~Ophelia's POV~
Frowning, I dug through my garden, frustrated as I plucked the weeds that were beginning to grow in it. It felt like these darn things sprouted back far too quick.
"Phe!" I heard Saniya yell from across the street, making me sit up on my knees and whip my head around to look at her. She was stood next to Stella's horribly bright hot pink car, waving her hand at me impatiently. "Aren't you gonna hurry your ass up?! You're the only one we're waiting on!" She exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. With a quick glance at Stella's car, I saw that she was right—everyone was in and ready to go except for me. "S-Sorry!" I stammered in embarrassment, quickly standing up before I sprinted inside to grab my things.
Because it was now Friday, all of us had taken Stella up on her offer to come to her house for the weekend, since she apparently had the most rooms at her house.
I grabbed my bag and made sure I still looked presentable before I headed out of the house, bidding my granny goodbye as I left. Not wanting to keep everyone waiting, I ran across the street after I looked both ways to be sure a car wasn't coming, yanking open the back door. My eyes met Judah's, who raised a brow at me as I just dumbly stared at him. Everyone else had taken up all of the seats, I was now realizing, which left me nowhere to sit.
"Um..." I said awkwardly, my bag dangling from my shoulder. Judah rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm gently, easily hauling me up into the car before slamming the door shut. I squealed in surprise, tripping over several pairs of feet before I stumbled right over into someone's lap. Judah was strong—way too strong. Him pulling me into the car had been more like him yanking a rag doll, honestly.
Now sprawled all across someone's lap, my face burned with embarrassment as I scrambled to get up until I heard a snicker from above me. I glanced up with a frown and, to my utter horror, saw that it was Luke whose lap I was on. My lips parted as I peered up at him, wondering who up in heaven hated me so much that it just had to be Luke's lap that I happened to land on. "Seems like someone was excited to see me." He teased, a playful glint in his eye. Blushing and biting my lip anxiously, I placed my hand on his shoulder and quickly pushed myself up off of him. "I-I tripped!" I excused, huffing. I glanced around at everyone, seeing that, like I'd thought, all of the seats were taken. Kimberly was forced to sit on Idris' lap, as she had no seat either.
"So..." I trailed awkwardly as I looked back at Saniya, who was in the passenger side seat. "Where am I supposed to sit?" I asked, frowning.
From beside me, Luke grinned cheekily and spread his legs a little, peering up at me. "You could sit on my lap, gorgeous." He said bravely, making my head whip over to him at the same time as Stella's. She turned her head around from the front seat so fast I was sure she must've gotten whiplash. "Gorgeous?" She sneered, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend before she flicked her gaze back and forth between him and I.
I shied away, not wanting to be under her glare. "Why are you calling her that, Luke?" She snapped at him, to which he sighed deeply and poked his head around me so he could look at her. "Is it not true?" He retorted, ignoring her question altogether. That, of course, just made her even more angry. "I don't give a shit whether or not it's true! I'm your girlfriend, so don't fucking go around calling other girls pet names like that." She scowled, turning around in her seat without waiting for him to respond. I, and everyone else in the car, knew that that meant that was the end of that argument. Stella wasn't leaving any room for negotiation, which I didn't blame her for. I'd be mad if I were her, too.
However, Luke wasn't about to let the argument rest. "It's just a name, Stella." He said, bringing the argument right back to life as Stella's hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel. It seemed like she was trying to ignore him, maybe because she didn't want to get into a fight with him in front of everyone. What Luke said next, however, quickly made her flip a switch. "Are you really gonna get pissed at me for calling her gorgeous when you're fucking other guys?" He asked, being so bold as to laugh. He didn't sound angry or upset, but rather just amused at the irony. "Besides, you know my reputation, Stella. I'm a manwhore, aren't I? You can't be that surprised that I'm flirting with her." He added casually, like this was a conversation to be having right in front of us all.
Stella whipped her head right around again, scowling at him from around me. Yes, even in the middle of them arguing, I still had nowhere to sit and was just blocking them from being able to look at each other without having to peer around me. It wasn't ideal.
"You can be such an asshole, Luke!" She spat at him, not even bothering to deny any of the things he just said to her. He rolled his eyes and sent her a look. "You came into this knowing that, too. Anything else you want to state the obvious about?" He asked, his voice rather mocking. I knew he could be rather rude when he spoke about the girls he'd been with, but it was an entirely different thing to see it in person. He really could be cruel, even to her face.
It was when Stella huffed and then looked up at me, a glare on her face, that I felt a bit uncomfortable. She scoffed and shoved me so suddenly I didn't even have the chance to defend myself or balance better on my feet, her shove sending me stumbling. I nearly slammed my face into the glass window when an arm wrapped around my waist and swiftly yanked me back, pulling me down into a lap. Immediately, the scent of sandalwood made it more than clear whose lap I was on.
