(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

Chapter Thirty-Nine - A Drunken Luc

RILEY

I THOUGHT I was done with Luc for the day.

My phone screen flashed, and I dropped my trigonometry manual on the bed to check the caller ID. I unplugged my headphones.

"Heeyyy," he voiced loudly. "Where ya at, Sunshine?"

I tilted my head and saw the hour. It should be time to close my book and call it a night. Dad watched TV downstairs and I was chilling in a jammy sweater and fuzzy socks, ready to plunge under the covers.

"At the strip club...?"

People whooped in the backdrop. I figured the party was still raging.

"I got a question for you, so listen up," he yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Cramming and crying." I had to drill it into my brain for this week's finals the ugly way.

"Okay, this is veery important. Do you like jewelry?"

"This is really not a good time to include me in whatever game is going on at your house. I'm hanging up, Luc."

"Wait, no—"

I pressed the button and tossed my phone. Minutes turned into an hour as I scribbled notes on a jotter, then I heard a thump outside my window. I slid off my bed to investigate when it burst open with a gust of cold wind. A large figure rushed inside and I shrieked, falling onto my butt.

"Riles?" Dad shouted.

"I'm fine! I just stubbed my toe really hard!"

I glared at Luc by the dresser. A strangling urge overwhelmed me. How could he waltz into my room like this when Dad had me on close watch? Finding a boy in my room, even Luc, would hammer the last nail in my coffin. My door didn't have a lock anymore and my father could inspect anytime.

I clambered to my feet and pushed the hair out of my view.

Luc's face was flushed and his stance teetered. I hurried to hold him up before he collapsed on my floor. The acid stench of alcohol assaulted my nostrils. God, he was merrily medicated.

"You say one word too loud and I'm throwing you back out the window, got it?" I threatened, raising my eyebrows at him. "You are not getting me in trouble."

His eyes bounced from my hand on his chest, which was meant to steady him, to my face. "Most of the time, you're exactly the opposite of your name, but this?" He proceeded to squish my cheeks. I knocked his hands off.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, you didn't answer my question on the phone."

I backed off after making sure he wouldn't fold. "Well, I'm not telling you because you're being ridiculous right now. I'm trying to study."

Luc perked up, kicked off his boots and flitted to my mattress, catching up to me in one stride. When I lifted my book to resume reading, though I doubted it'd be possible with him, he stamped a finger smack-dab in the middle of the page.

"Watchu' studying?"

I scooted away. "Math. I told you to leave me alone, just go back to the party."

"It's too rowdy. I'm sooo done." He flopped on his stomach like me and sighed dramatically.

"Tragic," I uttered, rolling my eyes.

But then I thought about how he offered me a guest room after finding me in the woods injured. I gave him an aggravated look while he rifled through my manual like a child's toy.