Luke and Leena

J

Jezzyboo

Guest
Original poster
Leena took a deep breath as she stood in her mother's room lifting up a box, and pushing it onto a shelve. "You really should get someone else to do this... Madre. You know... Someone who is, maybe.. Stronger?" Her mother laughed and shook her head. "What's the point in that when I have you my darling?" Leena grumbled, and heffed up the other three boxes and then cracked her knuckles and back.

"Are you going to go and hang out with your friends at the town festival?" Her mother had her head tilted, and Leena nodded her head, looking down, "Yeah, mind if I go now?" Leena's mother smirked and pressed a kiss to her duaghter's forehead. "Be careful and be safe." Leena nodded and ran to her room grabbing her bag that had everything she needed. She ran out of the house and bumped into her two friends. Mikkel and Shelly.

Shelly squealed, "Lets go look at the boys!" Mikkel nodded eagerly, and Leena smiled; "I love the way you guys are just so amazing... Alright, let's go to the festival." And then they were sitting in a chair, watching all the men and boys walk by, every now and then they would whistle.
 
"Luke!" Riley Lewis called as he jogged up the narrow stairs of the musty apartment he shared with his long-time genius best friend. "C'mon man, you're gonna make us…late." Riley trailed off when he got to Luke's room to find his friend in a pair of hole-filled sweats, leaning over his computer, hands shoved in his messy blond hair. "Aren't we…going to festival?" Riley asked.

"Festival?" Luke asked, turning around to stare at Riley through an old pair of glasses. Riley wondered where he'd dug up those relics. "That's today?"

"It's fine," Riley shrugged. "I mean, Kayla's gonna be ticked but, hey." Kayla was Riley's girlfriend. It was her unending quest to find Luke a girlfriend. Her efforts had doubled when Luke had come back from college and moved in with Riley. She'd failed miserably so far. Her latest idea was getting Luke to go to festival to see all the pretty girls, get attached to one, and finally have a girlfriend.

Her efforts hadn't gone unnoticed. "Another girlfriend scheme?" Luke asked, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "It's never going to work. I have an IQ of 182, wear glasses, and am named Lucek. What girl could possibly want me?"

Riley shrugged again. "If it were completely hopeless, I think Kayla would have given up by now." Despite her matchmaker tendencies, Kayla was incredibly practical. Luke had come to know her fairly well in the two years that Riley had dated her and he couldn't argue with his friend's logic.

"All right," Luke sighed. "Just…give me ten minutes. I'll go." He'd hoped that if he feigned forgetfulness and didn't get ready to go out, he'd simply be left behind. He wasn't eager to go to festival but neither did he want his friend to face his girlfriend's anger.

Ten minutes later, Luke emerged from his room, the picture of why Kayla didn't give up hope on getting him a girlfriend. After all, Luke was really an attractive guy when he put any effort into his appearance, any at all.

Luke had naturally platinum blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was tall and slim, athletically muscular. His style was what Kayla called "nerdy chic" with an emphasis on the chic now that Kayla had begun helping him with his clothes shopping. He'd also traded his old wire-framed glasses for a pair of modern blue frames.

Riley often found it hard to believe that his nineteen-year-old friend was a high school teacher, especially now that Kayla had implemented her "cool upgrade". The joke that Luke had gotten the brains while his older brother had gotten the looks had been completely disproven.

"Ready?" Riley asked.

"If I must go…" Luke said reluctantly.

"You know, you're the only straight guy I know who doesn't like to go see pretty girls," Riley commented as they were walking out the door. He paused to stare at Luke before turning to lock the door. "You are straight, right?" He laughed but his laugh wasn't completely comfortable.

"Absolutely," Luke answered seriously.

When they were looking for Kayla at festival, they passed a table of girls who whistled as they passed. Luke slowed down when his eye caught one of the girls. Once they were out of ear shot, Riley laughed.

"See something you like?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," Luke answered. "Kayla's waiting for us, isn't she?"

They found Kayla shortly after that and Riley insisted on recounting the story of their journey there. When Kayla heard that Luke had slowed down to look at a girl, she became determined to find that girl back. She dragged the boys along on her journey to find the girl who had whistled.
 
Leena sat there with her legs crossed as Shelly and Mikkel were talking, but then he passed them. Her eye followed his movement and her breath was stolen from her. She quickly grabbed onto Shelly and Mikkel's arm. "Him!" Shelly and Mikkel glanced towards the men who walked by and Shelly whistled.

