Chapter Six

At first I was a bit skeptical, but once we started off on the roads of London on his motorcycle, I felt the weight lift from my shoulders and actually smiled as my bangs whipped my face as we drove off.
He stopped at a cafe. “I always come here,” he said, parking the motorcycle. “Whenever I get the chance, that is. I never bring anyone with me, though. It’s kind of my sanctuary.”
“Then why are you bringing me here?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s a nice place, and I’m trying to give you a nice time so you don’t regret coming with me today.”
So we sat down in the little cafe, and decided to get something to eat or drink. I just ended up getting a plain coffee with cream and sugar, and Lucas got a white chocolate mocha along with a danish and a little piece of chocolate cake.
"You sure you don't want anything to eat?" he asked. "Because you know I'm paying for it."
"Is this like a date?" I asked.
"A date?" he muffled, his face full of chocolate cake. He swallowed. "No, not at all. This is... no, this isn't a date. Why, do you want it to be?"
I crossed my arms, turned to look out the window, but didn't say anything.
"This isn't a date," he repeated. "But I still think you should get something to eat."
"No thanks," I said. "I had a big breakfast."
"Really? What'd you eat?"
I paused. I really didn't have a big breakfast at all. What would I tell him? "Some toast," I said. "With butter."
"Ah," he said. "Toast and butter. Very filling."
"And I made myself an omlette, and my mum made me some bacon before she headed off to work," I said. "And I ended up making myself a cup of tea before I came here, and I got some biscuits to go with it."
"Right," he said. "And that's why I can hear your stomach growling from over here."
I flushed. He was right.
"All right," I sighed. "I'll admit, I am rather hungry."
"Get a piece of cake," he said. "Chocolate cake."
"No, I'm not too big of a fan of chocolate cake."
Luke's jaw dropped. "You don't like chocolate cake?" he smirked. "Fine. Have something else, then."
"I'll get red velvet cake."
Lucas scoffed. "You'd rather have red velvet than chocolate? Are you out of your mind? Are you completely off your bird? Have you gone completely carrot top?"
"I'm not the one acting like a crazed lunatic over chocolate cake," I said calmly.
Luke sat straight again. "Fine." He got up, and asked the lady behind the counter for a piece of red velvet cake, paid, and set it in front of me before sitting down again.
"There," he said. "Your not as delicious as chocolate cake-cake."
"Thank you," I aid, digging my fork into it and eating. "And how's your cake doing?"
"Much better than yours, thanks."
I laughed.
Later, after we had finished, he took me around the city.
"I took your sister around here yesterday," he said. "Seeing the sights. London really is a beautiful city, you know. I think some people take it for granted."
It was the first time I had really seen the city. Everything took my breath away. Figuratively, of course, because if it was literal, I would have been dead by the end of the day. And the lovely sights, and the buildings, and the people simply walking--it was an observer's dream. And I observed everything I could. The way people walked, the texture of the road, the color of the sky--soon it grew pink, and before long it was evening.
"I want to take you to a party," he said. "You'll come with me, of course?"
"I suppose," I said. I didn't want to admit that I really was having a lovely time.
He drove his motorbike until we were outside of a pub. He parked it, and led me inside.
The music was loud, and the people were sweating.
"I didn't take your sister here," he said loudly. "First of all, I wanted to keep her safe. Obviously I don't need to be as protective of you."
I shot him a look, but he seemed to ignore it if he saw it.
"And second, I don't think she's old enough to drink," he said, and then I felt something in my hand--it was a bottle. I saw him take a swig from his own bottle, but I simply set mine down on the bar table. "Oh, come on," he said. "Live a little!"
"I don't drink," I said. "I actually do have work tomorrow morning, and I don't want to be hungover."
"Suit yourself," he said, setting his own drink aside. "Let's go dance."
"I don't want to."
"Come on! Why not?"
"I just don't want to!"
"Why are you so uptight?"
"And why are you so... down-loose?" It was a stupid come back.
"That was a stupid come back," he said. "And fine, if you don't want to be here, we'll go somewhere else."
He grabbed my hand, and dragged me through the crowd of people. I couldn't even tell which way was up and down, but just followed to where my feet took me when Luke dragged me away.
He pushed open a door at the back of the club, and led me outside.
We were in an alleyway behind the club. It was dark an abandoned--except for one man and woman feverishly making out by the door.
"Oy!" Luke said. "Do you mind? This is a dark alleyway. It's for mugging and murdering, not for shagging! Get a room!"
They scowled at him, but went back into the bar.
"So I'm going to assume you're not trying to shag me back here," I said. "But I am a bit concerned whether you're going to either mug or murder me. Or perhaps both?"
"Of course not," he said. "I forgot to mention one more thing that dark alleyways are good for." He pointed up at the sky. "Star gazing."
I looked up. There were barely any stars in the sky due to the city lights, and there were quite a few clouds in the sky. It wasn't nearly as awe inspiring or breath taking as anything else I've seen to be, nor was it as amazing as I think Luke had planned it to be.
"It's not that great," I said.
"Yeah, I suppose," he said. "We saw better things today, didn't we?"
"Yeah, we sure did," he said.
"Hey," he said, "Why do you look so down?"
I smiled to myself. "Because today was actually one of the best days of my life. And I think that's a bit sad. Plus, the previous best days of my life... well, I didn't want this day to top those. Those days with my brother."
He didn't say anything.
“It’s so pathetic that this was the best day of my life. It just goes to show how horrible and boring the other days of my life have been,” I said.
“Why do you say that?” Luke asked.
“Because I haven’t even seen anything that great today. A cafe, the city, a pub. Nothing to out of the ordinary.”
Luke smiled. He almost looked devious, straying away from his usual handsome-ness. “You want something out of the ordinary? Well, then let’s go to my motorcycle.”