Luke shut the door behind me and we sat down on his couch. I rested my right arm on the back of his couch to prop up my hand as I began to scratch his head. Luke sighed blissfully. "I could get used to that."
"It's these long nails," I said, clacking my red acrylic nails together on my left hand.
"Well I like how they feel," he said, closing his eyes momentarily.
"So, what were you up to today, exactly?"
Luke sighed. "This whole...re-staffing thing is such a pain. Especially since this is all mostly my Aunt's job anyways, so I don't know why I'm being dragged into it." He opened his eyes and turned to look at me. "Basically, even though we're going to get rid of a lot of people, those that remain will need to go under 'intensive retraining,' and all our new hires will have to do the same." Luke grimaced. "Today Mr. Johnson had Lucille, Alexandria, and I all trail him while he nitpicked minor flaws amongst the staff and lectured us—but mostly Lucille—on how we let the staff slip. Blah, blah, blah. He was very berating, and I feel really bad for Lucille especially."
"That's super frustrating," I said, continuing to scratch his head as my one little source of comfort to him.
"Yeah, it was," he said before adjusting himself so that he was laying down on the couch and resting his head on my lap. I started combing through his hair with my fingers. I wanted to mention that Lydia wanted to FaceTime with him at some point, but it didn't feel like the time. Luke continued to tell me more details about his day and what Mr. Johnson expected of him. I felt guilty that all I did was have fun teasing Mercucio at lunch today with Prince Coleman while Luke was forced to follow Mr. Johnson and get yelled at, basically.
"I'm sorry today was hard," I said.
"It's okay," Luke said, taking a deep breath. "What can you do?"
"I feel like you're always so busy," I pouted. "I mean, I see you a lot but I also don't see you, you know? Since we're always around Coleman."
"I know, Cass," he said solemnly.
"Luke?" I asked.
"Hmm?"
"Would it be so bad if he knew? Then we wouldn't have to pretend like we don't mean anything to each other when we're around him," I said. "And—and I'm getting to know people who he knows, and I'd like them to know who I'm dating. It just—it feels like we're hiding or doing something wrong when we aren't."
Luke sat up from resting on my lap and turned to look at me with his soulful brown eyes, his expression glum.
"I know it's—" He cast his eyes downward. "It's not ideal."
"You—and is it really about Coleman?" I asked, looking down at my lap. I wanted to make sure. I'd had a week to overthink why he might want to keep me a secret from Prince Coleman, and I'd come up with some not-so-pleasant theories. Besides, I had just started my monthly journey that made me more emotional and upset than I normally would be.
"Of course it is," Luke said, his fingers gently touching my face to guide it towards his. "If you think that I'm ashamed of you or anything, I promise you that that's not the case. I just don't want unnecessary complications."
I had one theory in particular at the tip of my tongue—one that I had started to formulate since Mercucio's pool party reminded me of the her and the very real effect she had had on Luke. "It's not about Marstella, is it?" I blurted out.
Marstella. It was the first time either of us had spoken the name in front of each other since he'd first explained the Marstella Incident. Her name seemed to slap Luke across this face, his eyes wide and his mouth parted.
"I'm sorry!" I suddenly cried, burying my face in my hands. "I don't know what's wrong with me! I shouldn't have said that—I'm being ridiculous. It's just—she just won't leave me alone."
"What do you mean she won't leave you alone?" Luke asked me.
I took my hands away from my face and looked up at the ceiling. "She just—she just seems hell-bent on being my friend for some reason even though she knows I don't like her because of what she did to you."
"Marstella?" Luke repeated. "You've met Marstella?"
"Twice now," I said. "And—and she acts like, oh I don't know. It's just frustrating." I looked at him seriously. "Luke. I know this is unfair of me, but is there a part of you that doesn't want to tell Coleman in case he tells Marstella?" I felt my eyes wavering, but Luke's face crumpled in compassion and he held my face in his hands.
"Oh Cassie," he said. "I promise you, when I asked that we kept it secret from Coleman, Marstella was no-where near my mind. I don't care if she knows, in fact, I'd be happy if she knew that I've moved on." His hands moved from my face to my shoulders.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm being ridiculous."
"That's okay," he spoke softly, before releasing a sigh. "Cass, if you...if you must know, I don't want Prince Coleman to know that we're dating because...well, because I think he likes you at least a bit. And who could blame him?" Luke tucked a dark strand of hair behind my ear. "You're beautiful."
I felt my cheeks warm and a smile worm its way onto my face.
"And you're clever and fun and vibrant," Luke said. "So of course he's interested. And—and I guess I worry that that interest he has, well, who knows what he might do? He could fire us or purposely try to keep us away from each other. I just, I don't know. But I worry."
I clasped my hands behind his neck. "You're so sweet," I said. "I'm a really lucky girl, you know? To have someone like you willing to put up with me?"
Luke leaned forward. "I don't know. I think I'm the lucky one in this relationship." He placed a soft kiss on my lips, and whispered. "Cassie Carmichael."