MIXTAPES-- l.h.

Part THREE

Part 2

luke's pov

I shut the front door behind me and heard the television on in the other room. "Luke?" my mom called out. "Are ya home?"

I exhaled through my nose, and hooked my backpack on my shoulders again. "Yeah, I'm going upstairs."

I was up the first couple of steps when she questioned again, "Homework?"

I cleared my throat, "Yeah." After I finish making that mixtape for pretty girl. 

"Okay, finish quickly! Dinner will be home in a half hour!" she yelled, but I was already in my room.

I tossed my nearly weightless backpack next to my bed and flopped back onto it. I crossed my arms behind my head and revelled in deep thought. I haven't heard of any girls as pretty as her take interest in music and mix tapes. I didn't even think she could ever be interested in listening to anyone's music but the radio, much less my music taste.

Girls like her liked trends and attention but I could tell she wasn't like the girls like her. She was so cool, ya know? She went with the flow and flirted with every glance. She walked like a woman but had the spirit of the wild and independent teenager. Pretty girl was not only pretty on the outside, but on the inside as well.

She probably likes to volunteer at shelters and stuff. I could imagine her smiling at animals and the poor and the old as if she's known them for years. I could imagine her also staying out late and going to concerts without telling her parents. I could imagine her as a straight A student but with the personality of a straight C student. She looks almost too normal, so normal that she's pretty.

Pretty girl would probably get along with everybody. She would've run for class president but didn't have the time because she has to balance school, her family, church, and volunteer shit. Pretty girl's a good person, I can almost feel myself falling for her all over again.

I know what you're thinking; I know I've only seen her like twice on the first day I've every noticed her but I feel like I've known her forever. I feel like I know all her little quirks and how to make her feel better just by look at her. I think pretty girl is definitely the one for me.

I grabbed my computer and opened it to my iTunes library. Nearly nine hundred of only the best and most worthy songs are on this beat down computer and they are my pride and joy. I have a playlist for every occasion: beach days, slow days, parties at night, lonely weekend nights, etc. I couldn't just pick a playlist for her and be done with it. No, she deserves something special and new and from the heart.

My fingers felt around the keys on the keyboard and I started to type:

Pretty Girl's Recommended Mix from Luke.

It's simple-ish. Basic. And weak. 
I erased it and felt the keyboard up again.

Book Reading Mix from Luke.

She liked books? I guess. I overheard her talking about some 'Perks' book at the library. 
I erased and typed again.

Perks of Being a Pretty Girl from Luke.

There. I like that. It's simple and poetic and she can relate to it because she's pretty. 

However, she would probably read it as if I was the pretty girls and I was giving her a list of perks that I have because I'm (in a literal sense) a pretty girl. 
I erased it.

Perks of Being a Pretty Girl for a Pretty Girl. 

I nodded at my work with a smirk and slouched in my seat, crossing my arms like a powerful executive impressing a client. The client, in my case, is pretty girl (in case you got lost).

I leaned forward and started dragging songs into the playlist. Excitement was boiling inside of me, eliminating my nerves. 

After finishing my masterpiece, I quickly checked over the looping, in case the versions of the songs I downloaded were faulty but definitely not because I downloaded then illegally. Nope.

I exhaled after the panic putting it together and clicked the empty CD into the computer ready to burn. I texted Calum a quick picture of the playlist and an emoji, Finished a playlist for pretty girl! XP. 

Now my laptop is very old, it was my dad's from like 2006 and they probably didn't have cool new software like iTunes or Google Chrome back then. It used to whirr and burn up whenever I went to bed. It soon manifested as the monster under my bed to me. It was a nightmare when it shut down so I don't know what compelled me to use this dinosaur to make a perfect mixtape for a pretty girl, but it was most likely ignorance and stupidity.

I'm adding this excerpt here describing how awful my laptop is because when I was trying to get some actual homework done while the CD was burning, my laptop started to burn as well.

It wasn't even the normal kind of burn anymore, I could smell smoke. I almost shrugged it off as my mom's cooking when I remembered, we were having dinner taken home. Mom was having the food delivered. The smoking scent wasn't my mom's cooking. 

I stared in horror as my laptop, as if on cue, had sparked a clear red-orange flame. I was almost expecting it to do it and it wouldn't be a big problem, but it was now. 

I ran to the kitchen down stairs and caught my mom in the middle of ironing in front of the television. She raised her eyebrows in a slight panic watching me pull out the fire extinguisher. We stared at each other for a bit as I tried to think up an excuse but she had beat me to it when she groaned.

"Don't tell me you tried burning a CD on your dad's laptop again." she rolled hey eyes, "You know why they call it 'burning a CD', Luke? Do you?"

I groaned and ran up the stairs with the heavy extinguisher. "Well it's not supposed to catch on fire!!"

I ran back into my room and saw that the fire was still in one place but much bigger than a spark. It was burning the laptop as quickly as I dashed up and down the stairs. I whimpered and pulled the lever while the hose sprayed all over the fire. 

When the fire was out, I stared in pure disappointment at the charred laptop. I sighed and attempted to check if the CD was done burning because apparently the whole damn laptop was. 

The CD holder had popped open and I frowned at the destroyed and full CD melting into another CD? I used a pen and lifted the floppy disc, taking a peek underneath to find Shrek the Movie underneath it. 

I thwacked myself on the head, you just had to have that craving to watch Shrek last night. 

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Sounds like a filler but I promise next part will be sightly more exciting okay only slightly. wow ok bye