The next day at school was beyond awkward. I tried to ignore Luke in all of my classes that I shared with him because I just couldn't bring myself to try and talk to him. Even when I felt his eyes on the side of my head, I kept my attention forward and willed myself to listen to the teachers' rants.
I patted myself on the back after second block cause I was pretty sure I was doing a marvelous job. That is, until he plopped his butt in the empty seat at our table during lunch. I was smug at first, expecting everyone to shoo him away, but it quickly changed to shock when they openly welcomed him.
I then chose to focus my energy on shooting him daggers, even when Jessica stared giving me disapproving looks. When he started chowing down on his food noisily, my bubble of anger burst.
"Stop eating like a pig. The people who sit at this table excercise decent manners,"I said snidely even though I knew the remark was completely not true. This wasn't how I usually acted, but there was something about Luke that made me want to rip all of my hair out.
"I-I'm sorry,"he said, sounding shocked and confused.
Then he looked back down at his tray and started eating slower and more properly. I looked around at the table of friends that were now stunned into silence and giving me disbelieving looks.
Then Jared decided to break it and nudged Luke softly in the side,"Don't worry man. She just has a stick up her ass today. We eat like that all the time. C'mon Sean, let's show him."
Sean and Jared began to stuff their faces like the pigs they are and after a smile and a laugh, Luke joined in too. Boys are so annoying. I put on my meanest glare and let out a groan of frustration. I stood up, fed up with what was going on before my eyes.
"I'm out of here,"I said quickly before heading out of the cafeteria and disappearing around the corner.
I heard Jessica say something and then footsteps were following me out to the courtyard. I plopped down on one of the benches away from the others and let my head drop into my hands. I heard Jessica sit down next to me and without lifting my head up I said,"Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, but you do. That is the joy of being your best friend, I always know what you want. So, let's atlk about it. I thought you agreed to be his friend."
"I tried but I can't. I can't be friends with him, Jess!"I said.
Jessica sighed and put an arm around my hunched shoulders. I lifted my head up and gave her a look. Jessica finally said,"Yes, you can. We all think that it will be best. For both of you."
"You don't understand,"my voice sounded thick with unshed tears,"He's just going to leave again when he goes on tour! A-and if he leaves me again, I don't think I'll be able to get through it."
Jessica began to say soothing things to try and calm me down as I finally broke out in tears. I can't believe I was doing this again. I promised myself I wouldn't do this anymore! I'm supposed to be stronger than this!
But, despite my pep talk, the tears kept coming and just like the afternoon before, Jessica began to whisper soothing things in my ear. I remembered that we were in public and quickly lifted my head up. The few people that could see us clearly were looking at me like I was crazy, whispering amongst themselves. I groaned and wiped away all of my remaining tears. I can do this.
I got out my small mirror and reapplied my makeup. I heard the bell ring faintly, si I stood up and turned to Jess and gave her a small thanks before heading to my third block. I was late by the time I made it there and I just prayed that I wouldn't get yelled at by the teacher. I knocked on the door and the teacher came and opened it.
I had gone to the nurse so I could take some of the Advil my mom had left here for me before and got a slip, so it shouldn't be a big deal. He took it without a word and I headed to my seat. I plopped down,but I couldn't keep myself from turning slightly and glancing at Luke. He gave me a small smile, as if to say that everything was going to turn out alright.
God, I wish I could believe him.
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The rest of the week went by in a flash, or maybe it went by slowly. I'm not sure. Either way, I had tried to be nicer to Luke and it was actually easier than I thought it would be. The whole group, including Clark, had agreed to Jess's idea of a bonfire get-together. So, I was now currently searching through my closet for some clothes that seemed appropriate for the occasion.
I had already showered and put my hair back in a french braid. i didn't bother with make-up because I would probably end up sweating it all off anyway. I finally decided on a navy scoop neck t-shirt that didn't show too much and a pair of ripped, light-wash short-shorts. I slipped on my cowboy boots and grabbed my acoustic before heading down stairs.
I was greeted by my mom in the kitchen who gave me a small smile,"Tell Jessica and Sean I say hi. Also, tell Luke that we should get together sometime."
Igave her a shocked look before replying,"Mom, I don't th-"
She cut me off,"Well, I do think. So, next weekend it is. I'll call his mom later to schedule it."
I sighed and gave up, knowing I was never going to win now that my had set her mind to it. I'm not entirely convinced that Jessica had planted the idea in my mom's head so that I would have to spend more time with Luke. I guess I'll have to ask her tonight.
