The Best Year - 41. Chapter 41

After the dick pic sent me scrambling up the stairs, I ended up groaning with the lack of response from Luke after he sent it. So I rolled off the bed and pulled my pants back on, thinking that it was better to save all I had for that, later. I also didn’t know exactly when I was supposed to meet him.

Despite my best efforts in the locker room earlier, I still thought I smelled like the school’s cafeteria and the cleaning spray from my first day of detention. So I walked down the hall to the bathroom stripping off as I went. Then I put my phone on the counter next to the sink, ready to answer it when Luke sent another text. I knew he still had to be careful about the phone, I also didn’t know what being ungrounded meant for him. It was easy to guess that it didn’t include me, not after the other night.

Turning on the water I waited until I saw a little bit of steam rising through the glass before I stepped inside. Feeling the hot water I sighed and ran my hand over my body with my eyes closed. Feeling for any stickiness or lingering peas or potatoes before I grabbed the bodywash off the little shelf that held it. Squeezing some in my hand I rubbed it through the stubble on my chest that would have to go before next practice. Districts and Spring break were right around the corner, then followed directly by Prom the next weekend. Every milestone for my last year of high school was too close for comfort. The only positive about saying goodbye to a place that held me for four years was the freedom that followed. My freedom looked different than what I thought possible, I saw myself probably going far past first base with Ally. Then her breaking up with me when we parted ways for college. That was the general outcome for everyone that went away from here. Knowing how wrong I was going to be about my last summer here, I smirked, shaking my head. It couldn’t end like that with Luke.

Washing away the soap and running more body wash over my arms and hands to make sure I no longer smelled like rubber gloves and disinfectant spray, I poured a glob of shampoo in my hand. My hair was getting longer, I had neglected it over the past couple of weeks, too distracted with Luke’s absence and the uptick of my schedule with swimming.

Sighing as the water cooled slightly I rinsed my hair and stepped out of the shower. There hadn’t been a ding accompanied by a buzz that told me Luke or anything had texted while I was in the shower. So after I grabbed a towel and dried my hair then my body, I wrapped it around my waist and walked back across the hall to my room to get dressed.

Being a school night, I didn’t think Luke would be allowed to be out long. I still had detention to look forward to and when I pulled on a pair of boxer briefs followed by a t-shirt I glanced at myself in the mirror that was attached to my dresser in my room. My hair was sticking up in all directions and I realized that I was nervous about meeting him. I didn’t know what he thought about that last Saturday. He had gotten so drunk that he half passed out on the way home, it wasn’t something I thought he would ever do. I had left him happy though, but that was three weeks ago.

Swallowing, I grabbed a pair of socks and finally realized I had completely forgotten to put on pants. Rolling my eyes I walked over to my closet and retrieved a pair and slid them up over my legs. Then I walked barefoot with socks in hand back into the bathroom, I sprayed myself with a little cologne and smoothed down my hair with a comb and then my fingers to mess it back up a little. After a few swipes of deodorant under both arms I grabbed my phone, checked for a text from Luke and only seeing some from Ally that would have to wait, I walked out of the bathroom and bounded back down the stairs.

“Don’t keep him out too late,” Mom said and I looked down at her as I passed the back of the couch to retrieve my shoes. She had finished what was in her briefcase and was now settled into the couch watching a movie, wrapped in a blanket absently twirling her hair between her fingers.

“I won’t, I have a stack of detention homework to put a dent in,” I said as I awkwardly danced around as I slid one sock on and then the other. Then I toed into my sneakers then grabbed my keys and walked out of the door to a sunset and cooler air. The days were growing longer, but there was still a cold reminder that winter could come back. Nothing had started coming back to life either and as I walked to my Mustang I opened the driver’s side door and slid inside. I immediately fished my keys out of my pocket and slid them into the ignition. I adjusted the heat that I didn’t need on the way home and backed out of the driveway.

The park had survived flooding so far, but I still didn’t have high hopes for it. It liked to rain a lot in the spring, but I knew if it did get rusted over and overgrown again that the stubborn and stupidly optimistic Henry would be back out here.

