The Nerd's Makeover

Chapter Twenty Three

After washing my mouth out with some water from my car, I sat there and thought about everything.

I had lost my best friend.

I'm becoming a person I hardly recognise.

My parents were so disappointed in me, something that had never happened before.

Two people were in hospital because of me.

Yes, two. I never identified the person the had taken the hit for me, did I?

Amelia.

Despite all of the harsh words I had said both to her face and behind her back, she had done something worth commenting on. Although I'm not sure why, I'm pretty sure there must be a lot more to the story than Vanessa (who is also in hospital and threatening to press charges again Lucy) had let on.

I'm not sure why, but tears started leaking out once more.
I was a wreck, and a mess with what little mascara coated my lashes running down in streaks down my face. For once in my life, I had met an obstacle I had no idea how to get around. I was a wreck, both mentally and physically.

Until he found me.

~*~

"Soph?" I let out a scream as a large shadow suddenly appeared in front of me and a large hand clamped on my shoulder.

"Hey, chill, it's me." Lucas laughed but then frowned as I kept my head down instead of reacting. "Sophie are yo- what the fuck?"

"Have you been crying?" He trailed off as I burst into tears again and fell forwards into his arms.

"Luke," I wailed into his shoulder. He didn't say anything but held me as I cried, whispering words of encouragement and stroking my hair.

The same way Blake had an hour ago.

Shaking my head lightly, I attempted to recollect my emotions and eventually my sobbing died down to little sniffles and hiccups.

"Why are you here?" I finally broke the silence by slapping him on the arm and attempting to smile with watery eyes.

"Of course to see you, chummy" For the first time today, I laughed so hard that tears began dripping once more. Luke wildly looked around in alarm before he realised I was laughing instead of crying and chuckled along.

"I can't believe you just called me chummy!" As I stared up at the idiot I called my older brother, I began to reminisce about when were younger. Between the ages of 0 and 3 I couldn't properly pronounce L's so one day, out of frustration Luke had yelled 'just call me chummy!' and the name pretty much stuck until we were teenagers.

"Did you get kicked out of college, you idiot?" I smiled as he huffed and looked away as if struggling to believe that I thought he was that silly.

Fact: he is.

"No, but thanks for having so much faith and belief in me, chummy." He rolled his eyes but ruffled my hair affectionately nonetheless.

"Alrighty, no need to get your knickers in a twist." I laughed "So you just came to see me then?"

"I once wore knickers at a frat party..." He trailed off as I stared at him. "What? They were pretty comfy too!"

I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing once more. We had barely been together for 20 minutes, but I was already feeling better. So as I stared up at Luke struggling - and failing - to hide the smile on his face, I decided I was blessed to have a brother like him.

Until he sneezed in my face, that is. I screeched as particles of who-knows-what were blasted all over my face.

"You're a pig." I groaned.

"Only for you, chummy, only for you." he mischievously smiled and took a step back, mumbling about how his muscles hurt; he had been on his way back from the gym when he spotted me.

Right back into my puddle of vomit. I couldn't help it - I howled with laughter as he swore and cussed.

~*~

After spending what felt like hours arguing with Luke about putting his dirty shoes into my car, we were finally on our way home with his shoes in a plastic bag in the trunk. We chatted as I drove for the first time in ages, I guess. He was always too busy in college (trying on underwear I suppose) and normally, I was too busy studying in preparation for my finals. The house was empty as we reached it, a note on the counter informing us to Mom and Dad were out for some formal event.

We didn't talk about what happened but I knew we would soon. For now, however, I couldn't have been happier as together we curled up on the couch with pizza, ice cream and Netflix.