ᴋʟᴜᴛᴢ | ʟʀʜ

𝟏𝟔. 𝐈 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

At around eight-thirty in the morning, Alina woke up; she usually slept in until later but she had fallen asleep early last night and had slept good.

Confused as to the reason why, she sucked in a quick breath as her foggy mind cleared and she felt someone's arms wrapped tightly around her.

The memories flashed back and Alina recalled how he had comforted her. She had cried and they had held each other.

And now Luke was spooning her.

"I know that you're awake, klutz," his husky morning voice suddenly spoke, the sound and feel of his lips just brushing against her hair sending small shivers down her spine.

How the fuck? Alina thought with a groan. Was it the way that I held my breath? I need to work on my breathing patterns..."Hi," she chirped awkwardly, twisting her body around to face him.

Fuck me. Luke sucked in a breath at the movement before getting out of bed. "Morning. I-I'm gonna go to the bathroom," he said quickly, shuffling out of the room in his grey sweatpants.

"Ok," Alina yawned, reaching over to grab her phone on the bedside table. Last night she put her phone away after Matt's call, so she missed a few texts.

She ignored Nina's text of "sweet dreams ;)" with a small laugh; the tall girl must have seen them last night, but she didn't know the full story. It was just friendly cuddling, Alina told herself. I cuddle with Nina and Calum.

Sitting upright now, Alina moved on to Ashton's text messages from Thursday evening:

Ashton xD Wanna hang out tomorrow?

Alina I'm free whenever :D

Ashton xD 10? I'll pick you up and we can walk to the park

Alina Sounds good!

Ashton xD See you then

About eight minutes later — the time it took for Ashton and Alina to text and agree on an hour for their walk in the park — Alina left her bedroom to go to the kitchen, searching for Luke.

As she entered the empty kitchen, the bathroom door creaked open and Luke exited with partly flushed cheeks and bed head.

Keeping her teasing comments to herself, Alina asked with a smile, "Did you sleep well?" She poured him a glass of water, following with one for herself.

"Not too bad...once your leg stopped trying to push me off the bed," Luke joked, clearing his throat as his voice was still rusty from his deep sleep. He thanked her for the water and took a sip, exhaling at the refreshing taste. "How about you?"

The girl scoffed at his exaggeration; she doubted that she moved around that much in her sleep. "Alright," Alina said with an air of nonchalance. He didn't know that she struggled with insomnia and didn't want him to know. If she told him that last night she had slept the best she had in a while, Alina feared that he would overanalyze this fact.

"Hey," Luke put a hand on her shoulder as she reached for the freezer to pull out some frozen pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. "Thanks for letting me stay here. And-and if you ever need someone to talk to or a-a shoulder to cry on...I'm here, klutz."

Her heart swelled at his words, filling her with a joy she would never replace. "Thanks, Luke. I appreciate it. Really," she smiled, her eyes avoiding his bashfully. Alina knew how to deal with cocky, sassy Luke but not soft, shy Luke.

He nodded and then let his arm fall stiffly at his side before walking over to sit on a stool. Luke didn't know what else to do with himself, so he sat as she microwaved for both of them.