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Y/n y/l/n was infuriated by Luke Patterson’s existence.
Okay, it’s not like she wants him like dead or anything, it’s just that he was always there with some sore excuse for a shirt, stupid band logo plastered onto the front of it, and it almost never had sleeves. Like today. Why was it that y/n could barely get away with wearing her new skirt, but Luke ‘pain in her ass’ Patterson could walk around with half of his tit bared to the world?
“Nice shirt, Patterson” She sneered as she passed him and his bandmates “lose the rest of it?”
He scoffed, bringing his lip between his teeth, “nice skirt y/l/n, but it’d look so much better on my bedroom floor”
She flung her hair over her shoulder as she paused to give him a once over, “only in your dreams, Patterson”
It wasn’t that Luke Patterson parading around with his tits out was her main aggressor, it’s just what had gotten to her today. Luke had been a royal pain in her ass for a lot longer than she can even remember, all the way back to pre-k when he used to steal her toys and eat her lunch.
“Y/n” the headache in question whined playfully, bandmates in tow “don’t be like that. We all know you love me deep down”
It was her turn to scoff.
“All the way down in that shrivelled up little heart of yours” He poked lightly at her chest to which she smacked him away.
She glared into his eyes as she stepped closer to him, grabbing his chin between her perfectly manicured fingers. He gulped as his eyebrows shot into his hairline-
“You fucking wish”
The two had, for the most part, avoided each other for the rest of the week following. They chided one another here and there but maintained their distance. Y/n wondered often if she had hurt his feelings at all. She didn’t know why on god’s green earth she gave half a shit about Luke Patterson’s feelings, but the thought took residency in her mind most times she had the opportunity to ponder her thoughts.
In these lonely hours, she began to wonder why they hated each other so much. Had she conditioned herself to hate him? To be fair, even if she had there was no turning back now. Every time she hears his voice, she gets this instant headache like the ones you get when you eat your ice cream too fast. Every time she heard that voice, she pushed all semblance of thought behind her and acted out of pure rage.
It was animalistic, and so totally unlike her. She couldn’t figure out what it was that sparked this pure unbridled rage in her- but she knew it was there and it was growing. God, she hates to sound like some cliché science fiction bullshit, but it’s the best she can do with her thoughts at the moment.
All she can liken her feelings towards Luke Patterson with is a deadly, nasty plague that spreads in her like some dark sickness. She dragged herself out of her weird thoughts and stared out of her window to the rain-soaked street below her, if only she could stop being so dramatic and focus on her calculus homework.
The thunder bellowed as the rain pelted down harder than ever. Sighing softly, she abandoned her work to race raindrops down the glass of her window. It was neck and neck between the drops as she was interrupted by harsh pounding on her front door.
The knocks startled her out of her seat as she craned her neck past the thrilling rain race to try and see who was at the door. The knocks continued, relentless as they followed a quick and steady rhythm.
“Alright! Jesus Christ- oh.”
Standing in front of her, soaked to the absolute bone, was none other than Luke Patterson.
He moved quickly to place his palm flat on the door as y/n attempted to close it again.
“I’m sorry I just- I didn’t know where else to go”
His nose and upper lip were dusted pink, and his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Was he- crying? She almost wanted to laugh. Or maybe crack a joke about how he thought she of all people was his safest option.
But as she looked into his eyes, tinged with flecks of gold and green that she had never noticed before, she didn’t think she could force out anything mean if she had tried.
She welcomed him into the foyer, leading him with featherlight touch on the tops of his biceps into her living room before seating him in a chair at her dining table. Y/n was silent as her thoughts raced away from her, her body carried her to the closet with the towels and blankets, but her mind was off wondering what a soaking wet and still half-shirtless as ever Luke Patterson was doing here.
Only once he was wrapped up in desperate attempt to knock the chill out of his body, did y/n even attempt to speak.
“Um, so what hap-“
“You don’t have to pretend to care. I’m okay.”
“You’re not” she sighed, eyeing how he was gnawing his lip raw, clearly occupied with thought. “And I do care”
A raised eyebrow.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but when Luke Patterson shows up crying on your doorstep-“
“I’m not crying”
“Right”
The two fell into uncomfortable silence after that, though it didn’t take long for a sob to wrack through Luke’s body as his flimsy walls crumbled. He explained everything to her, how he had had a ‘monumental’ falling out with his band, and he had already left his parents’ home, so he really had no place to turn.
He sobbed silently as y/n sat in a state of total shock.
Holy shit? What the fuck was she supposed to do? In honesty, y/n had never had to comfort anyone before now. She wasn’t a ‘friends’ person, and she never had been.
“This is ridiculous” she decided on. Not her finest moment of sympathy, but she could still save it.
“You four are the closest group of friends I’ve ever seen, you’re better than this. You have to be better than this”
“What if we’re not?” he muttered.
Y/n rolled her eyes. Fuck you, Luke Patterson. “Get up. Now.”
The keys were snatched out of the bowl by the kitchen as she stomped through the lower level of her home, Luke trailing behind in a state of confusion.
“Is this where you whisk me away to your bed-“
Luke couldn’t finish his attempt at restoring their natural state of conversation as the end of a car key was pointed at his eye. Y/n realised that the gold and green of his eyes were almost impossible to notice when all she saw was red and turned to brave the cold and rain of the night.
