Wicked Temptation / l.h ✔️

22

~Delilah's POV~

After I got out of the shower I put on a pair of white sweatpants and a blue tank top, leaving my dark hair down to dry on its own. I brushed it out and stood in front of the mirror for a moment, straining my ears to try to hear if Luke was still in my bedroom. It was quiet, but I assumed he was still out there. Mom nor dad were home yet, of that I was sure, and it wasn't as if he'd leave me here alone.

I made sure I looked okay, that there was no trace on my face that would give away the fact that I had cried in the shower, and then I left the bathroom. Some part of me expected to find him still laying in my bed, but I was surprised when I stepped out of the bathroom and didn't see him there any longer. Instead, his large frame was stood over my dresser, causing me to furrow my brows as I flicked off the bathroom light. "What are you doing?" I asked, curious and confused. He glanced over his shoulder at me and watched me approach him, a slight frown on his face.

He turned his body towards me. "Your phone was ringing." He said, holding my phone in his hand. I looked down at it and saw it was on, though I wasn't sure how he got into it since I had a passcode on it. It was open to text messages between Tate and myself, or Luke more like, since I knew I had not sent the messages that were on the screen.

"You texted Tate?" I frowned, gently taking my phone from him before I began to read through the messages. I looked up at him and clicked off my phone, furrowing my brows. "That's invasive, Luke." I said, and he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "He kept calling you. I just was letting him know that you were in the shower." He responded, making me cock my head to the side. "You didn't have to tell him anything. Tate doesn't know that you basically have to babysit me, or he didn't, anyway." I sighed softly, turning away from him.

Luke grabbed me gently by my elbow before I could head over to my bed, forcing me to turn back towards him again. "I don't babysit you." He scoffed, and I raised my brows. "What would you call it, then?" I retorted. He didn't respond, funnily enough.

"What's with the sudden attitude, Delilah?" He asked, frowning when I yanked my arm out of his grasp, maybe a little too aggressively. I took a step away and looked away from him, staring at the floor. "I don't have an attitude." I muttered. He scoffed and I couldn't help but to glance up at him, catching the roll of his blue eyes. "Bullshit. You have an attitude now, and you had one before you went to shower." He insisted, giving me an expectant look.

I ran a hand through my hair and shifted on my feet, wishing desperately that he would just drop it before I started to cry again. "I don't." I said again, shaking my head. I couldn't even look at him when I lied this time.

All of the sudden, he gripped my face in his hand, his touch gentle but authoritative as he made me look at him again. I pursed my lips and felt my face burn, cursing myself silently for the way my heart skipped a beat, as if him touching my face this gently meant anything. "You're pissed about the fact that I rejected you?" He guessed, nearly making me cringe. It wasn't like I needed to be reminded of it. "No." I whispered.

He rolled his eyes and took a step closer, the disappearing distance between us making my foolish heart pound. "I-It's not like I don't get it or something." I blurted, trying to distract myself from thinking of how close he was growing. "I mean, I understand why. You think I'm naive and childish, and those aren't attractive qualities in a person." I said, my face burning in embarrassment. I didn't like admitting that I knew that he saw me that way, because nobody wanted their crush to think of them as those things. His grip on my face tightened a little bit. "I don't know exactly if childish is the word that I'd even use to describe you anymore." He said, surprising me. "Then what word?" I asked, unable to help myself from being curious. It was probably not good that I was itching to know more about the way I looked to him.

"You have more of this carefree attitude, like you're not even scared of falling from how high up you are." He told me softly. "All the time, it's like you just wedge yourself into your own little bubble and you don't care when people see you doing your own thing in it, even if it might be considered weird." He said, loosening his grip on my face until his hand fell away. I frowned, staring up at him. "You don't like me because of that?" I asked softly, biting my lip. To me, I didn't sound so bad. "I never thought you actually hated it that much." I admitted, looking up at him.

"I'm sorry." I squeaked, taking a step back so we weren't so close. He sighed and grabbed my arm again, pulling me back. "That's not it! I've actually grown rather...used to your behavior. Weirdly enough, I don't want you to change that or be embarrassed by it." He said. This probably should've made me feel better, but it just made me feel even worse after my head wandered for a second.

"What, then?" I frowned, furrowing my brows. "Am I not pretty enough to you?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Luke's brows shot up and surprise flashed across his face, having clearly been caught off guard by my question. He blinked down at me with his lips parted, giving me a look that I didn't really understand. "I can assure you, bubbles, that that is not it. If things were different, I'd have tried several times over to take you to bed. You're absolutely fucking mesmerizing." He assured me. The sheer honesty in his voice made my face burn, as I hadn't expected an answer like that. "Oh." I said weakly.

"But you and I are so different. I've never been in a relationship at all and I can guarantee that I'd fuck it all up. I don't deserve someone like you." He added hurriedly, and my heart fluttered before it suddenly stopped cold turkey. Instead I felt another round of hurt at his second rejection, but I didn't cry again because that would've made this even worse. "Just because we're different doesn't mean we wouldn't work." I argued simply, but there was no longer much sadness left in my voice because I knew he wasn't changing his mind. "But it's okay. I can't force someone into liking me."

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, biting his bottom lip. "I can't do this with you again, though. When you flirt with me and touch me, I just..." I felt my face burning, embarrassed by the things that I was admitting to him. "I already like you too much as it is, that's all, and I don't want to break my own heart by having this happen again." I said, staring up at him.

With parted lips and slightly furrowed brows, Luke stared down at me, seeming to be pondering over my words. "Okay." He muttered. I knew that I was the one who had suggested us to not have any more incidents like the one today, but I secretly felt a little upset that he had just agreed so easily. Maybe he didn't care at all about what had happened, but it was different for me. It had meant something to me.

We stood around in the middle of my bedroom for a while, staring at one another amidst the consuming awkward silence. I didn't know what else to say or do now, and it was probably the same for him. If the situation were different, he'd probably have left by now, but he couldn't because my parents weren't home yet. To be honest, I wasn't really sure if I was upset about the fact that they weren't here or not, because it meant that he wouldn't be leaving just yet. This awkward silence, though, was stifling, and I needed to get rid of it fast. I opened my mouth and then Luke's phone suddenly began to ring, causing me to immediately shut my mouth again as he pulled his phone from his front pocket.

There was a frown on his face when he looked at the screen, and then he answered the call and lifted it to his ear. I tried not to pay attention to what he was saying to whoever called him, so I turned away and began to fiddle awkwardly with the bottle of my perfume on my dresser, tapping my long nails against the glass.

"Um," Luke cleared his throat awkwardly after he had hung up the phone, making me look at him over my shoulder. He sighed deeply and rubbed a hand over his face, looking like he was hesitant to say whatever it was he wanted to tell me. I waited patiently, scanning my eyes over his features as I watched him think on it. Eventually he scratched the back of his head and let out another heavy sigh, meeting my gaze. "Your parents said that something came up at work, so they won't be getting home until early tomorrow morning." He told me, making me frown slightly. There was a look on his face that I didn't really understand at first, but I caught on pretty quickly.

This meant Luke would be staying the night with me.