At least Clark will be there so I won't have to be left alone with Luke, as I'm sure Jessica plans to do. I'll be lucky to make it out of there without being forced into some heart-to-heart with him.
"Okay. Well, I'm off. I'm gonna spend the night at Jess's place so don't bother waiting up for me,"I called, heading to the door.
"Will do. Call me when you get there! Have fun!"I heard her say before shutting the door.
I got into my truck and started it up before pulling out of our long driveway and heading to Jessica's/ It wasn't too far away, so it only took me about ten minutes to pull up to her house that was situated on a small, well at least compared to Sean's, three-acre yard. In the far left corner I could see that Sean and Jared were already here and were helping to set up the fire pit. I hopped out, bringing my acoustic and detouring to the front door so that I could drop it off in Jessica's room.
Once that was done, I went out the front door, yet to encounter Jessica's parents. I finally found myself standing by the lake, watching Sean and Jared as they hauled all of the logs into a fire pile. It was already past five and the sun was sinking on the horizon, so we would surely be starting the fire as soon as everyone got here.
I laughed as Sean dropped a log on his toe and started muttering extremely creative curses under his breath. When he heard my quiet chuckling, he looked up at me with a smile, all pain forgotten.
"Isabelle! I'm so glad you're here! Jess has been bossing us around all afternoon! Make her stop,"my football player of a best friend whined. He was toned and six foot tall yet he was still afraid to say no to a girl have his size.
"Okay. The fire looks great so all there is to do now is set up the stage area. I'll do that, but can you bring out the plastic table so that we can set up food and drink on it?"he nodded,"Thanks. Now go tell Jared to help you."
He strutted over to Jared before they both headed toward the garage. I walked toward the shed at the edge of the property and opened up the large doors. It was full of various lawn items, but I finally found the white painted wooden stool and a few lawn chairs. I dragged them all over to the stage area. I set up the six folding chairs in a swoop in front of the platform and then put the stool up on the stage.
In the summer when their only neighbor is off at their beach house, we set up a microphone and speakers, but since they were most likely home, we decided to skip that step this time around. When I was done, I rushed over to Jessica, who was now sat on one of the logs smiling and talking to Aarron.
"Double A Double R!"I greeted him and he laughed.
"I'm never going to live that down, am I ?"he asked.
I smirked and shook my head,"Nope,"I turned to Jess,"How does the stage area look?"
She glanced over at it and then frowned at me,"Where are the speakers and microphones?"
"Uh, aren't your neighbors home?"
She gave a smug smile and shook her head,"No, they heard us talking about the party and they decided they were going to visit family this weekend."
I laughed and asked,"Well, I haven't seen your parents either."
"They decided to leave too. It's just us tonight and everybody has decided to stay the night. Do you think Clark will?"
"Probably."
Just then a car pulled up the driveway and Clark got out. I smiled and ran over to him. He opened his arms up for me and took me into a giant hug and spun me around.
"I missed you."
"Me, too."
"It's only been a week. Gosh, we are such saps,"I chuckled and he joined in, finally releasing his tight hold on me and bringing me to arms length. He searched my face and looked me up and down,"Nope. Still as beautiful as ever."
I blushed and looked down at my converse before bringing my head back up to look him in the eyes,"Are you spending the night?"
"If it's okay with Jessica's parents,"he said.
"Well, we have the house to ourselves tonight and I happen to have reserved a room for us,"I gave him a sly look.
"Awesome,"he muttered before he brought me back against him and captured my lips in a kiss.
I automatically resonded, moving my lips with his and widning my arms around his neck. My fingers pulled at the hair at the nape of his neck and he deepedned the kiss, letting his tongue explore my mouth. We only pulled away when we heard a car door slam, willing our breathing to go back to normal. We both turned at the same time to see who it was.
We were met by Luke, who was shooting daggers at us as he passed.
"Isabelle. Clark,"was all he said before storming to the rest of them.
I rolled my eyes at his weird reaction and turned to Clark,"Another awkward party with the ex? Damn, can we ever catch a break?"he said.
I chuckled and shook my head,"I know right! Let's go join the others."
He followed me as I headed towards the many logs now with people perched ontop of them. Clark and I got our own log next to Sean. I noticed that while I was gone they had gathered things to start the fire and set up all of the equipment on the stage. Damn, they worked fast.
I turned to Clark with a smile on my face as we waited for Samantha,"So, where is your girl?"
He shook his head and gave me a smirk,"You know I'm more of the bachelor type. No reason to waste time on silly, petty relationships when I could be playing the field and looking for 'the one'."