No one was at the park when I pulled in, still too cold for anything really. I drove to the very far side of the parking lot and parked in the waning light of the sunset away from any street lights. Looking around before I grabbed my phone, I sat it down beside me. The last three weeks I had wrestled with trying to find a way to talk to him. I was only brave enough to send a couple of texts, both answered by Henry. I also had successfully written him a letter after numerous tries covered my bedroom floor. I thought about giving it to Olivia, but I knew she would have read it. Passing notes back and forth was over a decade or so ago and guys didn’t do that to begin with. So the letter ended up in my nightstand drawer, folded as neat as I could get it. I would end up tossing it now that Luke wasn’t grounded.

I had also thought about trying the rock method that Luke seemed to like, but the thought of hitting the wrong window or having Cindy answer the knock kept that as a complete last resort. I was working up to it though, but now I was just nervous that the Luke from three weeks ago had done a lot of thinking.

I was beginning to think Luke couldn’t get out of his house until headlights hit my face and I looked around to see his white truck. Squinting to see if it was really him, despite the dick pic, I was still on edge that something else could have happened. His truck parked beside my car and when he killed the engine I looked across and saw him moving inside his truck and when the door opened I smiled when he stepped out, closing the door behind him. Letting out a breath I made sure the passenger side door was unlocked and when he pulled the handle and the cold night air hit my face, my heart picked up pace when he slid into the passenger seat. Closing the door behind him he shuddered against the cold and glanced in my direction a small uneasy smile marring his face before looking away.

“Hey,” I said when I realized that I was staring at him and waiting for him to talk first.

“Hey,” he repeated, turning to look at me.

“What’s going on?” I asked snarling my nose at my careful as fuck tone that I didn’t want to have with him. I already wanted to be back to normal and on to the kissing part before it got too late for him on a school night.

“Nothing,” he answered, leaning his head to rest on the headrest of the passenger seat. “Nice food fight earlier.”

“I’m sorry if it got you into trouble,” I said, feeling my face warm.

“What did you get out of it?” He said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Five straight days of detention,” I answered shrugging. My heart hadn’t slowed down and I was beginning to feel like Luke just wasn’t going to work himself up to say what he actually wanted to say. That he was stalling for time. “I think Welker liked my initiative when I took all the blame.”

“That’s not too bad,” He said and I watched as he turned to look over his shoulder towards the park entrance.

“What’s really wrong?” I asked, the tension getting the better of me. I hated not knowing where I stood with people, with Luke it was suffocating.

“I keep expecting Mom to pull into the parking lot,” he answered, turning back to me. “They know I’m here with you.”

“You told them?” I asked looking past him to his truck that blocked my view of the entrance.

“No, I told them I just needed some space,” he answered and I turned to see him slide further down into the seat. He wasn’t dressed for cold weather and had his arms crossed and pressed into his chest. Reaching up I turned the key and started the engine then pressed the vent button on the dash. Feeling the warm air hitting my arm I watched him reach his fingers out towards the vents.

“Then how do they know you’re out seeing me?” I asked hating that I didn’t know if he would want me reaching out and touching him or not. He looked ready to bolt, like a rabbit that thinks it is no longer hidden, but still holding out a little bit of hope that he is.

“What else would I be doing?” He asked and I saw a little bit of Luke coming back. “Since the park, you’re all I’ve been doing.”

“Excuse you, I’m not that damn easy,” I said, hoping the joke would complete his journey back.

“I figured you would have been more of an idiot and try to see me,” he said, turning towards me. Now that he was warm he stretched out and relaxed a little better.

“I texted,” I said, offering him a small smile.

“I read them after I got my phone back,” he said, rolling his eyes. “You knew Dad had my phone.”

“I wrote you a letter,” I said, shaking my head. “I was going to give it to Olivia, but she would have read it and laughed at me.”

“Probably,” he said smiling.

“So what happened after that night?” I finally asked, having enough of this distance bullshit and reached my hand across the console.

“A lot of lecturing,” he answered and I watched him close the distance with his own hand. Feeling him took a lot of the edge I felt off and I sighed and wanted more of him in my hand, but was still too chicken shit to push it. “Me being hung over didn’t help anything either.”

“Sorry,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “I should have called your Dad and told him that you were sleeping over or something.”

