"But don't you break my heart

You're the only guarantee I've got

Hold on a little longer I'll be back right to you"

✰

As it turns out, Luke and Arlo spent far less time in the ice cream shop than they expected. When Luke returned back to the table with two ice cream cones in his hand, Arlo said it was only right for them to take the treat to go.

It was mid-afternoon on a beautiful summer day and the ice cream shop was right in the center of town near one of Arlo's favorite places. The cherry blossom tree park. It had an official name, but Arlo had always just called it the cherry blossom tree park in her head. It made sense.

And well, when Luke learned that one of her favorite places was only right around the corner, he couldn't say no to her.

"I can see why you like this place." Luke comments as his eyes wander their surroundings.

They'd found a bench in the middle of the park, right next to a little pond where all of the cherry blossom leaves had fallen, creating a layer of petals over the water. Arlo's ice cream was melting fast and she was more than determined to finish it before the sticky substance had a chance to drip down her hand.

"I like to read here when it's nice." Arlo comments in-between licks of her ice cream.

Luke was trying really fucking hard not to look at the way her tongue was darting out to lap up the cool substance. He knew his head would fill with scenarios where her tongue was doing other things, and she didn't deserve that.

He clenches his jaw, averting his eyes to the pond in front of them. He didn't think he could keep from speaking his mind if he looked at her for too long. Luke feared he might accidentally let it slip how fucking pretty she looked or how much he liked the way her jeans looked on her.

He couldn't have that happen. Not when he knew that he couldn't be who she needed.

Who was he kidding? Arlo Abbott probably doesn't even see him as more than a friend. He worked in a bookstore and she loved books. That was all.

"So, you finished your book?" Luke asks, quirking a brow at the girl beside him. She was almost done with her ice cream, but she seemed to be savoring the last few bites.

He thought that was pretty fucking cute.

"Oh, I finished it." Arlo exhales, crossing her arms over her chest. There was a hint of frustration in her voice that caught Luke off guard. He'd never seen the girl anything short of happy. "I almost didn't, but I pushed through."

"Was it that bad?"

Arlo pulls her knees up to her chest, the toes of her sneakers hanging off of the bench. Seeing the way she had begun to balance her discarded napkins on her knees, Luke takes the trash and puts it with his own before setting it beside him.

Arlo pauses to smile at the simple action, her cheeks heating at Luke's thoughtfulness despite the frustration that had begun to course through her veins.

"It just made me feel so..." She huffs, twisting her lips to the side as she struggles to explain. "Hopeless, I guess."

Luke furrows his brows in confusion. "Why?"

Luke had always felt his emotions deeper than most. When he did something, he did it with his all. When he watched a tv show, he immersed himself into the lives of the characters. When he listened to music, he felt every single thing the artist meant for him to and more.

It was just how he was. He might not have been the best at expressing his emotions, but that didn't mean they weren't as intense as someone who could.

"For the entire book, the author built up to this great love story that defied all of these challenges." Arlo begins, covering her hands with the sleeves of Calum's hoodie that were just a bit too long. "It was inspiring and their story gave me so much hope for humanity. If I'm being honest I really have none because everyone kind of sucks and the romance that I've spent half of my life reading about probably doesn't exist."

Luke's lips part at her words. She was so, so intelligent and articulate with her words that he found himself hanging onto every syllable that left her lips in preparation for the next. What she said struck him in a way he couldn't really understand.

"I know it's fiction and I probably sound ridiculous getting so upset over a couple that doesn't even exist, but I just became so invested." Arlo shakes her head, her cheeks heating as she refuses to look in his direction. What if he thought she sounded crazy?

If she would have looked at him, Luke would have seen the hesitation in her eyes. Then, he would have made sure that she knew that he felt the same way sometimes too.

But, her eyes stay focused on her sneakers and as badly as Luke wanted to curl his fingertips under her jaw so she would look at him, he stays silent.

Arlo pauses suddenly, her face scrunching in discomfort.

"What's wrong?" Luke asks worriedly, watching as she extends her legs back towards the ground, her converse-clad feet no longer resting on the bench.

"Oh, I'm just taking off my hoodie." Arlo explains, a guilty look on her face as a result of the way Luke's own face had morphed into worry. "I was cold when I was eating my ice cream but now I'm sitting in the sun and I'm hot."

"Do you want to go to the bookstore instead?" Luke suggests. If she was too hot he had no problem lending her a cool place to sit and a glass of ice water. The last thing he needed was the girl having a heat stroke.

"No, I like it here- Unless you want to go to the bookstore." She winces.

Luke's eyes narrow slightly, his hand coming into contact with her thigh before he can even think about what he's doing. Arlo gulps, the contact of his hand on her mid-thigh burning through the thick fabric of her jeans.

"Don't do that." Luke says sternly. "Don't do something you don't want to just because you think it'll please someone else- especially not me."

