The Pull of Destiny (23 page)

“No. What?”

Counting off on
his fingers, Luke said, “The first is for hope, the second is for faith, the
third is for love, and the fourth is for luck. And- I figure I need all the
luck I can get right now.”

I guess you
learn something new every day, huh? Still, I wasn’t sure that a single weed
could give you luck, otherwise everyone would be scouring the earth for one, me
included.

“It’s New York
City in March, Luke. You’re probably not gonna find one,” I said slowly, hating
to shoot down his dream.

Luke bit his
lip, looking up at the sky. “I’m just gonna keep a lookout anyway. You never
know, I might get lucky.” He finally looked at me, a smile tugging at the
corner of his lips. “You ready for some all you can eat ice cream?”

I smiled back
at him. Now we were getting to the good stuff. “For sure!”

“Let’s go.”

There was a
Baskin Robbins on Madison Avenue and we started walking, heading out of the
park.

“You’d think
with all the weeds here that you’d be able to find at least
one
four
leaf clover, right?” I asked Luke, who was apparently not in a real talking
mood.

“Yeah,” he
said. “Wrong place, wrong time, I guess.”

Nipping my
bottom lip between my teeth, I tried a new track of conversation. “Ice cream in
this weather, I hope we don’t get brain freeze.”

My lips were
chapped from the brisk wind that whipped around my face. It was a chilly day.

“Uh huh.”

Okay, Luke was
definitely acting strange. On the other occasions we hung out, he talked a lot
more than this. So why the one word answers today? I thought I had an idea why
and my heart sank all the way to my boots.

The Nate
factor.

Of course.
Bitterly, I realized that Luke
had
been scared off by Nate, regardless
of asking me to meet him. In fact, he was probably trying to find the most
tactful way to tell me that he didn’t want to hang out with me anymore without
it seeming like it had anything to do with Nate or what had happened on
Saturday.

Way to go,
Nate. Mess up my new friendship with a nice guy.

I sighed
silently. Maybe it was for the best. Nate
had
practically threatened
Luke, after all. I didn’t want him getting hurt just because he was my friend.
I snuck a look at him while avoiding a puddle at the same time. His eyes were
glued to the ground, reminding me of the intense concentration of a toddler
just learning to walk.

“I’ll help you
keep a lookout for a four leaf clover,” I offered.

“That’s okay. I
think that even if I found one, it wouldn’t help me.”

He sounded so dejected
that my heart constricted. The front that he put on to the world was just a
front. I could tell he was really scared. What could I do to help him?
Cheer
him up.

“You know what
else is considered lucky?” I asked, calling on my vast array of nonsensical
facts for help.

Luke didn’t
even raise his eyes up to look at me. “What?”

“Horseshoes.”

“Huh.”

Not a
positive response.
Undaunted, I went on. “Or you could find a rabbits foot. But be careful it’s
not cursed, like the one on Supernatural.” I grimaced, remembering the episode
when Sam had found a rabbits foot. Bad things happened. “Turns your good luck
to terrible luck.”

“I think I’d
probably have a better chance of finding a four leaf clover than those things.”

I nodded. True.
I hadn’t seen that many rabbit feet lying around NYC lately. “Well, whichever
comes first works, right?”

“Yeah.”

The guy
really
didn’t want to talk. We walked the rest of the way to Baskin Robbins in
silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

I couldn’t even
think of anymore small talk and I wished I had paid more attention to Mr.
Johnson about the Red Sox game because I would have asked Luke about it, I was
that starved for conversation.

***

Once inside
Baskin Robbins, I perked up a bit as I looked around at the different ice cream
flavors. You can’t be inside an ice cream joint and not feel good about
yourself. Even if Luke was here to dump me as a friend (and the way things were
going, it certainly seemed that way) at least I’d have good memories of our
last hangout.
Ice cream and a hot guy sitting in the same booth.
Sounded
like a win-win situation to me!

Luke approached
the girl behind counter, whipping off his hat and giving her the full force of
the Luke Astor charm. I hung around behind him, trying not to feel jealous that
he was actually making eye contact with this girl but not with me. I failed
miserably.

“Hey, welcome
to Baskin Robbins! Can I take your order?” the girl said perkily. We were the
only people in the restaurant. I guess most people didn’t eat ice cream in
March.

“Hi, yeah, we’d
like to try the 31 original flavors,” Luke told her. The smile on the girls
face slipped.

Looking
incredulous, she said, “At once?”

“Yeah, that’d
be great.” Luke nodded, resting his arms on top of the counter. “I mean, you
don’t wanna come down here again, do you?” he asked me, throwing a glance in my
direction over his shoulder.

I shook my
head. Even if I had wanted to come back, it wasn’t likely that I would. Not
with Luke, anyway. I had a strong feeling that after today, he was going to go
his way and I was going to go mine. A few weeks from now, our brief friendship
would seem like a dream. Therefore, if there was free ice cream to be had, I
intended to have it while I could. “No.”

Luke turned
back to counter girl, a smile on his face. “Yeah, so we’d like 31 scoops,
please.” Counter girl looked totally baffled. I didn’t blame her. If a guy like
Luke came up to my counter at the deli, asking for 31 tuna subs, I would have
the exact same expression on my face. “You guys have soft serve cups here,
right?”

Counter girl
nodded, her eyes never leaving Luke’s face. “Yeah, we do.”

“Great, coz
it’s way too cold for cones.”

I actually
thought the weather was just right for cones. The ice cream wouldn’t melt. But
then I thought about sitting in a booth with 31 ice cream cones and bit back a
giggle.
That would just be stupid.

“Let me get
this straight,” counter girl started, folding her arms over her chest and
cocking her head to the side. “You guys want to eat 31 scoops of ice cream at
once? Really?”

