Vampires Suck

Chapter 33: In Grandmother's House

Luke drove Lexi and I home later that night. The atmosphere throughout the entire car ride was nearly silent and full of tension. Luke, who was driving, was livid after finding out Aiden had presumably ditched us. I obviously couldn't tell him the real reason Aiden was no longer with us, so I had to let him believe that Aiden had simply left the dance without telling any of us. Lexi also had no idea as to what happened with Aiden, and I could tell that she was worried as well as a little disappointed as she sat alone in the back, staring out the window and hardly saying a word. It made me feel even worse than I already did; I wanted so badly to ease her mind and tell her what happened, but I had to wait—at least until Luke wasn't with us anymore.

So I sat in the passenger seat and kept to myself, feeling an overwhelming guilt for the horrible things I said to Aiden. As I continuously thought of my last moments with him, I don't know what made me feel more upset; how hurt he looked after my ridiculous accusations, or the completely emotionless state he was in before he basically said goodbye...for good.

I felt my eyes water and had to use what willpower I had to keep the tears from spilling. I did not deserve to cry. It was all my own damn fault because I couldn't for once stop to think before I spoke. Some part of me hoped that he didn't actually mean it—that when I got back to my house I'd find him sitting in his room, or standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for me. But a whisper at the back of my head reminded me that it was unlikely, that I'd gone too far, and I had to shut my eyes to once again keep myself from crying.

Luke dropped Lexi off first, and we all said a half-hearted goodbye to her. I would tell her what happened, just not tonight. I couldn't deal with having to explain to her just how much of a bitch I was and make myself feel any more horrible than I already did. Finally, we made it back to my house, and Luke parked the car.

"Hey Diana, are you alright?" he asked, finally breaking the silence, worry etching his voice.

Praying my eyes didn't look red or watery, I turned to look at him and reply, "Y-yeah, sorry, I've just been thinking."

His expression flashed with anger as he said, "About Aiden? Yeah, me too—about how much of a prick he is!"

Another stab of guilt hit me at that. "He probably had his reasons," I replied, attempting to defend him.

Luke's eyes widened in surprise at that before he shook his head and responded, "They better have been good reasons then, because it just isn't right to leave your date like that without saying anything!" He was practically seething by the end of his statement. The corners of my lips lifted a little at that despite how terrible I felt; Luke could just never fail to be a gentleman.

"Anyway," he continued, closing his eyes to calm himself before opening them again, "Beside that, we still have other...stuff that we need to talk about."

I sucked in a breath as I realized what he meant. After Aiden had disappeared, I hadn't even given a second thought to our conversation.

He continued, "You were going to tell me something, something you said I needed to know before you...made a decision on what I asked you."

I remembered then, and my gut started to churn. How was I supposed to tell him about the kiss now, especially now that he hates Aiden even more than I thought possible? I'd waited for so long to finally tell Luke the truth, and when the time had finally come during the dance, it had felt right in the moment. But now, after everything that happened with Aiden, I just wasn't so sure anymore. And then there was another thing I had never truly considered until now—what if Aiden was right about Luke?