Friends, Love & Misunderstandings

I don’t know how much time has passed when I first hear the noise - the cracking of twigs on the forest floor. Someone must be walking towards me. I raise my head in order to listen for the sound of twigs breaking. It’s faint, but I can definitely hear it over the strains of music coming from the meadow. I look back at the sky again. Maybe if I don’t acknowledge the person, they’ll leave me alone. I hear the twigs snapping again, much closer this time. I resist the urge to look over at the person who’s invaded my privacy.

“Sophie?” the person says, now directly behind me. I’d recognise that voice anywhere.
“Luke?” I reply, turning to face him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m your search party,” he says, grinning. “You’ve been gone for half an hour and we were getting worried that you’d fallen over and broken your leg, so I thought I’d come and find you.” He comes to sit next to me on the bench, giving me another one of his amazing smiles. I half-heartedly return it, before looking at the sky once again. How could I ever have imagined that he might like me back? He belongs with someone utterly gorgeous, like Jessie or Melody – though I’d rather scratch my eyeballs out than see her with that cow.

I can feel Luke staring at me as I gaze at the sky.
“What?” I ask after a while, turning to look at him. “Have I got something in my hair?” I reach up to run my hands through my hair, but his hands seize mine before they even reach my hair.
“Sophie, your hair is fine,” he says laughing.
“Well what then? Have I got something on my face?” I reply, trying to free my hands to check my face. His hands simply grip mine more tightly.
“Soph, there’s nothing on your face!” He smirks at me, dazzling me once again.
“Then why do you keep staring at me?” I ask, glaring at his smirk.
“Because... You’re beautiful, Soph.”