Spark / l.h ✔️

21

~Coralia's POV~

I sat in the living room on Wednesday night, frowning to myself as I stared up at the ceiling. I'd just gotten home from spending the day with Quinn, only to find the apartment empty once again. Luke had been around even less than before. I hardly fucking saw him anymore. If I was lucky, I'd see him before work in the mornings and that was generally about it. It was lonely here. Quiet and lonely.

Quinn and I had spent the day shopping, eating out at restaurants or simply buying snacks, and we'd even gone to the arcade for a few hours. Even though I had been in the same clothes since I left the apartment this morning at ten AM, I didn't even bother to change once I'd gotten home. No, instead I just sat on the couch and did nothing, which still remained true. All I did was stare up at the high ceilings, listening to the silence.

My body was covered in a little purple slip dress, the breasts cups made of a solid color with purple lace over it. The rest, however, was a silky fabric in a light purple, my light purple purse resting beside me on the couch where I'd tossed it as soon as I got home. Hanging loosely from my shoulders was a light pink sweater that was made of wool, so it was really warm and cozy. I really loved it. My heels were a pink that perfectly matched the sweater and had a round closed toe, the straps wrapping around my ankles. Hanging from each strap was a little gold circle shaped charm and my hair was up in a high ponytail. Well, it had been, anyways. Now, it just fell down my back, since I'd taken it out of the ponytail when we got to the arcade. It had been pretty cold in there.

While I peered up at the ceiling, the front door suddenly began to unlock, causing me to lift my head and look over right as the door swung open. Not even five seconds later, Luke came walking in on his own, shutting the apartment door behind him as he tossed his keys onto the table beside the door. He locked the door and raised a brow at me. "What are you doing? Just sitting in here alone?" He asked, not sounding judgmental, but rather confused. I blushed and felt glad that he couldn't see because of my makeup, realizing I probably looked like I was moping around. The way I sat on the couch was more slouchy than anything.

"Yes." I answered flatly, staring back over at him. He raised a brow and shook his head lightly, making his way over to me. "No, really. What are you doing?" He asked, staring down at me as he stood beside the couch.

I huffed as I sat up more, peering up at him through my lashes as I frowned. "I just...I was waiting up to see if you would come home tonight." I confessed, biting my cheek. Not expecting my answer to be that, he just stared down at me for a little bit, his lips parted and his eyes filled with surprise. "You...You waited up for me?" He asked, furrowing his brows like he couldn't understand it. I smiled at him softly and nodded my head, letting my nails lightly scratch up and down my thighs. "Yes." I confirmed, biting my lip. He paused once more and frowned, looking genuinely confused and lost at that news. "But why?" He wondered, cocking his head to the side in confusion. He clearly didn't expect me to do that, not that that really surprised me or anything. I didn't usually do this, but....I felt compelled to, for some reason.

"Well...I don't know," I started softly, feeling a little bit shy and embarrassed. "I guess I just was worried. I haven't really seen too much of you lately and I was getting a little bit worried about it...I guess." I muttered quietly, crossing my arms over my chest as I peered up at him. He had a little smile on his face and he sat down beside me, his blue eyes scanning over my face. "You were worried about me?" He repeated, biting his lip softly when I nodded my head. "Why, though?" He wondered, cocking his head to the side. Biting my lip, I shyly shrugged my shoulders and looked down. "I think I've just...been a bit worried because I haven't seen you much. I don't really know how you've been or what you've been up to." I explained softly, sighing deeply as I looked back up at him. We had grown apart a lot, as roommates and as friends. It upset me, to be honest.

"There's nothing to be worried about, Cora. No even a little. I promise you, I'm completely great." He assured, giving me a little smile as he reached up to brush a strand of my dark hair out of my face. For a second, I frowned, uncertain. "You're sure?" I asked, raising a brow at him. "I'm positive." He hummed, scooting away from me a little bit. I felt the awkward silence that settled over the two of us like a blanket, thick and heavy. "So...where have you been, then?" I wondered, internally cringing at how clingy my words made me sound, even if I wasn't trying to sound that way. I was just curious as to where he'd been spending the last two weeks or so, that was all.

