Back to You (11 page)

“
Oh hey Abby, wanna join
us? We’re playin’-“ I hear his slurred words, noticing he’s pretty
drunk. Great. How am I supposed to get home now? I walk over to
where he is standing in the pool and lean down. “Hey, you’re drunk.
I wanted to go home now.”

“
Oh baby, come on. Stay,
have some more beer and play ball with us. We need more players
anyway.” I get very irritated because I notice his pupils are
dilated.

“
Are you high?” I’m
furious now and stand up.

“
Look I’m calling my mom
to come pick me up. I’m tired and have lost the desire to party at
this point.” He puts his head down in shame and nods.

“
I’m sorry, the guys
offered and I kind of felt like getting high tonight with them and
just kickin’ back. You know I don’t really do that shit.” I
sometimes wish I could get high, but I don’t actually do it. I’d be
a hypocrite if I did, after yelling at Sarah for smoking weed. That
thought sets me over the edge, but I keep my composure.

“
Well, I’m going to wait
out front for my mom. I’ll call you tomorrow or something. Have
fun.” I kiss him and wave to everyone as if they care I’m leaving.
Some party this turned out to be. Brooke goes home shit faced and
puking and now Brady’s high as a kite and I’m left alone to party
with myself. I would have been better off staying home. I dismiss
that thought as my memory refreshes. Images of Lucas and I on the
bed making out, come back full force. Okay, so the party wasn’t
totally lame. A smile creeps on my lips, as an idea comes to mind.
I take my phone out of my purse and dial the number.

“
Hey Abby.” My heart rate
speeds up at his voice.

“
Hey, how far are
you?”

“
Why? Need a ride home?”
I’m embarrassed to admit that my boyfriend ditched me to get high
and drunk but I don’t care at this point.

“
Yeah, Brady is still
partying but I wanted to go home. Could you come get me, if you’re
not too far?” I can feel, through his voice, that he is smiling on
the other side of the phone even though I can’t see him.

“
Yeah, I’ll be right
there.”

Five minutes later Lucas pulls up in front
of me, smiling. Either he was driving like a bat out of Hell or
left not long ago. He rolls the passenger side window down.

“
Hey, I forgot to leave
Brady’s keys here. I’ll be right back.” I quickly run back inside
and set the keys on the counter with a note that says,
Brady Wilson’s Keys Touch at your own
risk

I come back out, laughing to myself, when I
see Lucas checking himself out in the mirror. I hold my hand over
my mouth as I stifle a laugh, making sure he can’t hear me. He
looks over and sees me approaching, my face turning crimson.

“
Um, I was just making
sure I had nothing on my face. And you know-“ He waves his hand in
the air.

“
Oh what the Hell, you
caught me.” We both laugh as I get in the car and close the door.
His mint green Mustang is in neat condition, for a guy. The
floorboard is immaculate as if it was never touched. I look in the
back and see a few things on the floor behind his seat. But the
rest looks relatively clean, which impresses me. But I’m not sure
why it surprises me; he’s always been a neat freak whereas Brady is
the total opposite. His truck is a total mess, as is his room. It
seems there is no middle ground between them, one is a pig and one
is a compulsive germaphobe. I guess I’m kind of in the middle, I
like things neat and orderly but I don’t freak out if things get a
little messy here and there. You can’t always be
organized.

The car ride is silent part of the way. I’m
lost in my thoughts and he seems to enjoy the quiet drive through
the mountains, although it’s dark outside. “So what did Brady say
when you told him I was taking you home?” I’m brought back to
reality when Lucas starts asking questions with a cocky grin on his
face.

“
I told him my mom was
picking me up.” I look out the window to keep from staring at him.
“Besides, he probably won’t remember much anyway. He was high when
I left. I swear what is it with people enjoying that shit anyway? I
mean, sure I’d done it a few times but it didn’t really engage me.
Between Sarah and now Brady, seriously I need new friends.” He
laughs and runs his fingers through his hair.

“
Well, I can tell you one
thing, weed does make you feel good. But everyone is affected by it
differently. It never really appealed to me either, so could I be
one of your new friends?” That made me smile.

“
So where to little lady?”
I give a questionable look.

