It was the Tuesday after Luke and Cierra's sleepover.

Luke was over at Cierra's house after school. They were sitting on the couch. Luke was watching a game on the TV, and Cierra was reading a book, sprawled out on the couch with her legs in his lap. She felt like they were an old married couple.

Cierra had just got a call from Vicky's mom an hour or two earlier. She said Vicky would be home in just a few days' time. Cierra couldn't wait. She was excited for Vicky and Luke to meet each other, too.

"C?" Luke said, and she put down her book to glance in his direction.

"Do you think it's weird you haven't met my friends?" Luke asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at his phone.

"No?" Cierra said, phrased more like a question. "Wait, do you think it's weird?"

"No," Luke said, quickly. "I was just thinking about it. Because we spend so much time together but I've never met your friend group. And you've never met mine. And they were talking about doing something tonight, and I was thinking maybe I should drag you along."

"You can drag me along," Cierra agreed. "I'd like to meet your friends."

Luke smiled. "Good."

Cierra sat there, thinking. Now it would only be right if she extended an invitation back, to meet her friends. She wanted him to meet Emma, of course. And the rest of her friend group would be fine. But Matt would be there, and she hated thinking about the two of them interacting.

"You can meet my friends, too," Cierra responded. "Whenever there's a chance." She hesitated. "Matt will be there, though." She added the last part quietly.

"Ah, yes, fucking Matt," Luke chuckled. "I don't think you've ever told me why we hate him so much."

Cierra chewed on her bottom lip. She felt awkward telling Luke this story, even though she knew she shouldn't.

"Uh, we dated," Cierra said, looking at Luke's face for any type of reaction. He didn't give any. "Kind of. But it was only for a week... so I don't really count it."

"A week?" Luke asked.

"You can laugh," Cierra said, laughing a bit herself. "I know it's pathetic."

"It is kinda pathetic," Luke commented, placing a hand on her thigh. "But I'm not one to judge with my past dating habits." Cierra raised an eyebrow, curious as to what he meant.

"Let me guess, you don't date," Cierra said. That made sense for Luke, she feared.

"It's not that I don't date," Luke corrected her. "I just... haven't?"

"At all?" Cierra asked, too curious for her own good.

"I mean, some flings here and there. I guess I've dated, sorta, but never like with titles. Boyfriend/girlfriend type stuff."

"Hm," Cierra replied, not sure what else to say.

"How about you?" Luke asked.

"Only Matt," Cierra said, "Sadly."

"What did he do?" Luke questioned, tilting his head a bit. "I know he must have done something. You know, for you to hate him so much."

Cierra nodded, knowing this question was coming at some point. "Well, on our week anniversary he hooked up with some other girl, so..."

Luke let out a mean laugh. He ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck Matt."

"Yeah," Cierra said. "Fuck Matt."

"When I meet him, I'll beat him up," Luke smiled just at the thought. "I'll do that for you."

"My hero," Cierra said jokingly, smiling. "So romantic of you, Hemmings."

x x x x x x

The pair were parked outside some dive bar in Luke's town. His friends always loved to go here, because they didn't care about serving underage. A lot of Luke's friends had turned 18 already anyway, but some, like himself, had a few more months to go.

Luke suggested they wait, so they could be fashionably late. Cierra was sitting with her shoes up on his dashboard, typing away at her phone. Frantically typing. He figured she was talking to Emma about meeting his friends. He knew Cierra was nervous, even if she liked to hide it.

Cierra wasn't paying attention to him, so he decided to take in her appearance as he had done so many times before. Her hair was messy; long; with tiny braids throughout like always. Luke couldn't tell if she was wearing makeup. Maybe a little. She was wearing a green sweater that really brought out the olive-ness of her skin tone, and her signature ripped jeans. She had put on a few colorful necklaces, something Luke noticed she did whenever she was going out somewhere. Her white sneakers were so dirty they were no longer white. She had homemade friendship bracelets that adorned her ankles.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer," Cierra said sarcastically, not looking up from her phone.

"I wasn't looking," Luke replied, smirking.

"I have peripheral vision, dummy," Cierra put down her phone and rolled her eyes. She was smiling at him. Dummy, Luke thought. He now loved that nickname.

So he did take a photo. Per her request. Several, actually. The few at the end were blurry as she tried to cover the camera.

It'd become Luke's lock screen later on.

After a few minutes, they headed into the bar. Luke grabbed her hand before they walked through the door. "Hey," he said, "We don't have to stay for long if you don't want to. And don't feel pressured to drink. Are you nervous?" Luke rambled.

"Are you nervous?" Cierra retorted back, squeezing his hand slightly. "I'm not nervous at all. In fact, I'm so excited to meet Mason after all the great things you've told me about him."

Luke threw his head back and groaned. "You're such a pain in the ass."

Cierra smiled. "What if Mason and I hit it off? What then?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead," Luke grumbled. "If he flirts with you I'll kill him."

"Oh yeah?" Cierra said, quirking an eyebrow upwards. Feeding into him. "Why's that?"

Luke finally opened the door to the bar. He thought quickly about his response. Here they were, back to the flirty banter they always seemed to fall into. Luke never knew it he was taking it too far. But he decided to just risk it.

"You're off-limits," Luke decided on, winking as he followed her through the door.

x x x x x

Cierra and Mason did kind of hit it off.

As soon as she walked in, he was the first one to greet her. "Finally, we get to meet you! Hemmings has been hiding you for so long!" (Cierra noticed none of his friends called him Luke, it was always Hemmings. Or Hemmo, sometimes.)

The rest of his friends were pretty cool, too. They didn't care that she ordered a cider instead of a beer (when the rest of them were drinking beer.) They told her funny stories about Luke and he would cover his face with his hand. They asked about her and what she was planning to do after graduation.

It felt nice to feel included, even if it was just for one night.

When she and Luke got back into his car, she couldn't stop smiling. She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun in a big group of people like that.

"I love them, Luke," Cierra said immediately. "Thanks for bringing me."

"Of course," Luke put the keys in the ignition but turned to face her. "They were good tonight. They can be assholes sometimes, but they know you're special."

"They do?" Cierra asked, feeling like it was a dumb question. "Why, what do you say about me?"

Luke tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. He turned his head to look out the windshield. "Usually something along the lines of "She's the best person I've ever met."

Cierra looked down. She felt weirdly emotional like tears were about to spill onto her cheeks. She didn't respond, because she knew if she did her voice would crack and she'd turn into a blubbering mess.

She was in awe of how Luke was able to make her feel like this, in such a short time knowing him.

They drove in silence for a while. No words needed to be spoken. They were close to her house when Luke spoke again.

"C?" He said softly, briefly turning to look at her before putting his eyes back on the road. "I meant it, you know. Best person I've ever met. No competition."

Dammit, Cierra thought to herself. He was really trying to make her cry.

"Best person I've ever met," She repeated back to him, emphasizing every word. "Not sure how I was living life before knowing you," She added, meaning it wholeheartedly.

Luke pulled into her driveway, parked the car, grabbed her face with both his hands and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

As Cierra walked to her driveway, many feelings hit her at once. The most prominent thought in her mind was: Holy shit, I'm falling for him.

But that scared the shit out of her, so she just convinced herself she must have drank too much.

x x x x x x

short filler, just trying to move the story a bit along so we can get to the juicy stuff k

Remember this is #slow #burn. but good shit coming soon stay tuned