You Promised (A Luke Hemmings FanFic)

Summer Mornings

Luke’s POV

My eyes flutter open at the faint buzzing.

Cassidy’s phone vibrated somewhere on her bed.

I dug my hands under the piles of pillows at the foot of her bed, and eventually find the blinking screen.

Tracie’s name was scrawled on the top of the screen, sitting above a picture of both of them smiling.

“Hello?” I whisper.

Looking over, Cass was still asleep.

Her chest rising and falling, an arm loosely draped on top of a pillow.

“Hey, I’m outside.”

“Where?”

I rubbed my eyes, trying to adjust to the sunlight that spilled into the room.

“Cassy’s flat.”

“Oh, I’ll be there in a second.”

“Okay.”

Opening the front door, a warm summer breeze nudged past me.

Squinting at the bright sunny morning, Tracie gives me a smile and soft laugh.

“Sorry I woke you up so early.”

I look down to realize I was still hugging a pillow to my chest.

“What time is it?”

She looks down at her watch, a light sky blue color, wrapped around her wrist.

I’ve never seen her without it, the silver hands of the clock caught a ray of sunlight, and the reflection bounces onto my t-shirt.

“Uhh... 5:32 AM.”

I wince and look around the empty streets.

The sky was just turning blue, with a hint of white clouds.

Leafs ruffle from a gentle breeze.

“I didn’t have much time yesterday, so I couldn’t make her some soup...”

A smile carves my lips.

Chicken noodle soup.

Her favorite.

Sometimes, she’d dunk a few slices of toast inside.

She rarely got sick, but when she did, I’d be there.

She always took care of me if my parents were out at work, so she automatically stuck by my side until I got better.

“So, here’s a list of the ingredients” ––

I took the piece of paper, and scanned the cursive words that danced on the paper.

1 medium Onion

3 cloves of Garlic

2 medium carrots

3 stalks of celery

...

“The directions should be in one of the cookbooks that are on her counter.”

I look away from the list and raise my eyebrows to Tracie.

In response, she rolls her eyes and turns the paper over in my hand.

“I knew you won’t remember, soooo” ––

She points to the words that was circled, underlined, and surrounded by big red arrows.

Martha Stewart cookbook (go through the table of contents).

“It shouldn’t be hard to find,” she laughs.

“Thanks,” I give her a smile after taking in all the information.

We both stand there for a bit, letting the sun quietly creep up the sky.

“How is she?”

“Better than yesterday,” I respond.

“That’s good.”

Two birds raced back and forth, before settling on a tree nearby.

With the paper still in my hand, I sit down on the steps and prop my elbows on my knees.

Tracie sat down next to me and stared at the road ahead.

“Did you tell her yet?” she asks.

Surprised at her question, I try to brush it off, but I knew she already knew.

“Tell her what?”

“That you like her,” she smirked.

“Who told you?”

I swear, if one of the gu––

“C’mon Luke. You practically ran into the cafe yesterday, and said you just wanted to see her” –– her fingers making air quotes.

–– “It’s definitely more than that, we all know you guys would end up together,” she bumps her shoulder against mine as we watched a car pass by.

“Then why didn’t she tell me that she liked me? Why didn’t she say something? Anything?”

“You were seeing Aleisha! What was she supposed to say?! That –– she loved you, and you couldn’t see anyone but her?! She didn’t want to lose her best friend, she didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Tracie’s voice echoed into the quiet street.

“Especially you Luke,” she added.

“But you hurt her,” she whispered.

Guilt and pain pulled at my heart, my fingers nervously picked at the fuzzy lint that covered the pillow.

That's what made it so soft.

Pieces of lint floated away with the passing wind, “I miss her.”

All the times I blew her off for Aleisha.

The movie nights with everyone at her basement, I brought Aleisha.

God, I feel like an asshole.

I can’t believe all this time, she just watched in silence as I pushed her away.

I wish I saw this sooner, so I could be with her right now.

Tracie bumps our shoulders again, “You’re with her now, don’t lose her.”

I let out a small laugh, “That’s what everyone’s telling me.”

She gives me a pat on my arm and shoots up from her seat.

“I’ll be back later okay?”

Giving her a small salute, “How’s Michael?”

Without a doubt, she rolls her eyes and starts down the street.

“Goodbye Hemmings!”

We all teased her and Michael about being a couple during high school, to even now.

I’m glad that they’re actually together.

Too bad I didn’t take the hint when people teased Cass and I.

Letting time pass, I soaked in the sun and let it warm my skin.

A few minutes later, I go back inside and mill around the kitchen.

Checking off ingredients and spices that I already had, I circle the ones that left remaining.

To pass time, I tidy up the living room and kitchen.

After jumping in the shower and getting dressed, it was only 6:30 AM.

So I decided to head out and get the rest of the ingredients, when I got back, Cass was still asleep.