"Damn, you sure know how to pick them? So what? Just walk up to him and say hi?" Shelly questioned Leena with a raised eyebrow. Leena narrowed her eyes and looked down, and away. No... People don't just walk up to someone like that and say... "hi" Shelly shook her head and looked at Mikkel. "I think we lost her..." Mikkel reached over and patted Leena's arm.

"Come on babe. You can do this, just got up to him and be all. 'Hi I think you're cute!'" Leena's eyes widened at her best gay friend's words.

"Are you serious?! You don't just walk up to a guy with those kinda looks, you have to... I don't know..." She clenched her fists, and then got an idea. "I tell you what... We'll walk around and follow them but not in a stalkerish way!" Mikkel and Shelly exchanged a looked.

"It's been too long since you've had a man, Leen." Leena narrowed her eyes and looked away but then she smiled.

"I think this can work, I know this can work... I... Lets go..." Leena, Mikkel and Shelly all started to walk the way the men went but they couldn't find them, and Leena was too busy trying to get Mikkel off her back about getting a kiss from a random stranger to notice where she was walking when she ran straight into the man they had been looked for. "Oh... I'm... So-" she paused looking at him. "rry."
 
Luke immediately took three steps back. It wasn't until he had backed up that he looked at who he'd run into. He proceeded to blush as much as he ever did, which was almost imperceptibly. "Oh, no," he said. "It was my fault completely. I wasn't watching where I walked."

Kayla was giggling gleefully. She'd never seen Luke blush before. In fact, she'd never seen him remotely embarrassed before, not even when she took it upon herself to buy him new underwear after she'd discovered the state of his while doing the boys' laundry.

Riley had also never seen Luke so flustered before, either. To any normal person, what Luke said would have sounded like a level headed person, even an emotionless person. Riley had known Luke for years, though, and he could tell that Luke was practically tripping over himself to apologize.

It was also amazing that Luke hadn't run away immediately. He did take three steps back but that did nothing to illustrate how much he hated being touched by strangers. Riley had learned, over the years, that Luke was not comfortable with someone touching him unless he'd known them for a year, and that included handshakes.

Luke was especially uncomfortable around members of the opposite sex. After two years, Kayla had only just earned the privilege of getting a handshake from Luke.

While Riley considered the failing that made Luke nearly un-dateable, Kayla approached the girl.

"He's a bit shy," she told the girl softly, "but his name is Luke Zachary and I think he'd be interested in asking you out…but he's too shy. If you're not interested, that's fine…but if you are, even a little bit, you're going to have to take the initiative."

Once she'd said her piece, Kayla went back to stand by Riley. She held his hand and leaned against him to tell anyone who might be interested that they were dating.
 
Leena's eyes had gone wide as she watched Luke but then she had quickly gotten ahold of herself as soon as Shelly touched her shoulder. She grinned slowly and turned her pretty, petite face towards the female.

"Hi there. I am Shelly and that pretty little lass that bumped into your friend is named Leena. She's on the shy bit too, soooo, I say that if you can get him ready for dinner at say… seven thirty, I'll get Leena here ready to and we can see what comes out of a dinner date?" She tilted her head, and Mikkel stepped forward, placing his hand on Leena's shoulder.

"He really is cute. Maybe you should try?" He looked down at her but Leena was looking back and forth between the female and her best friend Shelly.

"Did you really just…" Leena paused for the right word. "Hook me out with someone I don't even know?" Shelly shrugged and Mikkel frowned a bit but he looked towards Luke.

"If you think Leena is a cutie, you should see her when she has dressy clothes on and has make up she looks like a totally goddess!" He laughed and looked down to Leena. "And by the way she is looking at you… I'd say there is a date to look forward to!" Leena closed her eyes slightly then turned her head towards Luke.

"Hello Luke. My name is Leena Mongella." She then took a deep breath. "I understand if what is going on here…" Her arm swept out to gesture their two groups; "Is too much for you, but I think maybe to just try it out, hell I have not been out in a long time and would love to get out." Her smile never leaving her lips. Shelly giggled and Mikkel joined her they both pressed their hands on her shoulders.
 
"I'm sure it's fine," Kayla said quickly, not about to let Luke ruin the opportunity. Never had anything like this happened before. Kayla's goal of getting Luke a girlfriend seemed nearly realized. The efforts she'd taken in getting him a new wardrobe and glasses worked. It had all been worth it. "Right, Lukey?"

