MARCH 2015
"Goddammit!" I said while frowning at the tv screen in front of me. I really wanted to win. "C'mon, c'mon," I whispered quietly.
"I can hear you, you know, and praying won't work. You're going down," Fred said over the headset.
"Luke! Gabe's here!" my sister yelled at me from downstairs.
"Be right there!" I said. Instead of getting up though, I kept frowning at the screen, frantically pushing the buttons on my controller.
"What's keeping you so long?" Gabe said from behind me and I jumped a bit.
"Geez you startled me."
"I'm beating his ass!" Fred yelled into his mike so Gabe could hear. I laughed.
"Shutup Fred. Gimme one minute Gabe, and he's a goner."
Gabe laughed and shook his head, sitting next to me. "Sure, sure. Show me how it's done."
Suddenly Fred made a combo move, beating my character to the ground.
"ONE... TWO... THREE..." the referee in the game counted.
"Get up boy, come on, you can do this! It's only a little punch!" I yelled at the tv, but my character wouldn't move, no matter how much I motivated him and no matter how many buttons I pressed.
"YOU LOOSE," the tv said. I chucked my controller at the ground and huffed.
"Fine, I have to go anyway Fred, talk to you later." Fred laughed at me.
"Aw, don't be a sore loser. Just because you lost the last.. What was it, three, four, battles? Doesn't mean you're a bad player," he said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"Shutup, the last two times I let my sister play. See ya." I took off my headset and turned to Gabe. "What's up?"
"I came to ask you if you could help me out a bit maybe. I just don't understand the stuff we have to know for Chemistry." I stretched out my arm.
"Give me that book mate, and let me work my magic." Gabe grinned as he handed me his notes and sat down in another chair.
About two hours later my mum called us down for dinner. "Be right there!" I yelled. "So you get it now?" I asked Gabe in a lower volume. "The mole is a unit of measurement, which has a value of 6,022×1023. So if you have one mole, that's actually 6,022 times 10 to the power of 23, since it's expressed by the Avogadro constant, which is that number." Gabe looked even more puzzled than he had done before, so exasperated I closed the book. "Time for food," I announced. He nodded, seemingly relieved. "You'll get there mate, it's easier than it seems. You're just thinking too much about it."
Gabe looked at me a bit sheepishly. "Whatever, I'm hungry. What's for dinner?" I shrugged an I-have-no-idea and we both went downstairs.
"What time is your date tonight Luke?" Mum asked me while she took the lovely smelling casserole of lasagne out of the oven.
"Ehh.." I looked at her, puzzled.
"Your date? With Jessica? You said you two were going out tonight," she clarified. I face palmed.
"Right, shit! I completely lost track of time. The movie starts around eight but I still have to shower and get changed. What time is it?" I took out my cell phone. "Shit! Six thirty already?!"
"Language," my father warned me. "And what did we say about cell phones at the table? If you need to know the time get yourself a watch." I rolled my eyes.
"Sure old man, will do."
My father rolled his eyes back at me. "And don't forget to clean your room before you go. It's a mess up there."
"I don't have time for that! And it's not even that bad. C'mon Gabe, back me up here." I looked at my friend. "Hey! Stop laughing at me!"
"Least you could do is make your bed man, that stuff takes like what, five to ten seconds? And putting your clothes in the laundry takes up about ten seconds more?" he chuckled. I gasped and clutched my breast.
"You traitor! You're supposed to agree with me, not with my parents! I don't have time for that anyway. I still have to shower, and I think I need those trousers for school tomorrow. They're probably still alright to wear."
"If your room is not cleaned you're not going, and that's the end of it," my mum said.
"But mum..!"
"No buts. The time you just wasted on arguing with us you could've cleaned your room twice." I groaned and my sister stuck out her tongue to me.
"Oh stop it you little demon," I snapped at her.
"Luke!" my mum said.
"Alright, alright, sorry Layla." I couldn't risk much more if I wanted to go out with Jessica tonight. She'd kill me if I had to cancel on us again. As fast as I could I finished my plate of lasagne and rushed upstairs to take a shower. When I came into my room with a towel around my waist I saw Gabe putting the last pair of socks in the laundry basket.
