Chapter 40: Fortune Cookies
He smiled at me, sinking his shot. I smiled back. The boys groaned and wanted to kick him off the table. They were all losing and Luke was kicking their ass. They formed one team then challenged Luke to play against them. Wrong choice.
"Why did we do this again?" Calum asked, still acting like a sap. He's been a bitch since we left the house. "His girlfriend is a pro too."
"Because he's going to pay for dinner," Ashton said before taking his shot.
"Remember, if I win, you're paying for my dinner. Lola's too," Luke said, wrapping his arms around me. He kissed my head and swayed us side to side.
"Damn it, L," Ashton muttered, missing the pocket.
"That's your fault, you agreed to this arrangement," I laughed.
"You shouldn't have put me on your team," Vance said.
"I didn't know you were going to suck this bad," Ashton defended himself.
"Well, Mikey should've told you." Vance threw his arms around
"I forgot," Mikey argued, shoving the stick at his cousin.
"They're always fighting," Piper laughed.
"They never stop, that's the problem," I said.
We watched the cousins bicker until Ashton agreed on paying for dinner. That shut them up and we went on with our lives. Luke hasn't let me out of his sight since we left the house. I had to give back Calum's keys and stay with Luke the whole time. Even to get his damn phone replaced.
"Panda Express!" Mikey yelled as we walked through the door, charging towards the line of people.
"So today, while Calum was crying and you were at school, I read Frankenstein," Luke said as we stood in line.
"I can't believe you still remember that," I said, laughing.
"How could I not?" He wrapped his arm around me. "It was our first date."
"You read the whole book today?" I raised a brow. It took me more than a day to finish that book, since it was for a class that I didn't really care about.
"Some," he shrugged. "Then I went online to find the summary of the book."
"Lazy," I muttered.
"At least I understand it now," he laughed. He ordered for me then we sat down with everyone else.
Small talk here and there, but mostly bickering and food sharing. We all saved our fortune cookies, so we can open it after we ate. Mikey was taking forever to finish and everyone was getting impatient. I didn't want to read the fortune that comes out of these bogus cookies, I just wanted to eat the damn cookie.
"Can you hurry up?" Vance asked.
Mikey rolled his eyes and finished eating. "There," he said with his mouth full. "You happy?"
"Let's just open it," Ashton said, breaking his fortune cookie. "Mine says, 'You could prosper in the field of wacky inventions'. Whatever that means."
"'You have the ability to overcome obstacles on the way to success'," Piper said, smiling.
"'A surprise treat awaits you', that means ice cream. Who's paying?" Mikey asked all giddy.
"It means the cookie, you idiot," Vance said. "Mine says, 'If your work is not finished, blame it on the computer'. I'm going to use that excuse now," Vance said, shoving his cookie in his mouth.
Calum sighed and opened his. He rolled his eyes then read it aloud. "'The social scene can be fun today'," he said sarcastically. "Bullshit." He crumpled his paper and threw it on the table.
"How about yours, Heart?" Luke asked.
I shrugged and pulled out the paper. "'You are open and honest in your philosophy of love'." I rolled my eyes. "These things are just lying to you."
"I think they're true. I mean, now I have an excuse when I don't turn in my homework," Vance said.
"That was advice, not a fortune," I stated.
"Anyway," Luke said opening his own. "'You attract cultured and artistic people'."
"Who would that be exactly?" Mikey asked, batting his eye lashes. I threw the other half of my fortune cookie at him to stop that.
He shrugged. "Ash can play drums and Calum is good with computers. You . . . You have colorful hair, Mikey."
"In other words, that's as artistic as you're going to be," Vance snickered.
"Shut it," Mikey said, shoving him.
"So what's after high school for us?" Ash asked. Leave it to Ashton to be serious.
"I'm going to the college around here. Staying close to my girl," Mikey said, wrapping his arm around Piper.
"I'm going to NYU," Luke said.
"I'm going to back to Texas, take over my families cafe, then go to college around there," Vance said.
"L?" Ash nudged me.
"I haven't really thought about it," I shrugged, eating the rest of my cookie.
"Well, I'm going to UCLA. Beach, girls-"
"And debt," I butted in. "You know how much college is going to cost? You can kiss your beach and girls goodbye."
"You're such a downer," he muttered, crossing his arms.
I held my hands up in surrender. "I'm just warning you. College is a hell a lot of money and if you think you'll be having parties every night, you're wrong. You'll be paying loans and bills."
