Something Sweet

Ch. 38

When I got back to school that week, I stopped trying to actively avoid Luke, but didn't seek him out either. It wasn't difficult to run into him since our lockers were still near each other. We talked here and there, but things weren't back to normal. I didn't know how to act around him. I didn't know how I felt.

The sight of him still made my heart skip a bit, but his face also reminded me of Paris and everything I had gone through recently. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get over that. Maybe some things just aren't meant to be. Soon I'll be away at college, probably far away from wherever Luke decides to go. Maybe it's time to move on from all of this and start with a clean slate next year.

I still wasn't going over to his house to cook. That was over with. Candace was recovering well and didn't need as much help anymore and Luke had learned a lot from me over the months. Well, from me and his growing love for the Food Network. Plus, he had a license and plenty of cash to spend. He could pick up food during the week to supplement the days he didn't want to cook. Part of me really missed the routine of going to his house every day and cooking with him. We'd cook, talk about all different kinds of things, and sometimes I'd eat with them. Despite all the bad things that happened, I don't regret all those hours in the kitchen we spent together.

"Friday night tradition, come on Maisey, you have to come. Jack and I stuffing our faces alone won't be the same." Anna was trying to convince me to go to the diner tonight. The problem was she invited Luke, Harlow, and Sam. Apparently Harlow and Sam were more Luke's friends than Paris and had chosen his side in the division of friends after the breakup. Anna also apparently had become friendly enough with them in the week I was away to invite them along.

"I'm not feeling very social, Anna."

"Well get over it. Luke's still your friend and he didn't do anything wrong. I get that he reminds you of what happened because of those dumbasses Paris and Brennan, but you can't punish him forever."

"I don't mean to punish him. It's like my brain or my heart, I don't know which," ain't that the truth, "just flashes red with warning signs when I see him. Like 'Warning! His ex-girlfriend and her friend conspired to screw you over! Be wary of trusting him!'" I opened and closed my hands like flashing sirens.

"You're ridiculous. You're coming to the diner tonight with us and that's that." She practically pushed me out of the car before yelling out the window, "Pick you up at 7:30!"

****

I pulled on my pastel colored tie dye crop sweatshirt and readjusted my high waisted jeans. Tonight would be the first time I would be hanging out with Luke since all the drama went down. Anna was right, I couldn't avoid hanging out with him forever and what Paris and Brennan did wasn't his fault. He had been just as clueless as me about what they had planned. Although, I did harbor a tiny bit of resentment towards him that he could date such an evil person in the first place.

I half listened to everything Jack and Anna were saying in the car. I was too busy playing possible scenarios in my head of how tonight would go. Would people want to talk about how messed up it was that Paris and Brennan had set me up? Would they avoid the topic all together and act like it never happened? Would they walk on eggshells around me and treat me like I was a fragile vase?

We were the first ones at the diner so we picked a rectangular table by a large window and sat down. Anna sat on my right and Jack sat across from me. I would've felt better if he sat on the other side of me but I didn't want them to say I was being a baby by demanding they both flank me and act like my own personal social bubble.

Luke, Sam, and Harlow arrived a few minutes later and Harlow immediately slid into the chair next to me. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing? Did I actually want Luke to sit next to me subconsciously?