"You should appreciate your parents a little bit more, you know that?" he said shaking his head. "I'd kill for a room like this. Or parents like them. Or a room. Or parents."
"Yeah, yeah, get out of here traitor. Though cleaning this shit up did make up for your backstabbing back there. Lunch at Mac tomorrow? I'll pay." I said while gesturing him to get out of my room.
"Sure thing," he grinned. "I'm keeping you to that promise."
After he left I quickly took off my towel and changed into the first pair of jeans I found. "Purple, purple... Where is my purple T-shirt?!" I opened my laundry basket and of course, there it was. "Purple," I said, satisfied, and put it on. After making sure I put my towels away - couldn't risk my mum calling me back - I rushed downstairs, grabbing my jacket. "Bye guys, I'm gonna... Dude, what are you still doing here?" I asked Gabe.
"I was just talking to your parents for a bit. Cmon, I have to go the same way you do right? Let's go together."
"Alright," I nodded. I had actually been planning on borrowing my dad's car, but Jessica and I had agreed on meeting at the cinema, which meant I didn't have to pick her up. Also, Gabe only had a bike, so I couldn't offer to drive him back home; then he wouldn't be able to go to school tomorrow. I didn't really mind cyling anyway. The cinema was pretty close by. Why was I thinking about this so much? "See you later!" I called out to my parents.
"By Fred and Mary," Gabe said with a wave.
"See you guys. Have a good night Luke, don't get home too late alright? And you get home safe Gabe," my mum smiled at us.
"What movie you going to?" Gabe asked when we were outside.
"Ehh.. That's a good one mate," I laughed while scratching the back of my head. "No idea, don't really mind either anyway." Gabe winked at me.
We cycled for a bit in silence. Then I asked him "You know you understand chemistry fully right? No need to worry." Gabe shrugged. "No I'm serious man, you really do. You should just stop stressing about it too much. If you'd only stop over thinking everything you'll notice how easy it actually is."
"Meh," Gabe said. "I'm only a C average mate, I'm not particularly good at this subject."
"I'm sure of it," I said confidently. "You're going to ace this exam man. The only reason you're a C average is because you had to do all of the group work by yourself since you were the last one to join our year. And because Mr. Handson still doesn't trust you."
"I swear I wasn't the one who caused that fire. Or at least I think I wasn't. Or if I did it most certainly wasn't on purpose!" Gabe defended himself. I laughed.
"Sure mate, whatever you say. I believe you. Anyway, this is where I have to leave you. Take care."
"You too, have a good night. See you."
"See you."
I smiled when I got off my bike and parked it in front of the cinema. Gabe had a tendency to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and by being seen by the wrong people at the worst moments possible. He wasn't a bad kid though. More than half the things he got caught for weren't even his fault. "There you are! I've been waiting here for like ten minutes!" I looked up.
"Hey babe. Sorry, I didn't want Gabe to cycle alone so I took the longer route. But I'm here now, and still on time, right?" I smiled apologetically.
"Hmpf," was all she said.
"And you know I love you." A small smile came on her lips. "Exactly. Now can I have a kiss?" This time she laughed fully and gave me a hug, plus a small peck on the cheek.
"There, happy now? Let's go inside, you're not as early as you think you are." She took my hands and we went in, laughing and talking, me buying the tickets for a movie I had already forgotten the title from.
"This is nice," Jessica then said when we were seated as she put her head on my shoulder.
"Yes it is," I said and kissed her head. And I meant it, it was nice. I really enjoyed being with her, it was easy. She was a sweet girl, very smart and funny, and beautiful too. But why did I feel like I was convincing myself of all of that?
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[A/N]
And there's that! What do you think of Luke's relationship with Jessica?
If you liked this chapter, please dont forget to vote!
Love Xx. ~
Mirthe
P.S. And yes, Phil is totally how I imagined Fred to look like. So just for the heck of it, I added a pic of him at the top. Isn't he cute (':