Paralyzed ▹ Luke Hemmings

08

Luke spent the first two days of his weekend doing what he does best: freaking out.

He was a fidgety, anxious, and apprehensive mess for the majority of Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning for two reasons. The first reason was the fact that Ashton had seen him sitting next to Sam at the game on Friday. Although Liz had said to make sure Ashton sees Luke with Sam to push his buttons a little, Luke didn't actually want that to happen. Luke wanted to hang out with Sam to get it over with, unseen, so he could clean up the mess he had made between them a week before. But, now that Ashton knew, Luke wasn't expecting to make it out of school alive come Monday morning.

The second reason why Luke was currently sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the wall as his left knee went crazy, was because he's supposed to go over to Sam's house later today. As promised, he was going to help her catch up in chemistry since he had backed out of it on Thursday. And as much as Luke would like to think he can handle being around her, he knows he still can't.

He loves Sam a lot, maybe a little too much for what she thinks of him as, but he just couldn't help it. Luke has had a crush on his worst enemy's girlfriend since the 7th grade; being around her destroyed Luke's nerves every time.

Once again, Luke spent a lot of time getting ready for today. He took a shower, shaved the stubble from his face, and even made his mom iron his t-shirt so there'd be no chance of it getting wrinkled between now and 3:00. Paired with some black skinny jeans and white converse, Luke hoped Sam would find him the least bit cool.

"Luke?" Liz came knocking on the door a few minutes later, peeking her head into Luke's bedroom. She held the home phone in her hand. "It's your dad."

Luke's father has a pretty shit job. Not because he can't pay the bills or anything, but because he's always away on business trips. As a well-respencted entrepreneur, Luke's dad is like an older brother thats going to college across the country: he's only ever home during the holidays. If Luke's lucky.

Luke doesn't tell anybody, especially his family, but he really doesn't appreciate the fact that his dad is never around. As much as he loves his mom, Luke sometimes wished that he could have his dad around all the time to teach him how to deal with his problems. Liz's ways aren't always so effective.

"Oh," Luke sat up and caught the phone when Liz tossed it to him, holding it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey bud!" Luke's dad said happily. "We haven't spoken in a while. How are you?"

"I'm g-good," Luke stuttered, digging his foot into the carpet. Liz walked away and gently closed the door behind her. "How are you? And...and where are you, exactly?"

"I've been alright," he responded. "I'm currently in...uh, lets see. After traveling around for so long I tend to forget where I am half the time."

He let out a hardy chuckle. Luke didn't so much as crack a smile. "Ah! Yes, I'm in LA right now. How could I ever forget?"

"What are you doing there?" Luke asked in a monotone voice. Luke has never been to the west coast, and he was curious to know what it was like, but he also wanted to get back to what he was doing before his dad called.

"Just uh, some work things," his father said lightly. "Trying to catch a tan at the same time. It's much harder than it seems, Luke. Remember that if you ever come here."

"I sure will, dad."

"Thats my boy. So. How's that girl?"

Luke gulped. "You mean Sam?"

"Yes, that was her name. Sam..." he said, his voice dragging out the last word. "You still stalking her ass every day?"

He laughed again. Luke didn't say a word.