Photograph | l.h.

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Lillian

While helping Nadine with dessert, she couldn't help but look into the dining room to make sure Luke was okay. Her father had taken things way out of proportion. They'd talked about it earlier in the day, and Phil promised not to go crazy. So much for keeping that promise, though. Luke was probably so scared. She wanted to do nothing but hug him.

"He promised not to do this." Lillian groaned, hoping Nadine had some sort of advice to give her.

Sighing, Nadine gave her stepdaughter a saddened look. "I know. I talked to him as well, he promised me the same thing. I've told him how good of a boy Luke is, but your father seems to have his own thoughts."

"Clearly," Lillian sighed heavily. "We should get back in there, I don't want to leave Luke alone with him for too long."

-

Lillian nearly dropped Nadine's homemade cheesecake when she entered back into the dining room. Her nerves made her hands a bit shaky, when in all honesty she didn't need to be nervous. Luke was the one who should be nervous, and she knew damn well that he was. Her father could be intimidating when he wanted to be.

She walked in with Nadine, surprised to see a smile on Luke's face. He looked at Lillian sweetly, as if he was never nervous in the first place.

She sat back down next to Luke, while Nadine sat back down next to Phil. Her stepmother even looked confused - it was as if the whole atmosphere had changed when the women had left the room.

"What's going on?" Lillian asked, desperate for an answer. How could everything change that fast?

"Nothing, dear," Phil smiled at his daughter. "Luke and I were just talking about music. He has a lot of the same interests as I do."

"Oh, he does?" Lillian said, even though she already knew this information. She just played dumb so her father wouldn't figure out that Luke had been at their house before.

"Yeah! He likes all the classics. The Beatles, Guns and Roses, Nirvana. You name it, this kid likes it!"

Grinning, Lillian looked over at Luke. The hell did he do to make Phil less scary? He must've said something pretty clever.

When everybody finished their dessert, Nadine and Phil left the room to go and wash the dishes. Since Luke and Lillian were now alone, it was the perfect opportunity for her to get some answers, about why her father's whole demeanor had changed.

"Soooo," she started, turning towards him. "What the hell did you do?"

"What ever do you mean?" Luke asked, grinning. He would never talk like that, so he must've known what Lillian was getting at.

"Don't play dumb. How did you get through to my dad?"

"Well..." he began.

-

Luke

"How much do you like my daughter?" Was the first thing that came out of Phil's mouth, the second Lillian and Nadine were out of hearing range.

Taken aback by his question, Luke tried to answer as honest as Phil wanted. "I uh - I'd do anything for Lillian, sir."

"Then why did you use her for your project?"

Gulping, Luke was starting to think he wasn't going to make it through this. "Because the project was about human emotions, and Lillian was the first person who wasn't.. dull. She fit perfectly." He answered honestly.