"With Lex." He answered, relaxing back against the couch. I paused and cocked my head to the side, frowning slightly. "Really?" I asked, sort of surprised. Okay, so I was a lot surprised. I felt like they still were pretty new in...whatever type of relationship it was they had, but who was I to judge or say anything? "Yeah. She lives in a really big ass apartment." He answered, causing me to pause. "Oh. That's cool." I said weakly, unsure why I felt my stomach churning just having to hear him talking about her. She was nice, but... I didn't want to hear about her and him together. "Yeah. Her bed's pretty fucking cool, too. It can lower and raise and it vibrates. Having se—" He started to say, but I held a hand up, cringing at his words. I couldn't stand to listen to that, not when I knew what he was going to say. "Please don't." I said awkwardly.

Luke chuckled and grinned at me, licking his lips. "Sorry, tiger." He apologized, shrugging in a very unapologetic manner. "So...what? You've just been absent because you're sleeping over at hers?" I asked, running a hand through my hair. He shrugged casually and nodded his head. "Yeah, basically. Not that there's a whole lot of sleeping going on, if you know what I mean." He said playfully, letting out a laugh when I scrunched my nose up in disgust. "Well, what made you come home tonight, then?" I asked, frowning slightly.

He casually stretched his arms out over the back of the couch, his left arm looping around my shoulders a little. The skin of his arm touched me, his fingers brushing against my arm very lightly. Involuntary shivers shot up my spine and goosebumps rose on my skin as I stared up at him, hoping that he didn't notice them. "Figured I'd come and see you, ya know?" He said, smiling. "Also, her roommate came home, so...felt like I had to leave." He admitted, causing me to frown a little. I was glad that he was back home, but that had kind of hurt my feelings a little because I realized that if Lexa's roommate hadn't come home, he would've just stayed there. He wouldn't have come back home, and I'd just be left here to worry by myself. He was here solely because he had nowhere else to be now, not because he wanted to see me or whatever. It hurt to know that.

The back of my eyes pricked with tears and I looked down, giving a light nod of my head. "So...are you and Lexa dating? She's your girlfriend?" I asked, to which he laughed and shook his head. It sounded like he thought that was a genuinely funny question of me to ask. "No, no. We're not dating and she's sure as shit not my girlfriend." He assured, an amused glint in his eye as he tossed me a smile. I frowned back at him. "We're just fucking, that's all." He answered finally, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing his ankles over one another.

"Really?" I asked, a little doubtful. "That's it?" I pressed, cocking a brow up at him. He smiled in amusement and nodded his head. "Yes, Coralia. That's it." He assured, chuckling softly at my persistence on getting my answers out of him. "You spend so much time with her, though. You're really telling me all you do is fuck?" I continued to ask, unable to drop the topic. To me, that didn't make sense. Even if she were just a type of booty call, this was no normal booty call. I had never heard of someone spending nearly every day with their booty call. That was highly unusual and I wasn't sure I bought it. There had to be something more there between them, something the two of them did other than just have sex.

"I mean," He began, letting out a heavy sigh. "No, okay? We talk a bit sometimes, but it's not usually anything grand. It's just like idle chit chat. Usually we just have sex or go places together. You know, out to eat or some shit." He explained, shrugging. I felt an odd clench in my chest and placed my hands in my lap, nodding my head. "Oh, okay." I mumbled awkwardly, not sure what to say. We both fell quiet after a while and the silence set in again, awkward and heavy. There was so much tension between us and I knew we both felt it, but neither of us really knew what to do about it. "Luke?" I said, playing with my nails. He met my gaze and raised a curious brow. "Yeah?" He asked. I looked at him for a moment, the question sitting like a weight in the back of my throat. I couldn't get it to leave my mouth. It just sat there, mocking me until I proved to it that I was a coward. I couldn't ask what I wanted.

Instead, I just gave him a weak smile and stood up. "Goodnight." I said quietly. I could've sworn there was disappointment in his eyes but he returned my smile, his looking just as shaky as mine. I turned around and headed to my room to go to bed.