Luke said nothing but stared at Leena in such a way that even Kayla could see his infatuation. It tickled her to see the outwardly emotionless fellow so flustered. That had been one of her biggest goals in trying to get Luke a girlfriend, that and the socialization a girlfriend could inflict on him. Riley didn't bother to make Luke go out when he didn't want to and Luke was barely moved by Kayla's efforts. It took perseverance and stubbornness that bordered on insanity just to get Luke to go out once a month. When he did go out, he was listless and unsociable. He would change though, she hoped, for a girl he liked and thus become easier for Kayla to live with. Not to mention that some female company at the guys' place would be welcome.

Luke was too stunned by the entire situation to fight back and, upon later thought on the subject, he would decide that he wasn't sure that he had wanted to.

Riley felt vaguely bad for his friend but was too amused to stop it if Luke wasn't going to. Had Luke protested, Riley would have taken his friend's side even against his formidable girlfriend.

When they arrived home, Kayla immediately set to rooting through Luke's closet for something suitable for the date. Eventually, she tossed some clothes on his bed and demanded that he change into them. When Luke began to change right then, for he lacked a sense of modesty despite his general shyness towards people, Kayla blushed and hurried out of the room, comanding that he tell her when he finished.

When Luke was dressed, Kayla fussed with his clothes to make them lay just right much to Luke's discomfort. She then informed him that she would be doing his hair, to which Luke flatly refused. It soon escalated into an argument that Riley had to play peacemaker to. He ordered Kayla to compromise by telling Luke how his hair should look and letting him do it himself. Kayla reluctantly agreed but spent the rest of the time grumbling about how she should have gotten Luke some different shirt or other and about how Luke should have gotten contacts, which was out of the question because Luke would not touch his eyes.

When Luke was finished with his makeover, Kayla pronounced that his appearance was passable but not as good as it might have been. Riley's opinion was that he barely recognized his friend.

Luke was traditionally rather scruffy. He was almost always bleary eyed from lack of sleep because of some obsession that hit in the middle of the night. He often forgot to shave. His hair was rarely combed. He often wore ugly clothes from charity shops because his budget was too precious to be wasted on clothes.

The new, improved Luke was sleek. His tiredness was hidden by the chunkier frames of his new glasses. Kayla would not let him out of the house unless he was clean shaven (she'd determined, after some time, that he didn't have the right face for facial hair). His hair was neatly styled in the fashion Kayla had described, though he'd done it himself. His clothes were all new because Kayla had taken inspiration from some television show she liked and thrown out all of his old clothes and bought him new. There were only a few relics from his old wardrobe that remained on the promise that he would never wear them in public.

"Now all you have to do is not embarrass yourself when you open your mouth," Kayla was saying to Luke as they walked to the meeting place for his and Leena's date. "I mean, girls like smart guys but they don't like geeky, nerdy guys. What I mean is, be yourself but not your weird self."

"I'll try," Luke answered but his tone was more irritated than earnest.

Riley was already anticipating failure and he was mentally preparing for the fallout. Luke would be embarrassed and lock himself in his room for weeks. Kayla would rant and rage and plot. Luke would be determined that Kayla would never set him up on a date again and Kayla would be all the more determined to make sure he dated again.

None of them were really prepared for how the night would actually turn out.
 
At first it was like, Leena couldn't believe that her friends would do this to her, but sh knew that if she got out maybe... Just maybe she would be more... Likeable instead of being a complete anti-social freak. Once she ot home her mother questioned her and she laughed; "Mom, I have a date that's why Shelly and Mikkel are here, I'll be gone a while but don't worry, i'll have my phone on me at all times."

Her mother walked out to her and grinned, "I know the perfect outfit for you, Leen." She grabbed Leena's arm and dragged her to her room, then started to rummage through her closet when she found a tasteful black skirt. It was long, yet not too long and seemed pretty fashionable, and would go with anything. Leena grabbed the skirt and put it on after stripping her body of all clothing; it fit like a glove, and looked very nice on her.

After Shelly got a nice look at her she grinned widely and held her hand out. "Leen, I got the perfect shirt for that." Leena was then dragged to her friend's house that gave her a tube top and a jean jacket, it looked very fashionable too. Leena looked at herself in the mirror when she was all dressed up and she smiled.

"Shelly, I don't think I've ever been this pretty before." Shelly shook her head.

"Leena, we still need to do your hair and make up..." She then got dragged into the bathroom, and while putting on a bit of make up she had her friend brushing her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror again when she was done and she nodded. "I think you've done perfectly well." She then grabbed her hand and took her to the meeting place where they waited for Luke.

