"Is it just me or is this music playing too loud?

All the kids dressed in black really getting me down

Mother warned about hanging with the wrong crowd

Gotta get out, gotta get out"

✰

Arlo found herself standing in front of Hemmings Bookstore.

She didn't know for sure what prompted her to drag herself out of bed before noon on a Sunday morning and walk the nearly three miles to the shop, but here she was. She'd also found herself spending an extra ten minutes to braid her hair out of her face rather than leaving it wild and natural like usual.

The book Luke had given her weighs heavy in her backpack, practically burning a hole in the fabric. She was sure Luke had plenty of money in order to own a business at such a young age, but it still bothered her that he'd just given her a book.

They didn't know each other up until that moment and she couldn't possibly figure out why he'd be so kind to a stranger. Luke had asked about Calum, but Arlo didn't think being neighbors with Calum warranted her a free book.

With a shaky inhale, her hands grip the doorknob of the shop, a little bell ringing above her as she enters. She cringes at the sound, her heart racing for reasons she doesn't quite understand. Arlo chooses to chalk off the nerves stirring in her stomach as yet another effect of having social anxiety.

But, if she was being honest with herself, she knew her stomach was turning in an entirely different way. When she was anxious her palms would shake and her throat would feel as if it were closing in on itself.

As she enters the doorway of the shop, closing the door behind her as gently as possible, she takes note of the fact that she can breathe just fine and her hands aren't having the slightest bit of trouble.

Immediately, she sees him.

Luke is sitting on a stool behind the counter, his back hunched in a way that just can't be comfortable as he uses his arms to protectively shield whatever is in his lap, despite the fact that besides her, the shop is empty.

When Luke was writing, there was almost nothing that could break him out of that trance. He hadn't even heard the bell that signaled Arlo's arrival.

"Hi."

His head snaps up, finding the very girl he'd been writing about standing on the other side of the counter. Luke scrambles to slam his notebook shut, quickly shoving it out of her sight and under the counter.

"What are you doing here?" He asks skeptically. Luke hoped she wasn't trying to give him money for the book again. He sure as hell had no problem being harsher to get his point across.

"To buy another book." She shrugs her shoulders simply.

Luke leans his elbows on the counter between them, bringing their faces much closer than she was prepared for.

Her eyes widen almost comically. When he's this close she can see every detail of his face down to the different shades of blue in his eyes.

"You finished the other one?" Luke's voice is low and with the lip ring hanging from his bottom lip, Arlo just can't help the way her eyes drift down to his lips.

There's a beat of silence between them. Arlo is too entranced by his features to form a response and he notices, a smirk tugging at his pink lips as her mouth opens and closes, searching for a response.

"Well... no." She says finally, swallowing nervously. "But I want another one."

Luke's enjoying this- maybe a bit too much. The way her chest has begun to heave at their proximity, how her eyes have dilated, the shakiness in her tone. His effect on her is clear and he fucking loves it.

"You didn't like the other one?" Luke quirks a brow, solely for the sake of drawing the conversation on longer.

When it came to Arlo, she always seemed to unknowingly have the upper hand between the two of them. From the moment she stumbled wide-eyed into the shop to the way she'd ventured selflessly across the street into a party she definitely didn't belong in, just to try and pay him back.

Her lips part at Luke's insinuation- one he totally hadn't made in order to get a reaction out of the girl who seemed too nice for her own good. "No!" Arlo protests instantly, twisting her body around so she can dig in her bag.

Luke watches in curiosity, his head propped up on his chin as he finds satisfaction in how flustered she is becoming. His own lips part when she produces the book he'd given her only yesterday from her bag, the pages already littered with multicolored tabs.

"Look, I'm like a quarter of the way done." Arlo explains desperately, not wanting Luke to assume that she was ungrateful for the book he'd gifted her. "I'd probably be halfway done if I didn't spend so much time annotating, but I can't help it, it's my favorite part-"

"Arlo." Luke says, her name rolling off his tongue cockily.

Far too occupied with proving her liking towards the book, Arlo begins flipping through the pages, a few pieces of her brown hair falling from her braid. "See, my favorite part so far-"

"Arlo." He repeats more firmly this time.

