AALIYAH
I knew it was bound to happen now look at me. Walking in the hallway beside Lucas.
"So Aaliyah," Lucas said walking beside me, "do you think we should meet after school to start on the project?"
"No not really."
"Well, I think we would get a lot done if we did though."
"Fine, can we meet at your house after school?"
"Oh um, actually we can't because my dad is having something over there. You know fulfilling his duties as mayor."
"Okay, we'll meet at my house I guess."
"Great."
I went to my second class and sat there for an hour doing absolutely nothing. Then I went to lunch and finally, the day was almost over.
I was on my way to my last class when Lucas stopped me in the hall.
"So are we still set for after school?" Lucas asked after they left.
"Yeah. Also, I need your number so I can send you my address." I said handing him my phone.
He typed his number into my phone. He put his contact name as Lucassss with a bunch of hearts afterward.
"Ummm actually can I ride with you?" he asked hesitantly, "I rode with Xavier this morning because my car is in the shop. And since he has to do something after school now I don't have a ride anymore."
"Just meet me after school in the parking lot. And don't take forever you know how the traffic gets and I want to leave before it starts to get bad."
"Yes ma'am."
I rolled my eyes at him and started smiling. He walked me to my next class and waved bye.
I know, I know. You're probably thinking what we're all thinking. I'm just trying to be nice and give him a chance.
Everyone deserves a second chance.
•••
When I walked to my car after school Lucas was surprisingly already there waiting on me. Guess he took what I said seriously.
"Guess you took what I said seriously," I said unlocking my door.
Before I got to my door Lucas ran over to my side and opened it for me. He never did any of this the last time I saw him.
"Wow, he's a gentleman," I said sarcastically.
He smiled and then ran back over to his side to get in the car.
The rest of the car was silent. It wasn't awkward silence though I was kind of relaxing. I guess it just filled good to sit in silence for a little.
We pulled up to my house and my mom's car was in the driveway. Just great. I love my mom, but sometimes she can be a bit embarrassing.
When I put my car in park and cut it off I reached for the door handle when Lucas said, "Don't you dare open that door."
He rushed out the door and came over to my side to open the door.
"You know I'm perfectly capable of opening doors by myself. Without male assistance."
"You know I don't care right?"
When we walked in it smelled like my mom was cooking something. I don't know what it was, but it smelled amazing.
"Hey, Mom!" I yelled loud enough for her to hear.
"Is there someone with you?"
How did she know that?
"Yeah, why?"
She quickly peeked over from where she was at the stove to come and see me.
She started walking over when she stopped and had a shocked look on her face.
"Is that Lucas Williams?"
"Yep."
"Oh, Lucas come over here and give me a hug."
He walked over to where she was a gave her a big, engulfing hug. He was so much taller than she was that she looked like she was sinking into him.
"How've you been?"
"I've been good Ash. How about you?"
Lucas always called my mom Ash. It was never Ashley or Mrs. Miller. Always Ash, but she didn't seem to mind it so it just stuck I guess.
"So...why are you here?"
"Oh, Aaliyah and I are working on a project together."
"Yeah...okay "project" if you say so."
"No. seriously Mom it's a project."
"Aww, that's it? You guys are so boring."
"Lucas you can go to my room. It's the third door on the right." I said.
"Please tell me you're staying for dinner."
"I mean I wouldn't want to cause any trouble."
"Oh don't be ridiculous. You've never been any trouble."
Yeah, Definitely.
"Well in that case I'd love to stay."
After that, he smiled at my mom and headed upstairs to my room.
"So are you guys back together?"
"Mom!" I whisper yelled, "No we're not back together."
"I was just wondering. I know what I see and what I saw was that boy staring at you like he wanted to-"
"Okay! Mom, I get it but we are most definitely not together."
"Sure..."
I smiled at her and then walked upstairs to my room. I was standing outside my room when I heard Lucas on the phone.
I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I just can't help myself.