"Wow, your philosophy sucks. But, you still could have brought a one night stand."
"Young grasshopper, I did not know that we were going to be alone on this fine evening, therefore I had no time to invite a special lady friend,"he gave me a serious face that I could tell he had to force.
"Whatever. Does anybody want a drink?"I asked, looking around at everybody.
Samantha, who had just arrived, raised her hand along with Clark, Sean, and Luke,"Okay, well, does everybody want a beer."Everybody nodded.
I walked over to the table set up with refreshments and grabbed five bottles of Bud Light. I headed back to the group and handed out the beers. Jared came walking over, wiping his hands on his trunks, his shirt already having disappeared. I looked over to the stack of wood that was now burning brightly.
"Attention everyone,"I looked up in shock at the sound of Jessica's voice being projected across the field,"For the first activity, before everyone is too intoxicated to do it without drowning, we are going to go for a swim in the lake. For those of you who are too wimp to join us, stay by your cozy fire."
I chuckled and immediately stood up and stretched. I guzzled down the rest of my beer before tossing it in the trash bin we had set out. I pulled off my top and shorts with lightening speed before turning back to Clark, who was right after me and tearing off his tee. We both tossed off our shoes and ran to the lake, followed by the rest of the crowd. Looks like everyone decided to swim.
I was shocked as I ran into the freezing water, my body immediately erupting in goosebumps and shivering. Clark shouted a curse when the water crashed around him. He quickly swam over to me and brought me towards his warm body.
I immediately got warmer and I looked up to him with a gratefull smile,"Thanks. Much warmer now."
"Good,"he smiled back, pushing me away and splashing me in the face.
I yelped and ducked my head under the water, quickly swimming away. I wasn't fast enough because Clark grabbed me by my ankle and pulled me back to him. I took a deep breath as I resurfaced, quickly putting my hands together and splashing water in every direction.
I opened my eyes and stopped, looking around. I glared when I saw Clark a safe distance away, laughing at me. I rushed at him, but somehow stripped, ending in my heading towards the water at full speed. I was shocked and after I had splashed into the water, I took a quick breath in surprise. Except, instead of sucking in air, I was sucking in water.
I started choking and thrashing around until strong arms wrapped themselves around me, pulling me up out of the water. They quickly dragged me to shore. My lungs were on fire and I couldn't quit coughing up water. My eyes were squinted open, but closed when someone sat me up and started pounding on my back.
Finally, when all the water had been removed from my lungs, I collapsed back in exhaustion.
I looked up at my savior, and Luke smiled back down at me, relief clear on his face,"Only you could manage to kill my buzz by almost drowning. Makes me think you did it on purpose."
I chuckled,"Yep, Totally attempted suicide just to ruin the mood."
Everyone who had surrounded around me laughed along, their frowns quickly turning to smiles when they realized I was alright.
"I'm starving. Let's fire up some hot dogs!"I said, causing everyone to cheer and Luke to help me up.
I stood up on my wobbly legs and went to take a step, almost falling down. Luke caught me and made me steady again. Just then, Clark came up, glaring at Luke.
"I can take care of it from here,"he took me out of Luke's arms and into his.
Luke chuckled, but it lacked humor,"So that's the thanks I get for rescuing your girlfriend?"
Anybody who knew Luke would know that he wasn't being serious, but Clark just became rowled up and took an advancing step forward.
I quickly grabbed a hold of him and pulled him back towards me,"Nope, babe. Let's just go eat, okay?"
He steadied his breathing and then followed me to the fire, Luke trailing along behind us. We got there and were immediately handed metal sticks with a hot dog on the end. I smiled and happily skipped over to the fire, jutting my dog deep within the flames. I pulled it out a moment later, switched the position, and then turned it slowly right above the flames. In a few miinutes I had a perfectly cooked hotdog.
I grabbed a plate and fixings before plopping my butt down on a log. A log that just so happened to be next to Luke.
"I never got to tell you thank you for saving my life back there,"I said after a moment of silence.
"It's nothing. I owed you anyway,"he shrugged and continued to eat.
I gave him a weird look,"Why did you owe me?"
"Do you remember that time when we thought we could go rock climbing on that cliff by the creek we used to always camp by?"I nodded and he continued,"Well, one time we were up there and we were almost ten feet from the ground. The parenst never knew because they would throttle us for being so stupid. Anyway, my foot slipped and I would have gone tumbling to my death if you wouldn't have caught it and steadied it on your palm. Then, I was able to hoist myself up. Therefore, you saved my life, I saved yours."
