Second Chance

LUKE

I am woken up by a cold rush of air as my warm cocoon of duvet is ripped from me.

“What the fuuuck?!”

“Dude!” The disgust in my best friend’s voice is palpable, and I quickly pull my sheets back up around my neck. “Why the fuck do you gotta sleep naked?”

I open my eyes a crack and see Oli standing with his hands clamped over his eyes, his long brown hair helping to curtain his face from my nudity.

“Well, if you’d refrained from pulling my sheets off, you wouldn’t have gotten yourself an eyeful, would ya?” I flash him a shit-eating grin.

“I tried knocking on your door, then shouting your name, then shaking you… The sheets were the last fucking resort, man.”

Oli flops down onto the end of my bed, barely missing my feet, and flicks his hair back with his hand. “You were like dead asleep, dude.”

I yawn and stretch, waiting till I hear the bones in my back crack and relax.

“What are you doing here, anyways?” Oli leans forward, the leather jacket he is permanently clad in creaking with the movement, and pulls his phone from his back pocket.

“Thought you might want a lift.”

“Lift to where?” I yawn again and reach out to my bedside table to grab my phone too.

“College.” Oli shrugs.

“Fuck!” Can’t believe I spaced on the first fucking day of term. I spring out of bed, causing Oli to curse at me again and cover his eyes.

I quickly shimmy into the skinny jeans I wore yesterday and stick my feet, sockless, into my old army boots, leaving them unlaced as usual. Oli throws me my favorite Mastodon shirt, and I grab my bag.

The two of us manage to sound like a heard of elephants galloping down the stairs with our heavy boots. My sister, Sky, shakes her head at me as I try and sneak past the kitchen.

“I thought you said this year would be different.” She puts her hands on her hips in an effort to look threatening, but I snake my arms around her waist and give a quick hug.

“Sorry, sis. I’ll do better, I swear.”

I grab a piece of toast off my nephew’s plate and take a big bite, much to his amusement. I plant a slightly crumby kiss on the top of his head, and then one on Sky’s cheek as I walk past.

Oli is the only one of us to have his own car, shit heap though it is.

The rusty old brown Mazda limps from place to place, but we still all appreciate when he drives us around and picks up food when we want it.

I sweep off the passenger seat an unidentified covering of some kind of foodstuff and put my feet up on the dashboard.

As Oli starts the car, we’re blasted with Megadeth. He grins at me and turns it down slightly.

Rolling down the windows, we both spark up cigarettes, and Oli regales me with what happened after I left the club last night.

Half listening to Oli still rambling on, I pull out the class schedule for this year. First period is life drawing with good old Mike and G-string Jon.

I wave goodbye to Oli as we split off from each other, me toward the art block and him toward the engineering block.

I try to sneak in quietly, but Mike calls me out immediately. As we banter, I notice a new girl standing near the window.

She jumps a little when I drop my bag down next to her, and I pull one of the sit-down easels up next to her.

“Hey.” I smile at her. She says hi back, but seems resolute on keeping her gaze on her sketch, which is fucking amazing.

I tell her she’s good, and she turns toward me and tells me off for not drawing myself, making me chuckle.

She’s beautiful. Shoulder-length light-brown hair that seems to have blonde highlights when the light catches it.

Her eyes are a stormy mix of green and gray, surrounded by full, thick eyelashes, which make them stand out all the more.

Her high cheekbones are naturally flushed a light pink, as are her full lips. She refocuses on her drawing, pulling her baggy top out slightly around her belly.

Mike gets Jon to move to another pose, and we continue to draw side by side in silence.

I find my gaze drawn back to her and her classic beauty, so turn myself slightly so I can sketch her instead of Jon. She continues to worry the loose clothing around her midriff.

Before I know it, Mike is calling for us to clear our things away. By the time I’ve pushed the easel back and grabbed my bag, the new girl has gone.

Sighing, I pull my phone out and start to flick through my social media as I walk to the cafeteria.

Grabbing myself a can of soda from the vending machine, I notice her sitting on one of the benches outside.

“Hey, new girl!” I flash her a grin as I sit down next to her. She shyly meets my eyes, and her cheeks get a little darker. “So, what’s your name?”

“Leia.” Her voice is so quiet I have to lean in slightly to catch what she says.

“Your parents too, huh?” She scrunches up her nose in confusion. “Star Wars geeks. My name’s Luke.”

She laughs then, and it’s unexpectedly loud, carefree. I can’t help but join in.

“It could be worse. They could have called you Palpatine.” She giggles.

“Or Anakin!” I pretend to shudder. “My sister got off easy; they called her Sky, as in walker.”

She laughs again.

“Well, really it’s just my dad who’s the geek; my mom is a huge Cure fan, so I actually feel really lucky it was my middle name they decided to honor them with.”

“Your middle name is Robert?”

I nod.

“Yup. Luke Robert Smith.” I take a big gulp of my drink. “So, where were you before this?”

“Um…” Leia chews her bottom lip. “Well…”

“Yo yo yo! Wassup, muthafuckers!” I look up at the loud interruption to see my other friends, Steph, Chris, and Kat, walking toward us.

Before I can stop her, Leia has grabbed her bag and walked off back in direction of the art block.

“Who’s the new babe?” Steph waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively before being elbowed in the ribs by his girlfriend, Chris.

As they start bickering, Kat sits down next to me and takes my can out of my hand.

“I saw her waiting for the bus with us this morning. She looked like she was gonna vom or something.” She finishes off my Coke and chucks it into the bin.

“She’s new on my course. She seems really shy.” I grab a cigarette from Steph’s offered pack and grip it between my lips so it waggles when I speak. “You bozos scared her off.”

Holding it steady, I light it and take a deep inhale, closing my eyes as the slight head rush hits.

“Ah, don’t worry, mate. We’ll soon break her of all that timidness.” Steph snatches my lighter from me.

“Bet she looks banging in a tight—” Chris whacks him around the back of his shaved head with a satisfying smack.

“Don’t even think about finishing that train of thought!” Steph still hasn’t learned not to get on the wrong side of a redhead. I shake my head at my friends and wonder where little Leia came from.