Reputation| l.h au|

thirty four

Rosa could always see when something was wrong with Luke. He would have this frown on his face and eyebrows furrowed, trying to tell everyone he was okay when he wasn't. It had been four weeks since Luke's mother went to rehab and Luke's father had ben bugging him all the time. Rosa hadn't really got to know everything, but she knew Luke was annoyed at his father. 

Rosa and Luke were sitting in the park outside school, both eating a slice of pizza from the cafeteria. Luke had been a lot more quiet than usual, but he was still holding onto one of Rosa's hand like his life depended on it.

"Luke?" Rosa decided to speak up and Luke turned his head so he could look at her. He didn't answer though, but his stare signalled her to speak up. "Are you alright?" she asked, squeezing his hand. Luke just shrugged. "I'm tired." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Rosa knew that it wasn't just that. She had seen him tired before and whenever he was tired he would get whiney and cuddly, but right now he was distant. 

"Wanna tell me the real reason or should I just pretend like I believe you?" she asked him, a sad smile on her face as she studied his blue eyes that were staring intensely down at the green grass. "It's nothing to worry about, Rosa." Luke sighed, running a hand trough his hair. Rosa snorted. "How many times do I have to tell you to talk to me? It's not healthy to keep that locked inside of you without ever talking about it with someone. Don't you trust me?".

Luke frowned, shaking his head. "You know it's not like that. I just don't want you to worry, you have enough with your brother and everything." Luke stated, making Rosa roll her eyes. "Luke." she warned and after some time, Luke gave in, nodding. "Fine. No I'm not alright." he muttered, a scowl on his face.

Rosa stared at him, waiting for him to continue and Luke rolled his eyes. She knew he didn't like talking about his feelings like this, but they both knew he had to talk to someone. "I haven't been okay for a long time, Rosa. I have this feeling inside of me that just makes me depressed and I just.. I don't want you to think that I'm a lost cause." Luke explained, staring down at their intertwined hands.

"That's okay, Luke. We'll get you to be happy again." Rosa assured, kissing his hand. Luke gave her a sad smile. "I just want to sleep, you know? Sleep until everything is okay again. Sleep until my fucking father leaves me alone and my mother will come home again as healthy as possible." Luke continued. 

Luke told Rosa about how his father wanted him to move to his house, hours away from here and he couldn't do that. He wanted to stay as close as possible to Rosa and his mother. His mother was already too far away for his liking. 

Rosa also got to know that he was feeling guilty because he hadn't visited his mother yet. She then suggested that they could visit her after school today because it was weekend. Luke was a bit unsure, but she knew he wanted, he was just nervous about the whole thing. So when he actually said yes, Rosa could see happiness in his eyes again and it made her happy too.

*
They decided to sleep in a motel the whole weekend. Max would come with them because Rosa didn't want to leave him with Ashton once again. She knew he wanted to be with Rosa and Luke because he hadn't really hung out with Luke for a long time and Rosa didn't want to make him sad the whole weekend.

So that was why the three of them ended up in Luke's mother's car on the way to the rehab. Max was sitting in the backseat, playing on Luke's phone while Luke were driving, his eyes focusing on the road and every now and then gaze at both Rosa and Max. Rosa was leaning her head against the window, admiring how Luke looked while driving.

His free hand was leaning on her thigh and she held it tight, not wantin got let go of his hand. It was always comforting to hold Luke's hand and Rosa would always feel a tinglish sensation rush trough her body when she held his hand and she felt safe too.