With a still shivering Luke bundled into her car, heaters on full blast and the shitty rock station blaring through her speakers (Luke’s choice. She wouldn’t be caught dead). She was ready to nip this right in the bud and go back to her calculus homework.
She knew the rehearsal space, having been there on multiple occasions for house parties and makeshift Sunset Curve gigs. Alex’s garage was famous to most kids their age, and so was their band. If anything, y/n expected a personal thank-you note from the teenagers of Los Angeles for getting their shitty boyband back together.
Okay, they weren’t shitty per-say. They weren’t shitty by a long shot. They had a chance. An honest to god, good and decent chance. That was more than y/n could ever dream of having, and she couldn’t believe that they were so prepared to throw it all away over some bullshit teenage boy tantrums.
Rage guided her through life one step at a time, dictated her every move and thought, and now Lady Rage had led her right to the white barn doors of Alex’s garage. No music was pouring out from inside. Yeah, no shit. Their lead singer and guitarist was here, standing next to her buried under half of her entire towel closet. She pounded on the door.
“Y/n?” Bobby looked shocked as he took in her rain-soaked hair falling over her face, she would have looked like a dream if she weren’t so fucking angry. No, she still looked like a dream. The good kind, too. But she was pissed and there was no changing it.
Bobby caught sight of Luke and immediately tried slamming the door in their faces again, but y/n was quicker. Jamming her foot between the two doors, she caught sight of Alex and Reggie gazing blankly at the confrontation from the background. All of her rage was expelled through her hands as she yanked those stupid fucking doors all the way back open and forced herself and Luke into the threshold.
Bobby stared incredulously at her, “Why don’t you fuck off and take him with you, visiting hours are long over.”
God, she could fucking punch him right then and there.
“I’m not going fucking anywhere until you all sit down and sort this out like real functioning people because I refuse to sit idly by and watch you all throw away the closest friendship I’ve ever seen. Fuck you all for not realising just how lucky you are!’
You could have heard a pin drop, she swears it. All four boys stared at her like she had spontaneously sprouted a second head. Reggie was the first and only member of the band to sit, gulping hard and refusing to break eye contact.
“Y/n” Alex began softly “I think you-“
“Sit the fuck down.”
“I- yeah, okay.”
“Now” sighing deeply, she pulls a reassuring smile onto her face as they all find seats. “Will someone tell me what happened?”
They spent two hours screaming at each other. Y/n didn’t know whether to rip her hair out or storm out in pure frustration, both were looking increasingly appealing to her as she watched the group of idiot boys in front of her take a break from screaming and begin apologising and hugging one another.
Y/n yawned absently as the boys wailed, seemingly forgetting her presence in the room. They were all joined together in one big cluster of dumb idiot teenage boy, and she almost felt like smiling for the first time in hours. She had bought them back together, not like they wouldn’t have found their way back sooner or later, but she had been the one to fast track the process.
She allowed her smile to break out into what was just shy of a grin as she pushed those barn doors open, allowing her to slip out of the room and into the now clear night. The key had barely made it into the door to the car before she felt a warm touch over the fabric of her sweater.
She was pulled into a hug before she could process anything and found herself wrapped tightly into the arms of one Luke Patterson.
“Uhm” she uttered uselessly, standing stock still as he clung to her. “You smell like a wet dog.”
“Thank you” was all he said as he let her go, staring into her y/e/c eyes as she shifted uncomfortably.
“I’m glad I could be of service, but I’d hate to overstay my welcome” gold and green amongst the warm hues of his eyes, that’s all she could see.
“Oh, you weren’t welcome” She laughs at this. An honest to god laugh. “But we’re glad you came, I don’t know what would’ve happened without you there.”
“I do, you lot would’ve lasted a day before crying to each other in the hallway at school.”
He took a cautious step towards her, careful to not make her feel trapped between himself and her car.
“That would have been pathetic” he laughed; signature golden boy smile etched back onto his face.
“Yeah. You’re so lucky I was feeling charitable tonight.”
“How can I ever-“
He was cut off by something which surprised the both of them equally. Y/n’s lips were on his. She was kissing him. Y/n didn’t know what she had expected to happen when she had grabbed his face and pulled it to hers, but it wasn’t this.
Oh.
Luke’s hands came up to hold her face, feather-light. Like he was scared that she would crumble away beneath his touch. She honest to god thought she might. She had never had such a complete lapse of judgment like this.
She had hated Luke. Everything he did annoyed her, and she knew that she infuriated him to the bone too. But this worked. This was years and years of pent-up rage being released all at once. And it felt good.
They broke away in a huff, y/n falling back against her car door in a state of shock as Luke grinned at her. The two broke into fits of laughter, uncontrollable even by the chill of the night breeze.
She bit her lip as they calmed, staring at him properly for once. Maybe she didn’t mind how he always had half a tit out, she didn’t know. That was a work in progress. The arms, though, she didn’t mind looking at.
“Enjoying the view?” Luke smirked. He was enjoying his. Y/n was so beautiful like this. He had always thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but seeing her here, a wide toothy smile on her face (one that he had never seen before, mind you) and a hand still carefully clasped in his. He thought he was dreaming again.
“Don’t tell anyone I just did that.” She teased, though they both knew there was nothing behind the jests anymore.
“Oh, I’m telling everyone”