“I doubt it would have mattered,” he answered as he pulled his hand away. “Mom told me I wasn’t allowed to be around you anymore.”

“Yeah, we saw that coming,” I said, feeling the release of his hand in mine had my heart racing again.

“So we’re going to have to be better at this,” he said, glancing out the windshield.

“I know,” I said following his gaze out, my headlights were just hitting the swings that Henry replaced the day I skipped out on the park renovation. The slight breeze was moving them, giving them a ghostly as fuck sort of feeling that just added to everything I felt in my car.

“I know what she said to you that night, too,” he said and I turned my head back to see him looking at me. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Not your fault,” I said, swallowing, “don’t worry about it.”

“I was too scared to defend you,” he said and I jumped when his hand found mine again. “I thought if I did, she’d have me figured out.”

“We only got a couple of months of this,” I said, rubbing my thumb across his index finger. “Then it will be summer and we can do whatever the fuck we want.”

“You can, I can’t,” he said, offering me a small smile. “I have a life sentence.”

“It could be different,” I said, shaking my head.

“Did you know that Connor was starting that Gay club?” He asked and I smirked, rolling my eyes.

“Yeah, you know about Ms. Lane wanting me to sponsor it?” I said and he nodded. I should have known she wouldn’t give up on the idea.

“Olivia put the idea in his head to be the student sponsor,” he said, sighing. “She knew it would set off Mom.”

“Yeah she came into Welker’s office today and yelled at him,” I said and I felt his hand tense in mine.

“I know,” he said and I didn’t want to talk about this shit anymore. This back and forth of little nonsenses was starting to drive me crazy. Luke came here to say something too or maybe I did, but neither of us were saying anything.

“Just say what you came here to say,” I said, glaring at him, my voice falling to a whisper.

“I didn’t come here to say anything,” he countered, glancing over his shoulder again.

“Fuck me,” I hissed and jerked my hand out of his and put the car in reverse.

“What are you doing?” He asked as the automatic locks locked the doors after I cleared his truck and put the car in drive.

“You’re scared and I hate seeing you like this,” I answered as I hit the high beams and started down the empty parking lot.

“I have to get home,” he said as he reached for his seatbelt.

“I know,” I said, slowing the car back down. I let it roll to a stop and I looked at him, my foot on the brake pedal.

“I told you why I couldn’t be gay when we first started all of this,” he said and I hated the tear that fell down his left cheek. It grazed the corner of his mouth and I slid the car into park. “You don’t know what it feels like to know that you’re the one thing your parents can’t love.”

“You don’t know that,” I said, shaking my head. I couldn’t see Henry not ever loving Luke. I didn’t know if I could reassure him with Cindy though, being so eager to hate me. I also knew there wasn’t a future with me in their home, that picture would never be taken and hung on the wall. Henry wouldn’t ever be able to make the place welcoming enough on his own.

“Isn’t all this proof enough?” He asked, shaking his head before he leaned against the headrest. “I didn’t come here to talk about any of this. I came here to kiss you.”

“Then do it,” I said as I killed the engine.

“I can’t,” he said as he grabbed the door handle. “I’m too fucking scared to.”

“Then let me,” I said as I reached for him before he could open the door and leave me sitting here in the parking lot.

“Not here,” he said, shaking his head.

“Look around, Luke,” I said as my headlights finally dimmed and left us in darkness. We were still in between street lights. Just beyond that was the dim glow of the main part of town just down the road. Everything would be closed aside from one or two gas stations that didn’t know when to give it up and the factory.

“I’m sorry,” he said and I blinked when the overhead light came on and he released his seatbelt. I watched him climb out of the car and close the door behind him. He was a disappearing figure in my rearview mirror when I swore under my breath and grabbed my own door handle and released my seat belt. I threw my door open without a glance backwards. Luke was already back at his truck, fumbling with his keys. He made it all the way back around to the driver’s side by the time I got there. I was breathing hard and it had finally gotten cold enough for me to see my breath. Swallowing, I grabbed his shoulder and gently turned him around and then I pushed him against the driver’s side door of his truck. I kissed him as I moved my hands up to rest against his truck on either side of his head, my eyes closed tight too worried that I would feel him start to push me away. I heard him inhale and I felt him grow tense underneath the weight of me.

