Love, Apple [On Hold]

The hard truth

Apple spent the majority of the rest of her day with John outside, working on their beautiful garden in the sun.

Even though the hated the heat and was already showing a very uncomfortable sunburn on her cheeks and arms, she braved it outside for John, who liked it when Apple joined him in the garden in summer.

"So, are you going to tell me who he was or should I start guessing?"

Apple looked at John and felt her stomach drop, when did he see Luka? She wondered to herself, knowing the only way they could've seen him is if they looked out the window and heard his car at the right time.

She looked away from his curious gaze and used her hand to cover the roots of the rose bush she was planting in the newly prepared soil.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Just a guy, he offered me a ride when I missed the bus." She lied and felt bad about it when she noticed John frown.

"You were never good at lying Applebee."

He stands up and pats his shorts free of soil and grass. "My eyes aren't useless yet kid, I recognized him as soon as I saw him."

Feeling his eyes staring, she had no choice but to look at him, he was smiling, a knowing smile John did whenever Apple would talk about something she enjoyed or her dad, and in another case is... Luka Ellis.

"So?"

She wanted to run, far away the moment he said that word 'so', there was no way she was ever going to tell him how her first meeting or first time talking to him went, knowing full well John would not approve of her methods of stalking and giving him money.

John knew all about Luka Ellis and Apple's crush on him, he had noticed it the first time she went to a game with John and Martha, apparently, he had noticed the way her expression changed whenever his name was called when they went on to the pitch.

Apple knew she could trust John because she knew he wouldn't tell Martha unless she gave the green light, she didn't want Martha making a big deal out of it, she knew she was a talker and knew a lot of people.

The possibility that Martha would know Luka's parents was too much of a risk of huge embarrassment if Martha ever mentioned her liking Luka to his parents, she was sure she'd die from the pain of having her crush reach other people's ears.

"It just happened..." She thought about how she would say it and frowned at the memory of running away. 

"He wanted the book I was reading, I gave it to him... we..." She paused, then swallowed hard. "We ate lunch together today."

Johns's white thick eyebrows raised in surprise. "Just lunch?"

Apple grimaced, not knowing how to say it in a way that wouldn't be misunderstood, she knew it wasn't a date going to the beach, and she knew that John knew how significant the beach was to Apple, because of her father.

Whatever, I should just tell him now before he guesses she thought to herself, she couldn't win, either way, so she said it how it was, trusting John with this information.

"We kinda skipped Physical Ed together too... and ate a bubble waffle on the beach."

Before John could speak, Apple stopped him by holding up her gloved hand. 

"It was not a date." She strictly tells him. "It was pure convenience and part... panic that I ended up there with him, it was purely innocent, nothing romantic." She said in a strict tone.

Johns's face lit up as he laughed, making Apple hide her face with a groan, knowing he had misunderstood her like she knew he would, all while forgetting about the glove covered in mud, dirtying her face in the process and making her grimace even more as Johns laugher gets louder.