The Way We Were

2.17

 Chinese food is everywhere. I have sweet and sour sauce in my hair and all over my clothes thanks to Luke, who was aiming for Zoey's shirt, and Luke has a piece of chicken in his hair that he hasn't discovered yet. Zoey seemed to get out unharmed for the most part, except for the broccoli that Luke threw at her and the fortune cookies we bombarded her with. She hoarded all the leftover pieces and was merciless with them.

"You can shower in the bathroom upstairs, I should have some clothes you can borrow in the suitcase in my room." Luke offers while Zoey starts to clean up. "Thanks." I say. "The bathroom is the second door on the right, my room is right across from it." he tells me as I go up the stairs.

 I find the bathroom and turn on the shower immediately. This is going to be hell to get out of my hair, I think. I take off my dirty clothes and step into the shower, letting the water run over my hair. I use shampoo and conditioner to scrub at the sauce and watch as it falls in red clumps down the shower drain. Ew. I stay in the shower for few more minutes, making sure that I don't have anymore food stuck to me or in my hair. When I'm done, I grab a towel from the closet next to the shower and wrap it around me. My hair leaves a trail of water when I exit the bathroom and open the door to Luke's room.

 I scream when I see someone standing by the end of the bed, digging through a duffel bag. He turns around, looking scared as well. "Luke! My god, what the hell are you doing?" I shout, grabbing at my chest to try and slow my breathing. He holds up his hands. "I was just looking for some clothes you could wear. I didn't mean to scare you." he says. I tighten the towel around me and wait for him to move. 

 "Are you okay?" he asks. "Besides the fact that I thought someone was gonna kill me and then you'd find me naked and bleeding to death, yeah. I'm fine." I grit my teeth and he laughs. He sees my face and stops laughing. "Sorry. Not funny." he says and turns back to the duffel bag. 

 "Here's a t-shirt and a pair of my boxer shorts." he says. "I can't wear boxer shorts out in public..." I say to him. "You and Zoey can spend the night. There's a room you can share." he says. "Anyways, there's supposed to be a big storm tonight and I don't want you guys getting caught in it." he adds, but I'm skeptical.

 "Okay...thanks." I say to him. He walks past me and leaves me alone to get changed. I wrap my wet hair up in the towel and start putting on the clothes Luke left out for me. I pull the tshirt over my head and get caught up in how it smells. Secretly, I'm glad Luke let me borrow his clothes. I used to love wearing his sweatshirts.

 I put on the boxer shorts and unwrap my hair, trying to wring it out in front of the full length mirror on the back of the door. 

 When I go back downstairs, Luke and Zoey are playing cards on the floor. The room looks spotless, and I'm wondering how they got the duck sauce out of the couch pillow. "Can I join?" I ask, sitting next to Zoey. "Sure, after this round." she says. 

 I look up at Luke and see that he's staring at me. He doesn't look down when I look at him, but instead keeps staring. He doesn't smile or nod or frown, he just stares. Zoey's completely oblivious, trying to figure out which cards can go together. 

 I look down. He can't be looking at me like that. I can't be looking at him at all. 

 Suddenly, lightning cracks through the sky, and I can actually hear the rain hitting the ground. "Told you there would be a storm." he says. Thunder rolls long and hard afterwards and I shiver. "What's wrong? Don't like storms?" Luke says, knowing very well that that's not true. I smile and stand up. 

 I run to the front door and run outside, spinning around in the rain. I don't get to do this often in California, but when I do it's my favorite thing in the world. "Ariel, come back inside! You're gonna get struck by lightning!" Zoey screams to me. Luke pushes past her and runs out into the rain after me, whooping and dancing and jumping in the puddles that have already formed. 

 Another crack of lightning splits the sky, lighting up Luke's face. I laugh uncontrollably and run towards him as he opens his arms. We practiced this so many times over the summer and I hope that five years later he still remembers. 

 His hands find my hips and he lifts me up in the air. I stretch my legs out straight and smile as he spins us around. When he sets me down, I look up at him. "You remembered how to do the lift from Dirty Dancing." I say and he smiles. "Of course I did. We almost died, like, four times." he says and I laugh.

 He looks at my eyes, so hard that it's like he's looking through them. I feel like he can read every thought racing through my head, and I hope to God that he can't. He can't know what I'm thinking. I'm caught up in the moment and so is he. This will never work. He has to know that. I do. "We should go back inside." I say, glancing at Zoey who's standing on the porch shivering. He nods and lets go of me. I walk past him and into the house, sopping wet. He grabs two towels from upstairs and tosses me one as I sit on the floor. Zoey deals out cards and smiles deviously. 

 "So, who's ready for me to kick their ass at Gin Rummy?"