Arlo's lips part at his words, her eye going wide at the low tone of his voice. Combined with his hand on her thigh she suddenly finds it harder to swallow. "Okay." She nods. "I won't."

A smirk fights to tug at Luke's lips at the way her eyes are fighting desperately not to drift down to where his hand is making contact with her thigh. "Good girl. Now do me a favor and take that hoodie off before you have a heat stroke."

And I really fucking hate seeing you in Calum's clothes. He wants to add

Arlo swallows, her hands clumsily reaching for the hem of the hoodie. Suddenly, the act of taking off her hoodie seems much more nerve-wracking with Luke's eyes on her. Despite the fact that she has a cropped tank-top underneath, there was still something intimate about it.

Or maybe she was delusional. Maybe.

As Arlo pulls the hoodie over her head, exposing a tan strip of her stomach and her bare shoulders scattered with pretty freckles, Luke has to look away. He clenches his jaw, focusing on the pond in front of him rather than the tempting tan skin and equally as tempting girl directly beside him

Once the hoodie is off of her body, Arlo folds it before placing it carefully on the bench beside her, mentally reminding herself to give it back to Calum. "Anyway" She smiles shyly, her cheeks heating. "I just got so invested in these characters' story only for it to not matter in the end."

"Why wouldn't it matter?" Luke struggles to understand. As he says this, he can't help but notice how her hair dark hair had become slightly messy from sliding the hoodie over her head.

Before he can stop himself or question whether the action was a good idea, Luke extends his hand out and gently smooths down her hair. He swallows thickly as her breath hitches in her throat when his fingertips make contact with her skin, brushing her cheek as he tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Thanks." Her face flushes.

Luke merely nods. Once again, he was scared of what he might say if his lips were to part. Probably something about how soft her hair was or how he could feel the heat in her cheeks, all because of him.

He mentally curses himself, forcing his mind back on track.

As difficult as he found it, he really found himself enjoying trying to figure out how Arlo's brain worked. She was unlike anyone else he'd ever met with the nature in which she thought things through.

He suspected that may have been a result of her upbringing. Luke knew very little about her from being Calum's neighbor for so many years, but he'd never really paid attention to her before a couple of weeks ago. He knew she was sheltered and more of a good girl- getting perfect grades and staying out of trouble.

But, she looked at things as though she'd lived a thousand lives. Luke thought she was far wiser than a girl with such little life experience could be. He might've been presumptuous in thinking that, but it was true.

"Because in the end, they weren't even together." Arlo exhales, her face pained as if she was reliving the characters' story all over again. "They worked so hard to overcome all of their challenges- family issues and mental health struggles and so much more, just for them to throw it all away in the end."

Luke could see why she was upset now. He loved poetry but other aspects of literature like fiction novels never really interested him. He preferred poetry because it allowed him to interpret things for himself- Luke had never liked being told what to do or think, after all.

"Maybe they didn't really love each other then." Luke suggests. He'd never been in love, nor had he received it, but he felt like you don't just throw that kind of thing away. Some people spend their entire lives searching for that damn feeling.

"They were." Arlo shakes her head, the strap of her tank top slipping off her shoulder. Luke kind of wanted- okay, really wanted- to slide the strap back up to its rightful place but he felt as though he'd already tested his luck by smoothing down her hair.

"Then why would they not be together in the end? Did one of them die?" Luke asks, his fingertips unconsciously toying with a fray in his jeans.

"No." Arlo pouts. "That probably would have hurt less though." A petal falls down from one of the cherry blossom trees, landing on the bench. She picks it up, twirling the pink petal between her fingers. "It was just the wrong timing. You can still love someone and not be perfect for them, I guess. Like, in the book they were kind of bad for each other even as much as they cared for one another."

Luke kind of wanted to scoff at the irony. He hadn't even read this book- hell, he didn't know the title or the character's names but he felt the need to defend them.

"How bad can you truly be for someone if you love them?" Luke wonders aloud, pure disbelief in his voice. "Isn't that the best thing you can give to another person? Love? It's something that can last forever if you want it to- something that can't be taken away."

Arlo's lips part at his words, slightly in awe of the boy next to her. His exterior was so, so harsh in nature with his narrowed eyes and closed-off stance, but deep down he was anything but.

"You can love someone and still hurt them." Arlo shrugs. "It's human nature, I guess."

Luke thinks about her words for a moment. He hadn't had a conversation quite like this ever in his life. Calum was all he had and well, as much as he loved the boy, their conversations weren't exactly stimulating. Most of that could probably be blamed on Luke's hesitancy to open up his thoughts, but Calum didn't exactly enjoy things like this either.

"Doesn't make it right." Luke thinks aloud.

"No." Arlo agrees, a tired breath leaving her chest. "It doesn't

"And that's what makes you feel hopeless?" Luke asks, turning to face her.

