youngblood | lrh

▷ 08.

I sat at the opposite table of my best friend, Roselyn. She had invited me to coffee because apparently I was posting too many sad song lyrics on Twitter. I kindly told her I was fine but she didn't believe me and called it an emergency coffee date. Her hair was in the neatest ponytail and her winged eyeliner was perfectly straight. People in high school used to call us 'too perfect,' and it was something we frequently joked about.

"You have to tell me, you don't just post sad song lyrics for no reason." Roselyn took a sip from the oversized mug. Roselyn was a tiny human and the mug was probably as big as her face.

I didn't agree with Roselyn's thoughts about my sad song lyrics. I didn't consider any of them sad. "There's nothing to tell. I'm not sad or depressed, I'm actually pretty happy."

She gave me her signature eye roll. "People don't tweet, and I quote 'now that im broken, now that you know it, caught up in a moment, can you see inside' in all lowercase and a black heart emoji because they're not depressed!" She shouted, strangers throughout the small cafe glanced toward her.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I glanced down. Ever since my pizza apartment not-date with Luke last week, I had been listening to a lot of their songs. Granted, Mr. Augustine told me I should get myself familiar with these boys because he big plans for me working with them. The rumor going around the office was that I would be in charge of managing their public relations for three months. Although Mr. Augustine didn't know just how familiar I was becoming with them.

The other night I had accidentally sent Ashton a meme I meant to send Rose and ever since then we've been sending each other memes back and forth. It's a pretty good friendship if I may so myself. Plus, Luke and I Facetimed for nearly four hours yesterday. I only had to hang up because I was supposed to be studying for my classes but it wasn't easy to study and hear Luke telling his dog how precious she was.

"If that's not enough," Roselyn continued on. "Just yesterday you tweeted both, 'is anyone there at all' again in all lowercase. You also tweeted 'the rain it came too soon i will wait for you' but you put an umbrella emoji. Seriously, you can talk to me, you know that. Is it River?"

I had to stop myself from making a horrendous noise that would've been a laugh. I had really closed off on the subject of River after we broke up. Roselyn thought it was because I missed him too much but it was just because I never felt like it was my place to talk about what happened that night. "It's not Riv, don't worry. I promise I'm fine. Those are all just really good lyrics."

Roselyn rolled her eyes again. That was her signature, rolled eyes and winged eyeliner. "I know they're good lyrics. I had to look up all those songs after I saw you tweet them. Also, what's with the 5 Seconds of Summer obsession? I thought that was Lina's thing."

I looked around the room, shoving my croissant into my mouth. "Oh you know, this croissant is really good. Oh, I think I hear my phone ringing. I have to go, bye Rosie!" I said quickly, trying not to choke on the croissant I shoved into my mouth whole.

Roselyn grabbed my shirt sleeve and pulled me back. "Oh no, now you've gotta spill. You only try to run off when you're hiding something." She smirked. "Spill your guts, Gabrielle Bridges."

I was about to answer her when the familiar tone of marimba went off from the table. Roselyn grabbed my phone and looked at the caller ID. "Who the hell is Luke and why does he have..." She looked back at my phone, "At least seven emojis?" She questioned and I just shoved another croissant into my mouth.

She hit the green button on my phone and spoke into it. "Hi, this is Miss Bridges secretary. She can't come to the phone right now but I'd love to take a message for her. What's your relationship with Gabi?" Roselyn questioned Luke and I was trying to grab my phone out of her hands. Unfortunately for me, she managed to retain all her strength from cheer and was able to keep at me arm's length.

"Uh-huh. And your message please," She said. She waited a few seconds before replying. "Where's your accent from? I just love foreign dudes. Are you single?"

"Roselyn Evangeline! Give me my phone!" I screamed. Everyone in the cafe was staring at us. Roselyn put her hand on the small of my back and led me out of the cafe.

"Uh-huh. Well thank you for informing me of that. Uh-huh, yeah. Gabi will call you back probably in, oh I don't know, two minutes after she beats my butt?" She laughed and hung up the phone.

"Are you kidding me?" I yelled at her. She didn't seem phased. I wasn't great at pretending to be mad, but I was mortified at her actions. Part of me was mad that she asked Luke if he was single, but I didn't feel like I should be mad. We've only been actively talking for a week.

She put her hand on her hip and looked at me sternly. "You have a boyfriend?!" She shouted before engulfing me in a hug. I felt my eyes go wide. "This is so exciting! I thought you'd never move on from River. Ugh, I wish I didn't have class or I'd make you talk about this with me. I'll call you tonight and you can tell me all about Luke?" She asked. I nodded as she handed my phone back to me. "Have fun with Luke!" She called out before climbing into her car.

I made my way to my car and texted Luke, too mortified to actually call him.

Gabrielle: Sorry for Rose! She snatched my phone before I could answer. I heard the conversation on her end and sorry if she embarrassed you.

Luke 😋🙈😂🐾🎸🎤🎶: its okay! i kinda told her i was ur bf because i didnt know how to say we're talking and i really like her but she wants to take things slow which i totally respect

I was hyper aware of the seven emojis I had in his name now that Roselyn called me out on it. I took them out, leaving only one.

Gabrielle: You could've said you were my friend? It's okay though! If you hadn't, she probably would've gone after you and I don't think I would've been alright with that.

Luke 🎶: i wouldve had to shoot her down, ive got my eyes on someone else right now

I felt my lips turn into a smile. We had been progressively more flirty each day but it still wasn't much.

Gabrielle: Yeah? You should probably FaceTime the person you've got your eyes on when she gets home in like twenty minutes.

Luke 🎶: i probably will but pls dont get upset if i dont, we gotta go to the studio soon

Maybe it was the caffeine, maybe it was the fear of people like Roselyn taking one of the best people I've ever met from me, but I texted him something I normally would never.

Gabrielle: Can I come?

That was coming on too strong. Abort mission.

Gabrielle: I really wanna support you guys and it'd be great work experience!

Luke 🎶: yeah ofc!!! i almost thought about asking if you wanted to come because i kinda wanted to see you but i didnt know if itd be coming on too strong

My heart fluttered. I was really falling for this boy, wasn't I?

Gabrielle: I should say I want to support all of you, but I kind of just wanted to see you. Send me the address and I'll make my way over there.

Luke texted the address and I put in my GPS. Although part of me felt like I should've tried to look better for him than I was currently wearing. Maybe I'd stop at the mall on my way over there.

AUTHORS NOTE

part of me still lowkey thinks theyre moving too fast BUT GUESS WHO DOESNT CARE ANYMORE BECAUSE LUKE AND GABI ARE CUTE AND THEY MAKE ME HAPPY (spoiler its me)

guys this has nearly 100 total reads and like thats not a big deal right but like... i thought i would get ten maximum so IM H*CKING HYPE

qotc 

whats your favorite meal? if you dont have a favorite meal, whats your favorite food?

my favorite meal would have to be my moms chicken pot pie but i think my favorite food would have to be mashed potatoes! 

ALSO HEY BEFORE YOU GO 

would you guys prefer i make an upload schedule? i would probably aim for 2-3 days a week but then ill feel bad if i break it but then its like i have an excuse to not update for 3 weeks so idk! lemme know what you guys think!