in the crowd • luke hemmings

31. gingerbread house

"i can't believe november is already almost over." luke said absentmindedly; his attention more focused on the punching bag in front of him.

this time, lola had visited him while he was training- driving straight there from her own class.

she lay on the bench, luke's hoodie laying beneath her so it didn't hurt her back to much, legs stretched up in the air, swaying ever so slightly.

every so often, luke would glance away from the worn leather of the punching bag, a warm feeling spreading over his chest at the sight of the idle smile on lola's face as she flexed and pointed her feet.

"yeah." lola mused, stretching her legs out into a splits before letting them fall and dangle to the floor. "i'm so excited for christmas though."

"yeah?"

"yeah." she sat upright, with a smile on her face that was sweeter than luke felt he deserved when his knuckles were tearing through leather.

lola let her head loll to the side as she continued to watch luke, an unintentional smile pulling at her lips at the sight of luke's muscles flexing with every move he made; the sickly yellow tinge in the light doing nothing to detract from the ethereal way his pale skin still managed to glow beneath it.

"what are you looking at?" luke's playful taunt pulled lola from her daze, and she felt a dark flush cover her cheeks as his eyes surveyed her closely, a smirk that held way more than a hint of cockiness on his face; fingers working to unwrap the tape on his knuckles almost tauntingly.

too flustered to even try thinking of a reply, lola ducked her head down to try and hide the blush on her cheeks and mumbled a weak "stop" as luke made his way over to her.

cooing at the shy smile that he'd elicited from his girlfriend, luke reached out to cup her cheek, bringing her head up to face him and ran his thumb over her lips before kissing them with an equal gentleness.

"let's go home now sweetheart."

***

lola's living room was bathed in a multitude of softly glowing colours, each casting a small, saturated halo across her photos and furniture; making the room feel somehow more cosy than it had before.

long strings of multi-coloured christmas lights were entangled not only around the tree stuffed into the corner of the room, but around the whole perimeter of the room itself; obscuring the faces in family photos until they were just bright and blurred.

the tree itself was taller than luke - which he hadn't expected - and every single inch of it was covered in glittery, christmassy mess that felt so unfamiliar to luke and yet so so right.

he'd never seen a tree sparkle so much.

he'd also never seen the christmas sweater that had been hidden at the back of lola's drawers; a questionably large knitted sweater with strangely hypnotic reindeer and snowflake patterns that hurt luke's eyes if he looked at her for too long - which he did not like.

the catalyst to lola's frenzied festive decorating was a single glimpse at a house on the drive home that was covered in christmas lights.

with her face pressed up against the cool glass, her breaths just almost obscuring her view, lola all but screamed at luke to slow down so she could properly appreciate the battered, inflatable santa on the front lawn - which luke found absolutely terrifying, though he didn't admit it.

radiating pure ecstasy, lola became a whirlwind of inhuman speed once they'd arrived back at her apartment, showering and changing into her christmas sweater before luke even had time to comprehend what was going on - then, without even knowing what he'd gotten himself into, he'd agreed to help her decorate her apartment.