I was about to break the kiss and run back to my car so that I could get the hell out of here, but Luke finally reached up and grabbed me, balling my shirt into his fists. I felt his fingers dig into my skin, it hurt, but I wasn’t about to stop what we were doing and I moaned when he kissed me back.

“I have to go,” he said after breaking the kiss. I felt him release my shirt, but I was already shaking my head.

“It’s not late,” I countered, leaning my head forward, and I kissed him again. My jeans had tightened over my erection and I hated the reach of Cindy had wasted most of our time for us. I hated knowing she would be on Luke’s mind whenever he found a chance to see me again.

“I don’t want to push it,” he said and I nodded and stepped away from him, looking him over as I tried to calm down from the rush of anger I had about all this.

“Fuck,” I hissed closing the distance again and I heard him laugh when I pressed him back against his truck just before I kissed him.

“I have homework,” he said after I broke the kiss for a third time.

“Promise me this weekend we get the hell out of this shithole and do something,” I said as I stepped away from him again and found his eyes.

“Yeah we can,” he said, offering me a small smile. “Goodnight.”

“Bye,” I said and I took a couple more steps back so he could get into his truck. After he closed the door behind himself he turned to smile at me again before I heard the release of the truck changing from parked to reverse. I watched him back around me and I started walking once he was in drive and headed down the empty parking lot. I noticed the door of my car was still open as he drove around where we had left it. My dick was back to behaving in my pants when I started walking again and when I glanced up as I got to my car door I saw his white truck turn towards home and I slid inside my car and followed.

The rest of the week went as expected, Rick had me in the classroom until he got bored of hearing me scribbling on homework. He’d take me out to do bullshit cleaning and by the time Thursday came around I had blisters on my fingers. Not too many people, not even Tuley and his fuckheads made it to any detentions. Having to eat lunch in the classroom was the most annoying. It didn’t help that I knew Luke was sitting at the table again. The pictures and snarky assed texts from the assholes I called my friends told me that much. At least with all the extra work I’ll be turning in, I doubted my grades couldn’t get much better if I tried.

Friday is what everyone was waiting for though, Welker announced that the final count for Prom nominations would be announced during last period. He knew as well as I did, if they were announced that morning, teachers would be fucked trying to keep us in line. So as I was about to turn to the last page of my latest packet of Chemistry homework Mrs. Morgan had Connor drop off, the afternoon announcements started with Welker clearing his throat. Glancing up I saw Rick roll his eyes as he stretched his bulky arms up to cross them as he leaned back in his chair. It groaned under his weight, but the fat ass joke I would have shot him died on my lips when I remembered we weren’t alone.

There were four other people in here today, underclassmen mostly and they were too scared to sit anywhere near me. The bravest one, a girl that was only here because she refused to abide by the dress code that was always less fair to girls than guys. She was wearing a shirt three times too large for her, provided by the school to cover what she was wearing, but even then she had it tied so tightly to her skin that she might as well had a for sale sign on her boobs. She was the only one to ever talk to me and Rick shot that down before I responded to her and for that I was thankful.

“Before I announce the finalists, please review school policy on campaign posters. Ms. Lane also wants to formally invite everyone who wishes to join the school’s first ever Gay, Straight Alliance club, to please see her after school. Now, in no particular order the top four vote recipients for both King and Queen are as follows,” he started, then as I heard giggling and whispering behind me, probably about the gay club that likely only would ever include Ms. Lane and Connor, he cleared his voice again. “Mr. Tobias Marks, Mr. Bailey Ashton, Mr. Jackson Forrest, and lastly for King is Mr. Connor Wilkes. For Queen, Ms. Allison Welker, Ms. Lily Henson, Ms. Ella Childress, and Ms. Emma Camp. The winning theme this year, by a large margin, is Masquerade.”

I knew somewhere in the school Heather was trying not to cuss Emma and Ella’s names as she recovered from the shock of it all. Not hearing her name as a finalist wasn’t the biggest surprise though, Connor being included in the final list was definitely news. Mostly because I didn’t remember him announcing himself for consideration. We also knew there wasn’t really a vote that mattered for the theme, it won because it was the cheapest. We’d be wearing most of it on our faces, Connor told us as much already. The deadline for putting your name in for consideration was after the first couple of weeks of school. We sealed off that day with me sliding bare assed down the middle of the gym floor. That would be the only form of campaigning I would ever do.

