player ♚ lrh

16 - cute

Elise was pacing the second she put her phone down.

Luke would've been pacing, too—if he weren't confined by the low rise of his car, forcing him to settle for a white-knuckle grip on the wheel and a knee that refused to stop bouncing.

The girl wasn't quite sure what just happened, or how it happened, or why it happened, but she didn't even have time to dwell on the specifics, let alone figure it out. All she had time to do was pace, and check the door too many times, just in case she'd somehow missed the presence of a tall blond.

It's unclear how much time passed in his tense drive to Elise's building, but Luke swore it could've been hours. In truth, it was probably closer to 15 minutes, but 15 minutes seemed like a lifetime when the boy was left alone with nothing but his thoughts—thoughts he would rather not attempt to decipher.

It was getting ridiculous, in Luke's mind, how hard he had to try just to avoid the inevitable scolding that threatened to occur in his mind. What the fuck are you doing? He didn't know. In fact, he thought it better if he didn't try to find out, because if he knew the answer to that, he'd have to confront what he'd been desperately avoiding.

Instead, he turned his music on. Loud. A weak attempt to stop his mind—and his heart—from racing.

It worked for a little bit, drowning out the nagging in his head, until he caught sight of the suddenly familiar apartment building, and he was back at square one, gritting his teeth as he slid his car into park.

Fuck it, he groaned. Just let the thoughts happen.

And so they did; all the way the through the lobby, all the way up the elevator, and all the way down the hallway, failing to cease even as his feet found themselves planted right outside her door. Thoughts revolving around Elise and the boy he hated, thoughts of that same boy wanting to kiss her while she hadn't the slightest clue, and thoughts of how fucking angry the mere idea made Luke.

He shouldn't have cared, but he did. It shouldn't have left him so angry, so unsettled, but it absolutely did. And he shouldn't have felt the need to see her just to calm himself down, but he did.

Though, it hardly worked, because Luke was anything but calm when two gentle hands pried open the door, using all their might to budge the wood that always got stuck in the frame. All he could do was watch, eyes burning, as the little girl came into view, a slightly frustrated huff escaping her lips from the small amount of exertion just to open the damn door.

His jaw locked. It pissed him off. "You need to get this fucking door fixed."

The girl grimaced, hardly expecting such a stern tone as her fingers ran across the splintered wood. "I know," she sighed. "It's always been like this,"

"Well, I don't like it." He crossed his arms, glaring hard at the frame before setting his gaze back on the girl.

"It's not so bad—" she started to shrug, voice much softer in comparison to his.

"It's not safe."

Elise paused. That's what it's about? She had already come to the conclusion that her struggle with the door and the mere time it took to open it had simply irritated him. She thought she had simply irritated him.

The suggestion that it was about her safety threw her for a loop. And, oddly, made her heart leap.

"It's really not that bad," she told him gently, ignoring the feeling in her chest. "It just needs a little extra...push, sometimes,"