Honey Lips | ✓

Chapter Twenty One

“Yeah, I'm back in Henknox now.” Ivy placed a beanie on her head while holding her phone to her ear. Luke's half full mug of coffee stood on the counter in the kitchen, the aroma clung to the air. She grabbed a glass out of the cabinet.

"Do you know when you're coming back to Blueberry?” Claire asked, Ivy nodded her head when she realised that her best friend couldn't see her. She rolled her eyes at herself.

“Monday, I'm staying over at Luke's for the weekend. Why, are you missing me too much?” A teasing smile on her lips, she filled the glass with water.

“No, I just need a babysitter for Tyler.” Ivy snorted at Claire's flat reply.

“You wound me deeply.” She whined in a high pitched tone before speaking normally again. “How's the store?”

“It's a graveyard, don't worry you're not missing anything. I don't even know how Jerry still keeps this place going but I'm not complaining. Plus you haven't been here in like a week and you're still getting paid.”

“I think he's just a very generous man but who opens a music store in a small town anyway?” The question was rhetorical, still she wondered why the man chose Blueberry of all places for his store.

“Eh, at least we got the teens that change their phase every two days then they buy new music that fit their current 'vibe.' But where's Luke? I wanna yell at him for stealing you away.”

Ivy shook her head, a distant smile on her face. Outside the morning sun shone brightly on the mountain peaks otherwise known as the Henknox Hills, she always wanted to see them for herself and despite visiting the city numerous times in the past few months, she hadn't gotten to it. She turned her gaze away, no longer wanting to see the spectacle. “He's not here, had to leave super early. Something about needing to go to the studio.”

“But I thought you said you guys are going to record the album together. You even said he's gonna show you around the studio.” Disappointment laced her best friend's tone, she could imagine Claire brushing her shoulder length hair away from her face. As she always did when she was confused.

“Yeah, I thought so too.” She tried to pretend she was fine with it, she trusted Luke. It was difficult, so very difficult to trust again after Dixon proved how lethal it could be to trust the wrong person but Luke was different. He had his reasons for rushing out of the house like a mad man and it was most likely that she was making something out of nothing.

Perks of being an overthinker, right?

“Shoot, I gotta go. There's life, talk to you later!” In the background a bell chimed, alerting the presence of a customer. Ivy managed to greet Claire before the line went silent although she questioned whether her best friend actually heard her.

A frozen smile remained on Ivy's face as she set her phone down on the counter, she downed her glass of water and walked outside. She wrapped her arms around herself, her cardigan doing little to warm her body. What was a beautiful tropical backyard garden was now under layers of snow. All the various plants she first set her eyes on when Luke brought her to the house the first time were nowhere in sight.

The gardener within her mourned the loss of the poor plants and she shook her head at herself. Come spring and the new plants would jump to life.

Her mind wandered to Italy; the trip hadn't been long. They only stayed for three days. Amanda suggested that they'd stay a whole week but both Ivy and Luke declined. Luke was on a better foot with his father but not good enough to spend an entire week in his presence. And the father son duo did break the ice with jokes but a tense atmosphere still remained.