She pulls her knees back to her chest as she faces him, suddenly more comfortable in his presence than she had been with anyone in a long, long time- maybe ever. When she talked, he actually listened. Luke thought about the things Arlo said and dug deep in his mind to provide input.

"That's what makes me feel hopeless." Arlo echoes. "The fact that even if someone loves you with their entire being, a happy ending isn't promised."

They let her words sit in the air for a while. In fact, neither of them are sure how long had passed before Arlo stands from the bench, draping Calum's hoodie over her arm. She stretches her limbs, her little tank top riding up as she extends her arms over her head.

"Where to now?" Luke asks, picking up their ice cream trash from earlier to discard. He grabs Calum's hoodie from her hands as well, ignoring her protests. He knew she could carry it herself, but she shouldn't have to.

"Well, obviously the bookstore." Arlo grins, her shoulder brushing his upper torso as they walk side by side. Her cheeks flush as their bodies make contact, but she makes no move to put distance between them. Neither does he. "But, I'm supposed to check out the Battle of the Bands venue sometime today, manager duties and all."

"Did Calum finally enter in that contest?" Luke raises a brow, surprised that his best friend had finally done it after years of talking about it. "It's on the other side of the park. We can go look now if you want?"

Arlo perks up at his words. She hadn't expected him to want to go. "Of course." She nods, following his lead as he turns down a different path. "He did enter, but we don't even really have a band yet." She huffs.

"What's stopping you from having a band?" Luke asks incredulously. "You have Calum and Michael and that friend of yours. They have a pretty good manager too." A smirk tugs at his lips and he knocks his hip against hers.

Arlo's cheeks flush, her eyes averting to the ground to escape the cocky look on his face. That look made her feel things she wasn't willing to admit to quite yet. "They need a lead singer and a band name and a couple of songs. They're going to have auditions for a lead singer but what are the chances we actually find something in time?"

As she continues on, Luke realizes how stressed she seems to be making herself. Despite the fact that had Calum had all but forced her into this position, she was giving it her all. He had a feeling that was part of what made Arlo, Arlo.

She was too kind for her own fucking good and judging by the frown on her face this whole band thing was working her up. He hated seeing a frown on her face just as much as he hated seeing her in Calum's clothes.

Luke exhales. I can't believe I'm about to fucking do this, he groans mentally. "I'll tell you what." He says, catching her attention. "If those auditions don't work out I'll sing with Calum's shitty band."

Arlo gasps, her eyes lighting up. "You can sing?"

Luke feels a pang radiate through his chest at how wide and excited her eyes are. If he knew agreeing to sing for a silly competition with Calum's band would make her that happy, he would have done it long ago.

"Just to take some of the stress off of your back until they find a permanent singer." Luke tries to play it off, as well as the way her reaction made his cheeks heat.

"Thank you!" Before Luke even realizes it, her small arms are wrapped around his waist. Luke freezes as her head rests at the base of his chest, her small stature so much shorter in comparison to his.

Arlo Abbott was fucking hugging him and he didn't quite know what to do. More so, he couldn't figure out how her arms managed to fit perfectly around his midsection or the way the curve of her jaw seemed to mold like a puzzle piece to the dip of his chest.

Snap out of it.

Luke carefully wraps his arms around her in return, pulling her impossibly closer. He holds his breath, fearful that she can hear how his heartbeat is pounding in his chest. "You don't have to thank me." He says softly.

Arlo's ear is pressed to his chest and as he speaks, his voice vibrates through his chest causing a shiver to go down her spine.

He feels it.

He tugs her closer.

After a few moments, Arlo shyly pulls away, her cheeks aflame as she tucks her hair behind her ear. "I uh... I've been thinking about that advice you gave with that song the other day."

Luke's lips part in surprise at the notion that she'd been thinking about him. Not only him, but his words. Somehow, that felt more meaningful.

"You were?" He asks, just to hear her say it.

And she does.

"I was." Arlo nods nervously, her chest still heaving from their hug. "You're really, really good at that kind of thing, Luke. I think you should take a shot at songwriting."

Luke shakes his head immediately. "I wouldn't know the first thing about it." He denies. Arlo didn't know he wrote poetry, but even if she did, that was completely different than songwriting. "Trust me, I would fucking suck."

Arlo frowns, causing his heart to sink. "What do I have to do to make you realize how incredible you are?"

Luke is nearly knocked off of his feet by the feeling that floods his system at her words. Suddenly, his heart is beating much faster than normal, his knees feeling weak. He tries to play off the shakiness in his tone. "Keep coming to the bookstore."

Arlo grins. "As long as you have more books for me to read."

Luke mirrors her smile, though as his lips tug up they resemble more of a smirk. No matter how she managed to wind him with her gentle nature, his cockiness always managed to make an appearance.

"I'd give you the whole store if it meant I'd see you every day, Lo."

Arlo's teeth sink into her bottom lip, her eyes shyly finding his blue ones. "You don't need to give me any books for me to want to see you every day."