aisle five » hemmings a.u.

three

He stared, unimpressed, as she sat down cross-legged.

Emma had two Barbie dolls in her hands and she was staring up at him expectantly, waiting for him to follow suit and grab one as well. They weren't the name brand Barbies, they were some fake ugly kind, but still. He crossed his arms over his chest. She shot these big puppy dog eyes towards him and he stared back until he couldn't contain himself, so he grabbed the nearest male Barbie and plopped down.

"Now what?" he asked, holding the Barbie by it's hair.

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "You've really never played dollies?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders, and Emma gasped, holding a hand over her mouth in shock. "I only have two brothers," he said plainly. "Both older, too. So while you were off playing with Barbies, I was in my backyard with Ben and Jack, sweating bullets as they trained me for footy. Oh, man. Those were the good old days, Emma. One time, Jack kicked it too hard and it flew straight into the open window of our kitchen. Mum was pissed."

"My sister and I never really got on," Emma shrugged, a sad smile on her lips. "Since I was old enough to realize the importance of her, she ignored me. I think she's just been mad that she's not the baby anymore, you know? Pretty sure she tried to drown me in the toilet when I was a toddler, let me tell you." They both laughed. "Alright, so let's play house. You're the dad, I'm the mum."

He raised his eyebrows and nodded, picking up his male doll. "What do I do?"

Emma started out by taking the blonde Barbie, clad in tight clothes. "This is Chelsea, the homewrecker," she stated, then picked up the brunette doll, dressed much more conservatively. "And this is Emma, your loving wife." She shot the purple haired boy a wink and wondered where the hell that came from.

"Erm," Luke mumbled blankly, "hello."

Trying to contain laughter at his awkwardness, she made her little Emma doll walk over to Luke. "Hi, babe, I'm home from work," she cooed, making the doll kiss his doll on the cheek.

Luke rolled his eyes. "This is the most ridiculous thing I think I've ever done," he choked, throwing his free hand in the air. But he continued when Emma shot him a look. He wasn't good under female impatience. "Um, hello, darling. Don't go in the bedroom." She looked up at him in disbelief that he actually just made his little Luke say that. She made her doll go into the 'bedroom', which was just a space between the three boxes she ripped open to get the Barbies out. "Dammit, Emma, I said don't."

Little Emma gasped, fainting. "And then she died, the end," Emma said, throwing her Barbie on the floor. "You're really boring at dollies, Luke, just saying. What should we do now?" She fell backwards onto the rug of the kid aisle they were sitting in and he just stared at her. He could think of a few things they could do in the solitude of a big, echoey pharmacy.

He laid next to her, turning his head slightly. She turned hers as well and her breathing grew uneven. He was so close to her, she could feel his warm breaths blowing onto her face. Luke looked into those green eyes of hers and thought of what he'd do to those lips. He found himself moving closer and closer, until she stopped him. Emma sat up and backed away from him, gazing at him like he was a wild animal who'd tried to eat her. He leaned on one elbow and stared back, confused.

"What are you doing?" she blurted.

Luke ran his fingers through his purple hair. "I was just, um . . ." He swallowed. Never in his life had he faced rejection before, girls usually kissed back when given the chance. "Do you have a boyfriend?" Her eyes darted to him in confusion before he closed his eyes and pinched himself. Why was he stumbling over his words and being all around a major loser? "I mean . . . how old are you?"

Emma stared at him, her heart pounding at an abormal pace. "I'm single," she managed to choke out before bringing her knees to her chest and leaning her chin on them, "and I'm seventeen. Eighteen soon, why?"

"I'm nineteen," he said, trying to make the air less incessantly awkward. "How is such a beautiful girl like you single at your age?" Luke had some sort of a plan. Let's be real, once he whipped out the old Hemmings charm, there was no way this gorgeous girl could resist him. He'd be in her pants in minutes at most. A smile formed on his face as her cheeks warmed and pinkened.

She hugged her legs tightly. "I've never really had such a great impression on boys," she said.

"Are you insinuating that you've never had a boyfriend?" he asked, biting his lip like Jack always told him to do. He once said it wins the ladies. Emma's cheeks tinted pinker and she shook her head slowly, looking down. His teeth tugged on his bottom lip some more, knowing he was getting to her by the way her bright green eyes focused on the motion. "Does that mean you've never been kissed, then?"

Her heart pounded in her chest as he drew closer to her, his breath on her cheek. Emma stopped breathing. The lilac hair colored boy moved his lips close to her ear and she shivered, letting out the breath she'd been holding. Luke was absolutely loving the reaction he was getting from her, and he'd do anything to receive more of it.

"I can change that, if you want."

She stood up abruptly, backing away from him in shock. Then she did her famous awkward laugh - one that sounded quite forced - and cleared her throat, playing with the hem of her late brother's shirt. As soon as Luke smirked at her, Emma swallowed hastily, turning around and walking to the hair dye aisle, aisle five, and gasped. She ran her fingers through her hair multiple times before sighing and peeking over the aisle to see his Converse clad feet sticking out from the same aisle.

It wasn't like she didn't want to kiss him, because, God, she did. Seeing his teeth work with his lip and then his tongue swipe over them almost playfully sent her heart pounding out of her chest. It was unnerving how she'd always thought kissing was weird and gross and never really had much to say about it and then suddenly she wanted him to pin her to the floor and straddle her lap and kiss her 'til her eyes rolled back. Luke was just some purple-haired boy whom she didn't even know the last name of.

She was just scared because she was pretty much eighteen, still a virgin, and very vulnerable to any boy interaction. Emma worried that once she did kiss him, despite not have done anything prior, she wouldn't know where too stop. Or maybe she'd freeze up and not be able to open her mouth to stop Luke. Her mind told her he'd probably done it hundreds of times. He knew what he was doing; and he'd take advantage of that.

After she'd recollected herself, she made her way back to him and fake yawned. "I'm tired," she whispered, taking a seat right next to him, their thighs pressed together. "Make me not tired, Luke."

"If you're up for my previous offer," he said in a deep voice, gruff and seductive in her ears, making goosebumps appear on her skin, "I'll gladly oblige."

Emma actually thought about it for a quick second before she shook her head. "No, none of that, yet," she pressed, and hadn't realized she'd said yet until the word was already out of her mouth. "I mean . . . Let's play twenty questions."

She watched his vision falter for a moment before he smirked. "I go first then, yeah?" Luke asked, nudging her in the side playfully. "Alright. How many guys have you dated?" Emma should have known he'd ask something along those lines if not worse.

"Four, none too serious," she replied, watching him cock a single eyebrow. She looked up in curiosity. "What's the farthest you've gone with a girl, Luke?"

He looked almost surprised she'd asked such a question. "Do you really want to know?" he asked, sending a panicked thought bubble rushing through her mind. But she nodded anyway, not sure if she actually wanted to know or make herself feel sad. "I've done things with girls you wouldn't even think about doing. One time, I had two at once. But I'd bet money that you, Emma, would be better in the sack than both of them combined." Her cheeks heated up and she looked away, making him grab her chin and turn her to him. "I don't understand why you're so insecure and shy."

Emma smiled softly. "Sorry."

He looked into her green eyes with his bright lively blue ones and they found themselves just staring at each other before Luke started towards her. His large hands cupped her cheeks. Emma stared back as he progressively moved closer and closer until his nose nudged hers. She felt her chest rise and fall against his and everything in her mind just fell away.