Rick didn’t let us relax for the last few minutes left of detention either. After Welker’s voice ended with his mic screeching, he stood and cocked his eyebrow. I knew better, but I heard the hush fall behind me almost immediately. I glanced down at my last page of chemistry homework and decided it would be better left until Sunday night. I only had tonight to spend with Luke and I wanted to get that started as soon as I could. This weekend was the last practice before Districts, then the pool would be closed and we would be expected to only do light conditioning like jogging at home. We would be leaving on a Thursday evening and I wouldn’t be home until the way too early to be awake hours of Sunday morning.

The truth of it all, I didn’t know if Luke would make good on his promise and the last five minutes were starting to get to me. So when the minute hand slapped the twelve and the bell sounded I grabbed my stuff and bolted from the door. Rick had to move out of my way and when I met the first of the crowd I started looking around. The detention room changed every year, depending on what teachers preferred, this year it was on the first floor. It wasn’t on the opposite end of the hall from Cindy’s freshman English class. I already saw her walking out and heading in my direction. Her lips were pursed and her short blond hair was blowing behind her in the wake of her marching. I could only guess where she was going and I hoped Welker had prepared himself for the second attempt Cindy had to shut down the gay club.

Torn between following her to see Welker squirm and my butthole clenching as it held me in place whenever I saw Cindy, I looked around hoping to see Luke. We hadn’t talked about what we wanted to do exactly, most of our texts didn’t involve words. I had hoped he would have come up with something by now though, anything that put a ton of distance between us and this place.

Not seeing him I started walking down the hall towards the back entrance into the student parking lot. Only seniors were truly excited about the prom announcements and underclassmen had to dodge out of the way when groups converged to talk about it. By Monday afternoon the walls would be covered by campaign posters. Then by the end of the week every available flat space would be infringed upon. Lockers would be covered and people would have to put up with it, even if they didn’t care for the person who taped it on there. As I avoided everyone looking to congratulate my ass for something they knew wasn’t a surprise, I heard Connor’s name a lot. I didn’t care though, my mind was on not getting trapped in the traffic headed outside.

“Can you believe it,” Heather said as she found me just before I got to the exit. I jumped not realizing she was anywhere around me until her hand grabbed my shoulder and she collapsed onto my side. “Beat out by those two dollar trash bags.”

“Nice,” I said glancing down at her wondering where the fuck Toby was. “It isn’t fair, I know.”

“Right?” She said as she pulled me to a stop. “Where are you going in a hurry? We were wondering if you had any plans for tonight.”

“No,” I answered, but then shook my head. “I mean I do have plans, why?”

“What kind of plans do you have?” She asked as she looked around at the people spilling past us before turning back to me. Her hurt was only skin deep as it was, Heather knew she wasn’t the most likable girl in school, she liked it that way.

“Nothing really,” I said, sighing. The answer had her blinking at me like I was an idiot, but I didn’t want to tell her my plans involved Luke. Her mind would go where I didn’t want it to, then it would get to Toby and I’d be fucked.

“You’re about as squirmy as my dog when he peed on that electric fence,” she said, letting her hand fall back to her side. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, turning to face her. For a second I saw real concern on her face, but I also knew this was Heather so it didn’t last long.

“Well okay then,” she said as she reached up and flipped some of her hair back behind her shoulder. “Ella has been angling to ask you to prom, her fake boyfriend that’s in college can’t make it.”

“Really?” I asked, wrinkling my nose. “I probably shouldn’t have busted her in the back of the head with potatoes then.”

“She’ll definitely be on you like a cheap slut after this,” she said as I looked past her and saw everyone else coming towards us.

“Sluts aren’t cheap, they’re easy,” I said smirking when she rolled her eyes and looked around the hallway. When she saw them she turned to stand beside me and we both waited.

“Can you believe it, Emma and Ella?” Heather asked as soon as they were within earshot, not caring if any of Emma and Ellas friends overheard her as they walked around us.

