Takes One To Know One

Chapter 7

“Bye, see you tomorrow!” he says before leaving.

“Bye,” I reply. Jasper seemed nice and someone I could easily talk to. I had a good feeling about him, which I was happy about because I don’t think I could change my therapist here anyways.

I walked back into the room and saw Luke’s eyes watching me as I walked in. I sat down and looked back at him.

“Do you want to come to my house today?” he asked me. I hesitated for a moment to think about it. I barely knew him, but it felt like I’ve known him for ages.

“Sure,” I say without thinking, my words making a decision for me. “I need to call my mom and tell her not to pick me up but they took my phone this morning.” He reached inside his jean pocket and took out a white iPhone.

He smirks, “No worries. I lied and told them I left mine at home.” I laughed as I took the phone out of his hand.

“Thanks,” I said as I began to text my mom when the leaders of the group weren’t looking. She replied a few minutes later saying it was fine to go over as long as she could pick me up by 6:30. I answered back with Luke’s address, after he told me, and gave him his phone back.

Normally hanging out with someone besides Spencer and Jacob made me feel uncomfortable. Whenever I hang out with anyone besides them, it normally ends up with me texting Dad and asking for him to pick me up. Something about Luke made me feel safe, and it shocked me that I didn’t feel anxious about going to his house later.

“Lets do our wrap up for the day,” Daniel said. “We do the usual. Say how we’re feeling right now on the feeling scale and what our goals for the evening are. Peyton, lets start with you.”

“Well, right now I’m a two and my goal for tonight is to try not to be so uptight about everything and let loose a bit.” I saw Luke smile in the corner of my eye.

“Sometimes it’s bad to let loose too much but a little bit is fine. Just try not to let loose so much that what you do becomes out of your control,” he said. I nodded my head and he wrote down what I said on his clipboard.

“Let loose for me, okay?” he said while laughing.

“Oh shut up, will you?” I said, laughing with him.

A few other people said their wrap up for the day, then it was Luke’s turn.

“Right now I’m a one and my goal for tonight is to open myself to others instead of closing myself off,” Luke said. He didn’t seem like the person to isolate himself from others, or I guess, he doesn’t seem like me. He seemed like the person who would talk to anyone, no matter if he knew them or not.

Everyone said their wrap up then Daniel handed out our phones. Luke and I grabbed our backpacks and walked outside to wait for his mom to pick us up. As we walked out I saw Bella, Grace, and Crystal waiting for their parents. Crystal noticed us walking together and grinned.

“You too are getting pretty close, are you?” she said with a laugh. I looked at Luke; his cheeks were a shade of red and he looked annoyed.

“We’re just friends,” I said, knowing that what they’re thinking was the opposite.

“Yeah, for now,” Grace said with smirk. Luke’s mom drove by in a black Jeep and opened her window to wave at Luke.

“Bye guys,” Luke said to them.

I began to follow Luke when Bella shouted out to us, “You guys are hanging out?”

I turned around, “Yeah.” I waved goodbye to them and continued to walk toward Luke’s mom’s car. Behind me I heard Bella, Grace, and Crystal talking about how Luke and I are “together”.