"Brooke?... How the hell did you get my number...You have to stop calling me I already told you. We're not happening. You asked me a million times already and I said no every time. Please stop calling me."
"Who was that on the phone?" I asked walking into my room.
"Brooke."
Okay...I definitely expected him to lie right there.
"Oh yeah, your girlfriend right?"
"She's most definitely not my girlfriend," he said, "I haven't had one since you."
Oh wow. I definitely wasn't expecting that. It feels kind of good knowing that.
Unless he's lying but I don't think he has anything else to lie about at this point. I could be wrong though.
"After what happened with you I took a break and decided to just focus on my grades and other important stuff," he said, "Aali you're way too special and for you to even think I could move on from you would make you a fool."
I'll admit that was sweet, but he still has a long way to go before he's made up for what he's done.
"Aali? You haven't called me that in so long."
"Yeah, I know I just felt like it since I'm the only one who gets to call you that."
"I remember the first time you called me Aali," I said going to sit on my bed, "we were watching Pretty Little Liars in my room one day and you said I reminded you so much of Alison. Which I'll never understand to this day."
"And ever since then I started calling you Aali even though it's nowhere near close to your name," he said finishing my sentence.
We laughed together, reminiscing on all the fun times we had together.
It felt like we were sitting there for a good five minutes before I finally snapped out of my thoughts.
"Okay so about this project," I said turning towards him.
"Yeah about the project," he said.
We worked on the project for about an hour and decided that enough was enough for today.
We went down for dinner and it mostly consisted of my mom and Lucas catching up and just talking about the old days.
I took a lot of trips down memory lane today and I'm not saying I didn't like it. I just didn't want to think about particular memories.
After Lucas left and dinner was over I straighten my room a little, took a shower, and then laid in bed thinking about tonight until I fell asleep.
•••
The next day went by in a blur and it was finally time for tryouts.
Are you ready for tryouts?" Desirée asked me as we were walking to the gym.
"Do you want me to lie?"
"For my sake. Yes."
"In that case, I'm literally so excited to be here!" I said sarcastically in a fake preppy girl voice.
We walked into the gym and it was filled with girls. Girls who actually looked like they should be here might I add.
Me on the other hand I look like that one piece of Alfalfa's hair: sticking out and confused.
"Alright, everyone!" Brooke yelled, "Tryouts are simple and if you think they aren't then you don't need to be here."
So much for sugarcoating things.
"Okay so I'll teach you a simple routine, you'll have 3 minutes to practice it, and then I'll make cuts. It's as simple as that."
Brooke taught us the routine and can I just say that it was fairly easy. The hard part would be me actually doing it.
Okay...let's do this.
3 MINUTES LATER...
After doing the routine it's obvious that I will not be on the team.
I made a fool of myself. Maybe I shouldn't have said that the routine was easy.
"Okay," Brooke said, "I've made my decision and the results will be posted tomorrow. Thanks, everyone for coming!"
I was grabbing my stuff and talking to Desirée when Brooke called me over to talk to her.
What did she want? She's probably telling me that there was no way I'm making the team and wants to know why I tried out in the first place.
"What do you want Brooke?"
"I just wanted to tell you to stay away from Lucas. He's mine and he will always be mine. I would hate to see what happens if you were with him again."
I let out a little laugh. "I'm sorry did you just threaten me?"
"Consider it a warning I guess. Go near Lucas again and see what happens."
"Dun, dun, dun."
She scoffed and then walked away. Who did she think she was threatening me?
Actually, let's not even call it a threat it was funnier than it was scary.
I grabbed my bags and met up with Desirée outside since she said she'd wait for me. When I walked out Lucas, Desirée, and Xavier were waiting for me.
"Don't you guys have football practice or something?" I asked Lucas and Xavier walking, down the hall.
"It got canceled," Lucas replied.
"So what was that about?" Desirée asked.
"You really wanna know?"
"Yeah that's why I asked...well actually everyone wants to know," she said gesturing between all of them.