The girls knew how to handle this situation better and when Lily and Ally started consoling where I failed, I stepped out of their way. Shooting a glare at Toby, who only smirked and shrugged as he watched the girls.

“Really, did you have a fart that turned into a near miss?” I asked as I reached up and shoved his shoulder. “Where the fuck were you?”

“Got held up,” he said, lowering his voice. “Had to go to my locker.”

“And she let you?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow as Derek snickered beside us. I didn’t know how he was taking being snubbed for Prom King, but like me he didn’t care too much about it. Lily had forced him to put his name in for consideration as it was.

“Alright, she had crazy eyes and I knew I’d fuck up and say the wrong thing,” Toby answered his voice falling to a whisper. “My balls scampered back up inside me, I had to coax them to come back down.”

“Pussy,” Derek coughed, knocking his shoulder against Toby’s. “We need to find somewhere to be before the girls choose for us though.”

“My field, do you think it is warm enough?” Toby asked as he smacked Derek in the stomach. The woosh of air told me that it wasn’t a gentle slap either.

“No it is too cold at night,” Lily answered and I glanced over at them wondering how girls could be talking and nosey as fuck all at the same time.

“I have something else, you guys are on your own,” I said as I glanced at my phone.

“No you don’t,” Ally said and I looked towards the ceiling.

“I do,” I countered, my face getting warm.

“But we all haven’t been together for so long and Luke isn’t grounded anymore,” she said and then when her lips closed then parted I knew she had me figured out. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” I said, rocking back onto my heels, “so I better be heading out.”

“Damn dude,” Toby said, making a grab for my shoulder. “Bit early to be, to be, Derek help me out here.”

“Nah bud,” Derek said, reaching over to slap Toby on the back.

“Well when you think of something you two can do it to each other,” I said as I flipped them off and reached into my pocket to pull out my car keys. “We’ll hang out during spring break.”

“Maybe you can catch up after,” Lily said as she offered me a small smile. With that I knew she had my vote for prom queen.

“Yeah, maybe,” I said as I nodded, feeling a little torn about leaving them. We hadn’t been able to hang out much, Tony had scheduled a grueling set of practices to make sure we had our final schedule hammered out. That is how it always was this time of year, the only difference was that Rick didn’t get too pissed off if I showed up at a practice half-assed hung over.

“Go on,” Toby said as nodding his head towards the exit.

Being outside I looked around at the mostly empty parking lot. I didn’t see the white truck I wanted to see so I bounded down the stairs. When I got to my car I pressed the unlock button and opened my door, tossing my school bag into the passenger seat before sliding in. I wasted no time, the lingering thought of having an impatient Luke and a possibly distracted Cindy, the timing couldn’t be better. Heather and everyone had also kept me just long enough for the initial rush for the exit to die down and I fell in a smoothly flowing line of cars.

Finally home I slid out of my car and glanced through the dead undergrowth towards Luke’s house. I could just make out his white truck in the driveway. I realized how stupid we were to be kissing anywhere near that sparse forest now that it was winter and light out. In the dark we were probably still hidden, but just enough.

Not wanting to stick around I jogged up the sidewalk and bounded up the stairs. Mom was home and when I threw the door open, I could smell food cooking. Glancing at her, she was standing in the kitchen in front of the stove. It didn’t smell like fried chicken and she wasn’t openly trying to hide anything. Seeing me she smiled over her shoulder and I slowed just at the entrance to both rooms not wanting to explain myself, but not wanting to just run up to my room and not talk to her either.

“How was your last day of detention?” She asked when she saw me settling in, she probably would have let me run up the stairs. It was what I would have done earlier in the year, in a hurry to get right back out the door on a Friday afternoon.

“Busy, my wrist hurts,” I said, rolling my left wrist around in a small circle. “Are you cooking up food you’ll have to hide from Dad?”

“No, I’m behaving,” she said, offering me a small smile. “I had ice cream for breakfast, but the evidence is long gone.”

“Spoiling them before they’re even born,” I said, glancing down at her stomach when she turned around. She was growing in the middle, so much that even her baggy clothes did little to hide it. She hadn’t told me as much, but I knew she was hiding her pregnancy from the church crowd, Cindy probably being the main reason.

