The Art Of Love / l.h ✔️

7

~Fae's POV~

"Stop it!" I exclaimed to Josh, glaring at him as we walked out of the school at the end of the day. There was a stupid grin on his face and he wiggled his brows at me playfully. "Aw, poor little Fae." He teased, bumping his hip against mine. "Does someone have a date?" He grinned, but I just glared at him.

"It's not a date!" I exclaimed, narrowing my eyes up at him in annoyance. I'd told him that Axel and I had plans together tomorrow, and I could see now that I had made a grave mistake in doing that. In my defense, though, I'd only told him because he had kept whining that he wanted to hang out with me. This was technically his fault that we were having this conversation now.

Josh snickered and threw an arm around my shoulders, tugging me far too close into his side. "Oh, it's not? So...you guys are just going out to have an excuse for bumping uglies?" He asked, causing me to gape up at him. "No, Josh! Absolutely not!" I squealed, feeling an embarrassed blush creep up my chest, through my neck, and into my cheeks. He cackled like an idiot and playfully pat me on the head. "You know I'm just teasing you, Fae. Of course I know that's not the case. Stick in the mud, remember?" He hummed, giving me a playful wink as I sent him another glare. He liked to tease me about that at any chance he got, and Maria liked to bring it up in general. Sometimes I thought maybe she secretly hated me.

"You're dumb." I said to him, smiling a little to myself as I headed in the direction of my bus when I saw it arrive. Ms. Harding hadn't been late at all, thankfully. "I'll see you Monday." I said to Josh, pulling him into a quick hug, having to push up onto my toes a little. His long arms wrapped around me in a hug, giving me a light squeeze before he and I pulled away from one another. I smiled and then turned around, quickly heading over to the bus and getting on. When I was walking, a boy that I recognized as Elliot suddenly stuck his leg out before I had the chance to even process it and, like a proper idiot, I tripped over his foot.

I gasped and stuck my hands out, my eyes squeezing shut as I expected to hit the floor. However, I didn't. Before I could, a strong arm wound around my waist and yanked me back up, causing my body to relax as I sighed in relief. "You should really watch your step, dove." I heard Luke mutter as he quickly unwound his arm from around my waist now that I was steady on my feet. I blushed and quickly walked ahead, my head ducked down in embarrassment. It had been my fault for completely tripping over Elliot's feet and not paying attention.

When I reached our seat, I slid in first until I was pressed against the window side, my back flat against the seat. Luke slid in next, his biceps flexing as he gripped the back of the seat in front of us when he sat down. As he plopped into his seat, he released the back of that seat and instead relaxed back against the chair, his arm brushing mine. His proximity to me made his scent fan into my face, that scent of warm, earthy tone that reminded me of an amber-like scent causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. I never noticed how nice he smelled.

While the bus engine rumbled as the bus sat idle in its place, I looked out the window, feeling like I physically was not allowed to look at Luke unless he wanted me to, if we were talking. I was like that with everyone, honestly. Staring at someone you weren't speaking to was weird to me.

As I looked out the window, I felt Luke shift from beside me, causing his leg to lightly brush against mine. Not even a second later, his leg was gone again, so I knew he must've felt the contact as well and freaked out as I'd done. But then, no more than two minutes later, he shifted again as the bus began to move. Suddenly, I felt his leg against mine again, this time much firmer than before. The fabric of his pants pressed into my bare thigh, my body lightly bouncing as the bus drove out of the school's entrance and down the road. Even though the fabric tickled a little, I didn't want to move my leg, so I just left it as it was.

I continued to stare out the window, watching as world passed by me in flashes. My mom had always teased me for it and said I was likened to a dog, but I loved car rides. They were calming and peaceful, a time for me to lose myself in my thoughts and watch the world passing through the window, watching other people pass by in their cars. While I was looking out the window, thinking of what exactly it was I needed to do when I got home, I felt another light brush on my thigh. It was so light it was almost like it wasn't there, but I knew it was because it didn't feel like pants. It felt like skin on skin. I paused and stared out the window, resisting the urge to move. Maybe I'd just been imagining ever feeling that on my thigh and it'd actually been nothing.

However, I knew it wasn't when I felt it again, this time longer and not as soft as the first time. Surprised, my head whipped over to Luke and I shyly pulled my legs far away from him, letting my hands anxiously curl into the sleeves of my sweater. His blue eyes flicked up to meet my dark brown ones for a moment, and then he looked down at the spot he'd been touching for a second, hesitantly dragging his finger down over the skin there. "What's that?" He asked lowly, tracing the long scar that was along the side of my left thigh. My scar was pretty light, so nobody could see it much in the direct sun light, but I guess it was dark enough to see it in here.

"A scar." I responded, placing my hand over the mark so that he wouldn't be able to touch or even look at it anymore. I'd had it for years and sometimes I still got embarrassed about it, nervous about it.

Luke stared at me a second. "I see that," He acknowledged, nodding his head. "When did you get it?" He wondered, and I could tell he was trying to get all the information he could out of me without directly asking what happened and why I had it. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't have gotten an answer to a question like that. "When I was thirteen." I answered softly, feeling uncomfortable and awkward. Even my friends didn't know the story behind that scar and there was no way Luke would be knowing it either. Only my parents knew about that scar and how it got there.

He must've gotten the hint that I didn't really want to talk about it, especially not with him, because he fell quiet again. It was quiet between us for the rest of the ride, but I could still feel the tension of that unasked question the whole way home.

**

Axel ended up taking me out for dinner to a pretty restaurant looked way too fancy. It was very nice and I thought it was sweet of him, but it seemed like a bit much for it being just me. "Axel, this looks expensive." I said as we pulled into the parking lot, which was very crowded. He looked over at me and merely shrugged, giving me a smile. As I unbuckled my seatbelt, I softly bit my cheek. "Are you sure about this? I don't want you to have to spend a whole lot on me." I sighed, looking over at him with a furrow in my brow.

He just chuckled and nodded his head, running a hand through his messy hair. "I'm fine with it. Now come on, angel." He insisted, unbuckling his own seatbelt after he cut the engine. The two of us headed inside the restaurant, taking a seat at one of the tables after the waiter led us to our seats. We sat opposite of one another and he grinned at me as he opened the menu.

"Well," He hummed, "I suppose now would be as good a time as any to get to know you."