[ four : no coordination, no problem ]
Just because someone may live with you didn’t mean you had to talk to them. And that’s exactly what I was determined to do with Luke. After he embarrassed me on Monday, I had settled on the silent treatment. I hadn’t spoken to him since.
To be honest, it wasn’t that hard.
Well, apart from me having to drive him to and from school every day, him living across the hall from me, his repetitive insults, and him sitting at my lunch table (thanks to Carson), that is.
It seemed like he was everywhere I looked, just sitting there at every corner. It’s like I couldn’t get away from him and I hated him for it. Along with my new “soon-to-be” stepmom.
If she hadn’t come into my life, I wouldn’t have to deal with Luke at all. Or the pain of my mother’s death more than I already had to.
And if having to see Luke more than I already did wasn’t bad enough, he decided to try out for our school’s soccer team, too. And since most of my friends were on either the girl’s or the guy’s team, I had to go and give them “moral support.” Do you see where I’m going with this?
When soccer season first started, Blaire got me to try out. But apparently, on the day of my tryout, I found out that I had no coordination. At all. So of course, Blaire, being the team captain of the girl’s team, had to unfortunately let me go. On the plus side, though, she’d saved my ass from a hell of a lot more embarrassment than I already had to go through. I cringed, just thinking about how far away the soccer ball made it from the goal at my multiple, unsuccessful attempts, and how many times I tripped over that damned ball during drills. After that day, I decided I didn’t need soccer. No coordination, no problem.
But today, I was after school and I had been sitting on the top of the bleachers, watching the two practices go down. The girls just began doing drills after their running warm-up, and the guys were still doing their running warm-up because theirs was twice as long.
Today at lunch, Dylan had convinced Luke to try out for their soccer team, saying that since he was the coach’s son, he’d still be able to, even though the season started a month ago.
You don’t even want to know how many times I slapped Dylan for that after Luke accepted. I remember the smirk Luke had on his face as he accepted, looking straight into my eyes with his cold, piercing green eyes. I had so badly wanted to punch it off of his face. Then add a few more punches for the heck of it.
As we walked out of the school building, fifteen minutes earlier, Luke said to me, “So you get to watch me all hot and sweaty during my tryout today. I might even take my shirt off if the sun gets too unbearable. Try not to get all flustered like the other day at lunch.”
Speechless at his words, I didn’t know what to say, and of course, I just had to blush. And I couldn’t help it. After he laughed at me again for blushing at something he’d said about me, I actually did punch him this time. And I was rewarded when he winced just the tiniest bit, clutching his stomach (which was very hard, might I add). The bad thing about punching him so hard though, was that it hurt my hand. A lot.
After he straightened up, he said in a low voice, “Damn, you’re actually pretty strong, Adeline. I can’t quite grasp if that’s a good thing or a bad thing just yet,” before winking at me and jogging to catch up with the guys. I so badly wanted to call out an insult as he jogged away, but I remembered I wasn’t talking to him anymore. I couldn’t break by four-day-streak now, could I? I didn’t know how I was able to manage those four days against his endless, annoying efforts (petty insults that made me desperately want to retaliate, for the most part) to get me to say something.
After he had said that, Grace and Lindsay had come up on either side of me, in a complete fan-girl fit. Could they not? They seriously needed to chill their hormones just a tad, if you’d ask me. They were still head-over-heels, probably in love, with Luke. I had no clue why. Maybe they were attracted to the whole “bad boy” thing he was trying to pull off. Maybe it was the devilish hair? I really didn’t know, because in my point of view, he was still an ass.
A couple minutes of that, the girls and the guys parted their ways, going on to the field to start practice, leaving me stranded on the bleachers to “support” them. Yeah, if you called “support” trying to cram in homework and social medias at the same time in an hour and forty-five minutes, occasionally glancing up a few times, then uh-huh, I was supporting them.
Anyways, here I was, at the bottom of the bleachers with only a few other students and a couple of teachers. I tried to think of a brilliant topic for a short story for Mr. Collins’s AP English class. In the midst of doing so, I looked up from my blank piece of notebook paper to see the guy’s team starting to practice. Luke’s tryout was the first thing that they were scheduled to do after the warm-ups, and to be honest, I was somewhat excited to see what he had in store. Maybe he would embarrass himself just as bad as I did.
I looked over to the other half of the field, to see Lindsay and Grace staring at Luke. I rolled my eyes. Could they just take a break?
