Luke Hemmings - Roommates

Making the team

Luke's point of view:

We were sat in one of the campus cafes together in one of the booths by the window but neither of us were talking anymore. The silence wasn't exactly an awkward one but I wouldn't label it as comfortable either, the silence was killing me inside. McKenzie seemed to be in her own little world of thought and I didn't want to interrupt her train of thought though so I just let the silence be, even though I so badly wanted to start a conversation. The waiter brought over our drinks and she came back to reality, smiling politely as she took her hot chocolate into her small hands. "So Luke what do you actually want to do when your older?" She asked attempting to start a conversation. It was weird how we were talking fine to each other on the way here and then we both went silent. There was no reason for us to go silent, we just sort of did. Neither of us seemed to have anything to say to the other and neither of us particularly tried to come up with a topic of conversation.

"I want to be part of a famous band but since that is very unlikely to happen I want to be a music teacher. What do you want to do?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going. I could not bear to sit through another ten minute silence.

"I really want to be a mechanical engineer and do lots of maintenance work." Yet again we both fell silent. I need to think of something to get us both talking again, I can't stand this any longer.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." She joked and I rolled my eyes at her with a small smile.

"You know what I mean." I groaned and she giggled ever so quietly at me. The sound floated to my ears and made my heart flutter in my chest. This girl had me wrapped around her finger and she hasn't even been in my life for a full twenty four hours yet.

"Yeah go on then." I probably wasn't going to get an answer but it was worth a shot. What's the worst that could happen?

"What happened between you and Chelsea to make you hate each other so much." She momentarily froze up and I instinctively held my breath, worried that I had pushed too far or had crossed some sort of line with her. Eventually though he took a deep breath and sighed before starting to explain and I allowed myself to breathe again.

"When I came up from Newcastle, which is where I am from, there were also two other people I know who came up here to study as well. Chelsea and some guy named Josh. Josh is my bestfreind, always has been and always will be but he didn't go to this school. He went to a sports college not too far away from here. Anyway Chelsea and I never got on very well anyway but then she started dating Josh."

"I'm guessing you like him." I interrupted feeling my heart sink a little bit in my chest.

"Oh god no. I love him but only as a friend. When he started dating her everything changed. She would always be with us from then on and because we already hated each other everything just got one hundred times worse. The final straw was when my brother died. I was at Josh's house and needed it to be just me and him for once so he told her not to come over but guess what she did."

"She came over anyway."

"Yep and agitated the fuck out of me until I ended up punching her and giving her a black eye. She said some things that she shouldn't have said and I reacted in the exact way she wanted me to. Ever since we were little she wanted to get Josh to hate me and I don't know why. Since then we've constantly been at each others throats."

"I'm surprised you didn't do more than give her a black eye." McKenzie seems like the type of girl who talks more with her fists than her mouth. I can tell that and I've known her for less than a day.

"I would have if Josh wasn't holding me back. My turn to ask a question then." She said and I shrugged taking a sip of my drink. "What's the name of your band?"