Pretty Girls ⇼ Luke Hemmings

When the door slammed open, I jumped up from my sleep, causing my laptop and cellphone to clatter to the floor.
“Goddammit,” I muttered to myself, not bothering to get out of bed to pick them up.
“You need to lock your fucking door,” Luke’s voice was loud and bounced off the walls of my dorm room.
“It’s broken,” my tone was cold and distant. I was angry that he’d woken me up and—looking at the alarm clock on Lea’s desk, I was even more angry that it was 3:30 in the morning.
“Then put it an order to get it fixed!” He ordered, slamming the door behind him.
“I did put in an order!” I shot back, not wanting to deal with his anger. I was much too tired.
“Oh, of course you did because you need control over everything!” I heard a clatter on my desk, followed by Luke saying: “Fuck.”
“If you came here just to be rude, then you should leave.” I told him, turning on the light on my nightstand and squinting to look at him.

He’d tried to set down a bottle of scotch and knocked it over, not bothering to pick it up as it spilt over my notes. I rushed over to the desk and picked up the bottle, trying to shield my notes from being ruined.
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped before whipping my head around to him and my face fell. He had a black eye and a busted lip with blood pooling from the cut. “What happened?” I asked, trying my best to calm down. When he didn’t answer, I walked over to my laptop and phone on the floor to inspect the damage. I sunk to the floor when I saw a large crack going across my phone screen, but my laptop seemed fine. I pushed my hair out of my face with a sigh and set the electronics on my nightstand before sitting on my bed. “This is just what I needed. To spend money to get my phone fixed,” I spat out. Luke scoffed, sitting next to me on the bed.
“You don’t have to be in such a bad mood. I said I’d come to see you, and I did. You should have expected me,” he countered and my lips parted.

“I didn’t expect you to come in the middle of the night!” I yelled, much louder than I intended. I hoped I didn’t wake my neighbors, but I didn’t care. “You said you’d text me at 6, and you never did!” Luke rolled his eyes and I felt like I didn’t have much patience left to deal with it.
“Well, sorry I don’t give you a play by play of my entire fucking life!” he spat and this time, I rolled my eyes. “If you weren’t such a control freak, it wouldn’t have mattered!” His angry words hurt me and I didn’t stop him as he stood up and took a drink from the scotch bottle that was nearly empty. I wonder how much he had to drink versus what he spilt all over my desk.

“You should go,” my voice was quiet and unsure, but I didn’t want to deal with all of this right now. Luke laughed, swinging his arm around and knocking my favorite mug off the desk. It shattered against the floor and I pinched my eyes shut. He was scaring me now, I’d never seen him like this and I wanted him to leave.
“What? Am I messing up your perfect fucking life?” he boomed, grabbing my notes and textbooks and throwing them off the floor before picking up the book we were reading in Literature and Power and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud bang, leaving a small crack in the drywall.

I wanted to cry, to scream at him and make him leave, but I wasn’t sure where that would get me. Instead, I took a shaky breath and hid my hands in my face. When I didn’t reply, Luke stopped throwing the items on my desk and placed the bottle of scotch back on the desk.
“I came here to spend time with you. I don’t want to fight,” his voice softened and I was shocked. How can he go from so angry to completely calm?
“Well I don’t want to see you right now,” I could hardly hear my own voice, but I prayed it was loud enough for him.
“Why not?” he asked, sitting next to me on the bed. I felt the mattress sink from his weight, but I didn’t look at him, I buried in my face further in my hands. “Valerie,” he urged when I didn’t respond. I couldn’t hold my tears in any longer and they were hot against the palms of my hands. I just wanted him to go away. This isn’t the Luke I know. This isn’t the Luke I was desperate to see earlier today.

“I got into a fight,” he finally told me what happened to him, but I didn’t care much to know anymore. I was angry at him. More than angry. He came in here, threw my stuff around, and started yelling at me. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. I lifted my face to stare at the wall and folded my hands together. Luke tried to wipe the tears from my cheeks, but I pulled away from his touch, to which he frowned at. “Garrett said some shit to piss me off, and I got into it with him,” he explained, even though I didn’t ask. I wondered who Garrett was, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of asking. “Garrett is May’s boyfriend,” he said, like he was reading my mind. I bit at my lip and he moved in front of me, holding my hands as he kneeled at my feet. I pulled them away, crossing my arms over my chest. “Come on,” his tone was now less than friendly. He was getting irritated by my lack of response.

“Luke, just go,” I pleaded and his eyes fell to the floor.
“Val, don’t kick me out.” It wasn’t an order, but it wasn’t a plea either. It was somewhere in between and I didn’t know how to decipher his tone. It was cold but caring and angry but calm. I didn’t know what he was thinking. I wanted to, but how was I supposed to ask? I was so angry at him that I couldn’t bring myself to speak. “Come on, I’m drunk.” It was like he thought that was an excuse for his actions. “You don’t want me to drive home drunk, do you?” He shot me a small smile and I rolled my eyes.

He was right, I didn’t want him to drive home drunk. It would kill me if something happened to him. I’d never be able to forgive myself. His blue eyes beamed into me and I had to look away. I couldn’t stand the desperate look. With a sigh, I pushed my hair out of my face.
“You can stay until you sober up, but then you have to leave.” I stood my ground and he smiled lightly before standing up and sitting next to me. Once he did, I stood up and turned out the light before walking over to Lea’s bed and pulling the covers back.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
“I’m going back to sleep.” I turned my back to him, pulling the blanket over my body. I’m sure Lea wouldn’t mind that I’m sleeping in her bed, given the circumstances. I wouldn’t mind if she was in my position. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times she’s had sex in this bed and if she’s washed the sheets and crinkled my nose in disgust.

Luke’s sigh broke me out of my thoughts.
“So come sleep with me,” his voice was quiet and I turned back around to look at him.
“No,” I rejected. “I’m angry with you.” He pouted at my words and stood up, sitting on the edge of Lea’s bed and I sighed. “Please just let me sleep,” I begged. “Luke, I’m tired.” He didn’t seem affected by my words as he pushed my hair back and out of my face. “Luke,” I warned and he nodded, but still soothed my hair down.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and I closed my eyes to prevent myself from crying again. When I opened them, I stared at the broken glass on the wood floor and the mess of papers surrounding it. Then, I stared at the crack in the wall. “I’ll just catch an Uber home.” His tone told me that he didn’t want to go, but I didn’t plan on stopping him. He stood up and downed the rest of the scotch before exiting the room. I thought about getting up to clean up the mess, or to at least move to my bed, but I didn’t. Instead, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

Notes

I updated the cast, check it out!