𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟐𝟗 | 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭

"What are you doing?" Was my mature response to Luke's perfectly reasonable question.

"We were signing up for a mega important, life-changing gig to make it up to Julie for bailing on her last night," Reggie explained, clearly not picking up on the tension that had cultivated in the garage.

"Right," I said, guiltily folding my arms in an attempt to hide the page. "Well, she's really mad at you guys. Like super mad."

"That's fair," Alex shrugged.

"That's why we signed up for the gig," Luke explained. "But, incase you missed my question, what are you doing?"

"I live here," I shrugged, my arms firmly pressed into my chest.

"Actually, you dead here," Reggie corrected, to which he received a high-five from Alex.

"Hey, what's that?" Luke asked.

The page was sticking out from behind me. What was a perfectly reasonable excuse to have a page hidden underneath my arms?

"Okay fine maybe I was looking at some old pictures of Rose and it reminded me of how nice she was - and how nice I'm not - so I came down here to apologise for last night but then you weren't here and I remembered why I was mad at you - or myself - or everyone - and then I saw your journal and I may have flicked through it and found Ruthless which - for the record - I refused to read the first time Alex tried to show it to me - sorry Alex - but this time I read it because I needed cheering up or, I don't know, I needed some kind of clarification that you heard everything I said yesterday and that you feel some type away about it because you've been avoiding it this entire time and it's driving me insane." I exhaled. "You're driving me insane, Luke."

Could I not have told a small, teeny-tiny, minuscule, white lie for once in my life? To save my breath? To be normal? To avoid having this conversation in front of the whole band? Apparently not.

"Thing overload," Reggie whispered, mostly to Alex. "Should we go?"

Alex nodded. "I can't even unthing this."

Alex and Reggie disappeared, leaving me and Luke alone. Sometimes, everything just pours out before I can turn off the faucet. It's one of my many charms. Who am I kidding? It's a major fault. The worst part is, I'd never realise what I've said until I've said it. Oh, dear.

"Ruth ... "

It was like he was waiting for me to cut him off. I had done it so many times already. It happened so often - he would say my name like that and I couldn't bare to hear anymore. But not this time, I let him off too many times. I needed something.

I shook my head and laughed. "You couldn't possibly expect me to say anything else right now, Luke. I've said it all. My cards are on the table - heck, they're on the floor and splattered all over the walls. Are you even dealt in?"

Luke didn't say anything. Instead, he rushed over and placed his lips on mine.

I could describe how it felt. That it was like all the stars had aligned. That the way he cupped his hands under my face made me smile. That his warmth made me feel like nothing else in the world existed. That this was the moment I had been waiting for. But that would sound too perfect - like I could escape my thoughts for more than a minute. I pulled away.

"What is it?" Luke asked, an inch away from my face.

"Luke, I didn't mean any of the things I said last night."

"I know."

"And I'm sorry I looked through your journal."

"Ruth," Luke laughed and caressed my cheek. "It's okay - "

"But it's not, though," I sighed. "It's not like me."

"I know," Luke said. "And I want to apologise for not kissing you sooner."

I blushed. "Shut up."

"No," Luke continued. "I was way too caught up in getting back at Bobby. I wanted to talk to you about, well, everything, but I didn't know what to say."

I smiled and held up the page I was hiding. "You already said it."

"Did you actually read it?" Luke scratched the back of his head. "It's not ready. I'm still working on it."

"Are you blushing?" I teased.

"No, I'm just cold," Luke mocked me from before and I couldn't help but smile. "Actually, now that I think about it, you still haven't given me my hoodie back."

"Well, it's either the hoodie or this," I wiggled the page in front of him.

"Keep the hoodie," He snatched the page from my hand. "It looks better on you anyway."

"Yeah, it really brings out my amber eyes and raven hair."

"Stop!"

"Make me!"

Luke started to tickle me.

"Luke!"

"I did tell you to stop."

"You wanna be left Ruth-less, or don't you?" I teased.

I was starting to lose my breath from laughing when I fell back onto the sofa trying to escape his wraith, he tripped and fell on top of me. The tickling stopped as amber met hazel. I liked not being the only one staring for once.

Our lips met again, and this time, it truly felt like all the stars had aligned. The way he cupped his hands under my face made me smile. The warmth of his embrace made me feel like nothing else in the world existed. That was the moment I had been waiting for. It was perfect.