"What the fuck, Stella?!" Luke snapped, his arm tightening almost protectively around my waist. I awkwardly sat there on his lap, unable to get up. "You don't have to be a bitch to her just because you're pissed at me. It's not like it's her fault that I'm attracted to her." He scoffed, the two of them glaring at one another.
"Fine. You know what?" She said loudly, dramatically slamming her hand down onto the console between her seat and Saniya's. "Fuck this, and you, and you." Stella sneered, her eyes flicking from Luke's to mine, blazing with anger. "I'm sick of your bullshit, anyways. You never wanna be around me unless you wanna fuck and you never fucking talk to me, about anything. We're done." She snapped, surprising every single one of us. I blinked, gaping at the back of her head as she turned around and slammed her foot onto the pedal as she began to race down the street. As far as I knew, nobody had broken up with him before—he was the one who broke up with them.
"Good fucking riddance." He muttered low enough that only I could hear him, his breath warm as it fanned over the back of my neck.
Though I understood Stella's reason for being angry, I wasn't too sure why she didn't just kick him out of the car if she was so mad at him. I mean, we were all going to her house for the weekend, which meant he'd be there the entire time as well. Still, I tried not to question it too much and instead just sat quietly on Luke's lap for the remainder of the car ride.
Once we arrived at Stella's giant house and all of us got out of her ugly hot pink car, I slung my bag over my shoulder and began to follow everyone up the driveway towards her house. Like always, Luke trailed alongside me. "Sorry for dragging you into drama like that." He apologized to me, catching me off guard. I don't think he'd actually ever apologized to me before now, or at least not that I could remember. Frowning slightly, I tilted my head up to look at him and his sparkly blue eyes met my brown ones as I sent him a little smile. "That's okay." I assured softly, my tummy fluttering nervously.
It was the times that he was nice like this, which were a little rare, that were especially dangerous for my poor heart.
"No, it's not. I know you and Stella were never exactly close, but I definitely just squashed the possibility of you guys ever being close. So I'm sorry, because I can tell you wanted friends, being that you're new here still." He muttered. I slowed down a little, surprised that he had noticed how desperately I had wanted to have a group of friends. Was I that transparent?
"It's really not a big deal. I don't think she really liked me much to begin with, so you didn't destroy much of anything, if that makes you feel better." I said, shrugging my shoulders. His lips twitched up and I looked down at the ground, continuing to walk up the driveway before I could get too swept up in the butterflies in my chest. It had been so long since I'd had a crush on anyone, it felt weird to be feeling like this towards someone—especially him, considering he was probably the worst person I could have feelings for. I'm an idiot, I know.
We walked into Stella's house and I was blasted in the face by the cool air conditioner, sending my hair blowing back behind me. Behind me, Luke's broad frame slammed into me and sent me stumbling forward with a squeal, not expecting him to just run into me like that when I stopped walking. His hand grasped me by the back of my light green cardigan and he tugged it, stopping me from falling. My white converse slightly squeaked against the floor as I glanced at Luke over my shoulder, trying my best to use my cardigan to cover the white tube top that now seemed way too exposing on me.
Instead of apologizing, he smirked a little and blatantly glanced down my top at my cleavage. "You should really be a little more careful." He teased, releasing my cardigan.
Blushing, I made sure it covered me well again and pulled my jeans up, not responding to him simply because I wasn't sure what to say. "Can you stop fucking flirting and get inside already?" Stella snapped as she stopped up to us, slamming the front door shut before she locked it. Awkwardly, I muttered a 'sorry' and shuffled inside, not missing the way Saniya glared at Luke as she grabbed my arm and hauled me away from him. Clearly, she was still skeptic of him, especially now that she had confirmation that he was evidently attracted to me. She didn't trust him around me.
"Maybe you should room with me." Saniya suggested, making Noah whine loudly. "What?! But that just leaves me to either room with Zuri or Luke, and Zuri kicks in her sleep." Noah complained, plopping onto the couch in the living room.
Zuri scowled at Noah. "I'm already rooming with Stella, idiot." She huffed, gently kicking his foot with hers. He pouted and glanced over at Luke, who shook his head. "I don't share my bed unless it's after sex and no offense, but you're not exactly my type." He denied outright.
"That's not fair! I can't just be forced to sleep on the couch." Noah pouted, looking at us all like we had deeply betrayed him. I paused for a moment, contemplating my choices before I sighed deeply and looked over at Saniya, knowing she definitely wasn't going to like this. "It's okay. Noah, you can room with Niya and I'll take the couch." I volunteered, watching as he perked up and stared up at me as if he had just seen an angel. "Oh, you're a godsend, Phe!" Noah cooed, latching onto me as he gave me a suffocating hug.
I giggled in amusement and patted him on the back, brushing off Saniya's pouting beside me. "Just don't wake me up super early in the morning and we'll be even."