My eyes traveled to Luke, too, after their coach, Coach Martinez, blew his whistle. All the boys lined up on the sideline. I guess Coach was telling them how Luke was going to try out or something along those lines. This was confirmed when he walked over to Luke, patted his shoulder, and put the soccer ball to the grass. I suppose he told him to do something, possibly some kind of drill or whatever, because both Luke and Ryan (the team captain, basically the best on the team) ran out into the field after the whistle was blown once more. Ryan was dribbling the ball down, and fast, with Luke a hair behind him. A few seconds later, Luke had stolen the ball from Ryan, psyched him out, and made a goal with ease.
Okay, so maybe he did have a little—okay a lot—more coordination than I thought. After grabbing the ball out of the net, he jogged back over to the coach.
I closed my mouth, after realizing it had dropped open. Looking over, I saw Lindsay and Grace flipping out over Luke. I swear, this has been the tenth time today. Possible more.
As Coach made Luke run some more drills with first two opposing guys, then with three, I leaned in on my elbows, intrigued. Even though I hated to say it, Luke was pretty damn flawless when it came to this sport. On his final test, he went up against Carson, Wesley, Dylan, Eli, and Ryan—the top five players.
Once again, I was fixated on Luke as he stole the ball from Carson. Even though he got it stolen from him, he managed to get it back and make another goal, effortlessly.
I had to suppress the urge to clap or cheer for him or something. But when the thought of his douche-bagginess came to mind, I put a straight face on. He didn’t deserve my applause.
Luke got a few pats on the back and some handshake-hug things (the ones that guys do) from Carson, Dylan, Wes, and Eli. I was mostly surprised when I saw Coach give him a firm handshake with a wide grin on his face.
I guess Luke made the team after all. Meaning, I’d have to see him more than usual.
The two practices continued on their regular schedules. I was watching the girls start a mini scrimmage, when Coach Martinez began to split the boys up into Shirts and Skins, making my eyes turn to them. Not to be a pervert or anything, but this was usually my favorite part of coming to their practices. When I get to see the guys shirtless.
Even though a fair amount of them were my best friends, that didn’t mean I couldn’t “observe from a distance.” And they knew I watched them too, so I wasn’t a complete creep, I guess. Was I?
Most of the guys on the team were pretty fit, and the chubbier ones were most frequently shirts.
“Shirt,” Coach said to Cory Sanders. “Skins,” to Eli. “Shirt,” to Wren Baker. “Skin,” to Luke. And I stopped listening right there. Luke turned around, knowing exactly where I was sitting, and pulled his shirt over his head, showing his perfect stomach, then tossed it off to the side; stupid smirk on his face and everything. If I didn’t hate him, I’d say that was pretty hot. I glared at him as I could tell that Grace and Lindsay were going crazy on the opposite side of the field, without even looking at them.
In the end, before they started their own mini scrimmage, Eli, Ryan, Wes, Luke, Carson, and Dylan, were all skins. The rest of the players were shirts. And so they started their scrimmage, only going up to five points.
Around ten minutes later, when both the girl’s team and the guy’s team were done with their scrimmages, they played a scrimmage against each other, like in every other practice.
On average, the girls usually won these scrimmages more than the guys did (because the girls are just kickass when it came to their favorite sport), but this time, the guys won. I denied the thought that it was because of Luke playing.
When the practices were over, me and the girls were standing by my car, talking. “Did you see when he took off his shirt?” Lindsay squealed.
“Oh my god, yes! His abs are freaking perfect,” Grace stated. “I fantasize that he had abs, but now that I actually saw them, it increased his attractiveness. I mean, I knew he was hot before, but now he’s just... there’s no word for it.”
“You guys are boy crazy,” Blaire said. “I’m here all single, and I’m not going around exclaiming how hot Luke is. Even though he is pretty hot, I just keep it to myself.”
“Hey, you can’t say he’s hot. Keep your eyes on Ryan, okay?” Grace told her. “Luke is mine.”
“Um, excuse me. I do not like Ryan at all. We’re enemies.”
Lindsay laughed. “You guys take soccer way too competitively.” Basically, Ryan and Blaire were “enemies” because they were too competitive against each other, being at the same skill level at soccer or whatever. But we all knew they had a burning love for each other directly under their layer of “hate.”
“Oh, be quiet. And Luke is not yours. I’m totally shipping him and Ade.”