"She told me to stay away from Lucas and if I went near him again then she would hate to see what would happen."
Lucas looked at me with a confused look. "Don't look at me that's your girlfriend," I said.
"How many times do I have to tell you she's not my girlfriend," Lucas said.
"Oh, I'm not the one you need to be telling,"
"I tried telling her like a million times already she won't listen."
"People just can't get enough of you can they?" I said in a joking tone.
"Well, you tell her that if she comes near you again or starts talking to you on some bullsh-"
"Okay...that's enough I got it Desirée."
"Just letting you know," she said smiling, "Okay well I have to go, but I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Bye Desirée," Xavier said, "have a good night or a great one whichever one you want."
She looked back with a confused smile. "Yeah I think I will," she said.
"fóllame," Xavier said shaking his head.
Lucas and I burst out laughing as soon as Desirée left. He glared at us and I think he mentally cringed after he thought about what he said.
"Dude just ask her out already," Lucas said as we walked to the parking lot.
"Yeah I mean I would but I'm scared. What if she says no."
How clueless can these two be? They're all jittery and nervous around each other all the time and literally can't get enough of one another. I think that speaks for itself.
"Trust me she likes you," Lucas said.
"Wait how do you know?" I asked.
"Have you seen the way she acts around him? I mean it's pretty hard to ignore."
"I mean I would but I don't know how I ask her."
"Desirée loves romance books. Big gestures are her thing but don't make them too big. Also, ask her in private she's not really the type of girl who likes public attention, so whatever you don't ask in public." I said.
"Thanks," he said smiling, "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"And then there were two," Lucas said.
"Yep," I said. This couldn't be more awkward.
"Let me see your keys," Lucas said.
"What?! Why?"
"Just let me see them."
Kids don't try this at home.
I handed him my keys and he walked me to my car and opened the door for me too. He then got on the driver's side and started the car.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Somewhere. Don't worry you'll find out soon enough. Buckle up beautiful." Lucas said smiling.
After about fifteen minutes we pulled up at an ice cream place.
"You brought me to get ice cream?" I asked looking out the window.
Not just any ice cream," he said getting out of the car, "the state's best ice cream."
"You know those signs lie all the time right?" I said walking beside him to the building.
"I guess we'll see then," he said opening the door to the building.
I walked up to the counter and looked at all the flavors they had.
I already knew what I was going to choose. I just needed to take a minute and act like I was considering other options.
"Can I get a medium cup of cookies and cream?" I told the lady at the counter.
"Cookies and cream? Wow," Lucas said.
"What?" I asked looking at him.
"Nothing. It's just that you haven't changed at all."
He ordered next and can you believe he got mint chocolate chip.
Mint chocolate chip?! I mean out of all the flavors.
You would have to tie me up and force me to eat that.
After we got our ice cream we went back outside and sat at one of the tables they had. The sun was setting and the sky looked beautiful.
"It's beautiful," I said looking at the sky.
"Yeah it's really beautiful," he replied. When I turned around to look at him he was already staring at me.
"So what made you do this?" I asked picking up a spoonful of ice cream.
"I remembered that you always loved ice cream growing up and I thought I'd do something nice for you. I owe you. So I thought that this could be the start of it."
"Well thanks," I said smiling, "this was really nice of you."
"No problem," he said smiling at me.
We sat there talking for about thirty minutes until I took him home.
He said his car should be out of the shop by tomorrow which was a total lie by the way.
He's the mayor's son. He literally has backup cars to his backup cars. I can't believe I didn't catch that.
I asked him about it and he claimed it was because he wanted to spend more time with me.
I think it's safe to say I'm probably dumb for letting him back in but to be fair he can't prove that he's sorry if I say no to everything.
He's trying to prove himself and earn my trust back. Let's just see where this goes.
•••
Sorry this chapter was so long, but I had my chapters planned out and then I changed it so I had to fit two chapters into one.
- Samm