Please vote and comment bc that would be cool thanks
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6 classes and 2 hours of homework later, Luke had managed to wrap his head around exponential functions, but the same couldn't be said for figuring out what to get Ellie. He was sat in his room, books sprawled across his desk, with his chin resting on his hand. His mind wandered back to the group of people who had been staring at him and Ellie. He still didn't know who they were, but they had given him the same look multiple times during the course of the school day, both in and out of class. Had he done something to them that made them dislike him? Luke doubted it. He never really did anything he thought would anger anyone - and if he did, it was completely out of sheer clumsiness or awkwardness.
He brushed the thought away and decided that only if it continued would he let it bother him. If he returned to school the next morning to the greeting of the same stares, then he might ask what it was all about. But, until then, there was no point making a mountain out of a molehill.
Luke looked at the piece of paper in front of him that had a few scrawled words written on it.
Bracelet
Necklace
Food
They were the only things he could think of buying for Ellie. The more he stared at them, the less he liked the idea of each of them. The first two were something that boyfriends got for their girlfriends, and that sure as hell was not what Luke and Ellie were. And the third one, well, that was just written down in a moment of utter desperation.
He remembered how beautiful that damn ring was, and how it looked even better resting against the pale skin of her neck. What made it even worse was that he knew exactly how much it had meant to Ellie - just as much as it had meant to him. Though he knew he shouldn't have, Luke began to wonder if he had over-reacted to what Rick had asked him to do. I mean, he had clearly been doing this for a long time and had never gotten caught. What were the odds that it would happen the one time Luke did a run for him? After all, it was just one run.
Half of Luke's mind agreed with him, but the other half was urgently begging him to come back to his old self; to stop this ridiculous reasoning. It was as if there was a little red devil perched on his left shoulder, whispering all the things he wanted to hear into his ear, while the angel on his right desperately tugged at his chin to try and pull him back to the side of rationality.
You can guess which side won.
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Luke pulled his jacket around him as he walked, the wind whipping around him. He'd parked his car in the same place as he had the last time, but the walk towards the familiar building seemed much longer now. The closer he came to the door, the more uncertain he felt. Was this a wrong decision? Had he just made a stupid decision on impulse? The figure on his left shoulder whispered a strong 'No', while the one on his right whimpered a meek 'Yes'. Once again, victory lay with the one it shouldn't have. And Luke knew it shouldn't have. And yet, he allowed it to anyway.
The bell above the door rang when he entered, the familiar sound sending a slight shiver down Luke's spine. A figure looked up from the counter, a wicked smirk spreading across their face as they recognised Luke.
"Well," Rick spoke, "Lookie who we have here."
Luke scowled and walked until he reached the counter.
"What's up, Blondie? Here for your precious ring again, are we?" Rick teased, raising his eyebrows.
Luke's jaw tensed and he took his hands out of his pockets, resting them on the counter in front of him. He debated whether to correct Rick and tell him his real name, but he decided that considering what he was there for, maybe that wasn't the best idea, after all.
"Actually, yes," he replied evenly, "I am."
Rick rolled his eyes and huffed out a sigh.
"Listen, I already told you. You can't afford it, and there's only one other way I'll give it to you. And I think we can both agree that you're not meant for that kind of stuff. I'd be surprised if you didn't actually shit yourself while running out of here last week."
He let out a laugh and shook his head to himself.
"If just the mention of it sent you into that panic, I could only imagine what actually doing it would do to you. So, if I were you, I'd turn around and go back out that door you just walked in. You don't need to die of a heart attack, and I don't need a pussy fucking up my errands. You're not getting your ring, get over it. It'll take more than a ring to get that girl to like someone like you, anyway."
With that, Rick turned and walked away, starting towards the door Luke had followed him through the last week. His last words felt like a blow right to the stomach. Just as he opened the door to the storage room, Luke's voice caused him to stop in his tracks.
"I'll do it," it rang through the air.
Rick's head dropped down for a second, and when he turned around, he wore a smirk that made Luke's heart hammer in his chest. His stomach dropped, telling him that he was making a huge mistake.
And he knew he was.
But, yet again, he allowed himself to, anyway.
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A/N: What do you guys think so far then? :-)
If you could comment, that would be cool bc I spend ages writing these and no one bothers to comment lmao not cool
~L.
