alumni ➢ luke hemmings [DISCONTINUED]

1.0 ➢ A Bad Boy's Layers.

"It was amazing," Chloe gushes to herself, flopping down into her side of the booth as I type some things down onto my laptop, giving her a small smile in the process, "Like, the people and everything! The music was so good, and the drinks were bomb. You really should have been there, Soph, you would have loved it!"

I know she doesn't know me well enough to know that I actually wouldn't, so I keep my lips zipped, opting for a slight nod her way instead.

"Did you get to stalk Luke like you planned?" I joke playfully, pressing the backspace button a couple of times, and Chloe giggles.

The coffee shop is deserted yet again, a very common occurance now regardless of how Luke hasn't stopped by much at all recently. I'd ask Sadie, but I don't want to stick my nose in business that isn't mine. Business that probably isn't hers, either, for Luke doesn't seem the type to open up much to anybody.

Besides, he's probably out, hosting parties and crashing them and whatnot. I'm not really complaining. The silence helps me get my work done, and the fact that he isn't here to sneak odd glances at me every now and again just makes the experience all the more tolerable. "Nah. He never leaves the balcony," Chloe shrugs, "And I always stay inside. He's like an eagle,"

"An eagle?"

"Mhm. Watching over Manhattan, and stuff," at this, I have to laugh, "Always has a drink in one hand and a pretty girl in the other. S'always a different one too, bless,"

"Thought you said you didn't stalk him?" I joke again, and Chloe blushes.

"I didn't, I swear! I just looked at him every so often," I hum a response back, saving the file on my screen before exhaling a slow breath. Chloe leans forward, "What're you doing?"

"I... have no idea," I chuckle breathlessly, shaking my head. She looks at me in amusement, "I'd say I'm prepping coursework for when actual classes start, but I have no clue what the hell I'm even doing,"

"Well, what course did you take?"

"English Literature," I reply, slowly closing my laptop shut as she nods in understanding, "I have all the books, all the materials and the notes. It's just knowing what to do with them and the questions they give me,"

"You could always hire a tutor."

"I don't do well when other people tell me what to do," I say truthfully, "I get scared. Then I end up not doing anything and it's a waste,"

She giggles, patting my arm reassuringly, "You'll think of something. I'm sure there's a graduate somewhere on campus who'd be more than happy to help you,"

I raise an eyebrow, "You sound like an NYU flyer advertisement,"

"I'm just trying to help," Chloe says defensively. Then her demeanour changes in the slightest way, and she smirks, "You know, Luke used to do Literature,"

"Used to?" although I'm not interested in the man himself, I have to admit- I am interested in what subjects one of the roughest boys in Manhattan took before his descent into fraternity presidency.

"Yep. I heard from Piper that he dropped out of the course to take Maths. But apparently, he's always been a Lit student at heart, who could have guessed?" a part of me wants to pipe up and say, me, because I see him in here all the goddamn time with the same goddamn book in his hand, but I don't. "You could ask him to tutor you,"