Project Popularity

Chapter Twenty-Two

Dedicated to @lolliepoptree for the beautiful cover of Jamie!

Song on the side is "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. It reminds me a lot of L&J's relationship in this chapter.

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Chapter Twenty-Two

Luke Archer

I pulled up on Jamie’s street and parked right across from her house. Every light in the Vandeviere Residence was out except the one in Jamie’s room, and I could see her silhouette through the window as she stood up from her bed and walked over to her table. Grinning, I slipped the phone out from my pocket and texted her.

 

I’m outside. Can you come out?

Jamie climbed out of her window shortly- almost tripping over one of the garden pots that Mrs. Vandeviere kept below her window, I might add- and raced to me with a smile on her face.

“These are far too normal-looking to be your PJs,” I grinned at her, taking in her yellow pullover and sweatpants and mentally comparing them to the girly pajamas that she usually wore when she snuck out to meet me. “I’m guessing you changed before you came out? You must like me a lot.”

Jamie looked down at what she was wearing and her face turned crimson at my teasing. “I’m going back in now. ‘Night, Luke.”

“Wait!” I reached for her hand just as she spun around, which was a really awkward position for me considering I was still sitting in my car. “Don’t go!”

“I totally got you,” she chuckled after staring at me for a few unsmiling seconds, walking around the car to the passenger seat with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.  

I rolled my eyes at her. “I totally knew what you were up to. I was just playing along. By the way, I think you sprained my shoulder. If we lose the next game, it's all on you."

Jamie inched in closer to me, worry filling her wide, innocent eyes. She poked me lightly in the left shoulder, and while I felt no pain whatsoever, I yelped.

She let out a sigh beside me. "When are you going to stop faking injuries, Luke?"

"I wasn't faking."

She jabbed a finger accusingly at me and cried, "You were smiling when I poked you!"

I was smiling? Damn. There goes my chance to make her feel guilty and have some fun with her.

"Maybe the joy of being touched by you outweighed the pain that you put me through," I told her, smirking when I saw her cheeks turn pink.

God, I love teasing her.

A brief, tension-wrought silence followed. All that joking around a while ago was just the two of us stalling. I was nervous, and I could tell for a fact that Jamie was, too, since she kept picking at her nails and looking down to her lap. Even though she had snuck out to meet me plenty of times over the past month, there was something in the air tonight that set it apart from all the other nights.