"She's here," Calum said. We snapped our heads to see Lulu standing in line with the walking bitch. "Is it just me or did someone stab me in the heart?"
"It's just you," I muttered, getting up to go over to them. "Did you not understand what I told you today?" I snapped at Max.
Lulu put her hand on my shoulder. "Lola-"
I brushed her off. "I told you to stay away, especially from her."
"Can I explain?" He asked.
"No, I want you to stay away from us. Don't you get it? You ruined everything for us."
Lulu groaned and pulled us outside of the establishment. "You're causing a scene," she said, letting go of me.
"I wouldn't have to if this guy stops ruining our lives," I snapped.
"It wasn't my fault," he snapped.
"Are you seriously that stupid? You broke my sisters heart. You started that fight in the hallways that got the boys suspended. And you got Lulu to break up with Calum. I don't know what your goal is, but you better stay away from us."
"I didn't mean to do any of that."
I crossed my arms. "Then why did you do it?"
"Lola, please let him explain?" Lulu said.
"You're siding with him? After all he did?"
"Just hear him out."
I looked at her like she was crazy, but she just nodded. I sighed. "Fine, you have five minutes."
"I know who killed Diana," he said.
My eyes widen and I grabbed his collar, pinning him against the wall. "What do you know?" I said through my teeth.
"Lola," Lulu said, pulling me.
"Tell me, Max," I pushed. "Tell me now."
"I can't tell you," he said.
"Why can't you tell me?"
"It's in a file," he responded.
"What file?"
"In this." He held up a thumb drive. I grabbed it and let go of him. "You have to hack it to get in."
"Is the hack tracable?" I asked.
He shrugged. "But all the information you need is on that thumb drive."
"Why are you helping us?" I asked. "Does thing have a tracking device?" I held it up in front of his face.
"No, I swear it doesn't."
"How do you know that everything I need is in here?"
"I opened it."
"Can't you hack into it again?" If he could, then I don't have to deal with the police.
"I don't have a computer anymore."
"Why are you helping?" Lulu asked.
"It'll explain why I did what I did in that," he said.
"Is someone blackmailing you?" She asked.
"Not exactly." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry and I hope that makes up for it." He pointed to the thumb drive.
"We'll see," I said, pocketing it and going inside. I sat back down and everyone was staring at me.
"What happened?" Ash asked.
"Is she dating him?" Calum asked quickly.
"They're not together," I answered Calum and he sighed in relief.
"So what happened out there?" Ash repeated.
"Nothing, I just told him to stay away from her," I said like it's nothing
"She's lying," Mikey called me out. "We all know she's good at lying, but when it comes to someone who hurt Lulu, she's defensive."
I glared at him. He knows me too well to know the truth. "I did tell him to stay away."
"But that isn't the whole truth," he confirmed.
"I can't tell you the whole truth," I said with attitude. "Not here at least."
"Let's go then," Mikey said, grabbing his trash.
Luke held me back as everyone left. "You have a lead, don't you?"
"No, I have evidence," I whispered.
"You said-"
"But I have proof now, evidence. All we need to do is hack the thumb drive and open the file."
"No, there's a chance you might get caught looking, then the guy will turn in all the evidence he has on you. I don't want you to do this."
"Luke, this has been my priority since the beginning. I can't just forget about nine years worth of research and trouble I've gone through just to get this file," I reminded him.
"You said you wouldn't, not yet at least." I was about to open my mouth, but then he kissed me to shut up. I hate it when he does that, kiss me in the middle of my sentence. I give in after he does. He pulled away and rested his forehead on mine. "Please, don't. I need you with me, not behind bars."
"Fine," I whispered. "And stop doing that," I snapped, shoving him away and getting up to follow the rest outside.
"You love it. Don't deny it, Heart," he gloated. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Ice cream time," Mikey said, rubbing his hands together like a greedy robber.
"No," we all snapped.
(A/N): You're reading a High School graduates story. Yes, I graduated from high school today. And yes, that is why I didn't update earlier. I'm going to miss my friends. I'm having writhdrawls.
Finally, Lola's got evidence. I feel like you guys know who did it. I'm not very discreet when it comes to stuff like this. I don't make things as mysterious as it's suppose to be, because I suck at writing and I wonder how I got so many reads. I think it has to deal with the fact that it's a 5 Seconds of Summer fanfiction. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.
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