Once Luke was there, Shelly and Mikkel ran off and Leena bit her lip in a way. He was so very attractive, she took a deep breath and smiled. "Oh, hey there... What's up!? I mean, do you wanna walk around a bit?" She questioned him in a light, shy voice.
 
Luke didn't have much in the way of role-models for romance. His parents led a stark, loveless married life. He had often heard of the violent passion that had convinced them to marry so very young but it had long since died out, along with any respect they had for each other. Luke's older brother, called Zack because of his embarrassment over his first name, was handsome and a player. Luke had long since stopped trying to remember the names of his brother's girlfriends. He was lucky that he rarely saw his brother anymore and so didn't have to bother. Kayla was the only girlfriend Riley had succeeded in keeping for any amount of time and Luke attributed that more to Kayla's bizarre taste than to Riley's prowess at wooing the fairer sex.

It was this that left Luke with no reference point when he was suddenly left alone with a pretty girl who was asking him if he wanted to go for a walk. He shouldn't have been surprised when his friend and Kayla left him alone with Leena; after all, he'd been right then as Kayla set him up on the date. Still, he was completely unprepared.

At least, he thought, it hadn't been a blind date. Luke suspected that Kayla wasn't above setting him up with the most desperate woman on the face of the planet just to get him a girlfriend. Luke was resigned to the fact that a girl would have to be desperate in order to find him attractive, but he didn't relish the idea of dating a desperate woman. A desperate woman would be eager to make some sort of physical acknowledgement of their relationship and Luke wasn't fond of touching.

Comforted that Leena was too pretty to be desperate and disheartened that it meant she wouldn't be interested for long, Luke made an effort to smile (and pulled it off better than he imagined) and said, "Yes, let's walk."

Luke walked close enough to Leena that they wouldn't be separated but not so close that they might accidentally bump while walking. He firmly placed his hands in his pockets so that Leena wouldn't be tempted to try to hold one.
 
Leena was taking slow deep breaths, she was oddly curious about him more than she had been about anyone lately, and when she bit her bottom lip while they were walking she accidentally bit a little bit too hard, and winced as she did. Their walking was quiet and peaceful, something that Leena never got from Mikkel or Shelly. She smiled.

"This is actually pretty nice, ya know?" She tilted her head, as her eyes looked up at him, although she felt a bit awkward, on not knowing what to say to get him to have a conversation with her. "So... What do you like to do for fun?" She then thought of an idea of how they could get to know one another quicker than usual.

Leena stopped walking and turned to face him fully, her eyes peering into his. "I don't know about you, but I want to get to know you. One, you're a cutie, and two, you're like the only guy that will, well, so far who hasn't run away. So I say the easiest way of getting to know someone is playing twenty-questions. What do you say?" she tilted her head and waited his answer.
 
Luke nodded when Leena said that their walk was nice, disinclined to ruin the moment with unnecessary speech. However, when the girl continued, he realized it would be necessary to speak sooner or later. He supposed it would be impossible to heed Kayla's advice of being himself but not his weird self because, inevitably, when he opened his mouth people gave him odd looked. This was especially true out of scholarly society.

He was about to answer her about what he liked to do, what Riley and most normal people considered a dull mix of reading, research, and a little writing. He listened to music almost incessantly when he was alone, music introduced to him by his mother and by Riley, but it was more background noise than anything because he was almost always too distracted to actually listen to the words. He only ever watched television or movies when he was compelled to by family or friends.

Luke wasn't able to speak, however, before Leena was saying something else. Luke was caught off guard by Leena calling him a "cutie". The last time he'd been called cute, he was twelve and his brother's girlfriend had mistaken "Lucek" for a girl's name and thus assumed that he was Zack's little sister. When she was corrected, she'd laughed in embarrassment and said, "Well, he's very cute." She hadn't known at that time that Luke was a junior in high school and two years ahead of her.

Luke was so taken aback by having been called cute, that he missed the part where Leena said that he was the only guys who hadn't run away yet and only began listening again when she suggested twenty-questions.

"Well," he began slowly, "actually, I…haven't ever…played twenty-questions before. I mean… I know how it works but I don't think I'd have any idea where to begin. You had better start."
 
From Luke's silence, Leena was afraid that she had said too much, talked too much? she talked when she was nervous, and he was making her very nervous; she could feel the blood rushing to the surface of her face, she had to force herself to look down as she took a deep breath and then she looked back up when he began to speak. The way he paused between his words, she tilted her head, and watched him, mostly his eyes. So... He has never played the game before? Well, she wouldn't tell him that hadn't played the game ever either...

