wrapped books | lrh {rewriting} | joseph is dallas, rewriting still in process

4.1

"Luke!" I ran out the door and chased after him.

He shook his head and kept walking down the driveway.

"Luke, look at me." I pleaded as I tried to keep the same pace as him. He wouldn't look anywhere near me, it was like I was repelling his gaze.

"Luke." I grabbed his wrist and stopped as he started walking down the sidewalk.

Luke still didn't look at me, which worried me. "Luke." I whispered and walked up in front of him, placing both my hands at the sides of his face. Wiping away the evident tears that trickled down his cheeks.

He shook his head a little and finally looked at me through his watery eyes. He hiccuped and licked his chapped lips repeatedly, it hurt seeing him like this.

"Please don't leave." I begged, my voice was shaky now.

"Its clear that I'm not wanted." He tried to scoff but it came out as more of a whimper.

"I want you." I leaned our foreheads against each other, managing to still hold eye contact with him.

"Some effort you've made." He rolled his eyes at me.

I was taken aback by his remark. Was he being serious?

"Luke, you know how much you mean to me." I said sternly.

"Why do I feel like you're just leading me on again?" He sobbed.

"Again?" I croaked, now noticing that tears were streaming down my face as well.

"No, Maia. I didn't mean it like that." He tried to take back what he said when I dropped my hands back to my sides, now creating a distance between us as I pulled away.

"Then what did you mean?" I asked quietly.

He didn't reply. The only sound between us was his constant gasps for breath.

I didn't want to leave him. Things didn't turn out well the last time I did. I don't want to ignore him anymore. It was pointless and would only make me miss him even more.

But I didn't know if his words hurt a lot or just temporarily stung me.

"Luke," I sighed, "come back inside." I outstretched my hand for him to take.

He looked down at my hand and hesitantly took it, slowly intertwining our fingers.

I led us back inside the house, Luke was still recovering from his sobs moments ago when we reentered the dining room.

I found Dad sitting on the stool of the piano they brought out from Mom's library, Janet beside him, whispering things into his ear calmly.

I cleared my throat to indicate our presence. Dad shot up from his seat and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

Janet sighed and stood up as well, giving Dad a small shove. I looked over to Luke, who was just staring at our shoes the whole time.

"Luke, um-I-" Dad stuttered, "I'm sorry for... my behavior tonight." Dad muttered the last part under his breath.

Janet nudged Dad's shoulder, encouraging him to go on, earning herself an eye roll from him, "And, I would like to give you another chance."

I looked back over to Luke, noticing that his eyes grew in eagerness, but stayed glued to the floor. I gave his hand a small squeeze, which made him look up at me with a small smile which I returned.

The rest of the night was good.

We sat down and had a proper dinner.

Dad asked Luke some real questions like about his education and his life ambitions.