If I had been drinking something, I’m sure I would have had a spit-take. “What? Oh god, no. That will never happen. Did you forget about Mike that fast?” I asked, referring to my boyfriend.
“Is that why you were drooling over his shirtless self not thirty minutes ago? And don’t even use that excuse. You guys are hardly a couple anymore.” That last part was pretty much true. We never had time to talk after he went off to college with my brother, Sam. But I ignored that part, not wanting to talk about him at the moment.
“Shut up, I was not!”
“Yeah, okay.” I saw her roll her eyes at me, grinning.
A few minutes later, the boys joined us. “So we were talking,” Carson began, “and we decided to head to the beach to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” I asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“Luke, and making it on to the team. Well, he hasn’t officially made it yet, because Coach has to ‘calculate everything first.’ But by the grin Coach had on his face, he definitely made it.”
“Do I have to go, too?” I asked with a frown on my face.
“Yes,” Carson said. I shot him a glare, making him be quiet.
“Carson’s right, Ade. You have to come, I’m forcing you to,” Wes said. “Plus, you always bring the party.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Luke questioned, his eyebrows raised and arms crossed over his chest.
Carson and Dylan both chuckled. “Do you want me to punch you again?” I asked Luke.
“You wouldn’t want to hurt your hand again, would you?” He smirked. “By the way, I’m glad you dropped the whole ‘silent treatment towards Luke’ thing. I was starting to get worried.”
Damn him. “Go to hell, Luke.”
He smiled. “Ladies first.”
“Okay, okay, break it up,” Blaire instructed, pushing us away from each other. I hadn’t even realized we’d been that close to begin with.
“He started it,” I muttered.
“You continued it,” Luke told me.
I sighed deeply, ignoring him best I could and turned to Wes. “Why do I have to go, Wes?” I tried the puppy eyes on him, knowing he’d fall for it.
“Don’t even try that this time. And you have to go because Luke is our friend, making him your friend, too.”
I snorted. “As if.”
“Whatever. You’re still coming.”
I knew that if I didn’t go and stayed home anyways, he would probably still come to my house and drag my ass along with them. “Fine.”
He gave me a smile. “Good, then it’s settled. We’re going to the beach.”
Twenty minutes later, I was at my house, in my room, trying to decide what to wear. I can’t believe they’re making me go. And America’s supposed to be a free country. Not with my controlling friends, it isn’t.
After shuffling through my drawers and closet for a good ten minutes, I decided on a black, bandeau, strapless bikini that had a white rose on the right. The bottoms were a bit revealing, I guess.
This was my boyfriend, Michael’s (or Mike for short), favorite bikini. He said I couldn’t go to the beach with it since he isn’t around anymore. It’s too “hot.” We never got to see each other anymore because he went off to college at Stanford, with Sam. Sure, we still video-chatted, but we hardly even did that anymore. He and I were both too busy, but we managed to cope with it, even though it seemed like we were just drifting farther and farther apart.
Every now and then he’d visit, and we’d act like a couple, but I’m not even sure if we really were anymore. I’m not even sure if I was still in love with him or not.
“That’s a nice piece of swimwear you’ve got there,” he said from my door.
I turned my head to the right, to see Luke leaning against his left shoulder in my doorframe. I noticed he had already changed into a pair of black, long swimming shorts. “What do you want?”
“Are you almost done? You’re taking forever, and you’ve been staring at that bathing suit for the last two minutes.”
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know you like staring at bathing suits.”
“Shut up. I’m almost ready, yes.” Lie. “Now go away, Luke. You’re not allowed in here.”
“Aw, why not? If I do recall, you’ve walked into my room plenty of times without particularly being invited in.” He took a step in.
“Because you were being an ass and you needed to come out for a reason. Now you’re coming into my room without a reason. I said get out.” Then I added, “And I’ve only been in ‘your room’ twice.”
He ignored me. “So, did you like watching practice today?”
“No, because you were in it.”
“Oh, I know you liked it. I saw you watching me like a hawk, along with your two friends, of course.” He knew we’d been watching him? Well, Grace and Lindsay made it pretty obvious, but I swear I was discreet about it.
“That only means you were watching me,” I said. “Plus, I wasn’t watching you. I was watching my friends.”
“Yeah, okay, sure.” He rolled his eyes. Douche. “Hurry up.”
