My neck jerked towards my bedroom door. I heard a faint squeaking from the hinges and what sounded like a few footsteps down the hall. I swallowed my fear as I became overwhelmed from the pounding in my chest.

My parents extended their stay one more night, so until 5pm tomorrow I was home alone. I closed my laptop and reached for my phone. I dialed Ashton, in hopes that I could converse my anxiety away. Straight to voicemail. I groaned in frustration and fear. I dialed again, and straight to voicemail it went.

I kicked my cover off of my legs and wrapped my arms around my cold body. I flipped my switch on to brightly illuminate my dim room. The mood of my light and pitch black scenario outside weren't helping my shaken self.

12:02am read my wall clock. Last night at this time I was drinking the night away with my friends. I furrowed my eyebrows as I stepped towards my window. My friends. It seemed I had brought in Luke and along with that came Michael. It was a pleasant surprise, though. Thinking back to last night, I was sure I would now be seeing Michael even more. That is, considering whatever happened between him and Kennedy last night.

I cringed at the playback of sheets rustling. The unpleasant taste in my mouth faded as I recalled sitting on my piano bench with Luke. He sang a song I had heard a hundred times and made it sound brand new. Luke was confident in himself and his musical ability and I really liked that. But perhaps it was the alcohol. It makes us all do desperate things.

I spread apart my curtain, the left side first then the right. I met Luke's brightened bedroom. He was awake, too, from what I could tell. Unless he sleeps with the lights on. But honestly, I think he was always awake.

My arms struggled to push up the old window. The cool breeze chilled my body even more. I looked to my right, my cup of pens empty. Then to my left, which was a small pack of staples. I peered up at his window, biting down on my lip. Before thinking and stopping myself, I tossed the packet at his window, startled by how loud it was.

I waited for a few seconds. A confused Luke had walked right up to his window. His eyes met mine, and his previous sharp expression had softened.

I watched as he opened his window, locking it once it reached the top.

"Where am I taking you tonight?" He knocked his elbows as he leaned out, pretending as if he didn't. He wasn't the smoothest, I've learned.

I giggled, "Nowhere." I turned around and looked over my shoulder, then back up at him. "This sounds really stupid, but I keep hearing weird noises in my house and it's freaking me out."

Luke titled his head, "I'm not a ghost hunter, but I think you can suck them up with a vacuum."

We both laughed, muffling our sounds with our hands in fear of waking others.

"Is that a self invite to help me do it?" I whispered. Luke rolled his eyes, looking down at the grass separating our homes.

"Will it be anything like last night?" He quietly asked.

I smiled and gently shook my head, "No." I batted my eyes at him, hoping that my fake kindness would get him to accompany me in my creaky house.

"Okay, good, because I think I tried to sing while playing your piano last night. And I'm terribly sorry for however that sounded."

I sighed, pulling away from my window and gripping onto my curtains.

"If your voice was a VHS I'd rewind and replay it until the tape broke."

His head fell and I could see the scarlet on his face even at midnight. A half smile sat on my face as I patiently waited for him to look back up at me.

"I, uh, well-"

I nodded towards the front of my house. "Come on," I interrupted, my voice quiet and gentle. I pulled my curtains shut without giving him a chance to respond. I knew his answer would be yes anyways.

I switched on every light I could as I creeped downstairs. I peered around every corner and checked over my shoulder a dozen times. My fear was suddenly being dragged by my ankles down the stairs, but that hadn't happened yet. Yet.

I unlocked my front door, staring down as I cracked it open and took a step outside. The metal of my door frame froze my warm feet.

A broad figure stopped my steps with a thud. Hands gripped tightly onto my upper arms and I gasped loudly in fear. I quickly glanced up and recognized the familiar face.

"You scared the shit out of me!" I harshly whispered up at Luke.

"Look where you're going then, idiot," he shot back. I inhaled deeply and slowly, trying to get a grip.

"You're rude," I said as his hands fell from my arms. In a strange way, I didn't want them to leave.

He rolled his eyes, gesturing towards the inside of my house. "I never claimed to be nice, Audrey. We've been through this before."

I brushed him off as we entered my home. I closed and locked the door behind me, spinning around to meet Luke awkwardly standing in my entrance area.

His hair was tussled and a single strand rested on his forehead. He rocked back and forth on his heels with his hands in his pockets. A thin white t-shirt covered his broad chest. Luke was peering around as if it had been his first time here. His bottom lip had been caught between his teeth and my stare had been caught on his lips.

