It probably shouldn't have surprised Luke that this was so easy.
He didn't know what he'd been expecting, not exactly, but for some reason he'd thought he'd have to try. And he didn't. Talking to George in person came naturally, like he'd been doing it a long time. Maybe all that nervousness had paid off; for all the times he'd imagined meeting her, though, he'd never managed to get it right. He'd never expected to have seen her before, but maybe it made sense. Nothing about the two of them really fit into any of the patterns of his life. Perfect like that.
And he didn't mind the flyaways. Not even a little.
For the first time Luke was feeling kind of okay about being himself in front of someone. It was weird. Maybe it was good, though. This was what a best friend was supposed to be like, right? You didn't have to be amazing in front of them all the time. Even if maybe you wanted to be. Like. Just a little.
George made a face at the sky, and Luke made a face at her in turn.
"Never," he asserted, breaking into a lopsided grin. "I'm just good like that. Plus my partner was the best teacher. You were ten thousand times better than anyone else, so."
"...Come stand by the wall with me," he added, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Breaks the wind. Or maybe I just want you to be closer. Use my inside voice. Either. Both."
Winter should have been ending by now, with spring firmly in place. Trust all good things to be late. Luke shivered a little in his hoodie, laughing hoarsely under his breath. His jaw was totally going to chatter reading aloud. Hopefully in an endearing kind of way. Or whatever.
Now things fell quiet. He wanted to think of something else to say, but all of it sounded like So, this is awesome or Did you know you're actually ridiculously gorgeous?. Not that he was ashamed of either of those things. It was a clear fact that both were true.