He's a She

Chapter Fourteen

            “Wow,” I whispered as I took in my surroundings.  The sliding door opened into a large hard wood floored dining room.  Behind that was an island and the kitchen, all of it with granite countertops.  To the left of all of that was the living room.  The coolest thing of all though was the ceilings.  In the kitchen and the dining room the ceiling rose two stories, a large chandelier was hanging above the table.

            “Come on,” Luke patted me on the back, “Let’s get you some food.” I nodded and followed him over to the huge stainless steel fridge. 

            Luke opened the door and we were bathed in the dull light of it.  I looked out the window, just now noticing how dark it was getting outside.  I checked the clock and saw that it was half past seven.  I had made up my mind earlier today that I was going to talk to Parker, hopefully he would still be awake when I got back to the dorms.  What was I saying?  Of course he would be awake, that kid never slept.

            Luke took out some lunchmeat and made us sandwiches, he kept the bread out for later.  When I was nearly halfway done with my sandwich Vanessa came down the staircase.

            “Hey boys,” she chirped as she pulled out the chair next to me.  I smiled through my mouthful of turkey and bread and she laughed.  Why was everything that I did so funny to this girl?  “Luke,” she turned to her brother.  “When are we leaving?” Luke swallowed his food.

            “Charles and I are going to go feed the ducks, we can head back after that.” Vanessa huffed.  She clearly wasn’t happy with that answer. 

            “Fine, but make it quick because I was going to hang out with Jenna tonight.” Vanessa rose from her chair and went over to the living room.  She sat on the couch and pulled out her cell and immediately began texting.

            “Ready to go?” Luke asked me.  He grabbed the loaf of bread and went over to the screen door.  He slipped on some shoes and stepped out.  I grabbed what was left of my sandwich and followed him, shoeless.  I loved being outside barefoot, especially at night when the grass felt extremely soft and cool on your feet.

            I closed the door behind me so no bugs would get into the house.  That was the one thing that I didn’t like about being this far north, all of the mosquitoes.  Luke started down towards the dock and I jogged up to catch him.  I caught up to him and we walked the rest of the way together.  Once we reached the sand, I froze.  Luke continued walking to the dock and down it a ways before he realized my absence.  He turned around and came back to me. 

            I looked down at my feet.  I HATED water.  The tide was starting to rise and the water rushed up to my feet.  I jumped back as if it was diseased.

            “Charles,” Luke said softly.  He grabbed me by the shoulders and I couldn’t help but look up to him.  I gulped after catching sight of his stunning green eyes.  This was not the time to lose it.  “It’s okay, I’ll be right there with you.” A duck quaked and I glanced over his shoulder.  I could see both Bill and Murrey standing at the end of the dock.

            Luke let go of my shoulders and held out a hand.  I looked down at it, still frightened, and then I took it.  Luke started to lead me down the dock as if it was nothing, as if being surrounded by water on all sides was normal.  It wasn’t normal for me.  I could feel myself shaking as the water lapped up against the dock.  It looked so dark and merciless.  A whitecap crashed into the dock as the wind picked up and I shrieked.  I tightened my grip on Luke’s hand and ran up behind him.  He offered me a smile and I tried to return it, but instead it was more of a freaky looking frown.  How had I let him convince me to do this?