"You okay?"
"No, no, not really." I muttered.
"Well, it shows me not to get on your bad side... he looked like his eyes were gonna pop out of his skull." Luke laughed, turning on the music, "I have a dilemma..."
"I wouldn't ask me to solve any problems when I can't fix my own." I muttered, staring out of the window of the passenger side window, "But okay."
"Well, you see... I have this friend. Actually, cousin... yeah, um, I have this cousin and he likes this girl that he met when he was in elementary school. He's a... junior-"
"Okay, I got it. Your cousin is a junior who likes a girl he met in elementary school. Easy, go on." I say, continuing to look out the window, watching birds fly out of the trees. I wonder what it's like to be a bird. To escape for awhile and just travel anywhere you want to go. No limits. No one stopping you.
"He wants to plan out a date for her. He asked me but, since I'm not a girl... I'm asking you. Not to be awkward or anything... he just wants it to be perfect." He says uneasily and turns on to his street.
"Well, whats she like?" I question with a raised eye-brow, interested. I turn to look at Luke.
"Um... total romantic, I'm pretty sure... Like you from what I heard." Luke rushes out.
"Well, let's see. You could go to the beach with a walk to the park afterwards. He could bring you roses and bring you to a nice restaurant. That's what I picture anyway." I say. Luke whips out his phone after he pulls into his driveway, tilting the phone away from me so I can't see who he's texting, "Secrets don't make friends, Luke."
"It's my friend."
"You said cousin..." I raise an eye-brow.
"What'd I say?"
"Friend..."
"Oh, I meant cousin, sorry." Luke mutters. He taps the screen and slids the phone into his pocket, "Oh, I finished that drawing, you wanna see it?"
"Is that even a valid question?" I smile and he laughs saying, "I'll show you it tonight. I just gotta add a few touches."
***
"RILEY DID WHAT?!" Jade shrieks on the other line. Its currently five p.m and she's still stuck at the hospital with Noah sitting in that uncomfortable chair. He's been there all day with her even though she insisted he'd go home to rest, but he just took her hand saying, "I'm not leaving you again." which I honestly thought was the sweetest thing ever, "Please don't tell me she slept with him or he slept with her or I swear, I will take my crippled ass over to his house and beat him with my crutches." Jade mutters angrily. I constantly hear Noah saying, "What? What happened?" but Jade doesn't answer, saying she'll tell him in a minute. Its been five minutes so you an imagine how annoying it is probably starting to get for Noah and my ears.
"I'm gonna have to explain it again aren't I?" I mutter.
"Yup."
"Well, put me on speaker so Noah doesn't have to wait any longer." I sigh, rolling my eyes.
"He has virgin ears though..." Jade whispers into the phone and we both laugh.
"I do not have virgin ears!" I hear Noah shout in the background and we erupt into laughter again. I hear a click and I assume I'm on speaker, so I begin, "Okay, so after I visited you, Luke drove me to Riley's to see him because I haven't heard from him in awhile-"
"See, that's when you should've known somthing was up, Claire. You were just in a fire and your boyfriend-"
"Ex..." I correct Noah.
"-Your Ex- boyfriend," Noah empathizes, "Hasn't called to check up on you. Anyway continue."
"Okay. So when I got to him house, I walked up to the door and knocked, rang the doorbell, and called out for him but he wouldn't answer. So I tried the door and it was unlocked so I walked in-"
"If he's gonna cheat, at least lock the god-damn door." Noah muttered.
"Now I see why Luke and you are friends. You two said the exact same thing but just like I said to him, or you just don't cheat. Anyway I walked in and then I heard a bang and so I ran upstairs, Luke right behind me, and I found his bedroom door closed. I was reaching for the doorknob when Luke grabbed my hand and told me to be quiet and listen. So I did. I couldn't hear anything so he told me to listen harder so I did and I moved my ear to that little crack between where the door closes and the door frame. I heard noises which I am to embarrassed to share and I tried to open the door but it slammed shut, I tried again, it slammed shut. Luke then stepped up and threw his body against the door and it swung open. Then, in all their glory, Riley and Lilian were there and... um... yeah. I went off on Riley saying what people usually say when they found out their boyfriend was a cheating, lying, asshole."