“
Seriously? It’s like
three in the morning. Nothing is open and I’m usually asleep in my
bed, in my own little world right now.” I chide myself for that
last part.

“
Yeah, dreaming about me I
hear.” He chuckles and I punch him hard in the arm. I did leave
that door wide open, and he’s not one to ever back down from a
snarky comeback.

“
Ow! What the Hell? I was
just being honest.” I look away and blush beet red.

“
It’s really cute though.”
He teases.

“
What’s cute?” I ask,
inquisitively and a little shy.

“
Your vulnerable side,
it’s cute. I like that side of you.”

“
Yeah, well don’t get used
to it.” He looks disappointed and sighs.

“
Well, what did you have
in mind?” I ask, curious and a little intrigued.

He smiles wide, eyebrows raised. “I know
just the place.”

Chapter 12

We pull into the parking lot of IHOP, my
stomach growls at the thought of food, remembering I hadn’t really
eaten much today. I look at Lucas, eye brows raised.

“
IHOP is your perfect
place?” I ask. He shuts off the engine. “Yeah, it’s the only place
open at this time and I’m hungry. Besides I’m not ready to go
home.” Then as an afterthought he adds, “Or take you home yet
either.”

I nod and take my seat belt off. “Well, my
stomach sure isn’t protesting.” I add getting out of the car. We
walk inside, it’s pretty dead which considering the hour, I’m not
surprised. The girl at the front has her head down, when she sees
us enter; she smiles so wide I think her mouth is going to shatter
like glass. Well, she smiles at Lucas, I just get a nice glare.

“
Hi, how many?” She asks
in her obvious fake high pitched Barbie voice. “Two please.” Lucas
replies in a genuine tone. She shows off her dazzling white teeth
and says “Okay, right this way.” She has a sway to her walk, which
if she had heels on, I bet she’d literally trip over her own feet.
I wouldn’t doubt that she would do it on purpose, so she could have
Lucas rescue her. Seriously, this is lame. She sits us at a booth
on the right side of the restaurant. “Ashley, your server, will be
right with you. If you need anything else, I’ll be at the front.”
She says, while standing with one knee bent, hands on hips and lips
pursed. She is speaking directly to Lucas as if I wasn’t even here
in front of her face. Then she winks and saunters off. “Thank you.”
Lucas mumbles, watching her leave while I’m staring at him in
disbelief.

He turns his attention to me. “What?” I
shake my head and skim over my menu. “Nothing.” He starts to laugh
and I look up at him. “What’s so funny now?” He sets his menu down,
clasping his fingers together on the table.

“
I find it cute how
jealous you get.” I almost choke on my own saliva. “Excuse me?”
Jealous? I don’t think so. That girl practically threw herself at
you. It was really ridiculous and quite lame. If she was going for
the subtle approach, clearly she sucks at it.”

“
I don’t think she was
going for subtle. It was obvious she was trying to get a rise out
of you.” I pick my menu back up and continue looking at the items
to choose from. “Besides we aren’t even together so I have no
reason to be jealous. You can flirt with whomever you want.” He
places his hand over my menu, bringing it down to the table,
forcing me to look at him. “Abby.” I see a flick of hurt in his
eyes.

“
What?” He lifts his hand
from my menu and browses his, avoiding eye contact.
“Nevermind.”

I start feeling bad for what I’d said. I
know what I have to do. I set my menu down and fold my hands
together on the table, willing him to look at me. He does. Our
gazes bore into each other as if we’re the only two people in the
world. The rest of the world falls away. He smiles slightly, I
smile back shyly.

“
Hi, I’m Ashley; I’ll be
your waitress. Can I get you two something to drink?”

“
I’ll have coffee with
cream please.” I reply never taking my eyes off of his, vaguely
aware of her presence.

“
I’ll just have water
thanks.” Lucas says, our gazes still locked tension brewing. The
waitress, Ashley I think her name was watches us for a minute
before walking to the kitchen. It’s moments like this I wish I had
some supernatural power I could use to transport us somewhere else.
Alone. I clear my throat and begin. “Lucas, I. I want you. I want
you so bad I can taste you.”

