What You Caused

80.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" I swivel my head around to meet his gaze when I've realised we've stopped at the edge of the random, dark road with no intention of moving.

Lucas turns and locks eye contact with me. "We're talking." He states firmly, dropping his hands from the steering wheel and crossing his arms across his chest. He's long taken off the shirt he had on top so the tight black t-shirt he has on underneath clings onto Lucas like second skin and the sleeves tighten around his biceps as he does this motion.

Although I probably should be worried about what Lucas wants to talk about, I can't help but take a brief pause to salivate at the sight.

Damn, who knew Lucas in black t-shirts turn me on?

"Izzy?" Lucas calls my name, snapping me out of my ogling and causing me to draw my eyes back onto Lucas' face. I feel my cheeks heaten when I realise I wasn't so discreet with my staring and Lucas' lips twitch with the tiniest smirk but he promptly replaces it with a tight lipped expression a second later and clears his throat.

Oh. This is serious. He didn't react cockily to my gawking.

I plummet back into the atmosphere we were in previously and shift in my seat awkwardly.

"Um, what do we need to talk about?" I ask warily, eyebrows furrowing together. "There's nothing to talk about."

His eyes dart back and forth in between mine. "What happened at the party?"

"Nothing." I draw my lips into my mouth. "Nothing happened at the part-"

"Bella you're shit at lying," Lucas cuts me off with a roll of his eyes before I even finish speaking and then proceeds to shoot me a glare. "Please cut the crap, you've been acting odd since our," he clears his throat and his cheeks bloom pink. "Since our kiss...and since Maria."

"No, I haven't, everything is fine." I dart my eyes back to the car door, trying to see if there's an opportunity to make my escape. With the rain beginning to fall down much heavier, leaving the warmth of the car doesn't seem very appealing.

Lucas notices me eyeing the door wistfully regardless and promptly presses the button that locks all the doors. "Don't even think about it Bella," his eyebrows draw together as I sigh. "Now tell me. What's going on? Everything is not fine-"

"It is. There's nothing going on. Nothing to talk about," I continue to argue back. "Please can you drive us home now."

A frustrated exhale leaves Lucas' mouth. "Seriously Bella c'mon." Exasperation crosses his features. "Please don't do this."

I frown. "Do what?"

"This," he points his finger wildly around me and then back and forth between us and I follow his finger confusedly. "We can't go back to being like this, being all awkward and distant Bella we can't."

"It's not going to be like that," I return slowly, although the lie is evident in my voice.

"Stop it. We both know that's not true." Lucas shakes his head, his eyes flaring with hurt. "It always starts off like this. It'll be a couple of days that we don't talk but then it'll turn into a week and then a month and I don't want that to happen I can't let that happen." His pleading gaze bores into mine. "So please can we talk about it? I know it's something that happened at the party, something involving us."

Guilt chews inside of me and I feel my resolve slowly crumbling at the look on his face. Dammit, I hate that he's right.

I want to tell him, I do. Running away from this isn't helping anybody and I don't like ignoring Lucas. I don't want to be awkward around him and go back to being stuck in this odd loop when so much has changed between us. It's not fair to him either to just leave him in the dark.