in the crowd • luke hemmings

8. crush

luke and lola were both exhausted.

they hadn't seen each other since he'd visited her, and he still felt the same emptiness he did right after leaving her house.

for the past three days, he'd done nothing except train and fight. and sure, it had made him a decent amount of money, but it had also drained him almost completely.

once the adrenaline wore off, and he was back home trying to resist acknowledging how painful it was to simply shower, he realised how lucky it had been that time he had someone there to patch him up.

instead of his trainer inspecting him with calloused, uncaring hands just to be sure he wasn't injured too badly, someone touched him with care; with soft hands that had painted nails and that put pink plasters over all the cuts on his hands and face.

luke glanced in the mirror as he wrapped a towel around his hips, ghosting his hands over the bruises that crawled dangerously close to his eye socket.

he'd won the match, but it had been a close win, and luke had been in a half-hearted recovery all day. truth be told, part of him wished he had pink plasters decorating his hands again.

***

lola lay, curled up beneath her duvet and re-watching good omens for the millionth time since it had come out - and still managing to cry at it every time.

she was a mixture of tired and excited as a result of the showcase preparation, but something else was stirring within her as well.

she kept finding herself reminiscing back to drinking tea with luke, and how giggly and warm it made her feel. lola couldn't shake that feeling of liking him - he was just so pretty. being around him made her feel like she was melting a little, and any prolonged exposure would turn her into a little lola puddle.

she thought he was beautiful and intimidating (in a nice way) and deep down, really quite sweet and fun to be around.

she'd developed a crush and had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

it was too terrifying a thought to even consider asking him out. no, she needed total reassurance that he felt the same as her before she could ask him out.

part of her couldn't help but feel bad about having a crush on a boy she'd only met a handful of times; but the other part of her didn't care. she'd been in a committed relationship for two years beforehand - her first proper relationship, and she was happy she was moving on.

and besides, it was only a crush.

***

"hey man. was there anything in specific you wanted me to bring?"

"just whatever you want to drink man - oh michael said we're out of nutella and he wants pancakes so could you grab some please?"

"sure man, i'll come straight to yours after."

luke hung up and continued to wheel his empty shopping cart through the alcohol aisle - picking up a few cases of beer and a bottle of whiskey, before venturing on towards the aisle that would stock michael's nutella and coke to go with his whiskey.

as he walked idly through the store, dragging his feet slightly and cringing whenever his vans squeaked against the floor.

on his way to the checkout after picking up michael's nutella and coke, luke passed the aisle that contained boxes of teabags.

he turned slowly into the aisle, his gaze running over all the variations there were - luke had no idea you could get flower flavoured tea.