“Okay, okay! Get out!” I pushed him out when he didn’t leave, closing the door and locking it.
After changing into my swim suit, putting a V-neck shirt and a pair of jean, Hollister shorts over it, and putting my hair in a messy bun, I got a beach big bag and started filling it with stuff. Sunscreen, extra clothes, a towel, a book, and my phone. Once I slipped my flip-flops on, I headed downstairs to wait for the girls who were supposed to pick me up. I guess the guys were coming to pick Luke up, too.
When I got outside on the front door step, the girls were just pulling in, and Grace waved to me from the front, passenger seat, smiling. I got in once the car came to a halt, and we were off.
As we were pulling out of the driveway, Ryan’s convertible pulled up for Luke, with some rap song blasting loudly through the speakers and the top down.
Not five minutes later (I lived really close to the beach), the uneventful ride ended, and our two cars were pulling up side by side in some of the last few, empty parking spots.
The ear-piercing music blasting from Ryan’s car cut abruptly, leaving the parking lot a whole lot quieter, aside from the traffic going by, the people’s chatter from the beach and boardwalk, and the Pacific’s waves crashing onto the shore in the distance.
We all piled out of the two cars, heading to the beach. After finding a spot near the water, we all settled down before the guys all stopped to take their shirts off and running to the inviting water. Of course, when Luke had been taking off his shirt, I knew he was looking to see if I was going to look at him (and his perfect stomach, but that doesn’t matter) or not.
Good thing I didn’t because I’m sure if I were to so much as even take a little peak by accident, he would’ve held it against me for God only knows how long.
I shuffled through my bag and pulled out my bottle of sunscreen.
“Hey, can I borrow some? I forgot mine,” Lindsay said, taking off her see-through shirt and her shorts.
I nodded, doing the same. “Can you get my back?” she asked.
“Only if you get mine.” She smiled, saying an okay. After we were both coated with sunscreen, she abandoned me to go with everyone else in the water. I didn’t mind too much. I lay on my stomach, reading John Green’s “The Fault In Our Stars” for the second time with one earphone in.
Best book ever.
“We didn’t force you to come to the beach just so that you could lay on your ass the whole damn time!” Wes yelled, making some of the parents cover their children’s ears at his language.
I shook my head at him. He needed to be more mindful of his surroundings at times. “I’m not! I’m on my stomach!” I retaliated.
“That’s not what I meant, Ade!”
“I’m not getting in!” He huffed at my reply. I guess he would leave me alone now. I turned back around, putting my attention back to my book.
How could someone write such an amazing book? I wish I could write like that. Maybe one day I’ll have to publish a book,” I thought to myself, getting distracted. What would I write about, anyway? Maybe I could write a book about—
My thoughts were stopped as I was suddenly lifted up into the air. I let out a loud, short scream-ish squeal before realizing it was only Eli and Wes.
“I swear if you don’t put me down right now, you two, I will personally kill both of you!” I threatened harshly, thrashing in their grip.
“Yeah, I doubt that. You love us too much.”
I felt water splashing on my back after a short period of time. Oh hell no. “You better not or I’ll have you―”
Too late. The warm, salty water engulfed me as soon as I hit it. I immediately came back up, glaring at the two of my “best friends” that so aggravatingly threw me into the water. My other “best friends,” excluding Luke, of course (but he was laughing, too), we’re laughing as well. “What the hell!?”
“You should’ve tried harder to escape,” Eli stated.
I ignored him, instead charging at Wes because I knew that it was probably his idea to begin with.
But, of course, he still managed to outrun me, even in the waist-high water. Not fifteen seconds later, I stopped chasing him, knowing there was no use in the end.
“I will kill you with my own hands, Wesley!” I shouted to him.
“You'd have to catch me first!” he called back, ten feet ahead of where I stood.
“Better him than me,” I heard Eli say somewhere behind me.
Turning around, I replied back to him, “You're not off the hook yet, Eli. Not even close.”
He muttered a curse. If Wes had to face the consequences, Eli would have to, too.
I walked (more like swam, in a way) over to the three girls, joining their conversation.
“I’m glad I decided to come today,” Grace said.
“Me, too,” Lindsay chimed.
“Only because you get to see Luke shirtless,” Blaire said.
I agreed with her. “You two seriously need to bring the fan-girling to a minimum. Or at least try not to be so obvious with it. He knows you guys obsess over him,” I said to Grave and Lindsay. “And try not to go crazy every time you see him shirtless.”
