𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 ; lucas zumann

[7]REAL LIFE

IT HAD BEEN A WEEK SINCE LUCAS and Lorie had last spoken. The first week of Yale had gone by in a blur and, truthfully, the brown-eyed boy had only popped into her thoughts once or twice. The first week had been amazing, with frat parties, stargazing on the school grounds and lots of actually interesting classes. That Sunday, Lorie and a girl called Mia she'd met a few days previous in the Woman's Centre, had planned to go shopping and buy Kaya a birthday present for the upcoming Wednesday. Mia was okay, and was from Boston, where her boyfriend Charlie went to university. She planned on marrying him when she graduated, which Lorie thought was cute, but probably quite unlikely.

"I love this shop!" Mia squealed, which caused Lorie to wince a little.

The girl was still quite hungover from the previous night's events, but the alcohol didn't seem to have gotten to Mia, who was just as lively as she always was. Probably even more so.

"Don't we all," Lorie grumbled, sifting through some cropped cashmere sweaters. At that point she couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice, not that she didn't like Mia, though.

They'd been browsing through Urban Outfitters for almost an hour when Lorie called their shopping expedition to a pause.

"I really need a cold drink, you think we could take a break?" the girl asked.

"You know what? You go. I'll keep looking," Mia told her, taking a silky dress off it's hanger. "Breathtaking, just breathtaking!"

By the time Lorie had left the shop, she'd come to the conclusion that she in fact did not like Mia at all. She was annoying, and too talkative, but maybe it was just the hangover speaking. Lorie squinted at the sun's harsh light, hastily putting on her sunglasses. Her head throbbed as she turned the corner onto York Street and headed towards 'Ashley's Ice Cream Café', where she ordered a cheesecake frozen yoghurt and sat down at a table, red sunglasses still on.

A tap on her shoulder caused Lorie to jump up in her seat a little. She turned around and saw Lucas. He was holding a reddish milkshake and had a hopeful smile on his face.

"Can I join you? This is the only other table," he asked.

"I didn't know they served milkshakes!" Lorie grumbled, taking a sad spoonful of her frozen yoghurt. "And yes, you can sit."

"Aren't you going to take your shades off?" the boy asked, chuckling and taking a sip of his shake, which Lorie stared at enviously.

"No, I am not," she replied. "The lights are too bright in here and I have a throbbing headache."

"Rough night?" Lucas asked, snickering.

"Don't laugh, you shouldn't test hungover Lorie," she warned the boy, although she could feel the corners of her mouth twitching up.

"I'm not laughing," Lucas laughed, pulling out his phone to take a photo and passing it to Lorie. "Here."

Lorie looked like some sort of troll that hadn't seen sunlight for years, her blonde hair was spilled out across her shoulders messily, her face was stuck in a grumpy scowl, half of it masked by her giant shades. The girl was hunched over her frozen yoghurt like she hadn't eaten in a century.

"Oh god," the girl grumbled, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head to get a closer look at the photo. "I don't actually look that bad in real life, do I?"

"For the record, I think you look great," Lucas chuckled again. "Just... loose the sunglasses," he said, reaching over and plucking them off the girl's head, her hair falling in front of her bright blue eyes.

"Here, give me that," Lorie said, grabbing Lucas' milkshake and taking a hefty sip, before returning it to the boy.

"I should apologise," he said, nervously twirling the straw around his glass.

"For what?" Lorie asked. "I'm the one who stole your milkshake. Sorry for that, by the way."

Lucas chuckled, and looked up at her. There was an intense seriousness in his deep brown eyes, making Lorie slightly nervous. His eyes were wise, she thought. You could tell, just by looking at them that he knew a lot, and they had a certain sensitivity in them that Lorie had never really seen before in a guy. He was just the opposite of every guy she'd dated, which was probably so quick to get angry with him.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said, his voice almost a whisper. "For getting so angry with you, and jumping to conclusions."

"It's water under the bridge," Lorie told the boy, which was followed by a long moment of silence in which the girl realised she'd just accidentally quoted one of Lucas' characters.

"Right, I should get going," the boy said, standing up quickly. "I'm meeting a friend for coffee."

Lorie raised her eyebrows and stood up, eating the last spoon of frozen yoghurt.

"Who?" She asked, wondering if it was a date.

"Her name's Amybeth," Lucas told her, nodding a little awkwardly as he spoke. "I'm showing her around the campus."

"If you're near my dorm, knock on my door," Lorie offered. "Kaya might like to meet her."

Lucas looked like he was going to say something, but was interrupted by a girl's voice.

"There you are Lorie!" Mia said wildly. "I couldn't decide between two dresses, so I just bought both! Oh god, they're so nice. Maybe I'll just keep them and get Kaya something else."

Lucas smiled, and waved goodbye before heading out of the store. Lorie watched him go, keeping her piercing blue eyes on the boy through the window. Something inside her didn't want him to leave just yet, but it was too late now.

"You were really eating this?" Mia asked, and Lorie turned to see the girl sniffing her yoghurt pot. "You know that'll make you fat, right?"

"Thanks for the advice," Lorie smiled sarcastically, chucking the pot in the bin and marching out of she shop.

She saw Lucas walking across the street, and for a moment he turned back. Even that far away, Lorie felt locked into his gaze, and there was something scary about that.