“Well the world is a hard enough place, spoiling them right now won’t hurt them,” she said and I watched her smile and slide her hand over her stomach.

“What did you and Dad used to do when you were dating?” I asked, feeling my face getting warm. The question surprised her, that much was obvious when her mouth fell open.

“Why do you ask?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow and I shook my head.

“Forget it,” I answered half turning to head up the stairs. “A lot has changed since then.”

“Watch it young man,” she said, recovering as she turned off the stove and started plating the food. It had too much green and too much of a bitter garden smell for me to really wonder what it was. “We did a lot of things, went bowling, roller skating, to the movies.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I answered smirking as she turned and placed the pan gently back onto the stove. “Luke wants to get out of town tonight and I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” She asked as she pulled out the silverware drawer and grabbed a fork. “He has only been out of trouble for a week.”

“He is going to call Henry if we’re out too late,” I said as she pulled out her chair at the table. Her hair was braided and pulled over one shoulder. She had already pulled off her heels and changed out of her pants suit for a pijamas. The only evidence of her having gone to work being her make-up and briefcase.

“I’m sure you’ll come up with something,” she said and I knew I was keeping her from eating whatever she cooked, I still hadn’t figured it out. “I don’t have to tell you to behave, do I?”

“You probably should,” I said shrugging as I turned and walked up the stairs. I ignored my room knowing I wanted to shower so I walked to the bathroom. I didn’t know when Luke would be able to get away from his parents or convince them of wanting to go somewhere and not with me. He could probably tell Henry that he was hanging out with me, I didn’t think Henry hated me, he hugged, awkward as it was.

After the shower I dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my waist and stood at the bathroom mirror. My hair was a good two or so inches longer than I ever had it, wrinkling my nose I pulled out the dawar that held my comb and hair dryer. The last time I really let my hair grow was for Lily, but I ended up getting frustrated with it trying to swim and had it trimmed back down to normal.

Finally half ass happy with it, mostly because it wasn’t trying to curl around my ears or sticking up everywhere, I put everything back in the drawer. Then I brushed my teeth looking at myself in the mirror feeling an edge of nervousness. I knew I was getting ready for a date, or what felt like a date. We had been together alone a lot, the horseback ride being one of the bigger ones my mind brings up to try and calm myself back down. This felt different, we were still in a crowd of people until Luke decided he was a damn cowboy and went galloping down the gravel road with me clinging to my horse with every muscle in my legs.

My phone lighting up and dinging had me looking around for it. When I grabbed it off the bathroom counter, I saw the text from Luke that he was leaving the house. Swearing under my breath I rinsed my mouth, then grabbed my deodorant and popped the lid and slid it over both armpits. Then I grabbed my rarely used cologne and sprayed it down my chest and stomach then bolted out of the bathroom and into my room across the hall.

Letting my towel fall I flipped on the lights and closed the door. It was louder than I intended and cringed as I made my way to my closet and started pulling out shirts and jeans. The jeans were easy, I only ever really liked one color and style. The shirts I fussed over, but I finally chose a powder blue button up with a white undershirt. Then I grabbed the shoes I wore when I had to make a little bit of an attempt at dressing up then I grabbed a pair of socks and boxer briefs.

Ignoring the mess I made of my bed I slid on my boxer briefs and was pulling up my jeans when I heard a knock on the front door. Swearing under my breath, wanting to beat Mom to the door, but knowing I was far too naked to do that, I pulled my jeans up over my ass and quickly buttoned and zipped them. Then I pulled over my shirt undoing all of the half-ass styling and slid into my button up shirt. Then I sat on my bed and mound of shirts and slid on my socks and toed into my shoes not bothering to untie them. The last thing I did was grab my wallet and phone then ran out of my room and down the hall and stairs.

“I’m ready,” I said after I bounded down the stairs, but not seeing anyone I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks when I saw Henry standing in the kitchen with Mom attempting to hold a dish towel over her stomach. Then I saw Luke standing on Henry’s otherside. Mom was the first one to start moving as she folded the dish towel.

“Hey Jackson,” Henry greeted as he turned to look at me.

“Hey,” I said and I realized I was still half hovering in the living room and kitchen, almost on my tip toes. I glanced at Luke who rolled his eyes. Deciding that I was happy standing where I was, I leaned against the wall hoping my earlier excitement wasn’t too overboard.

