cool » l. hemmings

xiv.

"You weren't lying when you said you'd pick some good road trip music," I told Luke over the song by Red Hot Chili Peppers currently playing through the car speakers. We'd been on our way to this adventure for almost an hour, with me going through the playlist on his phone that Luke created. I was impressed so far, but every now and then I'd find something out of place and poke fun at him for it. I found a song by Katy Perry a few minutes ago, and he defended himself by going, 'Katy Perry is hot.'

Still waiting to spot the band I'd told him specifically to put on here, even if it's at least once, the phone was taken from my hand. I looked up and saw Luke, who was smirking while still looking at the road, one hand gripped onto the steering wheel and the other moving his phone into his lap. "You can't just ruin the surprise of a roadtrip playlist, Michelle. That's not very exciting."

"I don't want it to be exciting, I want you to listen to my favorite band. You've made me listen to yours practically every day we walk to Ethan and Grady," I groaned, and decided not to grab for his phone back due to the fact that he'd dropped it in between his legs.

So I gave up, listening to the music that was on currently and I could see Luke's smirk still remain on his lips from the corner of my eye. Overdramatically, a sigh released from my chest and I leaned my elbow against the door, holding my head up with my fist. Of course, I was only joking, and I'm sure Luke and I have known each other long enough for him to figure that out.

"Wait." My hand reached over to pause the music for a second. "Weren't we assigned to do a project together in Renolds' class?"

"It's Saturday, and you're asking about school?" he glanced over at me with an 'are-you-joking' before his attention went back to the road. "But yes, we were. I have no clue what for, though." Luke moved to press play.

"You're helping me with school, you're supposed to know these things."

I watched him scoff and roll his eyes. "I'm your tutor, not your personal educational informant."

With another one of Luke's guilty pleasures - please, take a guess - playing in the background of this conversation, he completely disregarded what I was about to say and began rolling down the windows of the Jeep that he'd borrowed from his father, screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs.

While I'd like to say that I kept my cool, completely rock solid (both figuratively and musically) composure; I can't. After I laughed at him for the next thirty seconds, he smiled widely at me and yelled over the song, saying, "You know you want to!"

And so, there I was, driving down a completely empty road to our destination on quite possibly the hottest day in my existence, screaming Spice Girls lyrics with the weirdest boy who had the most confusingly unpredictable personality. But he looked incredibly happy being such an idiot, so this was alright.

"I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want," Luke sang in my face, with me laughing and deciding if I should ruin his moment or not.

Holding back another laugh from the look on his face, I said, "Well, what do you want, Luke?" He frowned and whined, protesting against my interruption of his enjoyment.

"You can't just ruin it like that, Michelle!" he paused, and then looked at me seriously. "But I do really want a kitten."

My cheeks were practically falling off from how much I'd smiled and laughed during the whole ride with Luke. Who knew Luke had such a weird side, especially one that enjoyed belting lyrics to songs from 1996. "You should probably get a kitten."

I wondered how far away we were from the destination of this adventure, looking out the window and seeing people walking along the pavement of the town we'd just now entered. "How far are we from this place you're most likely going to dump my body in?"