Imagines and One-Shots (Book Three)

Ways to Say I Love You (Luke Hemmings)

"Do you need help with that?"

You tried everything.

You tried hitting it against the table top, you tried your shirt, you tried using the random rubber back you found in your pocket, but nothing worked.

You just couldn't get that damn jar open.

You were in the middle of grumbling a string of curse words to yourself when you felt a new presence sit in the seat across from you. You looked up to find a blonde-haired boy who looked to be about your age looking at you with a small smile on his face.

"Do you need help with that?" he asked. You just stared at him, causing him to elaborate. "You've been struggling with that jar for like, 10 minutes," he shrugged, "It's starting to hurt to watch if I'm honest."

And since you were sick of trying yourself, you huffed in annoyance at yourself for being unable to do it on your own and put the jar on the table, sliding it to him. It seemed like the moment his hand was on the lid, it popped off. You growled again softly at how effortless it was for him as he pushed the jar back across the table.

"You loosened it quite a bit," he said, obviously trying to make you feel better. You finally giggled under your breath, making him smile again.

"I'm weak – you can say it," you told him.

"Hey, I would never talk down about someone I don't know," he informed you.

"Thanks," you whispered, letting out another soft breath of amusement.

"No problem," he smiled, "Glad I could help. And if you ever need any help again, just ask for Luke." It was then that you actually noticed he was wearing a nametag, silently letting you know that he worked there.

"Luke," you nodded in confirmation. He smiled again before getting up and heading back behind the counter.

~

"Stay there. I'm coming to get you."

Obviously, you and Luke started talking a lot more after your first meeting. You wondered how you never noticed him before when you spent a fair amount of time in the diner, but he informed you that he'd only been working there for a few weeks and he'd somehow never seem you before either.

Luke was almost a picture perfect version of you in that you both liked the same music, your style was fairly similar, and you both knew just what to say to make the other laugh in situations where it wasn't exactly appropriate. Essentially, you couldn't have created a friend better than him even if you tried.

It was another Friday night – Luke was at home and you were sitting outside of one of the fancier restaurants in town. You'd had a date that night and Luke had insisted you called him afterwards to make sure you got home safe as well as to talk about how it went. But as you were sitting on the bench, watching the cars go by, you dreaded the moment you hit 'call'.

"Hey, Y/N!" you heard Luke's usual cheerful tone after he answered his phone, "How'd your date go?"

"There wasn't any date," you mumbled.

"What do you mean?" You could just see his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"The date didn't happen; He never showed up," you sniffled softly, wiping the stray tears from your cheek. Luke was silent for a moment, but you heard him moving around and what sounded like him grabbing his keys.

"Are you still at the restaurant?" he asked as a door closed.

"Yeah," you whispered.

"Stay there, okay? I'm coming to get you."