Not what it seems ,* [Lukas]

[Deleted]

Home sounded like an exotic destination while being stuck between four walls thanks to thunderclouds cracking open outside. Hammel was a decent place and Kiara had found herself making a couple of friends, but it still could not compare and make up for the familial warmth that was being missed. She had already hinted for her parents to move to Pilot Ridge, to no avail. It was greedy for her to expect that they would give up their old lives and jobs… but wasn’t that exactly what had happened to her a couple of years ago? They had not given her much of a choice. She should have never left. By leaving, she also took the family’s luck with her – something which they could have obviously used during the last couple of days.

Tears no longer brimmed at the edges of blue eyes. Instead they stained flushed cheeks before choosing freedom to land upon the cell phone in slightly trembling hands. She had just received a call from her father. By the first sound flowing from his lips, she had already been able to tell something was wrong. She had urged him to spill, but right now she rather didn’t know. About six years age, the blonde had lost her grandmother on her father’s side. It had wrecked her life to a certain extent. Slowly she had moved on. The father of her mom beat colon cancer… but he had lost the battle today. The cancer had returned. That was the bad news that had reached her ears about three minutes ago. She still couldn’t grasp it. How could her luck fail him? Of course it wasn’t a positive thing for Kiara to ponder about this; she constantly ended up with the conclusion that she should have been there for him.

Raising to her feet, she felt numb. Almost as if all life had been drained from her. Kiara absentmindedly shed her current outfit in order to replace it with some pajamas. Anything to gain at least a tad bit of comfort. Besides, all she wanted to do right now was curl up in bed underneath the covers. And the fleece blanket that had been given to her by her grandfather for he knew his only grandchild was always cold. Might as well be ready to doze off as soon after all energy had been put into crying her eyes out.

She turned to the bed, about to move over, until it hit her that the fleece blanket was missing. It had been left on the couch in the common area after she had read a book last night. So, with a carton box of paper tissues in her hand, convinced three would be used by the time she returned to her room, Kiara forced feet to shuffle into the common room. None of her roommates were there right now; she had heard the door earlier.

Click!

The door opened again the moment her unoccupied hand reached for the blanket. She quickly snatched it off the couch, yet wasn’t fast enough to avoid eye contact and to spin around without being taken notice off. Either way, her social skills had not exactly been developed with the aid of her roommate, Lukas. Kiara kept to herself most of the time, somewhat biased by his rough and dangerous appearance. She always felt intimidated, even when she would be staring at his back. It was a broad back!

”Sorry” she mumbled before turning on her heels. The apology being spoken to make up for him having to see her as miserable as she was at this point. A stuffed nose, tearful eyes and a red nose weren't exactly appealing.

[Lukas Wolf]

Lukas had just dropped Andi off back at her dorm room after their date. It was pretty late and he hadn't expected any one else in his dorm to be up, but when he walked into the dorm he noticed the little blonde girl freeze like a deer in head lights. What was she still doing up? Lukas thought to himself as he closed the door behind him, and watched the blonde grab her blanket and apologize.

Lukas had never really talked to Kiara before, he had noticed her around the dorm room and the school, but never really paid much attention to her. She had kept to herself most of the time, and Lukas had been off in his own world with Andi.

But that's when Lukas noticed her condition. Kiara looked miserable, like someone had just told her her puppy had died or something, and Lukas felt a pain in his heart for the little blonde. Lukas hated seeing girls cry, and always did his best to try to make them feel better. His mom raised him right when it came to the female sex, and Lukas prided himself in how much of a gentleman he could become.

"Hey," Lukas said quietly trying to catch the girl's attention. "Kiara," He spoke a bit louder and she tried to scurry off to her bedroom, "Is everything alright? You look like you're in pretty rough shape..." Lukas spoke softly again, trying not to offend the girl.

[Deleted]

Why did he have to react fast enough to get words out before she managed to disappear into her bedroom? It would be so incredibly rude to vanish without an answer and given that such behavior was not one of her traits, Kiara reluctantly spun around again with the fleece blanket being hugged tightly against her chest. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who would understand though. Lukas, in her opinion, came across as one of those emotionless men that could often be seen in action movies. Nevertheless, he did try to gain information about what was wrong, and that in turn gave her the feeling he actually cared enough to waste his time on asking.

She quickly wiped some tears away which of course didn’t really change a lot since new ones stained her cheeks a split second later. ”I- I’m fine,” Kiara lied at first. Her plan was to reply and to head into her room afterwards, seeing she would have had enough respect to not ignore him, but after those words were spoken and he seemed willing to accept that as an answer, she realized that she could use some company right now.

”Wait.” She stammered with a cracked voice, close to reaching a hand forward as if an invisible force would get him to not leave the spot where he was standing. Blue eyes fell down again though and she shuffled feet back towards the couch where she sat down on the edge of the soft cushions. Her body still trembled ever so slightly with sobs, yet Ki attempted to suppress them while somewhat tilting her head to keep an eye on his movements.

”My… my grandpa has cancer again.” She paused. "But I don't want to bother you with it." He probably had a fun night out; the blonde didn't want to ruin his current mood.