"Yeah, I can start..." she looked down and started to think of questions. "Well, I'll start you off with three simple questions..." She smiled a bit, as she tilted her head back to look up at the darkening sky. "What is your favorite animal?" she paused for a few minutes. "My question before, what do you do for fun?" Another short silence filled with a few minutes, "And lastly; would you rather go to a book convention or a science fair?" Her last question had her looking away and waiting for his answers.

Leena didn't want to see like a weirdo or anything she was just curious as to what kind of guy he was.
 
"Favourite animal…" Luke mused as he turned the question over in his head. "It's certainly in the Felidae family. It probably can be narrowed down to Felinae. Deciding between lynx and felis, though, is difficult. In short…I like cats, deciding on a particular genus, species, and breed would take too long to be practical under these circumstances.

"What I like to do is…read, write, research…I do listen to music, though." Luke paused, afraid he was making a fool of himself but not sure how else to present himself without overreaching his acting ability. The last question amused him, however and he could not help answering with a smile.

"A book convention, certainly. I understand science, of course, but it involves too much 'hands on' work, especially at science fairs, and when it doesn't it makes use of far too much mathematics. I'll leave that work to the 'real geniuses' and read about it when they publish. As for me, I prefer the fruit of the true masters' pens and would me more pleased to spend my day at a book convention."

Luke didn't mention that he would rather stay home than go anywhere because it wasn't specifically asked in the question and it seemed beside the point. Instead, he concocted three questions for her.

"What is your favorite color?" he asked. "Your favorite flower? Your favorite poem?"
 
"Favourite animal…" Luke mused as he turned the question over in his head. "It's certainly in the Felidae family. It probably can be narrowed down to Felinae. Deciding between lynx and felis, though, is difficult. In short…I like cats, deciding on a particular genus, species, and breed would take too long to be practical under these circumstances.

"What I like to do is…read, write, research…I do listen to music, though." Luke paused, afraid he was making a fool of himself but not sure how else to present himself without overreaching his acting ability. The last question amused him, however and he could not help answering with a smile.

"A book convention, certainly. I understand science, of course, but it involves too much 'hands on' work, especially at science fairs, and when it doesn't it makes use of far too much mathematics. I'll leave that work to the 'real geniuses' and read about it when they publish. As for me, I prefer the fruit of the true masters' pens and would me more pleased to spend my day at a book convention."

Luke didn't mention that he would rather stay home than go anywhere because it wasn't specifically asked in the question and it seemed beside the point. Instead, he concocted three questions for her.

"What is your favorite color?" he asked. "Your favorite flower? Your favorite poem?"
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Lol sorry didn't realize I hadn't replied yet and then it went into the graveyard, so I'm creating this as round two!

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Leena gave a slight nod, as she listened to his words, and she tilted her head, a soft smile parting her lips when she heard his answers to her questions. Leena glanced down to the ground for a minute, before she looked back up and smiled softly. "Oh, I'm sorry about the last question, kinda seems odd for me huh?"

Leena looked back up when she heard his questions to her. She bit her lower lips and thought about her answers carefully.

"Color would have to be a deep purple..." She spoke slowly, and hesitantly. "My favorite flower?" She laughed and bit and arched a brow at him. "Why? You planning on getting me flowers?" She stuck her tongue out at him and held her hands up. "Kidding!"

Leena smiled softly. "Flower would have to be... Tulips." She grinned widely, and then placed her hands on her hips. "I'm not all that much into Poems, but if it has to do with love, I'll always enjoy them..." She gave a shrug and smiled softly.

Leena bit her lower lip softly, as she tried to think of questions that she could ask him.

"What's your favorite meal?"

"Favorite Desert?"

"Anddd..." She paused and tilted her head; "Favorite drink?"
 
"Purple…the color of creativity and imagination," Luke commented when Leena finished giving her answers. "Tulips are the flowers of lovers and…there is nothing to glean from your favorite poem if you haven't got one."

Luke listened to Leena's next questions and considered them carefully.

"I like most kinds of food but I suppose that, if I had to choose a favorite meal, I would have to say anything homemade. The work put into it adds a sort of sentimentality which makes it taste better, unless the cook is irredeemably awful.

"As for drinks, I will drink just about anything as long as it is safe, legal, and generally accepted as an appropriate beverage.

"About deserts, I suppose I would pick the Atacama in Chile because it is the driest and therefore the most desert-like, in my opinion."

Luke paused for a moment to allow Leena a response before asking his questions.

"Since you aren't a fan of poetry, what is your favorite song? What is your favorite book? I'll stay with media for this last one; what is your favorite film?"
 
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