced at it and slightly covered the spring coming from her bed and laughed nervously. "Mom said she was going to buy me one, so you don't need to."

Luke only nodded and continued to watch her pack. Luke noticed more about the bedroom that housed his daughter.

She had a wooden desk that had stains of paint and old stickers, along with chips of wood chipped out of it. She had small notes written on the corkboard on it, with one saying 'dad comes to rhode island in a week!' and another one that mentioned 'mom has an app on 7th, leave home' which Luke noticed.

He carefully examined the note – before he could say something, Vivian spoke up.

"I'm done packing," She said with a small smile on her face.

Luke let a smile enter his lips as he nodded. "Are you ready to hang out all night?"

Vivian nodded eagerly – her excitement getting the best of her. "I can't wait."