The tone of his voice is enough to have her stopping in her tracks, eyes darting up to meet his own as a shiver runs down her spine. "Yeah?" She chokes out, suddenly struggling to find air when Luke is so, so close to her.

"I was just fucking with you." A smirk tugs at Luke's lips, his lip ring glinting in the low lighting of the bookstore at the movement.

"Oh." She blows out a breath, her eyes falling to the counter. Looking Luke in the eye suddenly feels too intimidating. "Right."

For a split second, Luke feels bad.

He resists the urge to frown as he realizes he'd cut off her rambling about something she was clearly passionate about. Luke opens his mouth to tell her to continue, or ask her a specific question about the book in her hand- but he doesn't get the chance.

Luke is quickly silenced as the bell on the door of the shop rings, signaling a customer. Even if it hadn't, he'd forgotten that she was with Calum.

Get a fucking grip.

As soon as the thought crosses his mind Luke finds himself losing his sanity for an entirely different reason. No other than his parents walk through the door, fully clad in designer shit they valued more than their own son.

"Son." Luke's father greets, completely discarding the girl in front of him.

Luke finds himself thankful for this, knowing how his father can be. He almost leans down to whisper an instruction to Arlo in order to send her to the back of the shop and far, far away from his parents.

"Dad." Luke responds gruffly, his eyes narrowing on his mother as she seems to be mentally picking the shop apart.

The thing was, even though the shop technically belonged to Luke, he knew his parents could take it away. They're prone to checkups in the hopes of finding him fucking something up in order to have an excuse to take the one thing he owns away from him.

Luke's parents hated him. Plain and simple.

They'd turned their backs on him as soon as he dropped out of school. Luke's brothers were hotshot lawyers and his parents were in the profession as well, so it was only expected of Luke to follow the same path.

But he just couldn't.

Luke knew if he forced himself through the hellish schooling to become a lawyer and then went on to spent most of his life behind a desk, he'd end up blowing his fucking brains out.

He didn't exactly have a plan for the future, but he did have his notebook and the bookstore. Those were his and he'd be damned if he let anyone, especially his parents take them away.

Luke was extremely close to his grandfather when he was growing up. He inherited his love of literature from his grandfather and grew up spending after-school afternoons sprawled out on the floor of this very bookstore while his grandfather ran the register.

When Luke's grandfather passed away, he passed down the bookstore to him. Luke was pretty fucking sure his grandfather didn't envision his grandson sleeping in the store every night when added it to his inheritance, but either way, he was thankful.

But, his parents were hot-shot lawyers and Luke knew if it came down to it, they could take the case to court and easily snatch the shop right out of his hands. No matter how morally fucked that would be.

He didn't put it past them. If they were self-centered enough to shun their son for not wanting to follow in their footsteps, they'd have no problem taking what his dead grandfather left for him.

Luke's father crosses his arms across his chest, his eyes narrowing on the aisles of the store- more so the emptiness of them.

"I thought the last time I was here I told you to get some employees, boy? You can't run a goddamn business by yourself, Luke." His father scolds him, causing Arlo's eyes to widen at his tone.

She'd been severely uncomfortable since the couple walked in the door. Not because they were Luke's parents but because of how mean they seemed, to put it simply.

Arlo debated slipping out of the shop several times during the staring contest Luke and his father seemed to be having, but something in her conscience told her to stay. It was obvious that their arrival had upset Luke and her instinct was to comfort him, even if she didn't realize it yet.

She wasn't sure how much good standing in shock was doing Luke, but the optimistic part of her brain chooses to assume her presence was doing something to help.

Luke flexes his fist under the cover of the counter, his throat tightening with a familiar anxiety that only his parents manage to bring.

He glances over at the small girl on the other side of the counter. She had no idea how much she was about to help him. Her own parents were never as harsh in the presence of others.

"She's right there." Luke narrows his eyes at his father. "Nice of you to fucking introduce yourself to my employee, dad."

"Langauge, Luke." His mother speaks up for the first time since she entered the shop. She had been too busy carefully picking apart every aspect of the appearance of the younger girl in front of her.

Luke's mom liked her, though she'd never admit it. She recognized Arlo to be the daughter of a businessman she'd assisted in winning a major lawsuit. Luke's mom figured she'd be a good influence on her rebellious son.