"Yeah, yeah, keep going. Luke told me it's good at the end." Noah says into the phone and I glare at the phone.
"Apparently, Riley said he thought I was with Luke- which is a lame excuse- and that apparently explains why he was making out with Lilian with no one else in the house and why we has the decency to ignore me and continue what he was doing. So I continued yelling after throwing Lilian out after she admitted she was a huge whore, and he continued saying "sorry"-" I motioned with air-quotes.
"Obviously he wasn't sorry because he did what he did and ignored you. Maybe he was a little sorry but he wasn't that sorry if he did do what he did." Jade explains.
"Exactly what I said and so I walked away-"
"What? That is it? It wasn't exciting-" Noah starts.
"Noah! Shut up!" Jade and I both yell. "Anyway," I continue, "After I was about to walk out of the Lilian infested room, I turned back and kneed him in the balls and it was pretty funny hearing his grunt of pain and seeing his face turn red. Then I walked away. Happy Noah?"
"Very. Good girl."
"Shut up." I sigh, "Does it hurt that much?"
"What?" Noah asks.
"People kneeing a guy in the balls? Does it hurt that much?"
"I don't know. I never have been kneed in the balls. Ask Luke. He has been plently of times. Jade has never done it to me."
"Yet..." Jade whispers and we laugh. The door bell rings and I race down stairs, expecting Luke, and say, "Hold on" to Jade and Noah before unlocking the door, swinging it open and seeing two very known people.
"Surprise!" Jade and Noah yell and Jade attacks me in a hug, "We wanted to surprise you so here I am. Noah, you could go. We have serious girl talk to talk about. Involving what we were talking about before we talked to Claire." Jade says and Noah nods, bending down and kissing her on her forehead. He looks hesitant at first but seeing me there and standing right next to Jade, he smiles and turns to walk out the door after wrapping Jade in a tight hug, saying, "I'm so glad your okay" and leaves.
"Okay, so-" I start.
"Do you like Luke?" Jade says quickly and my breath catches in my throat, "I need to know before I give someone the okay to do something."
"Who?" I question, raising an eye-brow.
"Can't say. Do you?"
"I don't know, okay? He's helped me through a lot but I don't want to get hurt like a lot of girls he has been with-"
"You've changed him. He's not the same guy we knew last year, heck, the beginning of this school year-"
"But, it's not that easy to change a person. I like him, I'll give you that, but... I'm afraid of what he might do. I trust him, I do, but I trusted Riley and look what happened." I looked down, sighing, "I don't know if this is just a game-"
"Stop with the game, Claire. You're making yourself second-guess everything you feel. It's not some game and I could tell he likes you, okay? Remember what you told me about saying Noah loved me by that little look in his eye? At the very end of sophomore year? Well, do you think I can't see the same thing-"
"Luke doesn't love me. That's pretty much impossible seeing I just started hanging out with him again this year." I reason.
"He may not love you, but he definitely has a thing for you. A little piece of his heart that's growing stronger and spreading like a disease. Do you know what he drew?"
"No."
"Nobody does. Not Noah, not me, not anybody. It's probably the first drawing he hasn't shared and that shows that it is to important to share. Either that, or to embarrassed to say he is starting to grow feelings. He's always been the guy who has been known as heartless. Claire, you're changing him and he is starting to admit it. He never. Talks. About. Any other. Girl other than you, and I had to suffer when he was talking to Noah about you. He brings that drawing everywhere but always closes it when someone questions what it is. Is he coming over?" Jade questions after her explanation.
"Yeah." I mutter.
"Claire, what are you hiding?" Jade says slowly.
"Nothing." I defend even though I'm lying. I bite my bottom lip.