“Oh, shut up, Ade. We don’t obsess. We… whatever. Maybe we obsess a little. It’s not like you haven’t enjoyed it as much as we have,” Lindsay said.
I scoffed. Yeah right. “I have a boyfriend.”
“Don’t you dare even tryto use that excuse again. C’mon, you know it’s true.”
I rolled my eyes at her, crossing my arms. “No it’s not.”
“Don’t worry, girls. They will be together soon enough,” Blaire told them, earning a scowl and a light slap on the shoulder from me.
“Not if I can help it,” Grace said, smirking. “I can already picture us together.”
Lindsay laughed at that. “Let’s be realistic, Gracie. I called him first, and the only picture you two will be in together is in our group wedding photo.”
“She did call him first,” I chimed in. “It’s only fair. Girl Code.”
“Why are you giving up your man so quickly, Ade?” Blaire question, smiling at me.
“Because frankly, I don’t want him. Nor will I ever.”
“Did you just say ‘nor’?” Lindsay asked, before the three of them burst into laughter a couple seconds later.
I began giggling with them. “Shut up. It’s proper.”
* * *
I stayed in the water for another good, ten minutes or so before getting out to get some ice cream for myself and Eli. After getting a five dollar bill from Eli’s wallet, I walked over to the ice cream vendor, standing behind three other people in line.
“Hello,” the girl behind the counter greeted me, when it was my turn. “What can I get you?”
“A small bowl of vanilla ice cream with Oreo toppings, and another small bowl with vanilla, chocolate swirl and sprinkles, please,” I told her, giving her a smile.
Once she put the ice cream-filled bowls on the counter, she placed a spoon into each. “That would be three dollars.”
I gave her the five dollar bill, letting her keep the change, before walking off back to my spot on the beach where Eli was waiting. I sat down on my towel that lay next to his and handed him his ice cream.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the small spoon and shoveling a large scoop into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes at him, a slight smile on my lips. Boys. “You’re welcome.”
“Hey, Ade, I forgot to ask you, how are you holding up with the whole proposal thing?”
I shrugged, as I swallowed a spoonful of ice cream, an automatic frown appearing on my face. “They decided to lay it off for a little while, until I was completely okay with it. Which will be never.”
“Come on, you’ll get over it eventually. Don’t be dramatic.”
I scowled at him. “I’m not being dramatic. I’m telling the truth. I’m not ready for a stepmother. And I probably won’t be for a long time.”
“But a long time doesn’t mean ‘never.’”
“You know what I meant, Eli. Stop nitpicking. And it might as always be ‘never.’ Especially since after my mom died, my dad’s become a completely different person. I mean, you heard our fight the other day, right? He wasn’t like that before.” Once again, a frown covered my mouth. I still hadn’t fully accepted Dad and Beth’s proposal. What he said to me that night when he was pissed really got to me; it stung like a lemon on a fresh paper cut.
If he loved me, he would’ve asked me about proposing to Beth before he actually did. He would’ve asked for my permission, asked if I was okay with it. And he shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum, knowing I’d react the way I did. How was I supposed to react to something as big as that?
“He’s changed, I know. I can see it, too, but you’ve got to look at it from his perspective, okay? Maybe he is really in love with Beth, and maybe she is really in love with him. Maybe seven years has been enough for him. Even though you’re not ready, he is. And sorry to say this, Ade, but it’s really not your choice whether they get married or not. You can’t control it if you fall in love with someone.”
“Shut up, Eli,” is what I wanted to say, because I completely disagree with eighty percent of what he just said.
“I don’t care if you disagree, because it’s true and I’m always right,” he added after a few seconds. He knew me too well, wow. “Always.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not, Eli.”
“Yes, I am,” he stated again.
“How many stars are there in the sky?” I asked.
“I’d count them, but it’s not nighttime.”
“You’d lose count after five.”
“Whatever, Adrienne.”
I sat back with my legs crisscrossed, and continued to eat my ice cream. Maybe Eli was right about the whole situation. It had been seven years since Mom’s death; maybe Dad was ready to move on. In the end, I guess I was just the only one who wasn’t ready to move on.
Author’s Note: Hey, guys! Thank you all for your feedback so far. I tried to write a longer chapter this time, so I hoped you guys enjoyed reading it. Tell me what you think. x ♥