player ♚ lrh

32 - suspicions

Immediately, Luke didn't like purple-hair.

It was presumptuous and he knew that—he just didn't care. He didn't even care how he sounded, let alone what kind of harsh vibe he was projecting onto this guy he'd never met before.

That was the thing about Luke; he'd never been too good at hiding his distaste, or his anger, for that matter. 'Resting bitch face', as Ashton liked to call it, though Luke never thought it was quite as funny as his best mate did.

Don't look so fucking surprised, Luke thought to himself, resisting the strong urge to roll his eyes at the rather stunned trio, staring at him as if they weren't just having a little chat of their own about the boy himself.

In fact, the only reason he wasn't calling them out on it any further was because Elise was one of those three, and he'd sooner let Ashton send his fist square into his jaw than lead her to believe he was ever mad at her. He wasn't. He was just rather irritated with the duo interrogating his poor girl, for he knew she was struggling for an appropriate answer—of which, was probably not the one Luke offered instead.

He could feel the confusion radiating from purple-hair—which he chose to dub the stranger for the time being—different from the subtle knowing-glance he was getting from Cassie, but he couldn't care less about either of those.

It was only Elise he was looking at. Her reaction was the only one that mattered to him.

And when he caught how vaguely worried she looked, with her wide eyes and her parted lips, his instincts kicked in and he softened. Just a little. Enough to frown and get her attention on him and him alone.

It worked. She caught his gaze and he didn't dare let it go, looking at her with such concern that she momentarily forgot where they were, who they were with, and who might come walking out any second.

In that moment, Elise wasn't sure what to do. At all.

Do I...do I say hi? She wanted to. Every part of her was begging to do just that, for the familiarity, if nothing else. It's what made sense to her, only this situation was a little less than typical, and she figured it probably wasn't ideal. No, that's dumb. Don't do it. The voice in her head was timid, and with the way Luke was looking at her right then, she could've sworn he could hear her every thought.

He couldn't, of course. But he could see her mind working, and he could guess with ease just how much his girl was overthinking—for lack of a better word—everything.

Instantly, he felt bad for putting her in that situation. Luke knew he shouldn't have said what he did. It was reckless, and certainly not the time nor the place to start insinuating about their secret relationship when Luke wasn't even entirely sure who was within earshot.

In fact, once this occurred to the boy, he internally panicked, eyes glancing quickly around the room just in case he'd somehow missed someone.

Truth be told, he half expected to see Calum or his trusty duo gaping at him, but instead he found an otherwise empty café, excluding the three pairs of eyes already on him.

Thank fuck, he breathed out, chest deflating in momentary relief that he hadn't accidentally gotten his girl in trouble, for that's all he was worried about. He really couldn't care less about what might happen to him.

"Jesus Christ," Cassie muttered suddenly, and all eyes were on the eccentric girl. "You know, it's honestly a miracle that you two have kept this a secret for this long,"

She was entirely too nonchalant with her words, which rang heavy in Elise's ears with panic and utter shock. She knows?! The poor girl was at such a loss for words, she could barely comprehend the thought.