Crash II

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CHAPTER TEN
SO IS THIS A DATE?

—

Luke was at my place at seven o'clock on the dot. Not a minute later, not a minute earlier. And after shutting off all of the lights and locking the apartment door, he led us to his car and after we had settled in the car, Luke drove off to the other side of the town. To my surprise, the ride was anything but awkward. Just after a minute of being on the street, Luke told a really stupid dad joke, making me crack a smile and shake my head with humor.

"So," Luke spoke, his eyes briefly shooting to look at me before he focused them back on the road in front of him, "where are you from?" he asked. "No offense but it's kind of obvious that you're not from around here."

Playfully I pulled my brows in a frown, tilting my head downwards as I looked at him, "And how can you tell that?"

"Well, the girls here... they're for the better of word special. You're nothing like the girls from around here," he spoke. "That's good, you know," he quickly added to me, sneaking a glance at me. "Some new faces were long overdue in this small town," he nonchalantly shrugged, "Plus none of them are even remotely interesting."

"And I'm interesting?"

"Mhm," he nodded his head. "You actually seem like someone with a personality and interests. That's a compliment by the way."

"So what?" I chuckled, "The girls here don't have personalities? And if they don't have interests, what do they have?"

Stopping at a red light, Luke properly looked over at me, his right hand wrapped around the top of the steering wheel. "Yes," he nodded his head in an agreement. "They have themselves and mirrors. I don't know if you've had pleasures of meeting anyone who was born and raised here, but let's just say they think really highly of themselves."

Furrowing my brows, the memories of last night at work when I was talking with Brian instantly flash through my mind. "Do you know the bar, The Three Acres?" the question is out of my mouth before I can even gather my thoughts, and I can feel a slight blush creep upon my cheeks.

"Yeah, I used to go there to get drinks, but one of the employees started to get really weird so I stopped," he chuckles, before putting the car in gear and taking his foot off of the break pedal. And we're moving again. "What about it?"

"Then you probably know a guy called Brian who works there. Dirty blond hair, kind of looks like he could be a pop star and really weirdly mixes drinks?"

I notice how Luke rolled his eyes at the mention of Brian. "That's the one. He's also been born and raised here," he informs me. "Did he already make you feel like less than?"

"Yeah," now I roll my eyes. "What about the owner? She's really sweet and nice."

"I think she's from out of town. At least that's the assumption I drew from when these two girls were talking about her while one of them was getting a tattoo done by me," he once again chuckles and turns the steering wheel, doing a turn. After couple short moments the car rolls to a complete stop and Luke pulls the hand break before pulling the key out of the slot and placing both of his hands in his laps, his blue eyes searching my face.

"How about we stop talking about other people and go enjoy ourselves?" Luke cracks a small smile, one hand already reaching for the door handle. Without second thoughts or hesitation, I nod my head, seemingly ready for whatever this is.

—

Shoving my hands inside of my jackets pockets, I watched with a smile as the plastic ring that Luke had tossed into the air just seconds ago went flying across and perfectly landing around the neck of the — beer — bottle. Just as the ring lands, Luke straightens his spines and turning towards me beams with obvious joy.

The man working the booth, slyly rolls his eyes as he hands over a gigantic, light beige colored, fluffy bear. Saying thanks to the man, Luke turned away from him and towards me. Shoving the bear in my direction, be peaked from around it, "It's for you."

Dumbfound-ly I blinked at him, stupidly extending my arms so I could grasped the large, stuffed toy. "For me?" I question, as I squish it to my body, my arms wrapped around its neck. "But you won it."

"Yeah... for you," he sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his neck while a slight blush crept up on his cheeks.

On the inside I awed at the sweet gesture, but I know that on the outside I looked confused and uncomfortable. It's been so long since I've been on a date or even had someone do such small, but sweet gestures... It's actually sad.

"Hey, what's wrong? What happened, Nic?" Luke's features turned sympathetic, making me feel even worse about me. This pity... I know it's pity and I don't want it. Goddamn. His hands coming up to rest just under my shoulders, as he slowly moved them up and down in a soothing motion.

"It's nothing," I shook my head, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "I don't want to bring the mood down so let's just go on some rides. Actually I'm kind of feeling hungry..."

Luke simply looked at me for couple more seconds, not saying anything before he snapped out of his thoughts, "I actually saw a hotdog stand a bit back." He smiled as his arm wrapped around my shoulders and he led us in the direction in which the food stand was, I'm assuming.

It was clear as day that what happened just few short moments ago was still very much bothering Luke, even if he tried to mask it with a smile and a happy attitude. I never intended for anyone to be hurt at my expense, especially because of the way I feel in that moment or in general.

And Luke's is most definitely an amazing guy, anyone could see that, so I really don't want to hurt him or make him overthink things, or create these overdramatic scenarios in his head from the conclusions he might of gotten.

"I have to ask," I spoke up, as we both pushed past people, the smell of freshly cooked — and still cooking — meat traveling up my nostrils as I breathed in. Luke hummed in reply, letting me know that he heard me talk. "So is this a date?" I cracked a playfully smile as I peaked up at him, considering he was a whole foot taller than me.

"Do you want it to be a date?" he shot back a question of his own, quirking one brow up as he starred down at my much shorten frame.

"It can be a date, but we wouldn't end up in one location."

"I wasn't even thinking about that," he informed me, making me smile to myself as I looked in front of me and away from Luke's blue eyes. I simply didn't want him seeing me blush; pretty sure it was bad because my cheeks felt like they're ablaze. That, plus I somehow was smiling like a fool. Just when Luke pulled me closer to him and gave my left shoulder a squeeze, did I snap out.

Looking up at him, Luke nodded with his head in front of us, making me actually realize that we've came to a stop and a what looked to be a blue colored tent was propped up in front of us. A table that housed a cash register, dishes and eating utensils along with beverages and glasses. Behind the person working the food stand, a grill was hot at work as more meat was being cooked above the charcoal flame.

"What would you like?" the woman asked in southern accent, her gaze bored as she simply stared at us.

"You can get what you want, seeing as we're on a date and all," Luke whispered in my ear, "And don't you even worry about paying me back or something. You agreeing to come here with me is enough already."

Jason would've never.

***
so obviously not proof read, sorry. i just really wanted to get it up for you guys.

i've also decided to bring back questions at the end of chapters, so here's this chapters question;

what's your favorite song(s) atm?

[ mine would be stutter by blaise moore / started by iggy azalea / bad guy by billie eilish ]