He raises his eyebrows in surprise but
smiles. “I’ve never been the type to cheat. That’s not me. That’s
not my style. But it’s like that saying ‘there’s a first time for
everything’ and this may be one of those times.” I let out a big
breath. “It may not make sense, or it may not work out but I can’t
deny it anymore. Like I said, I’m not the cheating kind, but being
with you feels right. I can’t concentrate, I can’t breathe when
you’re near and you’re all I think about when I’m not. It may make
me a bad person. But at this point I don’t care anymore.”

He takes my hand, rubbing my palm with his
thumbs. My train of thought goes out the window and all of my
muscles in my body seize up. He makes me feel like I can fly. The
waitress comes back with our drinks, setting them down on the
table.

“
Do you know what you want
to eat yet?” It’s obvious we have no clue and she seems a bit
perturbed. “I’m not that hungry so I will just have a Chicken
Caesar salad please.” I close my menu and shove it at her. I look
to Lucas who is still deciding. Ashley looks flabbergasted at my
rudeness. “I’ll have a cheeseburger, well done please. Thanks.” He
gently hands her his menu then turns back to me. “So what do we do
Abby?” I fidget with my hands for a minute avoiding the
subject.

“
Well, I’m not ready to
tell anyone yet. We have to act like everything is the same,
nothing’s changed. We’re just friends more or less.” On second
thought, “You need to break it off with Sarah. But do it gently.”
He half snorts, half laughs. “I’m serious Lucas. Please.” I plead.
“Okay. But what about Brady?”

“
I’ll tell him,
eventually. Just give me some time. We’ll tell everyone then.” He
studies me, unsure of my motives.

“
In the mean time, we’ll
sneak time in whenever we can.” His eyes go wide in surprise, at
the absurdity of the situation. “Wait, you mean sneak around? You?”
I laugh. “That’s what I said. Like I said before, there’s a first
time for everything.”

As we finish our food, I push my plate away.
“Ugh, I’m so full. How ‘bout you?” Lucas finishes his last bite,
stacks the plates and pushes them to the corner of the table. “Um,
yeah I’m done I think. I could go for more water though.” Noticing
me stare at him in amazement, he gets a little self-conscious and
wipes at his face. There are no traces of crumbs around his
mouth.

“
What? Do I have something
on my face?” I shake my head, smiling at his cute act. “No, there’s
nothing on your face. I’m just delighted to be sitting here with
you like this.” I lean into the table, serious; crossing my arms
over each other. “Abby you better watch out, your bad girl image is
a huge turn on.” I smile seductively.

“
Thanks for tonight. This
sure beats being at home in my bed asleep any day.” I say. “Really?
Even if you were dreaming of me?” I take a sip of my coffee,
looking at him over the rim of my cup. “Mmm. The real thing is
better than my dreams for sure.”

He winks at me and of course I blush,
crimson so red; you would think I was palpable. I’ve never felt
this arousing sensation before with Brady. When Lucas and I were
first together, we were young and immature. But now that I’m older,
I know my feelings are real and mean something, not like the
crushes I used to get back then. He pays the check and pats my
hand, bringing me back to the present.

“
Let’s go get you home.”
Home, the last place I want to be. We get out of our seats and walk
towards the door. “Have a nice night. Come back and see us soon!”
The hostess says as we walk by. Lucas walks past and I glance at
her, noticing the pout she is displaying for the sake of grabbing
Lucas’s attention, which has no affect. We’re outside and I say,
“Aw, you’ve upset your biggest fan. She was pouting like a two year
old.” He laughs as he unlocks my door and opens it, I slip
in.

“
Well, I’m sure the next
guy that walks in will make her forget all about me.” He gets in
and sits in silence, staring out the window. I can feel the air
shift. I put my hand over his, which is resting on his knee, trying
to calm his shaking.

“
Hey, are you okay?” He
nods and looks at me. He leans over the center console and kisses
me. He wraps his arm around my neck, his other in my hair. It gets
a little uncomfortable so I move over and straddle him in his seat.
He reclines his seat and we fall back with it. We both laugh, and
then look at each other, mesmerized by the other. “I love you Abby.
I love-“