Luke was unique. As cliche as it is, he wasn't like every other kid in this town, and he sure as hell didn't belong here. Los Angeles, New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo; anywhere but here in our small town. Luke was, dare I say, quirky. That stupid term to describe someone who's likable, yet a bit strange. Luke was definitely strange.

It was strange that I'd never noticed him before. Neighbors for years, a handful of interactions. It wasn't until recently I bothered him out of desperation. I don't think this feeling now was desperation, though. I did like spending time with Luke. He was intelligent and insightful and studious. I appreciated his mature mind, even though it slipped sometimes. I especially liked it then.

Darkness shocked us. We both stared up to the ceiling, then at each other. The massive light above us and the two lamps in the room shut off. I gulped, taking steps closer to him. He watched me carefully as feared creeped over me.

I scanned the room all over, all switches were on. In that moment I wanted to fall to my knees and pray for safety.

"Where's your breaker box?" Luke asked, staring around. He was stoic. Darkness didn't seem to phase him.

I let out a shaky breath. "It's in the basement," I told him.

He rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger from his left hand. "Of course it is."

I sheepishly smiled up at him. His expression was unreadable.

"So are you going to turn the lights back on?" He raised an eyebrow at me, taking a couple steps towards me.

"Not by myself." I watched as his eyes narrowed down at me. I raised my hands in defense. "I'm too scared!"

"Come on, Audrey!" He grumbled. He patiently waited for me to reply, and the only tactic I had was to give him puppy dog eyes. We engaged in a stare off, unsure of who'd speak first. A few more seconds passed and her broke. He sighed, "Where's the basement?"

I pointed directly behind him to the tall white door. I glanced over his shoulder, then back to me. "Let's go."

I followed him closely as we approached. He swiftly opened the door, reaching for the hallway light. He flipped it a few times, finally realizing the bulb was burnt out. I stood close to him in case I somehow got lost in my own basement.

We carefully stepped down the steep wooden stairs, winding around the corner of the wall after the 15th step. Everything was pitch black. I internally cursed at myself for not bringing down my phone. I sure as hell wasn't turning back without Luke.

"Okay," he whispered, staring around the faintly illuminated room. Only the pearl colored moonlight was guiding us. "Where exactly is it?"

"It's in the back room," I told him, stepping a head of him.

"Wait." He grabbed my hand, locking his fingers with mine. "I'm not getting lost down here."

I squeezed his hand, doing my best to lead us without light. I had lived here long enough and saw the floor plan in daylight to have a general idea of where I was going.

I let him know of any furniture we were going around, slowly weaving through the main room. I sturdied myself on chairs and walls if I needed. I reached out once I felt like I was getting close to the door. I fumbled with the location of the door knob, letting out a few swear words in frustration.

The door was light as I pushed it open and Luke's grip was even tighter on me. I led him into the room and to the corner where I remembered the breaker box being.

"It's here," I whispered towards Luke.

The room was cluttered, a bed in the middle of the small room with boxes of holiday decor surrounding it. I was squished right up against Luke as he opened the box.

"Can you see?" I asked as he toyed with the metal.

"'Can you see?'" He mocked my voice rather horribly. "No, Audrey. I can't see. There's no light."

Suddenly, the door slammed on us. Luke's back was now guarding me as we both screamed at the top of our lungs. I was gripping tightly onto his t-shirt, a fist full of cotton in my hand. He took a step back which only pushed me further into the corner. I cowered as he stood tall and still. His hands reached behind him and found their way onto me.

"Okay, I'm flipping all of these switches and we're going back upstairs," he quickly spoke. He yanked open the box and turned every switch off then back on, doing his best in the darkness.

I squinted as light suddenly shined down on us. Luke was quickly working on flipping every single switch, even with the light on. I knew that there were no room labels on there. It was all a guessing game, really.

"Okay," Luke huffed, slamming the metal door and locking it. "Let's get the hell out of here."

His warm hand captured mine again as we sprinted back upstairs, peering over our shoulders as we ran faster up the stairs. Thankfully, every light was on on my first floor. I never wanted to turn them off ever again. I didn't want to release my grip on Luke ever again, either.

-

A/N:

yes basements have windows don't @ me

I HOPE U LIKE THIS I THOUGHT IT WAS CUTE N FUN

THANK YOU FOR READING IF U ARE <3

vote and comment to help your gal pal out