"I'll be back later..." Michael left. I was suspicious. Something was wrong or just not right. Luke walked a little closer to me.
"I'm sorry about Monday. I didn't know I came off as an ass," he looked down, "I was just flirting.." He looked back up and smirked.
"Yeah. I kind of figured that out on Monday," I told him.
"What? So why were you ignoring me yesterday?"
"Oh, I think you know that.." I smirked at him, winked, then walked away.
He was staring at me as I walked through the high school lobby and into the auditorium. He walked in after me, and we got seated onto the stage.
I was still sitting next to him, but it was hard not to talk to him. It was distracting me, too. I wanted to talk to him, but Mr. Murphy was talking. I tried my best to listen to him.
I sang the words to the songs without knowing that I was singing them. My lips were singing, but my mind was thinking about Luke. It was so hard not to talk to him. I would look at him every so often, and he would look back, smiling slightly.
Mr. Murphy saw me looking at Luke during one of the songs. I could tell because his eyes were on me and I sensed it, so I looked at him. He gave me a stern look, so I gave him a look of apology. I kept singing, and he smiled at me, thanking me. I nodded, saying "you're welcome".
Luke looked at me and whispered, "sorry" into my ear. I shrugged it off, telling him it was okay.
When the song was over, we worked on diction a little bit. I heard Luke giggle a little.
"What are you giggling about?" I asked.
"Sorry.. It's just that you sound weird doing that," he giggled.
"Everyone does. Now don't get me in trouble," I told him and kept doing what Mr. Murphy told us to do.
———
During a break, I was talking to Luke and not Kara. She came over to me and left when she saw Luke. I felt bad, but I talk to her all the time.
"I can't wait until the concert on Friday.." I told him.
"Yeah. And the dance afterwards," he added.
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the dance. That is going to be fun. That's a cool way to do an after party."
"Yeah, it is. You can either dance or talk to people out in the hall. But what will the parents be doing during that time?"
"They're going to still be in the auditorium listening to all of the people that helped out with the festival give speeches. It sounds kind of boring to me. I'd much rather be dancing if I were them," I said honestly.
"Yeah," Luke agreed, and the break was already over.
———
Later, at lunch, I sat next to Kara and told her all about my morning. She was excited to hear more stories about Luke.
"So what did he say this morning when you walked in?" She asked.
"Well, he said that he was sorry for being an ass on Monday and that it was just his way of flirting," I explained.
"Really? Your mum and Michael were right then."
"Yeah.. And he wondered why I was ignoring him yesterday if I figured out that being an ass was his way of flirting in Monday. I just said 'oh, I think you know that' then smirked, winked and left.."
"Good job Addie! You left him hanging. That makes guys chase after you even more!"
Luke walked up to us and sat beside me. I looked at him and smiled, then looked at Kara. She got up saying, "um, I'll leave you two alone..."
"No.. Kara, it's okay. You two can talk!" I told her. She looked at Luke and introduced herself.
"I bet you already know, but I'm Luke Hemmings," Luke introduced himself to Kara, "and I go here."
"Nice to finally and officially meet you, Luke," Kara smiled, "and I'm Addie's best friend."
"It's nice to meet you too," Luke told Kara. I'm glad my best friend and my new friend -my crush?- met. I think Luke is my crush, though. I like him, and he likes me. I just don't know when he'll finally realize both of those things.