“Ready?” Luke asked as he stepped around Henry, who kept glancing at Mom, who kept trying to find something to do in the kitchen to keep herself turned away from him.

“Yeah,” I said, swallowing as Henry offered me another smile. “Are you coming with us, Henry?”

“Oh, no,” he said laughing. “I just came over to borrow the crockpot, Cindy is making her special dip for church and ours broke.”

“Oh,” I said, swallowing when I glanced at Mom.

“Please Henry, I don’t want anyone at church to know yet,” she said as she opened the pantry door, the bottom shelf held the larger pots and pans, the crockpot was just behind them. “It is behind those pans.”

“I’ll get it, don’t fuss with it, Grace,” he said as they both started to lean down at the same time. I thought they were about to bump heads, but Mom slowly raised back up and shook her head. “Your secret is safe with me, but congratulations all the same.”

“Thank you Henry,” she said, offering him a small smile. “I’m sorry to put you in an awkward position, but that includes Cindy.”

“I figured as much,” he said and even I noticed the hint of strain in his voice as he held the crockpot in his hands. “Luke, if you’re going to be late, call the house.”

“I will,” he said, reaching up to tug at the collar of his shirt. He was dressed in a t-shirt he obviously bought from Connor. I felt like a fucking idiot in my button up shirt and dress shoes. Catching Luke looking me over I shot him a glare and he turned back to his Dad.

“No drinking,” Henry said as he readjusted the crockpot. “What are you guys doing after you finish bowling?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, glancing in my direction. “Probably going out with everyone for food and stuff.”

“Alright,” Henry said, smiling. “I’ll stop asking questions and get out of the way, thank you again Grace.”

“Anytime Henry,” she said waving her hand as she followed him out the door with Luke and I still hovering between rooms like statues.

When the door closed with Henry on the other side of it Mom turned back to us as I finally started moving again. Shaking her head she walked up to Luke and patted him on the shoulder and looked over at me.

“Are we really going bowling?” I asked as Luke finally seemed to relax now that we were alone.

“I came up with that idea,” Mom answered, shaking her head. “I thought teenagers were supposed to be good at lying to their parents. Not that I want either of you to do that.”

“Does Cindy know you’re over here?” I asked, stepping further into the living room and towards the front door wanting to get out of the house and down the road.

“She isn’t home,” he answered shrugging, “she’s out shopping for that dip.”

“And you couldn’t have told me your Dad was coming over?” I asked, attempting a smirk, but my heart was still racing in my chest. “I about fell on my face.”

“Not your smoothest of moves,” Mom said as she stepped around me and walked around the couch. I watched her do an odd sort of slide down into it, letting out a small sigh as she relaxed against the back of the couch.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked over to the front door grabbing up my keys as I opened it.

“I didn’t know he was coming until he was walking out the door, I didn’t want to text you with him watching me,” he answered as he finally started walking.

“I’m dressed like a damn idiot,” I said as I stepped through the front door. I knew Mom heard me when she laughed, but she didn’t scold me for swearing so I closed the door behind us after Luke cleared it.

“You look hot,” he said, his voice barely a whisper as he kept walking and I followed him out to his truck.

“What are we really doing?” I asked hoping my dumbass friends didn’t convince Luke to change our plans. There was probably a party at Emma’s to celebrate her prom nomination. I doubted Heather and Ally were invited after getting thrown out of the last one, but I wouldn’t put it past them trying.

“Getting as far away from here as we can,” he answered, offering me a small smile.

“Then we better get going,” I said as we reached his truck and I walked around to the passenger side and opened the door and slid inside. Closing it behind me I watched Luke climb inside and he let out a breath after closing the door, like this was some sort of safety from the world outside. Glancing over at me he smiled as he turned the key already in the ignition and the truck came to life.

After Luke backed out of the driveway and was heading towards town, I didn’t know where we were going. It could have been anywhere and I wouldn’t have cared as I pulled the seatbelt across my chest and fastened it and as we hit the first redlight entering town. I slid my hand across the bench seat, palm up and waiting. I watched Luke look around before he let go of the wheel with his right hand and found mine.