I remembered now. I had been so shocked when his foot slipped, but my body had reacted on instinct and caught the foot. Thank God for my cat-like reflexes.
"Yep. I'm a total ninja,"I gave him a smug smile.
"Whatever. You just wish you were as ninja as me."
I gave him a skeptical look,"Oh. Do I?"
"Yep. Maybe one day I will give you the lesson of your life."
I just shrugged and finished off my hotdog. I threw both of our plates away and brought us both back a beer. We sipped at it as we watched in amusement as Jessica climbed up onto the platform and sauntered over to the mic.
"Hello, everyone. Our next activity will consist of Luke and Jessica coming up here and giving us the performance of our lives,"she winked at where we were sitting and I grumbled, getting up and putting on my clothes. Then, I followed look up on to the stage.
Our guitars were already there. I walked over to him,"What song? And who's playing guitar?"
"You can play guitar if you know the song Hard To Love by Lee Brice,"I nodded and grabbed my guitar before settling myself on the stool. Luke stood next to me by the other microphone and I counted off as a whisper. My fingers grazed across the strings as I began to play.
I am insensitive
I have a tendency to
Pay more attention to the things that I need
Sometimes I drink too much
Sometimes I test your trust
Sometimes I don't know why you stay with me
I'm hard to love, hard to love
Oh, I don't make it easy
I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood
I'm hard to love, hard to love
And you say that you need me
Well, I don't deserve it but
I love that you love me, girl.
We finished the song and cheering erupted from the small crowd. I was on a music high and I turned to Luke with a giant smile. He returned it before we switched places and started up a new song. We continued on for at least an hour, singing songs like Drink One For Me by Jason Aldean and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Luke Bryan.
When we were finally done, I had a sheen of sweat from the exursion of getting into the song combined with the slight humidity of the air. Luke was heated up and perspiring too. We high fived and shared a quick hug before going our seperate ways.
Next was smores. We each got our portion of the ingredients and set to it. I was nuzzled into Clark's side, roasting marshmallows and stacking them with chocolate and graham crackers. I got bored after a while, so I took a freshly scorched marshmallow and ate of the burnt outside. Then I plucked off the sticky center and squished it onto Clark's forehead.
I laughed as his face went red and he turned to me with a teasing smile,"You are so going to regret that."
Then he launched himself up, but I was a step ahead of him and already ten feet away. People laughed at us as he chased me around, melted chocolate collected in his hand. He finally caught up to me and tackled me to the ground. Then, he proceeded to cover my whole face in chocalate.
We both guffawed as the group came over to look at the outcome. They all teased us about how 'sweet and tasty' we were. We laughed along with them until the food on my face began to become irritating.
"Okay, well I'm tired so I think Clark and I are going to get cleaned up and go to bed. See you guys in the morning,"they all waved and soon Clark and I found ourselves in the bathroom of the largest guest room, which I had laid my claim on earlier.
He had collected a wash cloth and was gently wiping off all of the chocalatey goodness. Then, I helped him with the white goop on his forehead. Once the last bit of food was gone, I didn't remove my hand from his warm face. He brought his hands up to cup my cheeks and then began to passionately kiss me.
Thinks heated up quickly and I soon found myself sitting on the counter of the sink with Clark in between by legs, kissing my fiercely. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he didn't waste any time as he opened the door without breaking the kiss and layed us both down on the bed.
I tugged at the bottom of his shirt and quickly obliged. Then I ripped off my own and I was left in only my bikini top. I wriggled out of my shorts so that we were both down to our swim wear. We were about to take it further when the door swung open.
"Hey. Jess said that there were extra sheets-"He stopped as he found us on the bed, Clark laying ontop of me, our clothes flung carelessly around the room. How my top ended up on the lamp, I will never know.
His face quickly transformed from confusion to anger. He gave us each a glare and spit,"Nevermind. I'll just leave you to it."
Then he exited and slammed the door. Clark rolled off of me and we just layed there in silence.
"That guy really does know how to kill a mood, doesn't he?"Clark finally said, sounding tired.
"Yeah. I'm going to sleep."I flipped off the lamp closest to me and Clark followed suit. We both buried ourselves under the covers and he immediately spooned me against his chest. I turned over so that me cheek was against his warm, bare chest. Then, I quickly fell asleep.
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I hope this is as long as I think it is. I also hope that ya'll like it!
Song to the side is Hard To Love by Lee Brice>>>
Picture to the side is of Paul Wesley as Aarron>>>
Dedicated to ilovemybadboy for her awesome support!