Rewinding Time (Narry)

Chapter Twenty-Three

"What's wrong?" he asked, cautiously approaching me as if I was a wounded animal.

"I don't know what happened; I tripped over a floor board and I think I twisted my ankle. I can't really carry the basin by myself to Harry's bathroom," I explained, making a show of how useless my ankle was.

"Oh, geez," he replied, peeking over at my now swollen ankle. He wiped his hands carefully on his apron before returning his attention to me. "I'm basically done of the day, so if you'd like, I can definitely help you carry that," he smiled.

"God bless your beautiful soul," I cried, leaning my head back onto the wall in relief. The smile on my face disappeared after a few seconds when I realized that Luke wasn't always going to be able to help me and I would eventually have to return to carrying the water by myself.

Luke and I conversed with one another over petty topics—such as how Ashton had licked Sir Des' fork and was swooning over how he'd be sharing an indirect kiss with the man—while we waited for the water to boil. I began practice-walking around the room to make sure that my sprain would not appear so critical; one thing that I had learned since working here was to never show pain. Pain is weakness and it shows a person's incapability.

Unluckily for me, I've always been a rather weak child and often got sick; it was a miracle I haven't caught a cold, or something, all winter long—considering the fact that my bedroom is just below forty degrees and I didn't have a winter coat for a couple of days.

"The water's ready," Luke said, gesturing towards the pot. I let out a puff of air and limped over to the pot. A soft grunt escaped my mouth as I tipped the water carefully into the metal basin. "I've got it," he said quickly, tilting the pot back over the fire and shooing me away.

"Honestly, thank you so much," I exclaimed, reaching for one of the handles of the basin when Luke finished transferring the water. He sent me a glare before taking both of the handles into his own hands. Instead of carrying the basin like I should have, I ended up walking—well, more like limping—beside Luke.

The two of us chatted with one another as we passed through the courtyard and towards the servant's entrance to the main mansion.

"I've actually been meaning to ask you something," Luke said suddenly, glancing down at the water as he spoke. "How do you tell a friend that you really like them when you're afraid of messing up the current relationship that you have with them?"

"Are you talking about Ashton?" I laughed, glancing over at the taller boy. Luke dropped his head and nodded slightly; his cheeks began to redden and he turned his head away from me to hide his embarrassment.

"Mate," I sighed, gently placing my hand on his shoulder. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know. I'm in the exact same position as you. I've been in love with my best friend for the longest time ever, but he doesn't even notice me."

My throat felt like it, was collapsing in on itself and I blinked rapidly to keep myself from tearing up; it was rather uncomfortable how the mere thought of Louis could still bring me to tears. I cleared my throat before continuing.

"I think you should definitely tell him before he falls for somebody else. I'm sure we can both agree that the crush he has on Sir Des is a little outrageous," I laughed.

Silence fell between us as Luke contemplated on my words and I drowned myself in more thoughts that were relative to Louis.

"Who is this friend of yours?" Luke asked. He waited patiently for me to catch up to him and nodded towards the servant's entrance, asking me to open the door for him. "Is it perhaps Lance?"

"Are people seriously spreading that rumor?" I asked, cringing slightly. Even though Lance looked a hell of a lot like Louis and could sometimes make my heart beat faster just by breathing next to me, he definitely wasn't Louis. After many, many days besides Lance, my heart has finally been able to separate the two apart. "This friend that I speak of actually lives quite far from here. I don't think I'll ever be able to see him again."