Starry Eyed / l.h ✔️

1

~Elysia's POV~

"Dad!" I complained, frowning at him as he crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. "Please don't make me. You know he's the only one there. He's mean!" I begged, frowning.

My dad just raised an unimpressed brow. "Too bad." He said simply. "You're the one who threw your brothers football too hard and got it stuck on their roof." He shrugged, not budging whatsoever. I sighed and my shoulders slumped in defeat. "Go, now." He demanded. "Okay." I sighed, turning around.

What had happened was my little brother, Henry, had been annoying me while I was outside and I'd gotten frustrated. I had just gotten home from school, not even halfway up the driveway, and he'd already started yelling at me to get out of his way so he could play football with some other kid on our street. At first, I had just ignored him and walked past, but then he threw it at my back and I got mad. In the midst of my anger, I had picked up the ball and chucked it across the street, where it got stuck in the neighbors gutter on their roof. This wouldn't be such a big deal if that house wasn't home to one of the most irritatingly mean boys at my high school, Luke Hemmings.

It also wouldn't be such a big deal if one of his parents were home to retrieve it, but neither of them were. It was just his car in the driveway today.

I had tried to beg my dad to do it, or even to have my brother do it since he was the one who had thrown it at me, but to no avail. He wanted me to because it was evidently my fault for having a devil of a brother. So, with a heavy sigh and an annoyed glare towards Henry, I stalked out of my house and forced myself to go across the street. However, I only got to the end of my driveway before I stopped and turned around, remembering something. Now having a new plan in mind, one that didn't involve me having to talk to Luke, I ran into my garage until I found just what I had been looking for.

A tall ladder.

With a smile on my face, I began heading across the street for real this time, thinking that this was one of my best plans yet. Granted, I hadn't really had many plans that rivaled this whatsoever, but still. When I reached Luke's house, which was much bigger than mine despite the fact that he only lived across from me, I went to the front of the house where the garage was. The ball was stuck in the gutter right above there, if I was remembering it correctly. That was where I'd thrown it at. Sure enough, I could see the brown leather of the football peaking back down at me when I stood up on my tip-toes. Making sure that there was nobody around, I set the ladder up close to the house and began climbing my way up it. I felt the ladder wobbling unsteadily under me as I went up, making me a little nervous, but I tried to tune it out and ignore it.

As I neared the top of the ladder, my knees shaking nervously from how high up off the ground I was and how shaky the ladder was, the ladder suddenly stopped wobbling. Confused, I looked down, wondering why it had stopped. There I saw a tall boy with messy blonde hair that fell in his eyes, which were a grayish green. "Oh, thanks." I said dumbly, causing him to raise a brow as I turned away again. Then, I froze, seeming to realize that I'd been caught. My hands clutched the sides of the ladder as I looked back down at the boy, his light eyes meeting my dark brown ones. "Um.." I began awkwardly, embarrassed.

The boy had an amused look on his face, staring up at me with a raised brow. "What exactly are you doing to Luke's roof?" He asked, cocking his head to the side curiously. I blushed and quickly grabbed the football from out of the gutter, scrambling down the ladder. "C-Cleaning...it?" I asked, furrowing my brows. The boy snorted at me. "Is that an answer or a question?" He teased, releasing his hold on the ladder now that I wasn't on it anymore. I stared at him. "Both." I answered, causing him to chuckle. "Maybe I'll just go and get Luke, see what he has to say about some random girl looking up on his roof." He suggested, staring down at me with a glint in his eye.

A gasp left me and I shook my head, tightly holding the football. "No!" I squealed, horrified at the idea. "Okay, so I wasn't cleaning it. My brothers football just got stuck up there a-and my dad made me get it, but I didn't want to have to talk to Luke so I just got it myself." I rambled, holding the football to my chest. "Talk to Luke? What's so bad about that?" He asked, raising his brows in confusion. I huffed and glanced nervously at Luke's front door, glad to see that it was still shut. "He isn't exactly known for being the nicest." I said shyly.

"Oh, please." He rolled his eyes and dismissively waved his hand. "Luke isn't a bad guy. People just don't know him." He said in defense of his friend, which I actually thought was sweet of him. I just lightly shrugged. "Sure." I said simply, not really caring too much about the specifics of his reputation. He was still intimidating and, quite simply, I didn't want to talk to him. "Just...you won't tell him about this, right? I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy with me." I mentioned awkwardly, giving him a hopeful look. He hummed in thought and then lightly shook his head. "Eh, sure. It's safe with me." He assured, giving me a friendly smile. I sighed in relief and grabbed my ladder in the other hand, struggling a little to carry it back across the street to my house.

Instead of leaving me alone, the boy followed after me, causing me to frown at him. "What's your name, anyways?" He asked, raising a curious brow at me. I hauled the ladder back into the garage, dropping Henry's football into the basket of sports equipment we had. "Elysia." I answered, leaning the ladder against the wall where I got it from. "Yours?" I asked, staring up at him. "Michael." He said. "I'm guessing you're friends with Luke." I assumed, crossing my arms over my chest.

Michael shrugged. "You'd be correct." He confirmed, nodding his head. I hummed softly, nodding my head curtly. "Cool." I said, unsure where to go from here. I didn't really know Michael at all, so I wasn't sure what to talk about with him. This was the first time he and I had ever spoken to one another, despite the fact that I'd known of him and his group of friends since the sixth grade. I hadn't spoken to any of Luke's other friends, either, nor the man himself. They were popular and I was not, so we didn't often mix together naturally. I'd heard that Michael, Ashton and Calum were all nice, but Luke had a bit of a reputation of being a little bit...dismissive towards the girls he slept with after he'd slept with them. He just would drop them like hot cakes after he was done and I didn't really have any liking towards people who treated others that way.

It wasn't even that he slept with a lot of girls. That wasn't what upset me. Anyone was free to sleep with whoever they pleased. I just didn't agree with the way he behaved towards some girls after he got what he wanted from them. It was always clear to tell when he had gotten it because they'd go to him the next day and then run away in tears just minutes later.

However, I didn't know him nor these girls or what went on. Maybe he was completely open with them about it being just sex to him. Perhaps they all just had hoped it'd become something more and they were wrong. I tried not to judge him, honest, but sometimes it was a bit hard when I'd see girls skittering away from him at school, crying. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, with that little regard to their feelings.

"I should leave." Michael said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. I gave him a small smile and a light nod of my head. "Okay." I said awkwardly, pursing my lips as I watched him leave my garage. He stalked across the street and I watched as he knocked on the front door, which was swung open only moments later by Luke. The two of them seemed to greet one another before Michael entered the house and the door was slammed shut, my attention being diverted when I heard an annoyed huff from behind me. I turned around and saw Henry standing next to the door that entered into the garage from the house, a scowl on his face. "Can you stop staring at the neighbors like a creepy stalker?" He snapped, giving me major attitude. "Aren't you going to go get my ball?" He asked expectantly, obviously unaware that I already had. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his football from the box of sports equipment, giving him no time to prepare before I threw it at him.

"There's your stupid ball." I said flatly.