Unbreakable | lrh

Chapter 1

February 18th, 2018

"I guess I just didn't realize the amount of drugs that would be around at a party like this." I laughed nervously, tugging at my dress as I rounded the corner of Halsey's New York City pad.

"Not so casual I guess, huh?" Jenna, my roommate and best friend said to me.

I could see people doing coke from the other room from where I stood.

It had been an incredibly long time since I had allowed myself to go to one of these parties.

I'm Ellie. Ellie Thomas, and known formally as Elise. I'm a model living in New York City, and right now it's the spring portion of NYFW. Everybody was in town, and after six months of avoiding this crowd, Jenna convinced me that coming tonight would be a good idea.

Kylie was in the corner talking to Kendall about something, and a few feet away I saw Halsey talking to some really tall blonde that had his back to me.

"Hey, I see Ashley, I'm going to go say hi." I told Jaclyn, walking away and over to her.

She caught my gaze in mid conversation with the blonde, immediately putting the conversation on pause to give me a hug.

"Hi! How are you?! Oh my gosh it's been so long," She gave me another squeeze before letting go, looking back at the blonde had been talking to that I know had a full view of.

I knew exactly who he was.

"Luke, this is Ellie, and Ellie this is Luke."

"Hi," I quickly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, reaching out my hand to shake his and was surprised at the contact when it happened. "Nice to meet you."

"You too, Ellie Thomas, right?" He cracked a smile, still holding onto my hand.

"Yeah, Luke Hemmings, right?" I teased back, slightly biting my lip.

"That's right." He nodded once, slowly letting go of my hand but kept his gaze on me.

I'd seen Luke around plenty of times, but we had never formally met. The last time I saw Luke at one of these parties, I was leaving the house as him and his girlfriend were yelling at each other outside and I saw him storm off. We had mutual friends, but somehow, we always managed to miss each other.

"Hey, where's your drink?" Ashley said, standing up a bit straighter. "Do you want something?"

"Oh, I just got here. I haven't had the chance to get anything yet. I just came over to say hi."

"What do you want? I'll go get it for you." Luke chimed, clearing his throat afterwards and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A vodka cranberry would be great actually." I said, taking him up on his offer and glanced quickly back at Ashley.

"Sure, I'll be right back." He smiled, then disappeared from where we stood.

"I know you just got here. He was checking you out when you walked in." Ashley laughed as she leaning back against the wall, fixing her blue hair. "He thinks you're pretty hot."

"What? Really? Luke? Luke Hemmings? Thinks I'm hot?"

"Yeah, are you really surprised? And you saw what you're wearing right? You are hot. Play your cards right and you might get laid tonight- if you want to."

"You know that's not really my style." I chuckled nervously, watching look at the bar at the other side of the room. "I've always thought he was really cute though, we've just never met before. It's weird how we haven't."

"Well, you know how territorial his ex was. It was hard enough just getting him to come tonight, but she's not welcome in this house and she knows it. She wouldn't dare."