She was right in thinking that. But, Arlo would also be the one to send him spiraling to his lowest.

Arlo's cheeks flush as the attention of the entire store is on her now. She gapes for a moment, trying to gather her words. "Hi." She manages to get out finally. "Nice to meet you. I... uh work here."

Luke almost wanted to smack his hand against his forehead. She didn't sound convincing in the slightest. It was almost comical and he was sure if he wasn't so fucking stressed he might have found her stuttered words charming.

"Nice to meet you, dear." Luke's father flips a mental switch just like that, smiling warmly at the young girl in front of him. "Luke isn't working you too hard is he?"

Luke wanted to scoff, but he doesn't. Arguing will only make them stay longer.

Luckily, Arlo had her fair share of experience in faking things, especially when it came to her parents and their friends.

"Not at all." She smiles so charmingly that even Luke double-takes. "He's very hardworking himself."

Luke's parents both look to him in surprise to which he responds with a forced smile that says 'I told you so'.

"Alright, well we have a lunch reservation downtown." Luke's mother smiles politely, only talking to Arlo.

This makes Luke's blood boil. Despite hating his parents just as much as they hated him, deep down Luke would always want his mother's loving attention. He'd been begging for it for years in fact, even if he was too stubborn to admit it.

To see Arlo completely change his parent's mood, obviously impressing them within a matter of a few words when Luke had spent years trying to make them proud upset him beyond belief. It wasn't her fault his parents were assholes, but he needed someone to blame.

"Bye." Luke dismisses them coldly, his hands tightening on his notebook.

Only moments before he'd been peacefully writing in his notebook with some of his favorite songs playing lowly. He hadn't had a single customer all day and that was what he preferred. Although the store was fully stocked with books that needed to be sold, he didn't care about selling them.

As soon as the bell above the door rings once more, signaling his parents' departure Luke narrows his eyes on Arlo. "You can go now." He stands from the stool he was sitting on, prepared to see her out. "Thanks for lying to them or whatever."

Stunned by his sudden coldness towards her, Arlo takes a step back in surprise, her brows furrowing. "I actually came to talk to you, if you're not busy." She asks timidly, looking around the empty store.

"Was that supposed to be sarcastic?" He crosses his arms over his chest, biceps flexing under the material of his t-shirt.

"What?" Arlo asks incredulously, though once she realizes how her words may have come off due to the lack of customers in the shop, she gasps. "No! You were busy when I came in is all." She explains frantically, eyes falling to the notebook he'd discarded on the counter.

Every time Arlo had ever seen Luke, that notebook wasn't more than a few feet away. She'd only seen him a couple of times now to be fair, but she didn't think it was a coincidence the notebook seemed to be attached to him.

"What is it then?" Despite the harshness of Luke's tone, he can't force himself to be cold towards her any longer. Not even with the short-lived anger directed towards her after she charmed his parents.

He couldn't be an asshole to her.

Not when she stands in front of him with a baby pink ribbon tied in her hair to match the baby pink socks on her feet.

Not when he could tell that she'd spent longer on her makeup this morning- her lips shinier than normal and a certain glow to her cheeks he hadn't seen before.

Just as Arlo opens her mouth to respond, a rhythmic tapping begins echoing through the shop, bouncing off of the lattice windows in the front of the shop. It had begun to rain. Hard.

Luke exhales as it begins pouring outside, his eyes wandering over her before he can stop himself.

Who would he be if he forced her out of the shop in weather like this when there was no doubt the thin white top she wore would become soaked in seconds? He clenches his jaw painfully at the thought.

What fucking asshole would let such a pretty girl out into a rainstorm when she had spent extra time braiding her hair and carefully applying makeup to her face?

He was fucked.

Luke runs a hand through his short blonde waves, a stressed groan leaving his lips as he strides over to the front of the shop. He turns the 'OPEN' sign to display 'CLOSED' before making his way back over to her.

He nods his head towards the back of the shop. "Come on." Luke slyly tucks his notebook back under the counter where he hid it on the rare occasion a customer actually came in. "We're going to the back of the shop."

Arlo furrows her brows, still wary of his ever-changing mood. "Why?" She was sure he was on the verge of kicking her out.

Luke shrugs simply, his eyes darting away from her wide, curious ones. "You wanted to talk? We're gonna talk."