Temporarily Yours

Chapter 7

The unmistakable sound of Luke's boots thumping down the stairs was heard and I quickly stuffed everything back in the box, not wanting Luke to see his shirt from college. In came Luke, looking very attractive as always. He pointed towards the box.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "Just some old stuff, nothing important."

Luke looked like he wanted to know more but just let the subject drop. Silence covered the room, creating an awkward quietness. Luke looked down at his boots, not daring to look at me.

"Well, let me go take care of this, I guess..." I said, not knowing what else to say.

With that, I lugged the box down from the counter and marched upstairs, carrying the box with me.

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Later on, I made everyone a breakfast of pancakes and sasauge. Bo and Tate thouroughly enjoyed that I mad a smiley face on their flapjacks using syrup. Til on the other hand wasn't impressed. He was getting too old for that type of fun. After breakfast, the boys insisted on playing a game of football with Luke. Luke didn't dare protest, not wanting to break Tate's fragile heart. I was left alone in the kitchen.

My cellphone was on the counter next to the sink and I grabbed it, dialing Leah's number and putting it on speaker. I plunged my hands into the soapy water that filled the sink, listening to the dial tone of my phone, I picked up a dirty plate and began to clean it. The boys were having a ball outside. They decided to play right out in front of the kitchen windown above the sink.

"Hello?" Leah picked up.

"Hey, girl." I greeted.

"Caroline, I wasn't expecting a call from you. What's up?"

I sighed, rinsing the suds off of Tate's Superman plate. "I need some girl advice."

"It's Luke, isn't it?" Leah stated, matter-of-factly.

I held a fork mid-air, dumbfounded as to how she guessed so easily. "How'd you know?" I said quietly.

"Well, I kind of gathered that you felt something for him by the way you talked about him last time we spok over the phone. It was kind of a lucky guess, but you just confirmed it."

I exhaled sharply. "Yah, I do feel something for him."

"Okay, then what's the problem? Go after him, woman!" Leah exasperated.

"It's not that easy, although I wish it was. He's with this girl named Kelsie. Apparantly she's an up and coming artist his age. They met at his record label."

Leah was uncomunicative for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Do you love him?"

I was caught off guard by her question. I glanced out the window at Luke standing in the distance, a smile adorned his face and I melted. He looked up and locked eyes with me. "Yes." I answered with implicity. "More than I can begin to explain. Leah, I've fallen for him and I don't know if I can ever pick myself up!"

"Go after him still, forget he has a girlfriend. If he's not stupid, he'll realize you're the one, not this Kelsie chick. Who knows, maybe he feels the same way. You never know unless you try." Leah advised.

After a few more minutes of talking, I ended the call with leah. I had gone anf]d finihed up all of the dishes during the time spand we were on the phone as well. I decided to go outside and watch the boys play football. It was a bit chilly out so I slipped on a light jacket over my long sleeve shirt before I joined them. Luke had the ball whe I got out there. He tossed it lightly to Tate who took off with it. He was a little speedy gonzalez. My appearance caught Luke's attention and he smiled, gesturing me over.

"Come on Caroline, come play!" He hollered, beckoning me to come join them.

I shook my head and laughed. "No, no, y'all go on."

"Yah! Cmon' Miss Caroline!" Til yelled.

Luke ran up to me, grabbing my hand and dragging me out into the yard.  I squealed, trying to withhold his pulling. Finally, I gave up and began to play. Til passed me the ball and I ran towards to opposite end of the yard. Luke held his arm out, catching me, stopping me from going any farther. I ran into him, making him toppling backwards with me  falling onto him. We both froze, gazing into the other's eyes. It's like time stopped altogether. I wanted nothing more than to kiss him right then and there, but the kids were there and I knew I couldn't do that.

A car door slammed. "Luke-" I heard a woman's voice say. I looked up as Kelsie emerged from the driveway.

Luke and I scrambled to our feet. I dusted my pants off.

"Kelsie, hi um we're playing some football." Luke was hasty to explain.

She rolled her eyes. "Save your breath, Luke."

With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared around the corner. Luke chased after her, calling out to her. It was no use, she backed out of the drive and sped away quickly. "Dammit!" I heard Luke say.

All of the boys had already mad ether way quickly inside. I'm sure Til had made them all go in, sensing it was probably the best thing to do with the situation at hand.

Luke came back from around the corner, kicking at the gravel that layered the driveway, mumbling inaudible things.

"Luke," I said, trailing off as he looked at me.

"You see what you did?" He spat before stomping up the stairs behind me.

"I didn't mean to okay!" I yelled. He stopped at the front door and spun around.

"Didn't mean to my ass..." He grumbled.

I felt the tears brimming in my eyes and could feel them beginning to slide down my cheeks. My heart was aching. "You can't say you didn't feel anything down there when we were on the ground!" I whispered.

He stayed quiet. The silence split my heart in two. And just like that, he left me in the driveway crying. I loved him but... keep away from the man with cowboy boots and a ball cap, he doesn't love you.