outlines ✰ l.h.

chapter thirteen

I was on an adventure with Luke and what I had learned so far was that Luke wasn't actually very adventurous.

"Give me just one spoonful." Luke whined, trying to stick his white plastic spoon into the scoop of chocolate ice cream I had.

I jerked it away from him, "No, you have your own damn ice cream." I huffed, furrowing my eyebrows at him as I suddenly became very defensive of my dessert.

"Not the mint kind." He groaned, slumping back into his chair. I gave him a glare which he gave right back to me.

Luckily I had a plastic spoon to keep my mouth occupied since my words weren't. We had sat in silence for a while, the only thing being heard were the chatters of the few people around us and the occasional ringing of the bell above the door.

I peered up from my phone as Luke awkwardly shifted in his chair. He leaned his elbows onto the table and kept his eyes on my phone just to keep his eyesight somewhere other than me. I set it down and he lazily looked up at me.

"Andy," he began as his eyes wandered off.

'Here we go again,' was all I thought to myself. I'd been through endless conversations like this a guy did the whole sighing as he said my name then telling me that what had happened was either a mistake or for it just to stay between just us. Then they would go on to say that they weren't ready for a relationship which I wasn't even looking for.

I sat patiently in my chair, leaning back and crossing my legs since I figured he'd be rambling on about something I really didn't care to hear. It's not that I didn't want him to say it, it just gets old that they guys figure that you want a relationship. Sometimes all it was was just a little messing around, nothing that was a big deal.

"Okay, I don't really know what I'm trying to say, so bare with me," he said. I nodded my head at him as I waited for him to continue. He groaned after a second, running his hand through his hair. "I feel like an asshole for this and I'm apologizing in advance if it hurts your-"

"Spit it out, Hemmings." I cut him off, my tone bland so he could go ahead and say what he wanted without trying to avoid a certain emotion from me. Whether it was sadness or anger or whatever he expected.

"I'm still with Kat." He told me, a sheepish look in his eyes. "Well, not exactly with her, but there's something between us, you know?" He added.

I nodded my head once again, "Okay." I slowly said.

"And I don't really want to drag you into it."

"Okay." I repeated.

"Because she's a bitch," he said, now nodding his head at me. I scoffed at him in a joking way which I was lucky he understood.

"Don't be so rude to the girl you like." I replied, trying to casually change the subject. I knew what he was getting at.

"You would understand if you were in my shoes." He raised his eyebrows at me, a short laugh leaving his lips.

"I'm sure I would." I gave him a small smile, one that came out more fake than friendly.

"But back to my point, I don't see a problem with us still hanging out and stuff I just feel it's like, disrespectful to her, I guess." He shrugged.

"I get it." I told him, happy that the conversation I expected had gone differently. I sat up in my chair and mimicked how he was sitting with his elbows on the table. "I'm just glad you didn't decide to give me the 'It was a mistake and let's pretend this never happened' conversation."

"I'm just glad you haven't hit me in the face." He laughed, tugging at the hoop around his lip with his teeth.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "There's still time for that."