"Claire, tell me. I know when your lying. You're biting your lip."
"Am I?" I ask, faking a gasp.
"Claire Fisher! Tell me right now!" Jade yells, stomping her foot.
"It's just something I drew-" I am cut off with her bolting up my stairs. "Jade! No!" I scream, chasing after her. I hear feet stomping around on the level above me as she bolts towards me room. I pant at the top of the stairs, then run faster than possible for me, until I reach my room, seeing Jade frantically going to the place I hide my sketch book, "Jade, stop." I whine but she just pushes the dresser out that I put some of my clothes in, and bends down, wrapping her fingers around the book that hides my drawings. She throws it on the bed and flips the pages, trying to find the latest one.
"Ugh..." She groans, still flipping, "How many times do you draw?"
"A lot. I actually haven't touched it since Freshmen year so... yeah." I mutter, walking over to the bed, trying to pull the sketch book out of her hands, "Jade!"
She grabs the book back, "Please. I just wanna see."
"No! Its weird!" I yell. She reaches the page hidden behind a blank sheet of paper and smirks, looking up at me.
"Should I dare lift this one page hiding the drawing?" Jade teases.
"No-"
"To bad." Jade smiles and slides the paper away, looking down at the drawing, she gasps, "Oh. My. God." Jade gasps. She lifts up the photo that I used as direction and stares that the drawing.
"Its old-"
"Don't lie. There's still eraser shavings on the page." She stares at the page with Luke and I sitting on a brick wall from fifth grade that my mom took. Behind the wall, there was a park with flowers. We were in Central Park at the time with Noah, Jade, Luke, and I and she took one of us before taking one of Noah and Jade before one of us all together. It served as a little road trip before Spring Break ended, "It's beautiful." She finally says as she traces her finger around the page mindlessly. Smiles were painted on our faces in the picture and the drawing as Luke's arm was around me, drapped over my shoulders. His blue eyes gleamed in the picture and still managed to have a sparkle in the black and white drawing, "When did you do this?" Jade questioned, not taking her eyes off the page.
"L-last weekend." I mutter.
"It's probably the best thing you ever drew." Jade admires.
"Thanks." I sigh. That's when I hear a door creak open downstairs and footsteps stepping in.
"Claire!?" Luke shouts downstairs.
"Ooo-" Jade starts.
"Shut up."
"I guess I'll go now?"
"Claire?! Lets hope we don't have a repeat of earlier today!" Luke teases.
"Yup. You could go." I smile and Jade nods, walking out of the room.
"She's upstairs." Jade responds to Luke's calls and I hear a door open and close again. Car lights flash outside and I realize Noah's been out there the whole time, waiting for Jade to come out. Footsteps thump up the stairs and Luke appears at my bedroom door after I managed to stuff my sketch book back in it's original position.
"Hey." Luke smiles and I smile back at him as I motion him to come in, "Before I show you my picture, you have to promise not to make fun of me or get mad."
"Um... why?"
"Because, I don't know. Promise?"
"Promise." I say and he walks over to my bed, sitting next to me by the head board. I take the sketch book from his hand and look at him who's watching my hands flip through the pages. Panic shows in his eyes, "Are you scared?"
"Scared that you will think I'm a creep that will get mad at what I drew? Yeah. Scared of you running out of the room? Very." Luke rambles quickly and I stop flipping.
"Do you not want me to see it?"
"No, I do. I wanna show you what I feel." Luke says, sighing. I reach he page before th picture and look at him.
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"Yes." His breath catches in his throat as I move to flip the page and he nods at me. He grabs my hand and interlaces our fingers, "Just promise you won't run."
"I promise." I smile and he nods, looking down at our hands laced together before looking at my other hand moving to flip the page. I peel the page back and stare at the face in front of me.
"It's... It's me." I whisper, staring in admiration at the picture.
________________________________________
So, I changed Claire's actor for the story so the new actor is to the side. Comment your thoughts.