Carry Me Home // cake

five

"Luke, oh my gosh. I have something to tell you. You won't believe it."

Luke looked up at Mia, standing in her usual spot between their two cubicles, and raised an eyebrow. "Hit me with it."

"Do you remember my friend Zoey, from that night at the bar?"

He thought for a moment, then nodded. "The one with purple hair, right?"

Mia clicked her fingers, a wide smile on her face. "Yup, that's the one! Well, she seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Oh." Luke blushed a little. "Well, uh, I didn't really talk to her much."

"That's why I'm setting you two up on a date. If that's okay with you, of course."

Luke didn't reply immediately. He was very awkward, especially on first dates, but it had been a while since he had gone on one. It wouldn't hurt, would it? "Sure, when?"

"Maybe this weekend?"

"Okay." Luke nodded, before smiling. "I'm looking forward to it."

----

When the night rolled around, Luke was standing shirtless in front of his mirror, fretting over what to wear.

"Calum, what looks good? You dress infinitely better than I do, help me!"

"Hey, you said it, not me," Calum chuckled, moving to stand beside Luke in front of the mirror. He pondered for a minute before saying, "Maybe a button down shirt. Those always work as good first impressions."

"That's what I figured, but which one?" Luke asked, opening his drawers. "Blue? White? Black?"

"Go for blue. White gets a bit too formal."

Luke hummed, and pulled out his dark blue shirt. He shrugged it on before turning to Calum as he began buttoning it up. "Yeah?"

Calum shrugged. "Black jeans?"

"Yeah, duh."

"Alright, I think you're fine."

"Should I get her flowers?"

"You've never even talked to the girl!" Calum chuckled. "Maybe a couple, but not a whole bouquet."

"Okay." Luke sighed. "I don't know if I wanna do this."

"Well... Since you've never spoken to her... Is she cute?" 

"Yeah." Luke shrugged.

"You don't sound convinced."

"Well, yeah, she's a cute girl, that's not the problem."

"I get that," Calum said, sitting down on his bed and looking at Luke. "You've never talked to her, you don't know what to expect. But just go, have a good time, and if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. I'm sure she's not an awful person. I mean, she's Mia's friend, and Mia's quite fun, so she'll probably be fun, too. If it works out, then great! Then you can get her flowers!" He chuckled.

Luke smiled, nodding a bit. "Okay, I guess you're right. Let's see how this goes."

"I'm sure it'll go just fine."

"Thanks, Cal."

Calum winked at him playfully, and he laughed, suddenly confident.

------

"Well... This was nice..."

Luke bit at his lip ring. Zoey and he had nothing in common, nothing to talk about. He had complimented her hair and she had complimented his shirt, but other than that, they made small talk about their jobs and about the weather. Clearly, neither of them was quite interested in the other. Now, they were standing in front of the restaurant window, saying goodbye.

"Yeah..." Luke trailed off.

Zoey laughed a bit, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "It's alright. We tried, yeah? I'll see you around, Luke. Have a good night!"

"You too, Zoey," he smiled at her, waving as she smiled and walked away. Once she was out of view, he sighed, slumping against the wall and pulling out his phone.

to: cal

can u come pick me up? date went horribly

Within seconds, he got a text back. Calum was surely just lazing around on his phone anyways. The thought made Luke chuckle. 

to: luke

be there in 10 :(

Luke pocketed his phone, and waited for Calum. Sure enough, the brunet showed up fifteen minutes later with an exaggerated sad face on, making Luke laugh.

"So, how bad was it?" he asked when he was close enough.

Luke pushed himself off the wall. "We made conversation about the weather."

Calum winced. "Oh, alright. That's bad. Hey, how about we do the cliche thing and go to Ben & Jerry's?"

"Isn't that far?" Luke asked, frowning a bit.

"Well, we're already on 40th street, so not really..."

"Okay, let's go! It's not like I have anything better to do, anyways."

Calum gasped, faking horror. "Am I just your last resort?! Is that it?!"

Luke laughed, slinging an arm around his friend's shoulders. "That's exactly it."

Calum huffed playfully, crossing his arms. "Fine, then, you can go for ice-cream alone."

"Come on, sourpuss. I'm the one who's date flopped, not you!" Luke laughed. He had already forgotten all about how awkward the date had been, thanks to Calum. Out of gratitude and happiness, he pulled Calum just a little bit closer, feeling comforted by the boy beside him's presence.