The Fluke

27 - Jules

"Holy shit. This is a LACX Model 3 Italian Doppio Espress-Yourself Edition with chrome finishings and the limited edition doppio cups!"

I'm halted in my tracks as I observe Luke rush to fondle the bougie Italian espresso machine.

The machine is a sight to behold, I'll give it that. With its sleek chrome finishings and funny little cups, it's clear that this machine is not your average coffee maker which is why I have stayed far away from it. In stride with his excitement, Luke expertly begins to navigate the buttons and switches. I may not speak Italian, but the way he's handling that machine, it's clear he knows what he's doing.

As he grinds the beans and tamps them down, I can't help but feel a sense of excitement. I've always been a coffee lover, but there's something about the way Luke innately knows how to operate the complex foreign machine that is making my body temperature rise.

I kick off my sandals and flop down on the sofa that sits next to the open kitchen, laying my arms over the back and resting my head on them, admiring Luke from my perch on the couch.

"Is there anything you can't do?"

Luke chuckles as he rounds the back of the couch and sits down beside me.

"Well, unfortunately yes, there is. I can't read your mind, Jules."

The carefully prepared beverage is forgotten on the coffee table where Luke sets it down. I attempt to get up, still not prepared for what will come after this conversation, but Luke wraps both arms around me and hauls me into his lap.

"Hey!" He pulls me tightly into his body so we are both nearly horizontal on the couch. "We talked about this. No more little miss escape artist, remember?"

I relax and Luke gently tightens his hold around me, fitting us together like two ornate puzzle pieces.

"Jules," he says softly, his voice calm and steady, "can we please talk about what happened with Gavin in the hallway?"

Over the next few minutes I tell Luke everything. I tell him what Gavin said in the hallway, his warning about Luke and Tessa plus his warnings about Luke in general. I also tell him what both Kage and Val have said about Gavin's feelings for me.

He doesn't say much, only occasionally asking me for more details or encouraging me to keep sharing despite my awkward delivery of all of the information. As I lay it out in sequence, paired with Luke's additives of what happened between him and Gavin since he arrived, my stomach ties in the tightest knot I've ever felt.

The knot multiplies into what feels like 50 knots as Luke walks me through his encounter with Gavin in the hallway on the night of the rainstorm in detail.

Eventually it gets to be too much for me. I extricate myself from Luke's arms and begin pacing back and forth. He sits upright and rests his elbows on his knees, his eyes following me.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Luke urges.

I plunk myself down on the end of the couch and bring my thumb up to run the nail back and forth across my bottom lip. Conflict abound, my mind is a jumbled mess, the focus hinged on the stranger-Gavin that Luke just described.

I had always thought of Gavin as a close friend. Someone I could trust completely and someone that would always protect me, but now everything feels different. Somehow, it almost feels like deceit. That's probably due to the things he said to Luke, but honestly, that was so unexpected I can't properly process it.

I try to push the thoughts from my mind, to remember the good times we shared before everything changed in an instant and became so complicated. It's not hard to do; years of memories come flooding back in a rush. Only now, it's like I'm remembering through a different lens. I never ventured to wonder if there was more to our relationship for Gavin than there was for me. I'd never been given any reason to.