“Yeah,” Luke
rubbed his chin. “Don’t people usually come in here, wanting to try the 31
flavors?”

“Well, sure,”
counter girl conceded. “But not at one go!”

“Me and my
friend are very daring when it comes to food,” Luke said, inclining his head in
my direction. “And we won’t take as long as you think.”

Hesitantly,
counter girl backed away from the counter. “Can you just wait one minute? I
think I should ask my supervisor.”

She hurriedly
walked through a door marked ‘employees only’ and Luke leaned back against the
counter, examining his fingers minutely.

“You should
have told her it’s part of a publicity stunt,” I said musingly. “Like maybe for
a radio show and we need to eat 31 scoops to win a prize.”

Luke snorted
with laughter and despite myself, my heart raced faster. He had a very nice
laugh and this was the first time he’d used it today. “Nice one. You can tell
her supervisor that, I bet he’ll believe you.” His eyes flickered up to mine.
“You have a really believable face.”

I’ll take
that as a compliment- I think.

“Uh, thanks,” I
said, wondering exactly what that was supposed to mean. What
was
a
believable face?

“No problem.”
Luke looked away, focusing his attention on the menu just as the supervisor
bustled in, counter girl in tow.

“Good afternoon,
youngsters,” he boomed, even though he wasn’t a day over 25 himself. “I hear
you want to try our 31 flavors. At once.”

“Yeah, we do.”
Luke stared at the supervisor, a slightly exasperated look on his face. “I
don’t get what the problem is.”

“Oh, no!” Supervisor
clasped his hands theatrically in front of him, shaking his head.
Someone
took drama in high school.
“It’s no problem at all! It’s just a highly
irregular request. Most people come in for a scoop or two, not 31.”

Luke shrugged,
reaching into the front pocket of his slightly baggy jeans. “We’ll pay cash,”
he said, pulling out his wallet.

Supervisor
shook his head so fast that his gold earrings jangled. “It’s not about the
cash, son! It’s-,’ he started.

 I was starting
to think that the guy had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently Luke
felt the same. “Look,” he said, cutting into the supervisors monologue. “I
didn’t want to tell you this because I don’t like talking about it, but I’m
working on my bucket list.”

Supervisor
raised one perfectly tweezed eyebrow. “Bucket list?”

Is there an
echo in this room?

“Yeah,” Luke
said, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “I just got diagnosed with an
inoperable aneurysm and I’m trying to live out the rest of my days doing the
things I always wanted to do. And eating all the original flavors of Baskin
Robbins- that’s one of the things.” Luke pasted a miserable look on his face as
I narrowed my eyes. Inoperable aneurysm?
All for ice cream?

Counter girl
gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as she gawked at Luke. “That’s so awful,
I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “My granddad had an aneurysm, too.”

“Thanks,” Luke
said to her, then focused on the supervisor. “So, can’t you let a guy’s wish
come true?”

I swear, Luke
gave the two Baskin Robbins employees a puppy dog expression and just like
that, counter girl was sold.

“Please just
let them buy the ice cream, Mr. Knight,” she pleaded.

Mr. Knight
flicked his blond hair back and closed his eyes dramatically. “Oh, alright.”

“Thanks,” Luke
said, grinning triumphantly at me over his shoulder.

Supervisor
sighed. “I must be getting soft in my old age.”
Really?
“Enjoy your ice
cream and good luck with your list.”

He left through
the ‘employees only’ door and counter girl stepped up.

“I’m so sorry
to hear about your aneurysm,” she said as she rang up the cash register and
took the money from Luke. “You know what; I’ll just bring the ice creams to
you.”

Wow.

“Really? That’d
be great, thanks!” Luke said effusively, a laugh in his voice. I bet he loved
how he was taking advantage of this poor, naïve girl.
Don’t believe
everything you hear, sweetie.

“Give me just a
few minutes,” counter girl said, turning to the ice cream machine.

“You wanna go
sit down?” Luke asked me, gesturing at a booth. I nodded and we walked over and
sat down, me on one side, Luke sprawled directly opposite me. He still looked
very pleased with himself, a Cheshire cat like expression on his face.

I brushed a
strand of hair out of my eye and fixed him with a look, our eyes meeting
directly for the first time that day. “That whole inoperable aneurysm story-
that was not cool.”

Luke grinned
smugly. “It worked though, didn’t it?”

A valid point,
but not one I had wanted him to make.
Boys and their logic.
“Yeah, it
worked, but now that girl thinks you could die any second.” I glanced over at
the counter, where counter girl was feverishly scooping ice cream into soft
serve cups. “I mean, you’ve actually got her bringing us our ice cream to our
booth! They don’t usually do that!”

Luke shrugged
like it was nothing. I guess to him it
was
nothing. He was probably so
used to people being at his beck and call that he didn’t realize how rare it
was that someone who worked at a place like this would offer to bring an order
to the customers table. It had never happened to
me
before.

“That’s why I’m
going to tip her,” he explained, an amused look on his face at my indignation.
I subsided.
Well, if that was the case...

“Oh. Okay,
then.” There was an awkward silence which I decided to fill with one of my
inane questions. “Did you end up beating Halo?”

“Nope. I didn’t
even try after you left,” Luke replied, playing around with a spoon someone had
left lying on the table. “As soon as I got home, I had to try on a stupid tux.”

Mmmm.
Luke in a tux. That would be
a yummy sight. “Oh, you’re going to the gala, aren’t you?”

“Uh huh.” Luke
unzipped his black hoodie. “You know about it?”

“Well, yeah.
Robyn’s going. She told me about it.” Because just thinking that I knew about
the gala because I had been invited- that was just dumb. A nosy question formed
in my mind. “Who’re you going with?”